We have written previously about how much nutrition confusion is out there. One of the areas of confusion concerns carbohydrates, carbs for short. Much of the current belief about carbs is that they’re bad and should be avoided, but this isn’t necessarily the case.
What are carbs?
But first, what is a carb anyway? All foods and beverages that are meant to be consumed and that contain calories contain those calories in the form of protein, carbohydrate, and fat, mostly in combination. For example, beans are a combination of carb and protein, while steak is protein and fat with no carbohydrate, quinoa is mostly carb but contains more protein than many grains, and dairy products contain all three components unless the fat has been removed.
Any food, then, that is low in protein and fat is mostly carbohydrate. If one were to ask the average person to give examples of carbohydrate foods, they would likely say things like bread, pasta, sweets, or potatoes. This is correct but incomplete.
Vegetables, which are mostly low in protein and fat, are carbs. Although many people think carbs are bad for you, almost everyone would agree that vegetables are good and desirable. Fiber is also carbohydrate, but it is also beneficial.
Good and bad carbs?
So it looks like there are good carbs and bad ones. But things aren’t even that simple. Vegetables and fiber are good for most people, while sugar and most bread are not. But what about all the other carb-containing foods?
These exist on a spectrum with healthy at one end and unhealthy at the other. In many cases what makes a food that is primarily carbohydrate unhealthy is not about whether it’s a carb, but about other factors. For example, wheat is a carbohydrate food, but it isn’t recommended for many people due to its allergic potential and because it is so often genetically modified (GMO), which can cause it to have unpredictable effects on the body.
Very generally, then, unhealthy carbs are those that are sweet such as candy and cake, breads, and wheat pasta. Whole grains are usually better than refined, and organic foods are healthier than conventionally grown. Non-sweet green vegetables such as leafy greens, although primarily carbohydrate, are wonderfully healthful.
Low carb diets
Where does the popularity of the various low-carb diets come from? There’s the Atkins diet, the South Beach diet, the Paleo diet, the Wheat Belly diet, and others, all of which promote the idea that carbs, or at least grains, are bad.
Low-carb diets were first promoted as a way to lose weight quickly. Very low carb diets can indeed cause dramatic weight loss, but this isn’t necessarily healthy weight loss and can be quite the opposite, especially since muscle tissue can be lost. Also, such weight loss is water weight, which will come back as quickly as it went away once carbs are reintroduced into the diet, as they inevitably would be.
Beneficial health effects that have been reported due to following low-carb diets are real, but are often due to eating more healthfully in general and correcting an imbalanced diet that is too carb-heavy.
The weight loss and health benefits of low carb diets are due to factors that are complex and not fully understood.
Moderation is key
Most people in our culture eat too much high-carbohydrate food. When most people are asked what they consider to be their comfort foods, these tend to be high in carbohydrates: macaroni and cheese, biscuits, cookies, lasagna, baked potatoes. In addition, high carb foods are those that are likely to be the cheapest. Steak is expensive, and people are conditioned to avoid fats, so that leaves carbs to form the bulk of our diets.
This is, in part, behind the typical advice to avoid or cut down on carbs. Yes, many if not most people should eat less high-carb food than what forms the standard American diet. The fallacy lies in thinking that if cutting down something is beneficial, cutting it way down or out entirely is even better. This is not the case.
Something to keep in mind is that avoiding a very high carb diet doesn’t mean it’s a low carb diet. A low carb diet is usually about 50g of carb per day, and a very low carb diet approaches zero grams of carb. The Standard American Diet has about 300g of carbs. There’s a lot of room for a sensible approach between these numbers.
Strive to eat a good balance of protein, carb, and fat. Other articles on this website discuss the importance of fats and oils, and which ones are healthful and which ones are not. In addition to protein and healthy fats, eat plenty of non-sweet green vegetables and whole non-gluten grains. Avoid sweets and foods – high carb or otherwise – that are not healthy.
Carbs in combination with protein?
Some dietary advice, such as that from The Zone books, states that proteins and carbs should be always be eaten together in a specific ratio. Other diets, such as Fit For Life, are based on Asian food combining and advise that carbs and proteins should only be eaten separately. Our advice is, again, to strive for a good mixture of healthy foods, without worrying about ratios and counting grams and calories.
Nutritionists at CAM can help you to figure out the optimal diet for you, given your specific needs and health issues. And as discussed in a previous article, the optimal diet for you can change as your health and circumstances change.
