3 Quick and Easy Rules for Picking Good Carbohydrates

Carbohydrates are a vital part of your diet! No matter what the latest diet craze is, it's an inescapable fact that carbohydrates provide the body with essential nutrients and other substances that you cannot do without... some of which you could die without!

FACT: You CAN eat carbohydrates AND lose weight. You just have to know which ones to eat, and which to avoid.

Some carbohydrates will even help to speed up weight loss!

The term carbohydrate covers a vast range of foods, from fruit to bread, from cakes to vegetables and sweets to rice and other cereals.

I could give you all the science and lists and charts to show you how to choose the best carbohydrates to have on your plate, however, THIS article is about quick and easy, so... here are 3 quick and easy rules for picking good carbohydrates for your plate.

You can use them all together, or just pick the one you find easiest to remember. They all work just fine!

RULE ONE: Did Someone Have To Do Something To Make This Food?

If the answer is YES, try to stay away. If the answer in NO, help yourself!

Food in it's natural, unprocessed state will have less impact on your blood sugar levels, giving you much less chance of triggering your fat storing hormones. Food that's had something done to it breaks down more quickly in the stomach, causing your blood sugar levels to rise too quickly. Your body reacts to clear the sugar and stores it out of the way as fat! This even applies to cooked food, so if you have a choice between cooked and raw, choose raw! (If it's SAFE to do so!)

RULE TWO: Juicy, Squishy And The Wetter The Better!

If the food you are about to pick up is DRY (e.g. bread), have as little as possible or none at all. If it's squishy, juicy, wet or similar (e.g. watermelon), go for it!

Dry foods are more calorie dense than wet ones. By this I mean that bread has more calories per square inch than the same amount of melon does.

Water has no calories, and the more water that is present in the food, the less room there is for calories! So you can eat more of the wetter foods and not go over your carbohydrate limit than you can with dry foods.

RULE THREE: Is It Colourful?

If you look at a fruit and vegetable display, it's beautifully coloured. If you look at a plate of rice, bread, pasta and potato, what colour do you see? Magnolia?

Always go for the bright colours, and try to stay away from the bland. Foods that are good for us are naturally attractive to encourage us to eat them!

BEWARE: Humans are wise to this fact, so if you see something that is a colour it shouldn't be, stay away! Blue icing is not natural... don't be silly! If you're not sure, use RULE ONE: Did someone have to do something to make this food?

And that's it! 3 simple rules that are easy to apply, to help you make better decisions on the run. Remember, we do need carbohydrates in our diet... but we also need to be as sensible about which ones we choose to eat as we are with the rest of our diets.

Joanne Milsom is a leading Personal Trainer and Diet Coach who has helped thousands of people achieve their goals over the last decade. She is the author of the book Dumbells Are A Girl's Best Friend and creator of The 8 Week Diet Programme.

If you're looking to lose weight, you can find more information about The 8 Week Diet here: http://www.8weekdiet.co.uk or you can contact Joanne directly at info@8weekdiet.co.uk