Why are people scared of carbs?

Dragonwolf

While lots of people say calories in = calories out - that is true for a robot.
But I have not met many robotic people.
Two other confounding factors are appetite; and your brain (very complex).
Higher protein suppresses appetite. So science shows in studies that if one group eats a high carb meal, and another eats a protein / fat meal (same calories); at the next meal the people who have eaten the carb will eat more food. (Hence the reason that a lower carb meal will make it easier to "diet".
A second reason is that we also like to "feel good". The endocrinology system responds to sugar / fat (eg. chocolate) and makes us feel good. So if you are feeling a bit down, a snack of a short length carb (such as sugar) picks us up (not a hunger / appetite response). Works in the same area of the brain - the hypothalamus.

Thirdly, we have to eat protein - there are some essential amino acids we need. We have to eat fat. There are fats we cannot synthesis. But there is no "carb" we actually need. Yes - there are some vitamins in complex carbs such as green leafy vegetables, but these are not carbs - they just happen to be there, and you can get them elsewhere.

Back to the start. Calories are calories, but that ignores we are people with very complex physical, mental and social interactions.

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