What the hell are carbs?

1246

Replies

  • Dazzler21
    Dazzler21 Posts: 1,249 Member
    TeaBea wrote: »
    Dazzler21 wrote: »
    p.s what's a "Woo"? is that like a lol elsewhere?

    It apparently has 2 meanings....confusing

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10575403/woo-button

    Well that's not confusing at all.

    If people were saying The Glycaemic index is unproven. It has been proven multiple times by different universities and is critical in the handling of Diabetes...

    Also... If you were applauding the answer... Thank you.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    edited July 2017
    kimny72 wrote: »
    So with help of a nutritionist I'm meant to be on a low carb diet.

    But now I'm confused.

    Items such as cucumber are coming up as carbs? And so are carrots?

    And she's told me now I'm eating too many carbs??

    I live on meat, fish, fresh fruit, veg and a few nuts.

    So what are carbs???????

    OP, your thread kind of got hijacked here but I waned to add something.

    If I remember correctly, it came up in another thread that your diet is already very restrictive due to stomach issues. It is completely unnecessary to restrict your diet any further than it absolutely needs to be. If a food agrees with your digestive system, log it and eat it. You don't HAVE to eat low carb to lose weight.

    I would strongly recommend asking your doctor for a referral to a Registered Dietitian to go over the foods that upset your stomach and how to make a healthy diet from what's left. :drinker:

    Agree with this.

    Your nutritionist likely was not recommending that you "low carb," or at least not that you cut carbs super low, but it's best to have some more detailed advice, especially if you are not finding yourself easily replacing the reduction in starchy carbs with increases in fat- or protein-heavy foods and so struggling to get sufficient calories.
  • emmaellery1989
    emmaellery1989 Posts: 15 Member
    Starting to wish I hadn't asked!
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    edited July 2017
    annabel92 wrote: »
    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    annabel92 wrote: »
    I would imagine that your nutritionist is referring to heavy/refined/processed carbs that don't have much nutrition, such as bread or pasta.

    We have no clue what her "nutritionist" means or how much education she has, but using "carbs" to mean only highly refined starches would be a good sign that she's not a good nutritionist and is using words incorrectly.

    Whole grains are considered reasonably nutritious, btw, and can be part of a very nutritious meal (a favorite of mine when losing weight -- with both whole wheat and white pasta -- was to combine a serving size with a sauce made of many vegetables (also carbs) and some lean meat, with a little olive oil and feta cheese, maybe some pinenuts). Fast, nutritious meal, so I'd like to know why it would be verboten in the advice.

    Most foods that are normally meant by low nutrient, highly refined foods, btw, are really as much fat as carbs, like cookies, so it would be extra stupid to mean those if you said carbs.
    Carbs in fruits and vegetables are fine as they're natural - these are 'fiber' carbs and needed.

    No, they are not merely fiber carbs, but also sugar and starches. Most of the calories in fruit, obviously, are from sugar.

    They ARE fine, of course -- as are the starches in potatoes and grains which are also natural. (How would they not be natural? Where do you think they come from?)
    Just like sugar in a banana is natural when compared to sugar in sweets, natural carbs are full of nutrition (such as fibre) and are a much better choice when compared to processed carbs.

    Again, do you imagine that the carbs in potatoes are added in? Or the carbs in grains, like say oats or, again, bread? (Some bread has a bit of sugar added, but it need not, and anyway the sugar isn't actually different in kind from that in fruit, it's a matter of dosage and what it comes with.)

    There may be a reason for OP to do a low carb diet, but as others would say, recommending it without explaining what is being recommended or the reasons for it is extremely irresponsible.

    Thanks for your long corrective rant, but I was using simplistic terms relevant to her query and was simply saying that a LOW CARB DIET refers to cutting carbs such as bread and pasta out, rather than low carb/high fiber foods such as vegetables.

    No, that is not necessarily what a low carb diet means. Many of them, for example, cut out potatoes and sweet potatoes and fruit -- all "natural" carbs -- as well as oats (also "natural"), not just pasta and bread and sweets.

    They'd also focus on the number of carbs, not the source of carbs, in most cases, aiming for a specific number (which might be based on net carbs, yes).

    I low carb and I eat lots of vegetables, but I don't think pretending vegetables don't contain carbs or that carbs in "natural" foods don't count would be a useful way of explaining what a low carb diet is, and we don't have any idea what the nutritionist was even trying to say. You are making gigantic assumptions.
    It's most common in the atkins or keto diets - which obviously don't cut out vegetables (like the cucumber she has mentioned).

    Many people on keto limit vegetables quite significantly (many more basically cut out most fruit or limit it very strictly). I don't think it's necessary and wouldn't recommend it, but it happens, which is why OP needs better guidance. (I also suspect that she is not being told to limit veg, but we don't know.)
    Potatoes are a vegetable, not a refined carb like those I mentioned - not sure why you've even brought those up.

    Um, for most discussions of nutrition potato would be considered a starch course and basically the same as bread or rice or pasta, NOT a vegetable. I'd think a balanced meal (not low carb) would involve protein, a starch (maybe potato), and a non starchy veg course (as many veg as you like). I would not think a meal that involves protein, bread, and potato would be ideal -- not because bread is bad, but because it's missing non starchy veg.

    For the purposes of low carb, potato and grains are basically the same.
    Yes, whole wheat bread and pasta can be nutritional, but they're not as nutritious as fruit and vegetables. You can cut bread and pasta out of a diet completely to no affect, but if you cut vegetables out you'd be unhealthy. End of.

    You can cut any individual food out if you want. There are reasons that many find having starches as part of their meals is beneficial, though (and obviously including them is part of normal dietary advice), so while I think low carbing can be beneficial also, for some, I wouldn't assume that everyone should be told to cut out starches (which again include potatoes and sweet potatoes and oats and lentils and so on -- quite healthful foods) is what is being said or necessary. I'd want an explanation. Could be the nutritionist is saying that OP was consuming really high carbs and should lower them, not cut anything out at all.

    (And there are those in the low carb group who would disagree that cutting out veg is unhealthy, although I do not.)

    My point is that carbs needs to be used correctly, and pretending like "carbs" = pasta and not broccoli or potatoes or that "carbs" = refined or that "starch" is unnatural -- how is the starch in oats or wheat unnatural, again? is an inaccurate and confusing contribution to the topic that IMO needs to be corrected, which is why I and some others did so.
  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,136 Member
    annabel92 wrote: »
    I would imagine that your nutritionist is referring to heavy/refined/processed carbs that don't have much nutrition, such as bread or pasta.

    Carbs in fruits and vegetables are fine as they're natural - these are 'fiber' carbs and needed.

    Just like sugar in a banana is natural when compared to sugar in sweets, natural carbs are full of nutrition (such as fibre) and are a much better choice when compared to processed carbs.

    this is just wrong...
  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,136 Member
    sijomial wrote: »
    annabel92 wrote: »
    annabel92 wrote: »
    Wow, some of these points scrutinising everything I say for no reason really...

    I'm not saying to cut out bread and pasta - I eat both - I'm answering the first question asking what the nutritionist meant by carbs. It's obvious she didn't mean vegetables.

    Eating bread isn't the same as eating vegetables; cooking salmon doesn't make it artificial. Absolutely ridiculous points you're trying to make.

    BREAD WOULD NOT EXIST UNLESS SOMEONE COMBINED THE INGREDIENTS, KNEADED IT, LET IT RISE, AND BAKED IT; yes, it's made from natural ingredients, that doesn't make it a raw food, which I'm guessing is what the nutritionist is referring to - you're not eating wheat raw, are you?!

    I'm not saying to cut out bread and pasta, I'm saying that a low carb diet refers to this (again, like atkins and keto diets).

    It's not rocket science.

    Chili wouldn't exist unless someone chopped the ingredients, mixed them, and applied heat. Salmon, as a food, wouldn't exist unless someone went to the water, got a fish out, killed it, cut it into pieces, applied seasoning, and cooked it. So . . . what's the point?

    What does any of this have to do with whether or not we should eat bread?

    I have not once said we shouldn't eat bread, I have said that a LOW CARB DIET cuts out high calorie carbs such as pasta and bread. That's all!!!!!!
    So if I restrict myself to 50g of carbs a day and they all come from pasta & bread that's not a low carb diet?

    #doingitwrong
  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,136 Member
    Dazzler21 wrote: »
    Spot on Sijomial it also creates a change in the bodies metabolism.
    Low carb diets make the body utilise fats as the main energy source. Hence low carb calorie restricted diets result in faster fat loss. HOWEVER Once you re-introduce carbs, you'll find you likely gain weight back on quicker as carbs are easier to metabolise than fats and the extra cheese you've been cramming becomes your new fat storage... Bad times...

    Good for a quick burn, but not an ideal resolution long term as chocolate etc will come calling again one day.

    (This is my own experience - I'm not saying its guaranteed, but from my POV it is what has happened to me previously and my clients despite me warning them away from this kind of diet.)

    no, they don't.
  • Enjcg5
    Enjcg5 Posts: 389 Member
    If it didn't have a face at one point, it has carbs.
  • Gisel2015
    Gisel2015 Posts: 4,190 Member
    Starting to wish I hadn't asked!

    That is what happens in a open forum, especially if it is called MFP. The problem is that people ask questions without providing enough information about their personal situation, and as you said, sometimes using irony that doesn't translate well in the written word. The results are: hijacked thread, members arguing with each other answers, some people giving the wrong information, and the tune goes on and on.

    Next time that you post a question, take your time and explain what kind of information you are really looking for. Or better, Google it first. The last time that I checked, Mr. Google or Ms. Cortana don't argue with each other and don't hijack threads.
  • OliveGirl128
    OliveGirl128 Posts: 801 Member
    edited July 2017
    Gisel2015 wrote: »
    @cwolfman13
    If you say so. I was never part of any other internet forum so I can't argue with that statement. And after reading your comment, I never will.
    One of the things that I learned in all the years that I have been part of MFP is to never ask any questions about health, fitness or diet. Good answers get lost in the mix of arguments.

    Oh yeah, MFP is pretty mild compared to others-you should have been on MDA during it's heyday, brutal :p
  • Psychgrrl
    Psychgrrl Posts: 3,177 Member
    kimny72 wrote: »
    So with help of a nutritionist I'm meant to be on a low carb diet.

    But now I'm confused.

    Items such as cucumber are coming up as carbs? And so are carrots?

    And she's told me now I'm eating too many carbs??

    I live on meat, fish, fresh fruit, veg and a few nuts.

    So what are carbs???????

    OP, your thread kind of got hijacked here but I waned to add something.

    If I remember correctly, it came up in another thread that your diet is already very restrictive due to stomach issues. It is completely unnecessary to restrict your diet any further than it absolutely needs to be. If a food agrees with your digestive system, log it and eat it. You don't HAVE to eat low carb to lose weight.

    I would strongly recommend asking your doctor for a referral to a Registered Dietitian to go over the foods that upset your stomach and how to make a healthy diet from what's left. :drinker:
    kimny72 wrote: »
    So with help of a nutritionist I'm meant to be on a low carb diet.

    But now I'm confused.

    Items such as cucumber are coming up as carbs? And so are carrots?

    And she's told me now I'm eating too many carbs??

    I live on meat, fish, fresh fruit, veg and a few nuts.

    So what are carbs???????

    OP, your thread kind of got hijacked here but I waned to add something.

    If I remember correctly, it came up in another thread that your diet is already very restrictive due to stomach issues. It is completely unnecessary to restrict your diet any further than it absolutely needs to be. If a food agrees with your digestive system, log it and eat it. You don't HAVE to eat low carb to lose weight.

    I would strongly recommend asking your doctor for a referral to a Registered Dietitian to go over the foods that upset your stomach and how to make a healthy diet from what's left. :drinker:

    Hi, thanks for noticing my original question . I have just explained what I was actually trying to say.

    I get severe stomach pains from gluten, starchy foods and most dairy. So I tend to just try and eat a very basic diet and that's what works for me.

    OP, have you seen a doctor? You really should if you have not already to find out what the cause is of your gastrointestinal distress. A condition behind the issues could be causing other havoc with your body of which you may by asymptomatic and not aware.
  • GrumpyHeadmistress
    GrumpyHeadmistress Posts: 666 Member
    Carlos_421 wrote: »
    annabel92 wrote: »
    annabel92 wrote: »
    I would imagine that your nutritionist is referring to heavy/refined/processed carbs that don't have much nutrition, such as bread or pasta.

    Carbs in fruits and vegetables are fine as they're natural - these are 'fiber' carbs and needed.

    Just like sugar in a banana is natural when compared to sugar in sweets, natural carbs are full of nutrition (such as fibre) and are a much better choice when compared to processed carbs.

    So carbs in bread....are not fiber carbs...and are not natural? Hmmmm.

    No, bread isn't natural, it's man made and it's a refined carb (especially if it's white, whole grain is better for you and more nutritional). Bread is made from natural ingredients (wheat) so does have fiber in it, but it's a 'starchy' refined carb and nowhere near as nutritional as natural fiber carbs found in vegetables that grow naturally, such as broccoli.

    How can something with "natural ingredients" be unnatural? I mean, if I made a pot of chili that would be (wo)manmade, but it doesn't mean that the nutrients in it somehow vanish. Many of the foods we eat undergo some form of prep or processing (either by us or prior to the point of purchase).

    A diet can include bread and broccoli. It's not like we have to forgo all the benefits of broccoli forever in order to have a slice of bread.

    Beans in that chili or Texas style? Just had to ask.....

    Just sharing for funsies: My mom used to make chili with beans, but we didn't like it so she started using macaroni. Thank God nobody called the authorities, because I'm pretty sure that was a crime.

    Your mom made goolosh.

    I though goulash traditionally had beets in it?
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