Good Carbs, Bad Carbs: What You Need to Know	The Healthy Geezer answers questions about health and aging in his weekly column.	Question:  What exactly is the difference between good carbs and bad carbs?	Answer: Here's the short answer: Good carbs  � or carbohydrates  � are good for you. Bad carbs aren't.    	Carbohydrates that come from white bread white rice pastry sugary sodas and other highly processed foods can make you fat. If you eat a lot of these so-called bad carbs they will increase your risk for disease.	On the other hand the good carbs including whole grains beans fruits and vegetables keep you healthy by providing you with vitamins minerals fiber and many other nutrients. That's why a healthy diet should include good carbs.	Carbohydrates are the most important source of energy for your body. Your digestive system converts carbohydrates into blood sugar (glucose). Your body uses the glucose and stores any extra sugar for when you need it.	Carbohydrates were once grouped into two main categories  � simple and complex. Simple carbohydrates included sugars such as fruit sugar (fructose) corn or grape sugar (dextrose or glucose) and table sugar (sucrose). Complex carbohydrates included everything made of three or more linked sugars. Complex carbohydrates were thought to be the healthiest to eat. Now there are questions about that assumption.	A new system called the glycemic index classifies carbohydrates according to how quickly and how high they boost blood sugar. Foods with a high glycemic index like white bread cause rapid spikes in blood sugar. Foods with a low glycemic index like whole oats are digested more slowly causing a lower and gentler change in blood sugar.	Diets rich in foods that have a high glycemic index have been linked to an increased risk for diabetes heart disease obesity age-related macular degeneration infertility and colorectal cancer. Foods with a low glycemic index help control diabetes and improve weight loss.	However other studies have found that the glycemic index has little effect on health or weight. As a result more research on the glycemic index is needed.	You can't base a diet on the glycemic index alone. Instead use it as a general guide. In the meantime eat foods that have a low glycemic index: whole grains beans fruit and vegetables.	The University of Sydney in Australia maintains an updated searchable database at www.glycemicindex.com that now has almost 1600 entries.	Here are five quick tips about carb consumption from the Harvard School of Public Health:	1. Start the day with whole grains. Try a hot cereal like old-fashioned oats or a cold cereal that has a whole grain topping the ingredients list.	2. Use whole grain breads for lunch or snacks.	3. Bag the potatoes. Instead have brown rice bulgur wheat berries whole wheat pasta or another whole grain with your dinner.	4. Choose whole fruit instead of juice. An orange has twice as much fiber and half as much sugar as a 12-ounce glass of orange juice.	5. Bring on the beans. Beans are an excellent source of slowly digested carbohydrates as well as a great source of protein.	If you would like to read more columns you can order a copy of How to be a Healthy Geezer at http://www.healthygeezer.com/.	All Rights Reserved © 2013 by Fred Cicetti.