What are the bad carbs to eat?

Here are 11 foods to avoid when you’re trying to lose weight.

French Fries and Potato Chips. Whole potatoes are healthy and filling, but french fries and potato chips are not.

Sugary Drinks.

White Bread.

Candy Bars.

Most Fruit Juices.

Pastries, Cookies and Cakes.

Some Types of Alcohol (Especially Beer)

Ice Cream.

15 Best Carbs to Eat for Weight Loss

Barley. 1/2 cup cooked pearl barley: 193 calories, 44g carbs, 6g fiber, 3.5g protein.

Whole-Wheat Pasta. 1 cup cooked: 174 calories, 37.2g carbs, 3.9g fiber, protein 7.5g.

Avocado. ½ medium avocado: 160 calories, 8.5g carbs, 7.5g fiber, 2.0g protein.

Green Peas.

Whole-Wheat Bread.

Black Beans.

Oatmeal.

Quinoa.

Here are 14 foods to avoid or limit on a low-carb diet.

Bread and Grains. Bread is a staple food in many cultures.

Some Fruit. A high intake of fruits and vegetables has consistently been linked to lower cancer and heart disease risk (5, 6, 7).

Starchy Vegetables.

Pasta.

Cereal.

Beer.

Sweetened Yogurt.

Juice.

Good Carbs:

Vegetables: All of them.

Whole fruits: Apples, bananas, strawberries, etc.

Legumes: Lentils, kidney beans, peas, etc.

Nuts: Almonds, walnuts, hazelnuts, macadamia nuts, peanuts, etc.

Seeds: Chia seeds, pumpkin seeds.

Whole grains: Choose grains that are truly whole, as in pure oats, quinoa, brown rice, etc.

While a medium potato has 4 grams of fiber, it packs in 36 grams of carbohydrates, for a total of 32 grams of net carbs. Most of the carbs are starch and only a small amount is sugar. Studies vary, but potatoes average in the 80s, which is a high glycemic index.

Bananas. It’s bananas to think that nature’s perfect portable snack could have ever gotten labeled as bad for you, just because of its carbs and sugar content. “The fruit is a good source of vitamin B6, manganese, potassium, and fiber,” says Henderson.

Here are 15 easy ways to reduce your carb intake.

Eliminate Sugar-Sweetened Drinks.

Cut Back on Bread.

Stop Drinking Fruit Juice.

Choose Low-Carb Snacks.

Eat Eggs or Other Low-Carb Breakfast Foods.

Use These Sweeteners Instead of Sugar.

Ask for Veggies Instead of Potatoes or Bread at Restaurants.

These carbs that get absorbed slowly into our systems, avoiding spikes in blood sugar levels. Examples: whole grains, vegetables, fruits, and beans. We can minimize the health risk of bad carbs by eating fewer refined and processed carbohydrates that strip away beneficial fiber. Examples: white bread and white rice.

Eat: Meat, fish, eggs, vegetables, fruit, nuts, seeds, high-fat dairy, fats, healthy oils and maybe even some tubers and non-gluten grains. Don’t Eat: Sugar, HFCS, wheat, seed oils, trans fats, “diet” and low-fat products and highly processed foods.

Rice is not fattening if you eat it in a small portion. In fact it is a good source of vitamins and minerals. The not so healthy side of white rice in particular, is its high glycemic index that increases the blood sugar level in the body therefore not recommended for people with sugar problems.

Carbs in Bananas. Bananas have 25g carbs per 100g serving (the size of an average medium-sized banana), so you should not consider eating them when on a low carb, ketogenic diet. They’re starchy fruits and will impact blood sugars greatly.

While bread, pasta and sugar are hard-to-resist sources of calories without much in the way of nutrition, other carbohydrate-heavy foods — whole grains, legumes and fruit — are nutrient-rich. And a lot of people report that they feel better and lose weight when they cut out sugar and refined carbohydrates, she says.

In the absence of carbohydrates in the diet your body will convert protein (or other non-carbohydrate substances) into glucose, so it’s not just carbohydrates that can raise your blood sugar and insulin levels. If you consume more calories than you burn from whatever source, you will gain weight.

15 Starchy or Complex Carb Foods

Oatmeal (old-fashioned or Steel Cut)

Yams (almost same as sweet potatoes)

Brown rice (love basmati, a long grain rice)

Sweet potatoes.

Multigrain hot cereal (mix or barley, oats, rye, triticale, and a few others)

White potatoes with skin (glycemic index be damned!)

100% whole wheat bread.

Common simple carbs added to foods include:

raw sugar.

brown sugar.

corn syrup and high-fructose corn syrup.

glucose, fructose, and sucrose.

fruit juice concentrate.

There are much worse things you can eat than plain old potatoes. And just because potatoes contain high-glycemic index carbohydrates doesn’t mean they’re unhealthy, according to Dr. McDougall. Actually, it’s shortsighted to assess a food based on a single quality, like the fact that it’s relatively high in carbs.

Carbohydrates are all about energy and are found in foods like fruits, vegetables, breads, pasta, and dairy products. Your body uses these foods to make glucose, which is your body’s main energy source. Glucose is a type of sugar that can be used right away for energy or stored away to be used later.

Simple carbohydrates are broken down quickly by the body to be used as energy. Simple carbohydrates are found naturally in foods such as fruits, milk, and milk products. They are also found in processed and refined sugars such as candy, table sugar, syrups, and soft drinks.

Here are food groups and a few examples of where you’ll find the most carbs:

Dairy. Milk, yogurt, and ice cream.

Fruit. Whole fruit and fruit juice.

Grains. Bread, rice, crackers, and cereal.

Legumes. Beans and other plant-based proteins.

Starchy Vegetables. Potatoes and corn.

Sugary Sweets. Limit these!

Fiber. Tortillas and bread also have fiber, a type of complex carbohydrate. Even though fiber is a carb, it does not convert into glucose, nor does it add calories to your diet. Corn tortillas and whole-grain bread have more than double the fiber content of flour tortillas and white bread.