Low Carb Food: Good for You Low Carbohydrate Foods

Low Carb Food: Good for You Low Carbohydrate Foods
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Consuming low carbohydrate foods allows you to diversify your diet with more food selections. There are low carbohydrate foods for you that are amazingly beneficial to your health, too. While no carbohydrates or super low carbohydrate diets are all the rage, it is important for you to get the carbohydrates you need every day so that your body can convert foods into necessary energy.

How Many Carbohydrates Do You Need?

According to the dietary and reference intake guidelines devised by the Food and Nutrition Board of the Institute of Medicine, your low carbohydrate foods will vary depending upon your age, your sex, and certain periods in your life. Infants require 65 to 90 grams of carbohydrates daily, while children, men, and women require 130 grams of carbohydrates every day. If you are a pregnant woman, you will require more carbohydrates and your recommended intake is 175 grams. Finally, if you are lactating, you will need even more carbohydrates and will require 210 grams per day.

Choosing Low Sugar Carbohydrate Foods

You will want to refrain from making carbohydrate containing foods that are filled with unnecessary sugars and calories. You can choose foods from several different food groups like vegetables, fruits, milk, dairy products, beans, and whole grains, but you will want to keep sugary snacks, doughnuts, cookies, colas, and candy out of your diet. You will also want to limit your intake of processed foods and things like bread and rice of the white variety, since these foods are high in caloric content and sometimes stripped of their nutritional value via processing.

Oats

A single cup of oats that is cooked and unsalted has 147 calories and contains 25.3 grams of carbohydrates. This food source is low in carbohydrates and also supplies you with four grams of fiber, too. There is only .6 grams of sugar in Oats, and you get 6.1 grams of protein as well as 18.7 grams of calcium.

Whole Grain Bread

Wheat bread is one of many low carbohydrate foods; a single slice of toasted wheat bread has 11 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of fat, 1.4 grams of sugar, 26.2 grams of calcium, and 50.1 grams of potassium. When this selection is compared to white bread, it becomes easy to see why wheat bread is a better selection. A single slice of white bread has 80 calories, 15.2 grams of carbohydrates, and less calcium and potassium than wheat bread offers.

Fresh Fruits

When choosing fruit selections and looking to get a low carbohydrate intake, you will want to select fresh fruit over fruit juices. Fruit juices, while offering some nutritional value, are higher in unnecessary sugars. For example, a single orange has roughly 45 calories, 11.3 grams of carbohydrates, and 9 grams of sugar. In contrast, a single cup of orange juice has 121 calories, 28 grams of carbohydrates, and 22.6 grams of sugar.

Beans

Beans are a great source of protein and one of many great low carbohydrate foods. A single cup of green beans only has 7.8 grams of carbohydrates. Green beans are also a great source of calcium, potassium, are low fat, and are low in sugar, too. What’s more, one cup of green beans is only 34 calories.

Resources

Resources

MayoClinic.com for a definition of carbohydrates at:

https://www.mayoclinic.com/print/carbohydrate-loading/MY00223/METHOD=print&DSECTION=all.

Institute of Medicine’s Food and Nutrition Board for Dietary Reference Intakes at:

https://www.iom.edu/Object.File/Master/21/372/DRI%20Tables%20after%20electrolytes%20plus%20micro-macroEAR_2.pdf.

Department of Health and Human Services for information on carbohydrate foods and sugar at:

https://www.csrees.usda.gov/nea/food/pdfs/hhs_facts_carbohydrates.pdf.

Harvard School of Public Health for information about Good Carbohydrates at:

https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/what-should-you-eat/carbohydrates/.

Harvard School of Public Health for information on Whole Grain selections at:

https://www.fda.gov/ForConsumers/ConsumerUpdates/ucm151902.htm.

Department of Health and Human Services for information on fruits and fruit juices at:

https://www.csrees.usda.gov/nea/food/pdfs/hhs_facts_carbohydrates.pdf.

CalorieKing for information on specific foods and nutritional values at:

https://www.calorieking.com/foods/.