How Many Carbs Do We Need?

 According to the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, about half your daily calories should come from carbohydrates. So that’s quite a lot. But, there’s more to it than how many carbs you need — some sources of carbohydrates are better for you than others. What the mean by “carbs” is vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, dairy, eggs, and whole grains.

First, what are carbs? Carbohydrates are mostly found in plants where they provide energy and structure. Sugars, starches, and fibers fall into this category.

And although animals need and consume carbohydrates, you won’t find any carbs in meat, fish or poultry. But you will find carbs in milk and dairy products because they contain lactose, which is also a type of sugar.

This is a good article that was first published by WebMD, but though dairy is a good source of carbs I substitute dairy with a plant based milk like Almond milk or Oat milk, there are several others on the market they may even be better for you then dairy.  

How Many Carbs Do You Need?

Your carbohydrate need can be based on your caloric intake. If you know how many calories you need each day, you can figure out how many grams of carbs you need:

Start by determining your daily calorie need and divide that number in half. That’s how many calories should come from carbohydrates.
Each gram of carbohydrate has four calories. Divide the number you got from the first step by four.
The final number is equal to the amount of carbohydrates in grams you need each day.
For example, a person who eats approximately 2,000 calories per day should take in about 250 grams of carbohydrates (2,000 divided by 2 = 1,000 and 1,000 divided by 4 = 250).

I think that way is too complicated, it's easier to count the carbs by calories, in the example above if you need 2000 calories a day, 1000 calories should come from carbs. This next tips is important. If you eat food in cans or boxes your calorie count will add up fast and you will have to eat less food. This also holds true for restaurant food. If you stick to whole foods, all natural foods, you will be able to eat more food per day and still stick to the 1000 calorie count of your carbs.

Tracking Your Carbohydrate Intake

Find the carbohydrate grams on the Nutrition Facts labels on packaged foods. You’ll find calorie information there too, but be sure to double-check the serving size and number of servings per package.
Use the USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference to calculate carbohydrate amounts for fresh foods. It’s a large database that’s regularly updated.
Keep a food diary to track your information. You can print out your own pages and keep them in a notebook.
Join Calorie Count to track calories, carbohydrates, and all the other nutrients, plus you’ll find suggestions for a healthy diet. They also have a great smart-phone app so you can track your calories when you’re away from your computer.

Which Carbs are Best

This illustration make it easy to choose the best carbs.

Carbohydrates include complex carbohydrates, like starches, and simple sugars such as white sugar, high fructose corn syrup, and honey. As far as plant-based carbs go, choose 100-percent whole grains, and fruits and vegetables for most of your carbohydrates. The standard tip is to ‘make half of your grains whole.’ That way, as long as you eat at least five servings of fruits and vegetables, you’ll add a substantial amount of fiber to your diet.

Of course, you don’t want to consume carbs only. You need protein and fat, just not as much. Balance your carbohydrate choices with protein sources such as lean meat, poultry, eggs, or fish, and some healthy fat such as olive oil, avocado or nuts, and seeds. Protein combined with high-fiber carbs helps keep you feel full between meals. The protein that is recommended by most professionals is seafood and poultry. The fat in these two food groups won’t contain any animal fats.

Watch Out for Sugars

The worst carbohydrates sources may be sugary foods, including things made with sugar, honey, corn syrup or maple syrup. These foods usually have too many calories and little or no nutritional value. Remember, you can't go over the 1000 calories a day so choose wisely. The trick to losing weight is to get the most nutrients possible from every calorie. My calorie intake is 1500 per day. 2000 calories may be too much for you and you won't lose weight. Try 2000 at first and after one month you judge for yourself, you might have to reduce your calories. Not everyone needs the same amount of calories.

Avoid sugary snacks, pastries, sugar-sweetened soft drinks, candy, and cookies. Watch out for heavily processed foods that often contain added sugars, even those that don’t taste sweet. A good rule-of-thumb is “don’t drink your calories”.

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