There's a lot of talk of "carbs" these days. When using this term, most people are thinking about the grain based foods like bread, pasta, rice and couscous, together with potatoes.

However, while some foods do only contain small amounts, the vast majority of what we eat contains carbohydrates. Vegetables, fruit, yoghurt, nuts, seeds, milk, biscuits, lentils, tofu, crackers, olives, avocado, cakes, jam, chick peas, lollies, apple pie - all of these foods contain carbohydrates. In fact, the only foods which don't contain carbohydrates are meat, fish and oils.

Carbohydrates are important to us, as they are the primary source of energy for our bodies. They provide essential fuel to our brains, and are the main source of fuel for our muscles. We use carbohydrate to fuel the functioning, movement and activity of our bodies. Every time a muscle contracts, every time your heart beats, every time you speak or smile or think about something, you are using carbohydrates.

So we all need carbohydrates and we need them every day.

However, carbohydrates are easy to overeat. This is true of all carbohydrates, but particularly refined and high GI carbohydrates. If you follow a meal with a handful of lollies or jelly babies it won't make you feel any more full, however it can add several hundred kilojoules to your meal. And over time this can lead to weight gain.

While you don't need to cut carbohydrates out completely, most people benefit from limiting refined carbohydrates, trying to switch to more wholegrain carbs and cutt ing back on their overall kilojoule intake by eating more vegetables.