Someone Argue This page

[Chrisf12]

Perhaps, CARBS are GOOD!!
You primal people can debate all you want, but the fact is that carbs have often been the primary staple of diets worldwide for centuries before this little "revelation" by Dr Atkins that caught on back in the 90's. The real reason we have such rampant obesity is because we have all become way more sedentary not just in the work we do, but the lives we live outside of our work. Technology has all but turned us into zombies. We spend more time on our asses staring at shiny pictures than we do on our feet for anything else. And now even dieting and "nutrition strategies" have become a sleazy marketplace of cheesy wares, just like the fashion industry, entertainment industry and the food industry itself have always been. Writing diet books is simply nothing more than the get-rich-quick scheme of the day.
In other words Carbs are just fine! Look at South America, people love carbs and obesity is scarce.

[Bosstycoon]

recently starting eating good carbs again into my on track paleo diet..this due to my body having fatigue and some forms of nausea.! oatmeal, sweet potato, wild rice. all are very satisfying and have great benefits in proven research.

[magnolia1973]

Primal allows carbs, just not sugars and grains.

I don't think carbs are bad, but Americans overdo it on the empty carbs of sugar and white flour. It's one thing to eat a bowl of plain oatmeal, but most are eating it laced with a ton of sugar. Americans drink so much soda and eat so much empty, carb heavy food. Yeah, no one is obese because of fruit, sweet potatoes of "good carbs".

What isn't understood well is the addictive nature grains and sugar- I think that is the bigger problem- it's the bagel in the morning that leads to the doughnut midday that leads to you eating a "light lunch" that leads to two cookies in the afternoon and a McFlurry on the way home. Empty calories literally crowd out nutritious foods.

I know there is a lot of low carb here, but that is what works for those people. I know for me, weight loss has been much easier on a more moderate carb diet vs. low carb or the very high carb, low fat diet. And my eating patterns now seem very sustainable and are focused on more nutritious food than when I ate low fat/high carb.

[Damiana]

We never said carbs was bad...

[Miss Understood]

It is not true that carbs were the predominant macronutrient hundreds of years ago. People didn't used to eat 65-70% carbs until the USDA changed the food pyramid.

[twa2w]

I think it is the refined foods that cause problems - not just refined carbs but refined proteins like whey, refined fats/oils like sunflower oil, crsico, and others.
Unless you have a gluten sensitivity, I don't even think wheat is that bad if you soak and cook the whole grains - but who does that - we grind it finer and finer. If you cooked and ate a bowl of wheat kernels, there would be a lot more effort in chewing, it would fill you faster and have more fibre, less would be available to be absorbed - compare the absorble calories in that to a bagel/muffin etc.
Eat a bunch of sunflower seeds vs refined sunflower oil. Eat some cheese versus a whey shake.
Which is more filling, more nutritious, more phyto nutrients per calorie available.
Easy choice IMHO.
Cheers
J

[Miscellangela]

I agree - carbs are great! That's why i eat about 75 grams of them every single day. I love me some spinach, broccoli, kale, dandelion greens, string beans, tomatoes, onions, garlic, escarole, endive, etc. etc.

[Darz]

I agree - carbs are great!

I agree, I go for about 300g a day - so good.

[Iron Fireling]

Yeah, who said carbs are bad??? As far as I'm aware the PB way of eating just means avoiding grains and processed sugars... not ALL carbs. The reason many restrict their carbs is because they're overweight and trying to lose weight, or because they gain weight when they eat a lot of carbs. However, carbs, in and of themselves are NOT bad.

It's like saying "fat is bad"... we all know fat is NOT bad, but certain TYPES of fat are bad!

[primal pete]

Any diet or health program that demonizes a single macro-nutrient in a sweeping fashion with no regard to the situational differences it will exhibit in different scenarios is really, really, really bad.

250g of carbohydrate for a fit, young, glycogen starved post work out elite athlete is completely different than 250g of carb for an insulin resistant overweight sedentary secretary. This forums has definitely come back around on carbs, which is good. MDA has always been a more objective non-fanatical community, maybe a bit slow on the uptake though, but I'm personally guilty of that.