carbs in my diet page

[jakey]

hi all, looking for some advice on this one. i eat low carb, and follow the primal blueprint to a "t", so to speak. i feel great, i look great, i'm in great shape (pardon me for tooting my own horn). i'm not really looking to change anything, but i'm not sure how most folks here stay in mark's 100-150 carb zone. i'm far, far lower than that. energy is fine, and i feel great, so again, i'm not looking to shake things up, i'm just curious.

i really only eat berries for fruits. i don't mess with other stuff, trying to keep my fructose low. i don't eat sugar, or strachy veggies. how on earth would i even begin to approach mark's 100 - 150 level, without eating tons of fruit, or some sweet potatoes? is it even possible?

even adding in an apple or a banana every day, i still wouldn't get close to that. and i usually have a big salad for lunch, and always have some veggies with dinner. i'm not veggie-phobic.

i know that yogurt & balsamic vinegar have more carbs, and i don't really eat much of those. but i just don't see how you take your carb level to btw. 100 & 150 without eating tons of fruit, or alternatively, having a sweet potato with every meal.

what say you?

[Grumpycakes]

It's not really possible without potatoes or rice or an ungodly amount of nuts. Mark has reevaluated his stance on white rice and white potatoes; they're not as bad as he believed, and probably quite good for you (potatoes, at least) if your blood sugar is under control.

[tfarny]

Starchy tubers is the main answer, clearly - lots of us eat lots of sweet potatoes, for sure. It's not really supposed to be an anti-carb diet anyhow, and the case against white potatoes and white rice is pretty weak to be quite honest with you. I'm sure that if I were to count my carbs I eat 150g or so on average, but I haven't bothered for a long time. Today I've already had some greek yogurt with a bit of honey, and I'll have carrots and potatoes with my roast tonight. Pretty standard stuff.
Why DONT you eat starchy veg? They are cheap, delicious, and most are very nutritious and definitely part of the plan.

[duckmama]

I'm currently seeing a naturopath (he's pro primal/paleo), and he's having me up my carbs to 100 - 150/day to see if we can jump-start my sluggish metabolism. If I eat a couple of portions of sweet potatoes every day, I'm usually around 100 - 120 with some other veggies thrown in. It's been a challenge to get my carbs back up in that range when I've been under 50 for months. I haven't added back in the regular potatoes and have only had a small bit of white rice once.

I have to say that after about 2 weeks of upping my carbs, I've finally lost a couple of pounds and I feel so much better (more energy, better sleep). I thought it would make me hungry, but so far it's actually making me feel much more satisfied and less hungry than when I was VLC.

Sweet potatoes are amazing, and I'm so glad I can enjoy them again!

[jammies]

It sounds like you are highly ketoadapted and function very well with fat as your primary fuel. There used to be quite a number of people on this forum who felt best with fat and their primary fuel - so I don't think there is any problem with it unless problems crop up. It does seem that some people will eventually feel less energy and have issues after eating VLC for a while, so if you do run in to issues you may want to consider adding in more carb then.

[jakey]

you know, part of my reservation re. starchy carbs is that i'm not sure if it throws the whole "fat is good for you" paradigm off. i'm not suddenly accepting the lipid hypothesis, but my reading of taubes seemed to imply that eating lots of fat wouldn't work so well in the presence of significant carbohydrate. you would start storing the fat rather than using it for fuel, as the glucose would be preferential. i don't know if that's accurate, but that's the impression i came away with. fat isn't bad unless you're eating a good deal of carbs. weather or not 100-150 is a "good deal..." i don't know!

my other reason for avoiding starchy vegetables is the book, the primal blueprint.

frankly, i feel fine, i'm extremely active (just backpacked in san jacinto wilderness, summitting in one day, no prob!) and haven't really missed the spuds too much.

i just think that to follow the actual diet in the book, the primal blueprint, and maintain this 100-150 level of carbs, you would need to be eating what i regard as WAY TOO MANY nuts and fruits.

[jakey]

It sounds like you are highly ketoadapted and function very well with fat as your primary fuel. There used to be quite a number of people on this forum who felt best with fat and their primary fuel - so I don't think there is any problem with it unless problems crop up. It does seem that some people will eventually feel less energy and have issues after eating VLC for a while, so if you do run in to issues you may want to consider adding in more carb then.

thanks, jammies, i'm rolling with that as my modus operandi!

[Stevenhamley]

100-150 grams equates to about 20-30% carbohydrates as total calories. A far cry from the 55-60% generally recommended. If protein is about 20% then fat is 50-60% of total calories, still the primary fuel source. Besides there's a lot more to weight gain than the carbohydrate-insulin hypothesis and the negative effect of carbohydrates don't start to appear until you go above 30% and have high triglycerides.

[Fury]

my other reason for avoiding starchy vegetables is the book, the primal blueprint.

frankly, i feel fine, i'm extremely active (just backpacked in san jacinto wilderness, summitting in one day, no prob!) and haven't really missed the spuds too much.
i just think that to follow the actual diet in the book, the primal blueprint, and maintain this 100-150 level of carbs, you would need to be eating what i regard as WAY TOO MANY nuts and fruits.

What about non-starchy vegetables? I don't own the book so I'm going off of Mark's Blog posts, one of which mentions eating 6 to 11 servings daily (or more) of Green, colorful & Cruciferous vegetables, which seems like it could provide the majority of your carb needs without needing white rice & potatoes. Does this jive with the book? http://www.marksdailyapple.com/carb-pyramid/

finding consistent "serving" sizes for veggies is annoying... how does one measure oddly shaped objects in "cups" anyways?

anyways, some estimates: 1 medium red pepper is 10 carb, 1lb raw broccoli 30carb, 1lb brussels sprouts 40carb, 1lb carrots 44carb, 1lb acorn squash 45carb, a medium onion is 10 carbs, etc...

[tfarny]

you know, part of my reservation re. starchy carbs is that i'm not sure if it throws the whole "fat is good for you" paradigm off. i'm not suddenly accepting the lipid hypothesis, but my reading of taubes seemed to imply that eating lots of fat wouldn't work so well in the presence of significant carbohydrate. you would start storing the fat rather than using it for fuel, as the glucose would be preferential. i don't know if that's accurate, but that's the impression i came away with. fat isn't bad unless you're eating a good deal of carbs. weather or not 100-150 is a "good deal..." i don't know!

my other reason for avoiding starchy vegetables is the book, the primal blueprint.

frankly, i feel fine, i'm extremely active (just backpacked in san jacinto wilderness, summitting in one day, no prob!) and haven't really missed the spuds too much.

i just think that to follow the actual diet in the book, the primal blueprint, and maintain this 100-150 level of carbs, you would need to be eating what i regard as WAY TOO MANY nuts and fruits.

The book is what recommends 150 or so for active healthy folks! It does not recommend VLC long-term. You are confusing a sweet potato with dinner with a bowl of pasta and no sauce. And the whole "don't mix carbs w/ fat" thing is like a weird forum idea that won't die out - Taubes never said that, Mark never said that. And Taubes is kinda wrong, anyhow. Eat a potato or a cup of white rice if you want to and don't stress about it.