Carbohydrates are important sources of energy for our body. Nevertheless, they are considered to be fattening in various diets. Whether you can eat them with a clear conscience or not depends mainly on the type of energy source you use to meet your daily needs.
While some serve as energy suppliers for vital bodily functions and can even help you lose weight, others mainly cause your blood sugar levels to go crazy. The result is ravenous hunger attacks.
To help you start the day with plenty of energy, we use high-quality carbohydrates in our mueslis that keep you full for a long time.
Discover your favourite Verival muesli
Find out what they are, how many your body needs and which ones are good for you.
What are they actually?
Carbohydrates, along with fat and protein, are among the basic building blocks (or macronutrients) of our food. They and fats are considered to be the most important sources of energy. Incidentally, we use most of the energy we absorb from carbohydrates for basic bodily functions. These include, for example, breathing, heartbeat, brain activity and regulating body temperature.
However, not all carbohydrates are the same. They are categorised into three different groups:
- Simple sugars (monosaccharides): These include glucose and fructose. Since they are the smallest possible form, they are no longer split during digestion. They therefore enter the bloodstream the quickest.
- Disaccharides: disaccharides, or household sugars, include maltose, lactose and granulated sugar. They are water-soluble and are found mainly in sweets. These foods contain hardly any vitamins or minerals. Instead, they are pure energy sources and cause blood sugar levels to rise quickly.
- Complex sugars (polysaccharides): These are mainly found in the form of starch in cereals, potatoes, vegetables and legumes, and are often referred to as complex carbohydrates. Unlike disaccharides, they taste neutral and are not or only slightly water-soluble.
How many carbohydrates do I need?
According to the Austrian Nutrition Society, the daily requirement is 50% of your energy intake. For women, this is about 240 grams, for men, the daily requirement is 300 grams. In addition, it is recommended that about 30% of your food intake comes from fat and about 20% from protein.
The best way to cover your daily requirement is with complex carbohydrates. Why are they the better choice? This can be explained with simple chemistry: in the digestion process, carbohydrates are broken down into individual sugar molecules. The more sugar molecules combine, the more complex the carbohydrates are. Consequently, it also takes longer to break them down into their individual building blocks again. That is why polysaccharides are released into the blood more slowly and the blood sugar level rises only gradually. This means that you stay full longer and have energy for longer. Furthermore, your performance does not drop as quickly.
On the other hand, the digestive process for refined carbohydrates (simple and double sugars) is faster. Consequently, your blood sugar level rises and falls more quickly and you quickly feel hungry again. You also crave sweets – the infamous ravenous hunger attack sets in.
Glycaemic index – what is that?
You may have heard the term glycaemic index used in connection with carbohydrates. In a nutshell, it measures how foods containing carbohydrates affect your blood sugar level.
For example, foods in the group of simple and double sugars have a high glycemic index. They have a strong effect on your blood sugar level. In contrast, foods in the group of complex sugars have a low glycemic index. This means that they do not cause your blood sugar level to rise and fall as quickly.
Is a low-carb diet a good way to lose weight?
Theoretically, we don't need any carbohydrates to survive. Because if the body's own stores are empty, our body draws on the fat stores. It can also convert protein into glucose, i.e. into individual sugar molecules, and thus produce carbohydrates itself. This means that low-carb diets can actually work. The important thing is that you feel comfortable with it.
Low carb breakfast from Verival – try it now
However, low-carb is not recommended as a long-term diet, because extreme diets are difficult to maintain. They may bring about short-term success, but in the long term it is easy to fall back into old patterns. Instead, try to gradually eliminate bad carbohydrates from your diet and replace them with good ones. This way you will feel comfortable in your body in the long term and won't need a diet to achieve it.
Good vs. bad carbohydrates
To ensure that your body is optimally supplied with energy and can perform at its best every day, the majority of your daily needs should be covered with good carbohydrates. That's why we've put together the following table of foods that you can often incorporate into your diet. You'll also find everything you should avoid as much as possible:
| Very good carbohydrates | Good Carbohydrates | Bad Carbohydrates |
| Muesli (sugar-free) & porridge | Wholemeal wheat bread | White bread, bread rolls |
| Wholemeal bread | Whole-grain and basmati rice | Long-grain rice |
| Whole grain pasta | Pasta | Powdered mashed potatoes |
| Bulgur | Couscous, millet | French fries |
| Legumes (lentils, chickpeas, peas) | Potatoes, sweet potatoes | Highly sweetened cereals |
| Milk/Soy Milk | Fruit yogurt | Gummy Bears |
| Salads and vegetables | Dried fruits | Soft drinks such as lemonade or iced tea |
| Fruits such as apples, pears, berries, oranges, kiwis, grapes, apricots | Fruits such as bananas, pineapples, papayas, mangoes, melons | Chocolate Bars |
| Crispbread | Corn and rice waffles | Grape sugar |
| Nuts and seeds | Apple and orange juice | Ice cream |
The aim should therefore be to cover the majority of your daily needs with high-quality carbohydrates. After all, the higher satiation value of complex carbohydrates helps to avoid excessive energy intake. In short, you automatically eat less and can thus maintain or achieve a healthy body weight more easily.
Our tips for more good carbohydrates
We recommend our varied mueslis and porridges as a delicious breakfast full of good carbohydrates. Add fresh fruit and a little milk or soy drink, for example, and you'll start your day with a real energy kick. This not only boosts your brain power, but also keeps you full for longer.
At lunchtime and for dinner, you could try pasta dishes with wholemeal pasta, fresh bulgur salad with crunchy vegetables of your choice, or this delicious Buddha bowl with chickpeas and our organic pumpkin and tomato porridge.
And if you want to avoid bad carbohydrates but can't do without sweet snacks, our healthy coconut-apricot energy balls are just the thing for you.
