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With obesity rates in Britain soaring and nearly a quarter of adults now classed as clinically obese, nutritional awareness has never been so important.

There is lots of confusion when it comes to carbohydrates and diet. Experts recommending; low carb, high carb, no carb, complex carbs, net carbs...... and the list goes on.

Carbohydrates or carbs for short are one of the most difficult food types to fully understand because so many foods- some very good for you, and some not - fall under the same umbrella. They include fruits, vegetables, grains, a can of fizzy drink, a donut, or a bowl of corn flakes, for example.

When it comes to staying lean and healthy are carbs ally or enemy?

A study by the American Journal of Epidemiology on 'How Carbohydrates & Obesity are Linked' found it is the kind of carbs you eat -not the amount - that determines your risk of obesity.

What researchers need to do is start differentiating between "good" and "bad" carbs. Some researchers are already doing that, but many still fail to consider the difference. Carbs can be classified in the following groups: complex, simple, starch, fibre, sugars, refined, and unrefined.

So for example:

Vegetables would be in groups; complex, fibre, and unrefined. White pasta would be in complex, starch and refined. Brown rice would be in complex, starch and unrefined. Fizzy cola would be in groups simple, sugar and refined.

Confusing huh?

It is actually not that difficult to know what carbs you should and shouldn't be eating. The best classification to go by is the two groups, "good" unrefined and "bad" refined carbs.

Never before have most of us eaten so many refined carbs.

A refined carb refers to foods where machinery has been used to remove the high fibre bits (the bran and the germ) from the grain. White rice, white bread, pasta made from white flour, all processed foods(cakes, biscuits etc), sugary cereals, drinks and sugar are all examples of refined carbs.

What have been "refined" out of these processed carbs are all the beneficial nutrients that nature originally put into them. The bran, the fibre, and most of the vitamins and minerals have been stripped away, leaving a bland, white, longer-lasting and shelf-stable product. For example white flour has only 20 percent of the vitamins and minerals and 25 percent of the fibre of the original whole wheat kernel.

Why are refined carbs so bad for you?

Any meal or snack high in refined carbohydrates causes a rapid rise in blood glucose. So to compensate for this your body secretes the hormone insulin into your bloodstream, which lowers your blood sugar. Insulin is essentially a storage hormone that helps you store the excess calories from carbohydrates in the form of fat in case of famine. Basically high insulin levels means your body will be less likely to use fat as fuel and more likely to store it, where you don't want it!

Dr. David Ludwig, who treats childhood obesity at Boston Children's Hospital, says that highly processed refined carbohydrates and refined sugars are causing hormonal changes that "drive hunger, cause overeating, and increase the risk of diabetes and heart disease."

The fluctuations in blood sugar can give you highs and lows which may cause brain fogginess, fatigue and depression. You might get a great hit of pleasure eating that donut but later you may find yourself feeling sluggish or even a bit down. Due to the processed nature of refined carbs your body does not recognise them in the gut, and finds them hard to digest which can lead to bloating and stomach cramps. IBS Irritable bowel syndrome can often be caused by over consumption of refined carbs.

So now you know how bad refined carbs are, what they do to your body and that the key seems to be to keep glucose and insulin levels low. So what changes can you make to bring about the best results for you?

Well keeping insulin levels low and achieving your ideal weight is much simpler than you think. Trouble is we are bombarded with diet and weight loss info and products that confuse the hell out of us. By avoiding processed foods and refined carbohydrates you can keep your insulin levels low and maintain a healthy weight.

So what carbohydrates should you eat?

Think natural!

It's the unrefined natural carbohydrates that should replace the processed, refined and sugar carbohydrates. Your carbohydrates should come from foods such as, fresh organic fruit, vegetables, salads and healthy grains like; organic brown rice, Quinoa, Amaranth, millet, buckwheat, oats and rye bread. All of these foods are in their natural state as nature intended.

Unfortunately you just can't seem to get away from refined carbs.

At a restaurant- 'Bread sir/madam?' Nearly always white and so hard to resist when you're hungry before the meal arrives.

At a dinner party- 'Oooh I've made a lovely (white) pasta dish AND garlic (white) bread' you've been invited for dinner; it would be rude not to eat it!

At the hotel breakfast bar- Emmm? Shall I have special K (yes special K is refined!), cheerios or corn flakes this morning? You've got to eat something your meeting starts in half an hour and could last till lunch.

Even at the gym- 'Try one of our high energy (High refined sugar!) drinks to give you a POWER workout!' Must be good if it makes my workout powerful!

These situations will pop up all the time but with willpower and planning you can deal with them and stay healthy. At the restaurant be strong and say no thankyou to the white bread and ask the waiter if they have any brown, if they don't skip the bread and look forward to your meal. At the hotel be prepared and take breakfast with you, some nuts and a couple of pieces of fruit is an easy option. At the gym, that's easy, drink water and ignore the energy drink hype. So what about at the dinner party when you really have no control and you don't want to upset the hosts? Skip the garlic bread and have a little pasta, if you are eating well 90% of the time a little deviation here and there will not hurt you.

You don't have to deprive yourself either, there is a healthy alternative to all refined carbohydrates and great ways of using them to make delicious meals, here is some ideas:

- Swap your white bread for whole wheat or Rye breads, I like toasted German rye. - Try brown basmati rice instead of white, it is not as nutty as regular brown rice, in fact you might not even notice the difference. - Try natural herbal and fruit teas instead of squash, fizzy drinks and juices. If you don't like hot drinks like me make a big batch of tea and keep it in the fridge. - Swap sugar for Stevia, a natural leaf sweetener from south America, it takes a little bit of getting used to but after a couple of weeks you'll love it! -Challenge yourself to getting five portions of fruit and vegetables a day. Keep a record of your success. -'What about my coco-pops!' I hear you shout. Try this; add one beaten egg, a mug of oat milk, half a mug of oats, two to three teaspoons of organic raw coco powder and a pinch of stevia to a saucepan and heat until it thickens. Not coco-pops exactly but a great tasting chocolate porridge. You could even add some berries or a teaspoon of nut butter.

A client of mine Alan, a 55 year old retired business man needed to lose a lot of body fat! Over the years those business lunches and long days sitting at the laptop had taken their toll. Knowing his health was at stake he challenged his friend to a six month charity weight loss competition. Alan was always reluctant to make changes to his diet and had tried heavy exercise to lose weight in the past and failed. Trouble was he was fighting a losing battle against a diet high in refined carbohydrates. With the will to win Alan finally gave in and made the switch to natural carbohydrates for the competition. In the six months Alan lost 3 stone of body fat, raised a load of money for charity and won the competition. Now that's what I call an achievement! With simple diet changes Alan saw improvements in his skin, hair, energy levels and mood. He loves cooking and creating great tasting healthy meals and doesn't miss his old diet one bit.

There is a lot out there to confuse us about carbohydrates but remember, think natural! Stick to this simple rule and you can't go wrong. Get creative in the kitchen and see what healthy alternatives and meals you can create. With the switch to natural carbohydrates your moods, sense of vitality and weight will improve dramatically, go on try it!

Copyright (c) 2007 Mark Lawrence