In my nutrition clinic, I often spend time talking about the basic principles food and health. People are often confused about terms such as protein, they wonder about the various types of fat and they often get confused about the issue of carbohydrates and sugars. These basic principles are actually the key to healthy eating and so let’s talk a little about carbohydrates.

When we talk about carbohydrates, we are basically talking about sugars and starches. These provide the body with something essential for daily activity... energy. Most importantly, they provide the brain with the energy it needs to keep functioning.

However, the type of carbohydrates that we consume can make a massive impact on health. If we choose simple carbohydrates (i.e. it takes the body a very short time to break them down) we can get a sugar rush fairly quickly but then we tend to crash really quickly. These carbs come in the form of sweets, chocolate, white breads, muffins, fruit etc. This yo-yoing of energy during the day has been linked to weight gain, heart disease and Diabetes.

So what we ideally want is a more complex type of carbohydrate, i.e. ones that take the body a longer time to break down. Complex or slow release carbohydrates generally tend to be found in beans and lentils, nuts and seeds and whole grains and vegetables.

Its simple to switch: choose a good brown bread (i.e. one that looks brown!) rather than a white, cook with brown rice rather than white, choose porridge or muesli rather than the cereal box.