Are Carbs Evil?

Rayanne203

So are they? It's Fall my favorite season full of warm tea under blankets and hearty meals. My sister who happens to be a fitness fanatic who is gluten free and dairy free hardly ever eats any carbs tells me I should eat like that if I want to lose weight.

The thing is...I LOVE CARBS! If I stay under my calorie count for the day shouldn't I be able to eat whole grains and potatoes?

JesterMFP

No, they're not evil. Not even a little bit. Your sister is wrong.

Rayanne203

I can't help but always feel guilty for eating them now though lol

randomtai

No, they're not evil. Not even a little bit. Your sister is wrong.

This. Enjoy your carbs.

Ainar

Yes, carbs are evil! They are a creature from hell! They will ate you from inside like acid and you will melt in your sleep!

Sorry, couldn't resist. ^^

No... they are not evil. And no, whether you ate them or not has no actual impact on your weight loss. Low carb diet is nothing but a gimmick. Some people like it and it works for them... great! But it will not give them any better results than those who ate carbs. Neither they are unhealthy.

MamaKatel

I hope not, but lately im starting to think they are
The only time i've ever been able to loose weight successfully was by limiting carbs. For some reason calorie restriction doesn't work for me.

ksuh999

Do you know what Hitler ate?

Carbs.

And Hitler was very evil.

Therefore via the transitive property, carbs are evil.

QED.

randomtai

I hope not, but lately im starting to think they are
The only time i've ever been able to loose weight successfully was by limiting carbs. For some reason calorie restriction doesn't work for me.

Calorie restriction works for everyone. Because science.

JesterMFP

I can't help but always feel guilty for eating them now though lol

Ok, some serious advice. If you really want to be successful at losing and maintaining weight, having a healthy relationship with food is key. Carbs are not bad for you (assuming you don't have a medical condition that genuinely necessitates you reducing carb intake). You shouldn't feel guilt about eating food, ever. (Unless you're eating food that you stole from a small child.)

ladymiseryali

They're not evil. However, my high carb intake was getting in the way of my goals. It wasn't until I went keto, that the scale started moving downward again. That's just me though. I still eat carbs, but I keep them under 30(25 if I can help it) and get them from veggies and other more healthier sources.

Rai007

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1107114-are-carbs-bad

mommabenefield

Portion control....


that is all

SoDamnHungry

I can't help but always feel guilty for eating them now though lol

An entire message board feels that your sister is incorrect. Stop feeling guilty. Now go! Eat those carbs within your caloric goals and be happy!

LolBroScience

I hope not, but lately im starting to think they are
The only time i've ever been able to loose weight successfully was by limiting carbs. For some reason calorie restriction doesn't work for me.

Special Snowflake Syndrome. You have it.

lilRicki

I hope not, but lately im starting to think they are
The only time i've ever been able to loose weight successfully was by limiting carbs. For some reason calorie restriction doesn't work for me.

Special Snowflake Syndrome. You have it.

YAY! I'm a special snowflake too!!! I've been at this for 3 years, and the only time I've ever seen the scale move down was when I restricted my carbs...it sucks, and it's for a lifetime, but you get used to it.

born2drum

carb it up.

rachelwilliams93

i love carbs, they give you the energy you need to keep going, unless you have a medical condition to watch them don't bother. problem with going on a low carb/fat diet is that once you lose the weight and go back to eating them it will go back on. unless you have a carb free diet forever but that wouldn't be good, slow and steady wins the race. all about calories

neandermagnon

yes. your entire body runs on evil. every cell in your body breaks down glucose to get energy. This is called respiration. glucose is a carb. carbs are evil, therefore your entire body runs on evil, every cell in your body is right now breaking down evil in order to get energy. :devil: :flowerforyou:





please don't feel guilty for eating carbs. Balance your macros, aim for about 40% of your calories to come from carbs, 30% from fat and 30% from protein, and stay within your calorie goals. Carbs are good for you, and too much of anything is bad for you.

lilRicki

Don't feel guilty for eating carbs? or don't feel guilty for eating 500g of carbs? everything in moderation right? what's the moderate amount of carbs then? To me, 100g of carbs a day IS low carbs...compared to the 400+g I was eating before.

JesterMFP

Don't feel guilty for eating carbs? or don't feel guilty for eating 500g of carbs? everything in moderation right? what's the moderate amount of carbs then? To me, 100g of carbs a day IS low carbs...compared to the 400+g I was eating before.

How about don't feel guilty for eating food. It may be that a particular food is not good for your body, for a variety of reasons, or that certain quantities are not good for you (ie. overeating is not good for you). But guilt? You might feel regret, or think "hmm... I don't feel great eating that, I'll change things", or "I'm not losing weight eating that much food, I need to eat less". There are actions in this world that warrant feeling guilty, and (imo) eating isn't one of them.

ZacFields

My view on carbs is this:

High carbs typically = high calories. If you would typically eat 400g carbs per day, and you go on a low-carb diet that restricts you to 25 carbs, you're significantly reducing your caloric intake, which is how you're losing weight. That's the science behind it. Don't believe me? Calculate both your carbs and calories from a typical day before you started trying to lose weight versus now. You'll find that they're both reduced.

Where a lot of people are unsuccessful with calorie-based diets is one or both of two things:

1. They don't accurately measure the calories going in (thus they're eating more calories than they think)
2. They're over-calculating the additional calories they can eat due to exercise.

#2 is very common. I've seen two different GPS-based cycling apps come up with calories-burned data more than 300 calories apart for the same 1 hour bike ride.

I look at carb diets like I look at weight-watchers. If it helps you more to keep track of 25 carbs as opposed to 1,500 calories because it's simpler to keep track of then sure, watch your carbs and you'll lose weight because your calories are lower. If you're already using something like MFP, you'd might as well watch the calories first and keep an eye on your other metrics (vitamins, fat, protein) as a secondary but still important goal.

Unknown

This content has been removed.

magerum

cwolfman13

Carbsare not inherently evil. Most people on a SAD eat far too many and lack anything resembling a balanced diet...but as part of an overall balanced diet and barring any medical conditions, they're just fine. BTW...you might want to remind your sister that vegetables are carbs and fruit are carbs...last time I checked, fruits and veg were a pretty essential part of proper nutrition.

That said, If you're sitting around eating cake and cookies all day and not getting your fitness on...you might have issues.

lilRicki

My view on carbs is this:

High carbs typically = high calories. If you would typically eat 400g carbs per day, and you go on a low-carb diet that restricts you to 25 carbs, you're significantly reducing your caloric intake, which is how you're losing weight. That's the science behind it. Don't believe me? Calculate both your carbs and calories from a typical day before you started trying to lose weight versus now. You'll find that they're both reduced.

Where a lot of people are unsuccessful with calorie-based diets is one or both of two things:

1. They don't accurately measure the calories going in (thus they're eating more calories than they think)
2. They're over-calculating the additional calories they can eat due to exercise.

#2 is very common. I've seen two different GPS-based cycling apps come up with calories-burned data more than 300 calories apart for the same 1 hour bike ride.

I look at carb diets like I look at weight-watchers. If it helps you more to keep track of 25 carbs as opposed to 1,500 calories because it's simpler to keep track of then sure, watch your carbs and you'll lose weight because your calories are lower. If you're already using something like MFP, you'd might as well watch the calories first and keep an eye on your other metrics (vitamins, fat, protein) as a secondary but still important goal.

This is the best answer on all the threads! If you're new, do the calorie counting first...if you find (like i did after 3 years of calorie counting and failing) it's not working, then start looking at your macros and your calories will fall into place automatically. I even have to figure out protein solutions to boost my calories daily now that i'm 100g of carbs a day. *hint, hemp hearts and chia seeds help me exponentially.

ztaitaifufu

beyond the basic/obvious insulin response issue, 2 points: 1) it's not so much carbs that are evil as processed "foods" which are usually carbs even if they wouldn't otherwise be. 2) different people respond differently to different macro nutrient percentages. (even in their insulin response) for instance my sister does really well on a lot of meat, and i do really well on a lot of squash, sweet potatos, taro and pumpkin. beans are pretty high carb too and if i'm getting puffy that's what i go to the most (along with the usual greens and colourful veggies obviously). but obviously if you are eating breads cookies cakes, or anything processed you aren't doing to have too much success.

ksuh999

beyond the basic/obvious insulin response issue, 2 points: 1) it's not so much carbs that are evil as processed "foods" which are usually carbs even if they wouldn't otherwise be. 2) different people respond differently to different macro nutrient percentages. (even in their insulin response) for instance my sister does really well on a lot of meat, and i do really well on a lot of squash, sweet potatos, taro and pumpkin. beans are pretty high carb too and if i'm getting puffy that's what i go to the most (along with the usual greens and colourful veggies obviously). but obviously if you are eating breads cookies cakes, or anything processed you aren't doing to have too much success.

I eat bread, cookies and cakes and look at my counter.

laele75

Where is my like button, dammit!

neanderthin

yes. your entire body runs on evil. every cell in your body breaks down glucose to get energy. This is called respiration. glucose is a carb. carbs are evil, therefore your entire body runs on evil, every cell in your body is right now breaking down evil in order to get energy. :devil: :flowerforyou:





please don't feel guilty for eating carbs. Balance your macros, aim for about 40% of your calories to come from carbs, 30% from fat and 30% from protein, and stay within your calorie goals. Carbs are good for you, and too much of anything is bad for you.

TheVimFuego

1) They are not evil
2) Your sister isn't a fitness fanatic

yesiamheathermills

You shouldn't feel guilt about eating food, ever. (Unless you're eating food that you stole from a small child.)

Wait... You're saying this is bad??? (Slinks into a closet to hide...)