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Carbohydrates are your body’s primary source of energy. You need carbs in order for your brain, digestive system, muscles, and organs to function properly. Carbohydrates (or carbs for short) are found in a variety of different foods like fruits, vegetables, grains/flours, breads, pastas, sugar, sweetened drinks, dairy products, cereals, and snack bars. The Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend that 45-65% of your total daily calories come from carbohydrates. 

Food sources of carbohydrates are all ultimately broken down into the simplest sugar, glucose. It doesn’t matter if you got your carbs from a piece of candy or an apple, it’s all going to be broken down into glucose. BUT, there are very important nutritional factors to keep in mind when choosing your carbohydrate sources because they’re not all created equally in terms of nutrients! 

For example, fruits have lots of fiber, vitamins, and minerals that are also very important for your health. Candy or chips on the other hand are considered “empty calorie” foods because they don’t provide many nutrients other than carbohydrates. Your best bet would be to go for the fruit so that you can get some carbs for energy, fiber for the health of your digestive system and to keep you fuller, along with vitamins and minerals for the health of your body as a whole. 

Fiber

• Fiber is a component of carbohydrates that is not able to be broken down by your digestive tract. Fiber is beneficial for digestion because it helps to keep you regular, can help to bulk up stools if you’re struggling with diarrhea, can help to protect you from colon cancer, and it helps to keep you full and satisfied. Fiber is also very beneficial in helping to lower cholesterol levels and protect heart health. Fiber can be found in whole grains like whole wheat breads and cereals, brown rice, quinoa, wild rice, oats, fruits, vegetables, nuts, and seeds. Most Americans get about 10-15 grams of fiber per day, but the optimal amount of fiber is actually between 25-40 grams of fiber per day. You can determine the amount of fiber in a food product by looking at the nutrition label on the back of the box and looking for “Dietary Fiber” or by simply doing a Google search if you are eating something without a nutrition label, like fruits and vegetables.