"Last week I talked about sugar in our diets.  This week, I continue the theme of sugar by discussing the two types of carbohydrates...Simple and Complex.

Simple carbohydrates are the white sugars, brown sugars, powered sugars and the like as well as also white pasta, white potatoes and white flour.

These all break down in the body very quickly into glucose, which is the sugar our brain and muscles and tissues need for energy.  In fact, if you had a tablespoon of white sugar and a tablespoon of potato, the potato would actually cause your blood sugar to go up faster than the white sugar. Potatoes are 100% glucose whereas white sugar is 50% glucose and 50% fructose. The fructose takes a little longer to break down into glucose than the potato does.

Complex carbohydrates, on the other hand, take longer to break down into glucose and are better to eat for controlling blood sugar.  Complex carbohydrates are things like, whole grains, legumes, and vegetables. Eating more of these will help to stabilize your blood sugar or, in other words, will not cause your blood sugar to rise so fast and fall so fast.

Anyone with blood sugar problems should eat many more complex carbohydrates than simple carbohydrates."