25/09/2023
🍌 NOT ALL CARBS WERE CREATED EQUAL 🍚
If you have high energy needs, choosing denser carbohydrate sources can be very helpful e.g. rice contains twice the carb content of potatoes per 100g portion. Aiming to get your carb quota from potato may therefore be challenging, so opting for rice or cous cous works well in this instance.
The reverse is also true - if you are on a lower carb diet and wishing to increase the volume of your meals, potatoes may provide more bulk for less carbs and calories.
🍓 Berries are actually very low carbohydrate compared to most other fruit. Dried fruit and fruit juice are more condensed options which didn’t make it in the graph, but contain 65g and 8g carbs respectively. Starchier veg like peas, corn and pumpkin can be good options for including colourful veg for people with high energy needs, instead of filling up on salads, however, the carb content is still relatively low so I wouldn’t generally call them each a ‘carb’ food like some people do.
Cereals and simple sugars that contain practically 100% carbohydrate are great additions to meals and snack when you need to add carbs with minimal volume. They also work well as pre-training options, containing virtually no fibre, fat and protein, enabling faster digestion and utilisation.
This comparison is based on weight which helps to compare based on the general ‘heaviness’ of the food, however, does not correlate completely to volume, as some foods may be less dense in general than others. The other components in each food may also impact the satiety and fullness you feel from eating them (fibre, fat, protein). Foods are likely to be eaten in usual serving sizes, so 100g of rice is pretty normal, however 100g of honey is not. Liquids such as milk appear very light on in carbs, but 100g = 100mL which is a relatively small amount in terms of ease of consumption.
I’ll do future comparison posts to set it out from a different point of few, but hope this is very helpful regardless 🙌
What is your favourite carb? 🤩
