No-one can deny that the natural types are the best carb foods. Examples of these include barley, beans, potatoes, oats, rice, yams, and other vegetable. Most nutritionists agree that natural carbs picked from the ground or grown off a tree are some of the best carb foods you can eat.

To get the fiber, protein, minerals and other nutrients that help support your body you want to eat the best carb foods which are never refined or processed. Foods like white rice or white bread have been refined until they lose all of their goodness. For alternatives, choose whole-grain or whole-wheat breads and brown rice, these would be the best carb foods. You can also substitute whole-wheat pasta for white pasta.

If your goal is drop pounds off your body, or even to simply have more energy and feel better, the best carb foods to eat are anything but refined or highly processed carbs. When you consume these carbs they are digested quickly, causing your blood sugar levels to peak resulting in an insulin spike promoting fat storage in your body.

The best carb foods are high in fiber too. Green vegetables such as lettuce, broccoli, greens beans and asparagus would class as fibrous carbs. When losing weight these are the best carb foods to eat as they contain lots of fiber. Fiber fills you up quickly and promotes healthy digestion. These carbs also contain a large range of minerals and vitamins which benefit your body, and are low in calories too. This means you can have as many of these fibrous carbs as you like and are unlikely to overeat.

You can also refer to the glycemic index, or GI, values for another way to determine what the best carb foods are. These indicate how much of effect the foods have on your blood sugar. The best carb foods usually have lower GI value, which mean the nutrients are absorbed slower into the body and your blood sugar doesn’t peak which causes a huge release of insulin. High GI foods, on the other hand, often have the opposite effect.

Examples of low GI foods include sugar-free yoghurt, grapefruit, red lentils, butter beans, fettucine pasta and wholemeal spaghetti. These are some of the best carb foods you can eat. High GI foods would include white rice, baguettes, corn flakes and jelly beans. Without a shadow of a doubt, these are anywhere near as healthy as the best carb foods mentioned in this article.

Contrary to popular thought, carbs are not all bad for you and do not make you fat unless you consume high amounts, like any other foods. The main energy source for your body is carbs and the best carb foods are very good for you.