So that are these "carbs" anyway?

[reynardo]

Please tick *all* that apply, and add anything else in comments.

[Poll #1591168]

Comments

[chaos-crafter.livejournal.com]

Actually, I'd not count them as carbs for ordering sake, but all of them would have reasonable levels of carbs,
But the classification I use is white-carbs (i.e. High GI) which would cover spuds, pasta, bread, couscous, lentils, root veg and rice.

[cheshire-bitten.livejournal.com]

A number of those didn't get ticked because I don't know what they are :)

[reynardo.livejournal.com]

That sounds fair :-) As a matter of curiousity, which ones didn't you know?

[cheshire-bitten.livejournal.com]

grits
watercress
US biscuit

[reynardo.livejournal.com]

US biscuit are like a plain scone. They're often served when you have gravy - very nice to sop up meatjuice with. This is why the Yanks are confused when we offer them a biscuit with a cup of tea.

Watercress is a fine green shoot, a bit like a mung bean shoot but finer. You'll see it at the supermarket with the other green stuff

And Grits are basically like porridge, served as a side-dish with things like fried eggs. I've had them once and liked them, but you can see Moxie's reaction.

Each to their own!

[starduchess.livejournal.com]

Grits are specifically from corn, whereas porridge is from oats.

[panacea1.livejournal.com]

In the US there's a regional thing about grits - they're ubiquitous in the southern US (southeast to mid-Texas) and generally looked at oddly everywhere else.

Real True Southerners eat them with ham or sausage gravy slathered on, which to my mind defeats the purpose. They've got a delicate buttery flavor and a texture somewhat chewier than cream-of-wheat (farina prepared as a porridge, usually for breakfast.)

[starduchess.livejournal.com]

I can't stand the stuff no matter which way you prepare it. And I'm a native Texan!

[emmasee100.livejournal.com]

I'm a chemist, so I note a lot of those things contain high levels of carbohydrate, but I do not include them as carbs (lettuce, tomatoes) for instance.

I used the "if I'm eating for carb week, do I eat it?" definition. So, rice, pasta, potato, etc.

[naturalredhead.livejournal.com]

Pretty much all of those things contain carbohydrates, but carbs are the white things :-P

I did not know what grits were and now I do...

[bast-believer.livejournal.com]

Split pumpkin/squash/zucchini.

Pumpkin and squash are carbs, zucchini is not, we don't think.

I filled this poll out with two friends who are type 2 diabetic.

[starduchess.livejournal.com]

Zucchini is a squash, so are pumpkins.

All squashes are fruit because they have seeds in them just like tomatoes and cucumbers. They do have some carbohydrates but I would not classify them as such, certainly not as high as grains and tubers (potatoes).

[moxie_man]

Mother is type 2, so she'd say all of them to some degree are "carbs", but as others have said, in a restaurant, "carbs" would be the "white" items, aka HIGH CARBS, on your list.

I did not check Grits, 'cause grits ARE NOT suitable for human consumption.

[cheshire-bitten.livejournal.com]

Also while not chemically true I read carbs as "digestable carbs, ie fibre is out, fwiw

[17catherines.livejournal.com]

Of course, there are a couple more which I'd consider carbs on a technical level, but not ordering in a restaurant. But I pretty much count any root vegetable, legume or grain as a carb on the grounds that carbs are those nice things that make you feel full and happy... bean sprouts may technically be carbohydrates just as much as beans are, but they don't *feel* like carbs.

[lirion.livejournal.com]

When talking about carbs I tend to refer to carbs from grains - rice, pasta, bread - or potatoes (category all of their own!) , or legumes, though I'm better with legumes because of the generally higher protein content. The starchier carbs I guess.

It's not that I'm unaware of the others containing carbs, it's just what I think of as the 'category' even though it's not an entirely accurate definition.

[silmaril.livejournal.com]

1. I am not entirely certain what "mung beans" are.
2. Stuff that's more cellulose than not (which _are_ carbs, but that we cannot digest) I left alone.

[panacea1.livejournal.com]

Mung beans - when you find bean sprouts in your Chinese food, they are sprouted from mung beans. One can also find the beans in health food stores, sold for sprouting. They are green, oblong, and somewhat smaller than peas.

[panacea1.livejournal.com]

Obviously, it depends. Usually in the context of restaurant ordering "carbs" would be stuff of the sugar/simple starch nature that diabetics and Atkins Dieters keep close track of. So lettuce is usually not a "carb" in that context. Tomatoes, bean sprouts, green beans, are "iffy" - they've got more sugars and/or starches in them than lettuce, but are still more or less low.

Root veg, squashes (all sorts) and sweet corn (which you didn't list, but which is often on US restaurant menus as a vegetable) are all what I think of as "starchy veg" and would typically be considered "carbs" (and in the protein/veg/starch meal structure could take either the "veg" or the "starch" role). Lentils and other pulses / dry beans also fall in the 'starchy veg' category.

Anything grain-derived that isn't drinkable is going to be a starch (bread and all its bastard children, grits, porridge, couscous, pasta, rice).

[sandypawozbun.livejournal.com]

I voted for all, however I have an unfair advantage: Shade was on a carb free diet for over a year. As in, NO carbs at all. I had no idea tomato had carbs in it until he told me.