carbohydrates

NanTheWiser Well said. A girl after my own heart ?

Thanks Deedaa.I won't need to throw so much away now.I hate throwing food away and feel guilty even getting rid of a small amount of rice.

Greenfinch I reheat rice all the time, I just make sure it has been cooled quickly. I was chatting to a chinese lady a few days ago and she said "They make all this fuss about rice now. My people have been cooking it and reheating it for generations and we haven't died!"

Lots of interesting points made and much food for thought (no pun intended)!

It was an excellent programme - hopefully it will open the public's eyes to the dangers of eating carb-heavy food.
Like BBbevan I have followed a low-carb regime for over two years, slowly losing 22lbs (now a much healthier weight for my 5 foot height at 9 st. 8 lbs) cured my acid reflux, and have more energy.
Potatoes, which now seem to provide a large part of people's diets, were only introduced about 500 years ago. Likewise, wheat, only started to be produced after the agricultural revolution 12,000 years ago, before that time, there was no bread.
Tropical fruit too, is a fairly recent introduction to our diet, and contains very high levels of sugar, so while thought to be healthy, should only be eaten in small amounts.
Today's Western diet is very unhealthy, relying as it does on so much high-carb products, and until there is a sea-change in eating patterns, the Diabetes explosion will continue, costing Health services huge amounts of money.
Whilst I'm not diabetic, I have read so much on the Diabetes forum which has been extremely enlightening.
Low-carb eating should also include plenty of healthy, natural fat, as the body will start to burn fat instead of sugar, so I eat butter, cream and olive oil, none of this low-fat rubbish which contains sugar to make it palatable amongst other additives.
And apparently it is sugar which damages the lining of blood vessels, not fat, so it is a much healthier way of eating!
For those concerned about eating more fat and their cholesterol levels - it appears that there is an improvement in cholesterol levels on this diet. The "good" goes up, and the "bad" goes down.
As a bonus, skin conditions such as eczema and psoriasis usually improve, as does arthritis - these are caused by inflammation in the body, and sugar/carbs are the worst culprits.
So tonight, I am having a baked salmon fillet (in butter) with broccoli (with a knob of butter on top) and plenty of Hollandaise sauce - yummy!

FATEST not fastest ?

PS we were not talking about the ‘world’ this programme was aimed at the UK as we are the fastest nation in Western Europe.

Yes, some people should eat less carbs than others Polly as their bodies cannot handle carbs as effectively as others can.

And the whole point was that these people should try to get more of their carbs from fruit and veg, rather than pasta and rice (even if whole grains).

The NHS website has been criticised (and I can name sources if need be) as it has not moved its thinking forward in line with recent research.

Starchy food should make up just over a third of the food we eat. Choose higher-fibre, wholegrain varieties, such as wholewheat pasta and brown rice, or simply leave skins on potatoes.

There are also higher-fibre versions of white bread and pasta.Starchy foods are a good source of energy and the main source of a range of nutrients in our diet.

The above taken from NHS healthy eating website. I thought the programme seemed to imply we should eat less than this (correct me if I misinterpreted it). There was a discussion on twitter afterwards where trained experts were saying this would not be a healthy diet. There is also the problem that if a large percentage of the world's population got their calories this way we could not produce enough meat/fish/ vegetables to sustain it.

Teetime if by ‘cereals’ you mean breakfast type cereals, they are certainly not ‘good carbs’.

Good carbs are found in fruit and vegetables, with the exception of potatoes.

Greenfinch-If you want to use rice later then you have to cool it down quickly after cooking.

I have done this way of eating for nearly 3 years so it is not new. Reversed my diabetes also. There is and has been for some time, an excellent thread on GN about low carb eating. Lots of help, support , advice and receipts.

If anyone is considering going low carb, this site gives simple advice and information. www.dietdoctor.com/

travelsofar that is simply getting into the minutiae of it.

It was in fact a very good programme and I’d like you Polly to refer us to the ‘lot of scientists’ who have criticised it please.

As a scientist myself I thought the simple explanation of ‘white’ carbs (sugars) ‘beige’ carbs (pasta, potatoes, etc) and ‘green’ carbs (from fruit and veg) was well thought out and something that the general public could easily picture.

Actually the breakdown of processed foods, such as the chocolate muffin and the bagel example, is very interesting indeed and, as the programme pointed out, we tend to think of one as ‘healthier’ than the other for all the wrong reasons.

Not surprising then that some people think, in fact genuinely believe, they are eating a healthy diet and cannot understand why they are overweight and go on to develop type 2 diabetes.

I think the sugar cube thing was a bit misleading, making it sound as if it is healthier to eat a chocolate muffin than a bagel! A lot of scientists and nutritionists have criticised the programmes science. Very confusing I agree.

I cannot eat rice or pasta, and a lot of veggies too, so i am sticking to my Potatoes, the way my gut behaves now I half expect to be living on them soon.
Unfortunately I don't like cakes and biscuits or I would be very happy

What I got from the programme is it's ok to eat lots of bread. cakes and biscuits as they are good carbs. Well that's good because it's what I do anyway........or have I got that wrong??

(Sorry for being frivolous........I couldn't resist it!! )

We were really interested in the programme and did find some information counter intuitive. After much discussion what we have taken from it is
- carbs are not wholly bad - good carbs are generally brown rice, wholegrain bread and cereals
- refined flour is bad
- refined white sugar is bad
- processed food is bad.

So we are keeping to this.

I thought you shouldn't reheat rice

OldMeg the confusion arises between what is good and bad carbs. How many people would have known about toasting white bread straight from the freezer to make it better for you, and to eat reheated pasta and rice.

We all know cakes biscuits crisps etc are not good but i certainly didn't know that things like celeriac and sweet potato when roasted are better for you than a jacket potato.

It is very simple Old Meg. It’s quite amazing that so many people don’t get it.

No, it’s very simple. Just cut down on bad carbs and eat more good carbs. Same with fats.

What’s not to understand? ?

The subject came up on Trust me awhile ago. Cook your pasta, let it go cold then reheat. Fewer calories.
Maybe cooking everything twice and doing more washing up will use up more calories too?

There are far too many such food programmes. Basically all it comes down to is ... if you eat a baked potato, or a bowl of rice etc you have to burn off enough calories to use all the energy up or you will get fat(ter). Which is what we've always known anyway.

I was quite fascinated at the information that if you freeze bread and then toast it then it makes less sugar in your guts.

Absolutely