According to the FDA...Carbohydrates are essential to our bodies and provide energy, vitamins, minerals and fiber. One gram of carbohydrates equals 4 calories. They should comprise the largest percentage of your diet, about 45 to 65 percent of your total calories. A healthy diet will consist of plenty of complex carbohydrates such as those found in whole wheat bread, whole-grain cereals, rice, beans, pasta, potatoes, peas and yams.
I completely agree. I think some people are just confused on good carbs vs bad carbs. I actually do great on high carb diets (like the Dr.McDougall plan).
The government has always emphasized a carb-heavy diet (e.g., take a look at the previous food pyramid).
I like carbs and would never consider giving them up. However, I do believe that some folks do much better on a lower carb diet. My sister is one of them. She is able to control cravings and build muscle much better when she eliminates simple carbs and emphasizes protein and complex carbs.
The government has always emphasized a carb-heavy diet (e.g., take a look at the previous food pyramid).
I like carbs and would never consider giving them up. However, I do believe that some folks do much better on a lower carb diet. My sister is one of them. She is able to control cravings and build muscle much better when she eliminates simple carbs and emphasizes protein and complex carbs.
Me too. Truthfully, I really need to cut out (or severely limit) simple carbs in general because it makes a huge difference in how I feel. I currently only calorie cycle for weight loss. But I tend to stick to proteins, fruits, veggies. As much as I get bored when I stick to high protein, fruits, and vegetables, I feel 100% better physically. My mood is more even and I have very low appetite. Today was my high day and I allowed for more simple carbs than usual and I feel crappy.
I want to add that it's more likely I will "severly limit" rather than cut out simple carbs because I cannot imagine, nor will I accept, never being able to eat chocolate or cake again. However, these treats need to be limited to once a week or every other week because they make me feel yucky!
I also used to believe that a healthy diet had to be a high-carb diet. When my doctor recommended a low-carb diet because of my metabolic issues, quite frankly I was extremely skeptical, especially when he warned not to go too low, but couldn't tell me what too low meant.
I started reading and experimenting and was shocked to discover that I do best on a moderately low-carb diet, that is extremely low in grains. Not so low that I get light-headed and irritable (I learned in high school andcollege that on an Atkins induction carb level I never recover from "induction flu"), but no more than two servings of grains/breads/starches and no more than four servings of fruit (and lots and lots of nonstarchy veggies - veggies from which most of the carbohydrates are fiber which is undigestible for humans so none of those carbs get used by the body -they exit completely intact - which is why those carbs/calories do not "count" to low-carbers, and some calorie counters).
At first I was extremely reluctant to drastically reduce grains, after all I thought they were a "required food group," and then I started reading ancestor, paleo and aboriginal diets and learned that grains probably did not compose a significant part of human diet for 95% of our history. When humans started eating a greater percentage of carbohydrates after transitioning from hunting and gathering to farming - humans became shorter and more prone to arthritis, dental problems and other health issues. Life spans increased because of the less dangerous lifestyle, but lifestyle diseases also increased. Longer lives, but not necessarily healthier ones.
I was extremely surprised at my own health changes when I began drastically cutting grain and high-carb foods (even the "good ones"). My autoimmune disease went into partial remission (many of the books I'd read on autoimmune issues suggested trying a low-grain or at least a low-gluten-grain diet, so I figured it was worth a shot).
Most of the research that has been used to support the government's endorsement of large amounts of whole grains, only compared whole grain consumption to consumption of processed carbs. That tells us that whole grain and good carbs are superior to processed carbs, but it really doesn't tell us whether high-carb whole grain diets are superior to low-carb diets especially low-carb diets high in undigestible carbs (that is fiber from vegetables and low-sugar fruits).
Personally, I don't think there is a universally healthy diet. I think diets are only healthy within the context of an individual's own unique situation - within the context of their unique genetic and lifestyle factors. A couch potato probably needs fewer carbs than an athlete.
I was shocked to discover that the diet I feel healthiest on (not only having more energy and feeling generally better, but also having fewer health and pain issues, but also getting a beautiful complexion for the first time since puberty, and experiencing a partial remission of my autoimmune disease) a relatively low-carb diet.
I've met an amazing number of people here on 3FC and IRL, who have similar experiences. I'm not ready to say that everyone needs a lower-carb diet, but I think it is very clear that not everyone does well on a high-carb diet, even when all the carbs are coming from "good, whole" sources.
Hardest for me to limit was fruit. I didn't want to admit that fruit was stalling my weight loss. There's no way that I would give up fruit completely, but unlimited fruit isn't an option for me, because I can easily eat 1000 calories just in fruit if I don't limit it - and 1000 extra calories are going to cause weight gain no matter where the calories are coming from.
The primal blueprint is grain-free, and still promotes a carbohydrate intake of 100ish grams per day. Sure, carbs can be healthy, but you can get more than enough from vegetables, and low-sugar fruits. The sugars in produce are more often than not balanced with a higher fiber content for stabilization. Nature's pretty neat that way.
I'm one of the folks who find that they can only sustain a healthy lifestyle while eating a relatively grain and fruit free (and low carb) diet that includes lots of veggies and strictly controlled legumes. I do eat berries on occasion, but little other fruit.
Regarding the fruit, we often forget that most fruit in the grocery stores bear little nutritional resemblance to the varieties found in nature (and in human history, and then only seasonally). We all think of vitamin C when we think of oranges, but sadly commercial varieties often have little these days. The amount of sugar, specifically fructose (which is really pretty awful for you), has been jacked up to make them more marketable.
Sadly, we need to think twice about even the foods which have been enshrined in our society to equate with healthy eating. And, like others have said, unfortunately, a lot of government nutritional messages are influenced by Agribusiness.
I agree with everything I've read on this post, and this is exactly in line with the BFC diet plan that I've been following. The book makes exactly the same points as above about how sugar - even fructose and lactose - influences insulin procuction. The plan limits all sugars to 15 g per day and only allows 6 servings of complex carbs/day with a serving being 20 g. It's very easy to follow, and the good part is that when you eliminate sugar (especially artificial sweeteners) your food cravings disappear. There is a site for BFC under "Other Low Carb diets" on this site. Thanks
About 2 weeks ago, I cut carbs from 180+ grams a day to 100 grams. It was not too difficult to do. My blood glucose readings went down dramatically: from around 100 to 75-80. I did not make any other changes. I think I need to continue with the lower carb approach.
I'm one of the folks who find that they can only sustain a healthy lifestyle while eating a relatively grain and fruit free (and low carb) diet that includes lots of veggies and strictly controlled legumes. I do eat berries on occasion, but little other fruit.
Regarding the fruit, we often forget that most fruit in the grocery stores bear little nutritional resemblance to the varieties found in nature (and in human history, and then only seasonally). We all think of vitamin C when we think of oranges, but sadly commercial varieties often have little these days. The amount of sugar, specifically fructose (which is really pretty awful for you), has been jacked up to make them more marketable.
Sadly, we need to think twice about even the foods which have been enshrined in our society to equate with healthy eating. And, like others have said, unfortunately, a lot of government nutritional messages are influenced by Agribusiness.
wow? not to eat fruit at all?? I couldn't do that. Think of all the nutrients are missed. But we all have to do what feels good to us!
wow? not to eat fruit at all?? I couldn't do that. Think of all the nutrients are missed. But we all have to do what feels good to us!
Unless you consider sugar a nutrient, there really aren't any nutrients in high sugar fruits that can't be found in vegetables and low-sugar fruits and fruits that we consider vegetables.
Yoyoma isn't talking about eliminating berries or nonsweet fruits like rhubarb (which is botanically a vegetale) or low-carb fruits (the ones we consider vegetables - like zucchini and all low-carb summer squashes, bell peppers, hot peppers, tomatoes, eggplant, grean beans, snap peas...)
Most modern fruits (and many vegetables) have had much of the fiber bred out of them, and drastically higher levels of sugar bred into them. So they don't very much resemble the wild or natural fruits and vegetables they were cultivated from. A modern apple has a lot more sugar than heirloom varieties popular even 100 years ago (which were many times sweeter than wild apples of 10,000 years ago).
Compared to wild fruits, cultivated fruits and vegetables are obscenely high in sugar and low in fiber. By choosing non-sweet and less-sweet fruits/vegetables rather than the sweetest ones, the only nutrient you have to miss out on is sugar.
Eliminating the highest sugar fruits doesn't prevent you from getting those other nutrients in lower sugar packages. Instead of getting lycopene from watermelon, you can get it from red bell pepper or tomato (both botanical fruits, but probably not what yoyoma was referring to). Instead of getting vitamin C from high sugar fruits, you can get it from less seet sources such as bell pepper and rhubarb.
If you eat a wide variety of low-sugar, high-fiber plant foods (choosing lots of colors) there's no nutrient you'll miss by avoiding the ones that are highest in sugar.
To me, it makes sense that a higher carb diet would be recommended and there are efforts to recommend whole grains vs just any carbs. The primary source of energy for humans is glucose which comes from carbs. Sure you can use less efficient pathways to utilize fat and protein as energy but our bodies preferred energy is glucose.
Also, most non-western countries eat high carb diets with little issue of obesity and diabetes so it doesn't necessarily mean carbs are bad. Sugar, processed carbs and I'd also say mixed with a high fat diet is not a good thing.
I eat a high carb diet, history of diabetes in the family but yet I am ok healthwise other than obesity which has been with me for a lifetime.
I think the low/high- carb debate varies from person to person.
About 50-75% of my daily calories come from "carbs," but mostly from fruits and vegetables (and some from grains, but not many).
I could probably do a low-carb diet...if I gave up running, cycling, swimming, etc. My body just does not function, exercise-wise, if I don't have carbs, but I recognize that everyone is different. However, I don't know any runners/triathlete's who do low-carb diets...
Very Cool Info On Carbs!!!! ****
But we all have to do what feels good to us!
