There are two types of carbohydrates: simple and complex. Simple carbohydrates are composed of relatively few building blocks (for example, glucose molecules) and are therefore broken down quickly and easily. Table sugar, honey, candy, jams and jellies, cakes and pastries are all examples of sources of simple carbohydrates. Usually a person’s body releases enough insulin to clear the sugar from these simple carbohydrates out of the blood and move it into the cells, where it can be used for energy. In a diabetic, however, either there is not enough insulin to get the job done or the insulin is ineffective. The simple carbohydrates break down and flood into the bloodstream. That is why your physician will recommend that you limit simple carbohydrates if you have diabetes.

Complex carbohydrates present another story. These are much larger than the simple carbohydrates because they contain many building blocks Complex carbohydrates are broken down slowly in the intestinal tract, and, as a result, even. with decreased insulin, bleed sugar rises much mere slowly after you have eaten these feeds. Starch found in pasta, bread, cereals, and vegetables are examples of complex carbohydrates. Because these carbohydrates are broken down into their individual glucose units mere slowly than simple carbohydrates, they do net affect the diabetic in the same way. Recently many doctors have recommended that carbohydrates,especially the complex types, scheduled make up 50 percent or mere of the diabetic’s total daily calories. In the past the percentage of carbohydrates in the diabetic’s diet was considerably lower, the difference being made up by a higher percentage of fat in the diet. New there is evidence that diets lower in total fat but with a greater proportion of polyunsaturated fat are helpful in even ting some forms of vascular disease. These facts, together with the knowledge that carbohydrates are net the risk or danger they were once thought to be have greatly changed diets for people who have diabetes.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, July 12th, 2007 at 4:47 am and is filed under Diabetes Care. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.