Question about Nutritional facts on carbs
Okay, I have a stupid question, and I will try to ask it in a way that most will understand and hopefully can answer. Okay, when you read the back of a nutritional label and it says how many carbs a food substance has. Okay when it says let's take for instance, 30 grams of carbs, then it says sugars 3 grams. Okay does that mean that the 27 grams of carbs are complex and not simple sugar carbs? Can anyone answer this question?
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tobey thats amazing thanks a lot and i cant wait for all this info
Re: Question about Nutritional facts on carbs
Quote:
Originally posted by Sicilian30
Okay, I have a stupid question, and I will try to ask it in a way that most will understand and hopefully can answer. Okay, when you read the back of a nutritional label and it says how many carbs a food substance has. Okay when it says let's take for instance, 30 grams of carbs, then it says sugars 3 grams. Okay does that mean that the 27 grams of carbs are complex and not simple sugar carbs? Can anyone answer this question?
First, there are no such things as stupid questions, only stupid people. Of which you are definitely not one of them, since you had the balls to ask the question in the first place. D
With that said, there are two "sub-categories" that appear on nutritional labels under the Carbohydrate heading: fiber and sugars. Let's say that a serving (of anything) has 20 grams of carbohydrates, and under that lists 6 grams of fiber and 8 grams of sugar . . .
That means that of the 20 grams of carbohydrate, 8 grams are sugar and the other 12 grams are complex carbohydrates. The fiber, although listed under the carbohydrate header, is not counted in the total number at all.
"Sugars" usually refers to simple or refined sugars, and they'll burn up fast. Complex carbohydrates turn into sugars, but do so more slowly (and thus burn more slowly). That's why, if you want a quick sugar hit, you do a candy bar, but if you want a slower hit you do something heavy on the complex carbs (like pasta, rice, or a potato). If you were diabetic, for example, and did a candy bar, your sugar might spike within 10 minutes but be down in an hour, while with complex carbs your sugar would spike slowly over several hours.
Incidentally, one area in which energy balance is obvious is in nutritional shakes. Some will show 35 grams of sugar, while others will show 35 grams of protein. Again, the principle is the same: the sugar-based shake will spike your glucose quickly, while the protein-based shake will provide a smoother energy level.
That will be five cents, please . . .