Can someone explain carbs to me?

Look. you need food from the three main food groups i.e.carbohydrates(cereals,rice,potatoes),fruits &vegatables and finally meats.All foods turn to a form of sugar in your body but carbohydrates create more sugar than the other groups so it´s best to limit your intake of carbs to breakfast cereal(preferably one which is in as natural a state as possible). Forget about potatoes and bread. These are killers for fattening people up.Eat as much as you like of the fruits & vegetables.Meats you eat should be mainly grass fed beef. There is an interesting book called "The Makers Diet" which explains this in more detail. Do stay away from added salt, added sugar and soft drinks. Get as much info as you can and use your god given common sense.

first off the main part of your diet should be lean proteins, first, carbs second. the only carbs that can make you gain weight is the carbs in sugar. when you look at the food label, look and see how much of the carbs is sugar. if more than 50% of it is sugar, i'd avoid it. there are two different types of carbs, excluding sugar. you have your fibrous and your starchy carbs. how much you consume is based on your body. you should consume both. if you're not sure, do half starchy and half fibrous. females should consume no less than 100g of carbs/day and males no less than 150g/day. the best source of starchy carbs are the all natural ones, i.e. oatmeal (non-sweetened or packaged), shredded wheat cereal (non sweetened), and kashi cereals, potatoes, yams, brown rice, and other whole wheat/grain products. fibrous carbs consists of: broccolli, lettuce, green beans, collards, etc. for more info, google and consult "burn the fat, feed the muscle" chapters 11 and 12. it's an awesome book! hope this helps!

The answer by helen is very accurate (if complicated for a lay person). Sugar molecules (ribose and deoxyribose) are what hold the RNA and DNA molecules together.

Also, carbohydrates are needed by the brain, kidneys, and red blood cells. This is why hypoglycemia is so lethal.

Also, then notion that carbohydrates are the most fattening nutrients is a myth. The leanest healthy populations in the world eat rice as the primary staple. In addition, fats have more than double the caloric density of carbohydrates.

People who lose weight on low carb diets are losing mostly muscle and water. Any real fat loss is because cutting out carbs is essentially cutting calories.

Here is an article about low carb diets and another about fat loss:

http://www.spartafit.com/articles/low%20carb%20die...

http://www.spartafit.com/main/fat%20loss.php

Carbohydrates or saccharides (Greek σάκχαρον meaning "sugar") are simple molecules that are straight-chain aldehydes or ketones with many hydroxyl groups added, usually one on each carbon atom that is not part of the aldehyde or ketone functional group. Carbohydrates are the most abundant biological molecules, and fill numerous roles in living things, such as the storage and transport of energy (starch, glycogen) and structural components (cellulose in plants, chitin in animals). Additionally, carbohydrates and their derivatives play major roles in the working process of the immune system, fertilization, pathogenesis, blood clotting, and development.

The basic carbohydrate units are called monosaccharides, such as glucose, galactose, and fructose. The general chemical formula of an unmodified monosaccharide is (C·H2O)n, where n is any number of three or greater. Monosaccharides can be linked together in almost limitless ways. Two joined monosaccharides are called disaccharides, such as sucrose and lactose. Carbohydrates containing between about three to six monosaccharide units are termed oligosaccharides; anything larger than this is a polysaccharide. Polysaccharides, such as starch, glycogen, or cellulose, can reach many thousands of units in length. Many carbohydrates contain one or more modified monosaccharide units that have had one or more groups replaced or removed. For example, deoxyribose, a component of DNA, is a modified version of ribose; chitin is composed of repeating units of N-acetylglucosamine, a nitrogen-containing form of glucose

carbs = carbohydrates

theres good carbs and bad carbs

good carbs are complex carbs (those are like whole grain stuff)

bad carbs are simple carbs (those are white bread, regular pasta, etc)

i think they make you gain weight cause complex carbs take longer for your body to process or something but simple carbs dont