When you’re trying to eat healthy or lose weight you know to eliminate carbs from your diet.  BUT carbs are what give your body energy.  And did you know that not getting enough carbohydrates will make you sluggish, irritable, and unable to concentrate?  So you need carbs.  But not all carbs are created equally. 

Eating carbs won’t necessarily make you gain weight.

No matter what diet you follow, if you eat too many calories, you’ll gain weight.  And vice versa: if you eat fewer calories, you’ll lose weight.  But the catch is picking the right carbs.  Starchy carbs are high in calories so you must eat less of them.  These include potatoes, rice, pasta, bread, and more.  To help, a serving size of these should be the size of a tennis ball or your fist.

Pasta, bread and rice aren’t the only carbs.

Vegetables, fruit and even dairy foods also contain carbs. But grains tend to pack more than these other foods (although some starchy veggies like potatoes, corn, peas and butternut squash are relatively high in carbs, too).

Just because a bread or cracker is brown doesn’t mean it’s whole-grain.

Many whole-grain products, like oatmeal, are naturally light in color. And manufacturers often add molasses or caramel coloring to foods made with refined grains to make them look like whole-grain products. Pumpernickel bread, for example, isn’t usually whole-grain (neither is rye bread, in case you were wondering). So don’t trust your eyes! The best way to tell if a bread, cereal or cracker is whole-grain is to check the ingredients list.

Discover other things you should know about carbs here.