Carbohydrates are the main source of fuel for your body, making them an important part of your everyday diet. Adequate carbohydrate intake gives you energy for your workout and is essential for normal brain function. Almost all foods provide carbohydrates, with meat, eggs and some types of seafood being the only exceptions.
Carbohydrates break down into glucose, their simplest form, and are utilized for immediate energy. Simple carbohydrates are sugars, such as fruit sugar, or fructose; milk sugar, or lactose; and white table sugar, or sucrose. Simple carbs convert directly into glucose in your small intestine and instantly absorb through intestinal walls. Complex carbs are branched starch molecules. Starch takes longer to metabolize in your gut. When you chew, saliva surrounds starch molecules and breaks them down into smaller maltose molecules. Once maltose, a simple carbohydrate, reaches your small intestine, enzymes break it down further into glucose molecules. From there, glucose absorbs directly into your bloodstream. Since simple carbs digest quickly, they cause your blood glucose to quickly spike, whereas starches may take a while longer to affect your glucose levels.
Energy storage
Your system automatically uses the glucose it needs right away to supply instant energy and then stores the rest as glycogen in your liver and muscles. Glycogen is a complex polysaccharide carbohydrate that quickly converts back to glucose when carbohydrates are not immediately available. Your body stores enough glycogen to sustain about two hours of vigorous exercise, according to The President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports.
Carbohydrates in food
Most of your daily calories, between 45 and 65 percent, need to come from carbohydrates to provide enough energy to support everyday functions. Carbohydrates have 4 calories per gram, so if you normally follow a 2,000-calorie diet, you need 225 to 325 grams of carbohydrates each day. Single servings of grain foods, including one slice of bread, a half-cup of mashed potatoes or one-third cup of pasta, provide 15 grams of carbohydrates, the American Dietetic Association reports. A small 4-ounce piece of fruit also has about 15 grams of carbohydrates, while 1-cup of raw non-starchy vegetables, such as spinach and lettuce, offer less than 5 grams of carbohydrates. Milk and yogurt contribute to your daily carbohydrate requirement, offering around 12 grams per 8-ounce serving.
Regulartiy
Not all carbohydrates provide energy. Fiber is a complex type of carbohydrate that you need in your diet everyday, but it does not break down like other carbohydrates. Instead, fiber passes through your gut, relatively intact, and helps keep you regular. Soluble fiber, from fruits and oats, attracts water and creates a thick sludge. As the sludge passes through, it slows digestion and allows vitamins and minerals to absorb through your intestines. Insoluble fiber, found in vegetables and whole-grain foods, sweeps through your gut like a broom and makes your stools soft and bulky. Both types of fiber are equally important in your diet. You need 14 grams of total fiber for every 1,000 calories in your diet, explains the Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2010. Based on an average 2,000-calorie diet, you need 28 grams of fiber each day.
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