Why are Carbs bad?

nichi123

I love my carbs, potatoes, bread, rice, you name it. I lost 42lbs whilst still eating these things. However, I put all the weight back on last year. I have started back on MFP and have so far lost around 7lbs at least in three weeks. I am wondering whether you all think that I would benefit from cutting carbs. Maybe just having them one night a week if I have to! What are your experiences?

Thanks, Nichi x

mmcqueen927

I don't have an answer, but I love those things too. I am curious to see the answer.

cenafan

I don't really view food in terms of bad or good.

I eat carbs, sugar, fat, protein etc. I just make sure to stay in my macros and create a weekly deficit and the weight comes off.

jdm_taco

I love carbs and will continue to eat them and can still lose weight quite easily.

tizzypic

I don't really view food in terms of bad or good.

I eat carbs, sugar, fat, protein etc. I just make sure to stay in my macros and create a weekly deficit and the weight comes off.

^This.

Everything in moderation.

IronMan_DuhamNC

Carbs are not bad. To many carbs and to much fat will always stop your progress. It's all about getting the proper balance for what you're trying to achieve. Loose weight, build muscle or maintain performance. So with that said, how do you have your meal macros planned. If you need help answering any of these questions feel free to friend me Back.

BrainyBurro

no food is good or bad.

unless you have a REAL diagnosed medical condition, there is no reason to exclude any food from your diet other than not liking it or not being able to afford it.

- low carb is a current fad.
- some people need dieting to be hard and avoiding carbs is hard, so it fits their preconceptions.
- carbs are a convenient scapegoat for people who want to blame something other than themselves for their weight gain.
- some people have strange beliefs about foods being "unhealthy" and it's popular right now to think processed foods (i.e. foods loaded with carbs) are deliberately being produced in order to addict us to them and make us fat and the feddle gummint is in on the conspiracy.

Achrya

I love my carbs, potatoes, bread, rice, you name it. I lost 42lbs whilst still eating these things. However, I put all the weight back on last year. I have started back on MFP and have so far lost around 7lbs at least in three weeks. I am wondering whether you all think that I would benefit from cutting carbs. Maybe just having them one night a week if I have to! What are your experiences?

Thanks, Nichi x

I love carbs. I eat ALL the carbs. Baring a medical condition I can't imagine why anyone would stop eating carbs.

ShannonMK9

Carbs are not bad - there are carbs in almost everything, some foods have higher amounts then others and what happens is that your body breaks down the carbs into sugars that it uses for energy - the higher the carbs the higher the sugar levels produced for energy are, then the body takes what isn't used and converts it into fat to store for future use.
So the trick is to find the correct balance for intake and output for you to maintain the weight you want to.

melindasuefritz

They a rent i eat carbs and exercise them off and lost 35 pounds

nichi123

As I said before, I lost a lot of weight whilst still eating carbs. I just wondered whether or not I would benefit from cutting back on them.

Mustang_Susie

Carbohydrates are necessary for brain function.
Your brain cannot function without glucose.
Complex carbohydrates are better than simple carbohydrates in relation to metabolism.

This is a bit of a lengthy article but answers your question quite well:

http://www.fi.edu/learn/brain/carbs.html

Especially of interest is the glycemic index table at the end of the article.

AbsoluteNG

Reasons Below as to why Low Carb is not a fad.

Low carb is better for insulin resistant people, a real medical issue. One third of the American population is insulin resistant. Having 30 pounds of extra fat greatly raises your chances of being insulin resistant. People who are overweight don't bother to get tested because they are in denial and often say something along the lines of, "I'm fat, i know I have something so why bother getting tested?". Because once insulin resistant, always insulin resistant.

shortmomma81

I don't know why so many people have that impression since carbs actually produce energy. I don't think people are well educated, the foods you mentioned are very smart.

ladymiseryali

They're not bad, but for some, they are the issue that stalls their weight loss. I'm doing keto and although right now I'm in the "keto flu" stage and feel crappy, I have lost weight that had been stalled for a while.

nichi123

I should have put 'bad' because it's not what I think, but what I hear people say about them! I don't want to give them up, but wondered if cutting down may help?????

BluejayNY

I eat a lot of carbs, whole grain mostly. My body feels best when I include a decent amount of them in my diet. I never had problems losing or maintaining weight whole eating them.

jenncaroon

I also eat and love the carbs. My macros allow for 150 but today I am already at 242. I looked at my food log and have decided to replace my high carb snacks with more protein loaded snacks because the protein stat is far below my goal for each day. I am just starting to pay more attention to my macros. I am pretty new at really understanding the nutrition side of things here on MFP.

born2drum

Carbs aren't bad. You willpower is, though. Carbs are essential nutrients as is fat and protein as is water. Carbs are no different.

Lyadeia

I love carbs and have them everyday. I'm a 3-4 night a week pasta person, not to mention the potatoes and bread that I devour at other times.

Carbs are only bad if you are medically sensitive to them.

AbsoluteNG

I should have put 'bad' because it's not what I think, but what I hear people say about them! I don't want to give them up, but wondered if cutting down may help?????

Test your insulin sensitivity and you will know for sure if they are holding you back. I know you just glossed over what I said because you're most likely thinking that nothing is wrong with you and that you do not have medical issue what so ever. This could be true and it might be wrong. How do we know? Simple 10 dollar Blood Glucose kit from Walgreens will tell you if carbs are stalling your weightloss. Ingest 75 grams of carbs and test at least 3 times within two hours to track how high your glucose levels goes. If at anytime they go above 140, you can consider carbs as a primary factor as the reason for gaining all yoru weight back and making it harder to lose. However, A truly normal person rarely ever goes above 120 post meal glucose levels.

AlongCame_Molly

They're not. No foods are "bad", only too much of them.

3foldchord

I don't really view food in terms of bad or good.

I eat carbs, sugar, fat, protein etc. I just make sure to stay in my macros and create a weekly deficit and the weight comes off.

DITTO

Mustang_Susie

Reasons Below as to why Low Carb is not a fad.

Low carb is better for insulin resistant people, a real medical issue. One third of the American population is insulin resistant. Having 30 pounds of extra fat greatly raises your chances of being insulin resistant. People who are overweight don't bother to get tested because they are in denial and often say something along the lines of, "I'm fat, i know I have something so why bother getting tested?". Because once insulin resistant, always insulin resistant.

Not true.
Insulin resistance can be reversible.

ashleyisgreat

No good reason to cut carbs. Just cut your calories and you'll be successful. Good luck!

AbsoluteNG

Reasons Below as to why Low Carb is not a fad.

Low carb is better for insulin resistant people, a real medical issue. One third of the American population is insulin resistant. Having 30 pounds of extra fat greatly raises your chances of being insulin resistant. People who are overweight don't bother to get tested because they are in denial and often say something along the lines of, "I'm fat, i know I have something so why bother getting tested?". Because once insulin resistant, always insulin resistant.

Not true.
Insulin resistance can be reversible.

It can be managed, not reversed. The websites you visit that claim reversal all have one thing in common, changing your diet. That is a form of management, not a true reversal in that you can ingest carbs and never see a spike above 140.

Mustang_Susie

Reasons Below as to why Low Carb is not a fad.

Low carb is better for insulin resistant people, a real medical issue. One third of the American population is insulin resistant. Having 30 pounds of extra fat greatly raises your chances of being insulin resistant. People who are overweight don't bother to get tested because they are in denial and often say something along the lines of, "I'm fat, i know I have something so why bother getting tested?". Because once insulin resistant, always insulin resistant.

Not true.
Insulin resistance can be reversible.

It can be managed, not reversed. The websites you visit that claim reversal all have one thing in common, changing your diet. That is a form of management, not a true reversal in that you can ingest carbs and never see a spike above 140.

Losing weight, exercising and increasing the intake of fiber, fruits and vegetables can improve insulin sensitivity.

tatasmagik

Carbs aren't bad. High glycemic index carbs in excess are bad.

yarwell

Carbohydrates are necessary for brain function.
Your brain cannot function without glucose.

However you don't have to eat carbs for the above to hold true, as you can make your own glucose.

AbsoluteNG

Reasons Below as to why Low Carb is not a fad.

Low carb is better for insulin resistant people, a real medical issue. One third of the American population is insulin resistant. Having 30 pounds of extra fat greatly raises your chances of being insulin resistant. People who are overweight don't bother to get tested because they are in denial and often say something along the lines of, "I'm fat, i know I have something so why bother getting tested?". Because once insulin resistant, always insulin resistant.

Not true.
Insulin resistance can be reversible.

It can be managed, not reversed. The websites you visit that claim reversal all have one thing in common, changing your diet. That is a form of management, not a true reversal in that you can ingest carbs and never see a spike above 140.

Losing weight, exercising and increasing the intake of fiber, fruits and vegetables can improve insulin sensitivity.

I don't disagree with that but it only seems to improve phase 2 insulin response, fasting glucose Levels at 2 hours and over. Phase one response in insulin resistant people is still hampered, post meal glucose levels within 2 hours. Phase 2 insulin response kicks in after phase one fails to maintain levels below 140. Do you have any literature that says all those things you mentioned can make insulin phase 1 response to act like a truly normal person? Truly normal people never really go above 120 and very rarely hit 140. There's a good journal entry link below that summarizes a lot of the research we know so far on insulin resistant and diabetes. Haven't ran into one study yet that says an insulin resistant person's phase 1 response can once again act like a normal person.

http://clinical.diabetesjournals.org/content/20/2/71.full


Edit to say "a lot" instead of "all", as i'm sure there's a lot of stuff I haven't had a chance to read over yet.

Purplebunnysarah

As previous posters have said, carbs aren't inherently bad. However, I personally cannot keep certain kinds of carby foods in the house because they're a binge trigger for me. I'm currently eating moderately low carb as I teach myself healthier eating habits (I.e. not so much with the chips and cake and cookies, and more with the fruits, veggies, and whole grain stuff).