complex carbohydrate

What: Carbohydrates come in two forms-sugar and complex carbohydrates. Sugar is a small molecule. Simple sugars have six carbon molecules. Think of a sugar molecule as a boxcar. A disaccharide is two linked boxcars. Starch, or complex carbohydrate, is like a train, with dozens of boxcars linked together. Similarly, protein is a long molecule, like a freight train. The smaller molecules making up the boxcars of the protein train are called amino acids. Eight of the 22 amino acids are essential, which means that they cannot be produced by the body and must be eaten in the diet.

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Date: May 10 2012 4:11 PM

What: Complex carbohydrates are polymers of sugars, often glucose. They digest much more slowly than pure glucose because of their large size and composition. Visually, a complex carbohydrate is like a string of pearls and a glucose is like a single pearl earring. To get a sense of how this size difference affects blood glucose levels; Image dropping a 30 pearl necklace on the floor; the necklace stays in one piece. Now imagine dropping 30 pearl earrings on the floor. The 30 earrings will explode over a wide area. This is what is occurring in your blood when you are constantly eating high-glycemic index foods; it is a constant explosion of glucose into your blood that stresses your pancreas to produce insulin to lower your glucose levels.

Writer: mattyflynn

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Date: Jun 19 2010 12:35 AM