Why are good carbs good and bad carbs bad?
1 cup of brown rice is 216 calories, with 45g of carbs and 3.5g of fiber. (fiber/carbs = .077)
1 cup of cooked spaghetti pasta is 220 calories, with 43g of carbs and 3g of fiber. (fiber/carbs = .069)
1 slice of white bread is 120 calories, with 23g of carbs and 1g of fiber. (fiber/carbs = .043)
Then there are glycemic index and glycemic load: 50 and 21 (respectively) for the brown rice, 82 and 21 for the potato, and 46 and 22 for the pasta. In comparison, white bread has a glycemic index of 71 and a glycemic load of 10!
So I know that white bread is "bad carbs" and that brown rice and potatoes are "good carbs" (I'm not sure about pasta!). But WHY? The glycemic index and glycemic load of white bread are lower than a potato...
I am not trying to go "low carb", I just want to understand why "good carbs" are good and "bad carbs" are bad... there has to be something more to it than their "processed-ness", some scientifically-measurable reason why potatoes actually better than white bread... right?
And where does pasta fit into all of this, is it a good carb or a bad carb, and why?
Last edited by kittytoes; 06-21-2015 at 03:51 PM.
Reason: Had glycemic index for brown rice and a potato switched, edited to correct.
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