In the world of nutrition there are an endless number of dietary beliefs pertaining to what we should eat. However, hopefully we can all agree upon one thing - plants are pretty darn good for us!
It’s recommended that you include a wide variety of plants within your dietary pattern, aiming for ~30 different types consumed throughout the week. Doing so will provide a wealth of health benefits including a high micronutrient intake, diversity of fibre types, as well as sufficient complex carbohydrate consumption - all of which combine to help human beings thrive!
Take note of the above infographic which illustrates the carbohydrate, fibre, and caloric content of various grains, vegetables and fruits per 100g raw weight serving.
Depending on your total energy requirements and satiation levels, you can mix and match varying portions of these to meet your caloric needs, consume sufficient dietary fibre, and have diversity in your diet! For example, if your caloric intake is fairly high, it may be strategic to have larger servings sizes of grains in comparison to that of fruit, to ensure you consume enough energy without copious food volume and fibre intake. For example, 100g of raw weight oats (cooked) and topped with 100g of banana, which would be 70g carb total, 12g of fibre and 420 calories. On the flip side, if energy intake is relatively low, perhaps it would be strategic to consume 60g oats with 200g of strawberries - which would be 38g carb, 11g fibre and 240 calories. In both scenarios an individual is consuming a variety of plant diversity at breakfast and obtaining nutrition from different sources with similar total fibre content. However, in the second option, food volume is higher to promote greater satiation, despite being almost 50% different in caloric content!
Let us know, what are your favourite carbohydrate sources?