A lot of people wonder how many carbohydrates it’s okay to eat. My fast answer is that as long as you are eating healthy, natural, unprocessed carbs I wouldn’t worry about it. With all of the nutrients and fiber, those carbs are digested very slowly to give you the best energy to fuel your day. Everything you eat is basically a mix of 3 macronutrients (carb, fat, or protein). As I have covered in a previous post (Where’s the Protein?) and a vlog (Are You Getting Enough Protein), most of us get enough protein without really trying. We also get enough fat- see the last paragraph below. The rest are carbs- and that’s okay!
Even plain rolled oats are made up of 15% Protein, 15% fat and 70% healthy carbohydrate. Surprising, right? Did you know that oats have protein and fat? Black beans contain 22% protein and 4% fat. So, you see that even things we think of as super “starchy” are still providing us with plenty of protein and some fat. The non-starchy veggies like greens and broccoli are about 10% fat with 30-40% protein and 50-60% carb. These numbers reinforce that we tend to get plenty of protein and fat and that we don’t have to panic about eating too many healthy carbs.
Many studies show that lower fat diets tend to correlate with better health in general and lower body fat. A reasonable fat goal could be anywhere from 10-30%. A reasonable protein goal could be 5-20%. A carb goal could be 60-75%. But, again, I wouldn’t worry too much about it. As long as you’re eating a variety of healthy, minimally processed foods, you’ll remain perfectly fabulous. Just eat what makes you feel good!