The Healthiest Carbs to Add to Your Grocery List

There’s no question that carbs have gotten a bad rap over the years — especially thanks to trendy diet plans like keto. This reputation stems from the fact that the foods with simple, refined carbs are easier to overeat than other good, complex carbs full of fiber and other nutrients.

You’ll find simple carbs in desserts, sugary beverages, condiments, sweetened dairy products, and white, refined grains like rice, pasta, and bread. Foods with sneaky sources of carbs (a.k.a. sugar) are absolutely everywhere — from those aforementioned beverages to energy bars and $16 pressed juices that line supermarket shelves. They're easier to overeat because they get readily absorbed into your bloodstream. What your body doesn’t need, however, gets stored in your peripheral tissues, a.k.a. your fat cells. Doing this regularly over time can lead to weight gain, so that’s why we consider carb-containing foods to be “fattening."

While all carbs break down into glucose, the best carbs for your health are the ones you’ll eat in their closest-to-nature state as possible: vegetables, fruit, pulses, legumes, unsweetened dairy products, and 100% whole grains, like brown rice, quinoa, wheat, and oats. They contain varying amounts of fiber, the beneficial fuel that helps our body’s probiotics to survive and thrive. Dairy products also provide protein in addition to carbs from the naturally occurring sugar lactose.

So how many carbs do we really need? The USDA/DHHS Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2015-2020 recommends that we consume about half of our total calories for the day in the form of carbs. And the more we can choose nutrient-dense foods, the easier it is to actually feel satisfied — and want less of the not-as-nutritious carbs that find their way into our day in sneaky ways. Here’s my list of the healthiest carbs to add to your grocery cart ASAP