When I look at most of my clients’ food journals, I see lots of starchy carbs. Bread, cereal, chips, crackers, cookies, cupcakes, donuts, muffins, pasta, potatoes, rice and wheat are all white and beige foods. Replacing these bland standards with brightly colored, antioxidant-packed, vitamin and mineral-rich, fibrous, nutrient dense veggies and fruits is one of the easiest ways to improve your health, and it’s super delicious!
Making the change from processed, packaged, white and beige carbs to fresh, vibrant carbs dramatically improves nutrition. A nutrient-poor or empty carb has little value besides providing calories. A calorie is a unit of energy from a food that may lack value besides rapidly expendable energy. For example, pure sugar has calories, but no fiber, vitamins or minerals, let alone antioxidants. Calories are present in all macronutrients. Macronutrients are the big nutrient groups: carbohydrate foods have 4 calories per gram, proteins have 4 calories per gram, fats have 9 calories per gram, and alcohol, which is metabolized like a carb/fat combination, has 7 calories per gram. Most people eat more carbohydrate foods than anything else, so improving carb quality goes a long way because better carbs contain micronutrients.
Micronutrients are vitamins and minerals, the valuable elements within macronutrients. Eating beautiful, brightly colored foods like apples, beets, berries, carrots, greens, mangoes or melons provides calories, vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and fiber. Fresh fruits and veggies are great, and frozen is fabulous and convenient! Let’s talk about how you can brighten up your plate and your health. Cheers! Catherine