Carbohydrate Nutrition Basics - How Foods Fight Cancer

Carbohydrate is the main source of energy in a health-supporting diet. It
is the primary fuel source for the brain and muscles and helps maintain
nervous system function. Normally, your body stores a bit of carbohydrate
in your muscles and liver as glycogen, which acts as a reserve energy
source. Liver glycogen maintains blood glucose levels, but it is soon
depleted if no carbohydrate is consumed. When that happens, your body
can make carbohydrate from amino acids that are drawn from your muscles,
but that means that your muscle mass will dwindle.

There are two types of carbohydrate: simple and complex. The term
simple carbohydrate refers to sugars found in fruits or in concentrated
forms, such as table sugar.

Complex carbohydrate, or starch, is composed of many sugar molecules
joined together. The following are some common foods that are rich
in complex carbohydrate:

■ beans ■ vegetables
■ potatoes ■ whole grains

Generally speaking, you will want to favor foods rich in complex carbohydrate.
For most people, 55–75 percent of daily calories should come
from carbohydrate.