In Defense of Carbs

Stephen Decker
Aug 24, 2017 · 3 min read

I didn’t write anything Monday because I was out and about looking at the eclipse in Idaho (so fight me! JK, I’ll probably lose). Today, I’m going to keep things fairly short and all — School started this week and is time consuming.

Looks like a doughnut. Appropriate, I guess…

Carbs get a lot of bad rap. I can sorta get why. The USDA’s great plan didn’t exactly cure obesity, studies were released, the media got ahold of it (just an example, no shots fired there), and, well, the rest is history.

https://santiagocortez.wordpress.com/

All of this happened basically while fat consumption somewhat decreased and carb consumption increased, like the USDA intended (for the most part).

https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5304a3.htm

In any case, I really don’t give a shit about food trends over time. I’m not too fond of correlative data; it can pose pretty interesting questions, but has no substance to it. Correlation ≠ causation. Ever (p<.001).

So while people throw carbs under the bus and pretend like potatoes are going to kill you, I’d like to throw out a few reminders.

  1. You can lose weight equally as well on low-carb as you can on low-fat. As much as I would like to see more done, I don’t think there is much evidence to say there is a huge metabolic advantage to fats over carbs. If there somehow is, it still doesn’t matter because you can still lose weight (even by eating twinkies).
  2. Insulin isn’t a demon. Yea, people are correct when they say insulin is the primary driver in energy storage. That doesn’t mean it will make you fat. You still need an energy imbalance first in order to store the extra energy. If you’re in an energy deficit (through fasting, calorie restriction, some weird detox bullshit, etc.), you’ll lose weight.
  3. Your body produces glucose on its own. I feel like this is obvious: you don’t need to eat carbs all the time in order to get glucose in the body.
  4. Carbs do spare protein. If you’re not using protein to create carbs, you’re obviously sparing it by keeping it in tissue. N.B. This is why people on keto need to increase protein intake slightly. Also, this is why the metabolic effects of low-carb diets are controversial: more dietary protein intake increases the thermic effect of food, increasing energy expenditure, equal/less protein intake on keto causes slight muscle wasting.
  5. Circadian rhythm is probably equally/more important. Especially when it comes to diurnal glucose metabolism. Avoid carbs in afternoons/evenings. Fast when the sun is down.

Ultimately, I don’t think it really matters much whether you go LC/HF or HC/LF. Avoid processed foods, control when you eat, sleep well, exercise some, quit stressing over bullshit, and you’ll probably be fine. I like keto for other reasons, and it works for me. I still like carbs. Fight me.

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Stephen Decker

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Ph.D. student at UMass Amherst. A lifelong student in health, fitness, philosophy, and all things under the sun. Love ideas, but love sharing ideas more.

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