Carbs are bad. Yes or no?
Replies
-
I thought they said 'crabs'. Crabs are bad, mm-kay.7
-
Carbs are good for you and are necessary. They are a source of "fast energy" in that the body uses energy from carbs before it uses energy from fat and if there are any excess carbs in your body that aren't used, they get turned into fat for "long term storage".
Most people aren't really concerned with how much they weigh unless it is affecting them medically and even then, many don't take heed and either end up with diabetes or even dead! Most people are concerned with how they look and if their clothes still fit them or if they are too tight and show up all the rolls of fat that are hanging over.
The ONLY way to lose weight is to burn off more energy than you put into your body through your mouth. The way of looking at energy in food is using the "calorific value" of foods.
Now, the definition of a "calorie" is "the amount of heat require to raise the temperature of one gram of water through one degree Celsius". The calorific value of food is measured using what is called a Bomb Calorimeter and it does this by burning the food in pure oxygen and measuring the amount of heat produced compared to the amount of energy required to burn it.
Different foods/drinks have different calorific values. Water has no calories at all, as it cannot be burnt; that's why it put out fires quickly. Sugar has a high calorific value; throw a teaspoon of sugar onto an open fire and see what happens. Fat is also VERY high in calories; remember the chip fires of the old days when the pan caught fire and was virtually impossible to put out and sometimes even burnt the house down?
So, it all comes down to these two very simple equations:
Energy Out < Energy In = Weight Loss
Energy In > Energy Out = Weight Gain
Therefore if you want to lose weight, there are only two options; eat/drink less or exercise more, although a combination of both is a good idea.
Finally, it is IMPOSSIBLE to put on weight without putting drink/food in your mouth. You can prove it by doing this simple confirmatory test: Stand on a set of scales and weigh yourself. While you are on the scales, drink exactly one pint of water. I will GUARANTEE that you will put on exactly 20oz in weight! Why? . . . because that is how much a pint of water weighs!
Apologies for "prattling" on but there are so many myths about oversize/overweight people that I thought I'd bring a bit of physics and chemistry into the discussion.
3 -
Carbs are good for you and are necessary. They are a source of "fast energy" in that the body uses energy from carbs before it uses energy from fat and if there are any excess carbs in your body that aren't used, they get turned into fat for "long term storage".
Most people aren't really concerned with how much they weigh unless it is affecting them medically and even then, many don't take heed and either end up with diabetes or even dead! Most people are concerned with how they look and if their clothes still fit them or if they are too tight and show up all the rolls of fat that are hanging over.
The ONLY way to lose weight is to burn off more energy than you put into your body through your mouth. The way of looking at energy in food is using the "calorific value" of foods.
In the first bolded area above, your description of carb utilization is not accurate. The body does not use energy from carbs before it uses energy from fat. Fat is the fuel substrate used primarily at rest and for lower level activity. As the intensity of activity increases, more glucose is used. But is always some mix of fat and glucose. It isn't a carbs first, fat second kind of thing.
Secondly, if you have an excess of carbs, first priority is to top off glycogen stores in the liver and muscles. Over a 24 hour period, no carbs will get stored in a calorie deficit. The body prefers not to store fat through the metabolic process called de novo lipogenesis. It will only do that in an excess of calories and no dietary fat left to store. But the body will always prioritize fat for storage.
I agree with the 2nd bolded area.6 -
Bad? Seriously? We need carbs, just as we do Vitamin C and water and fats.
5 -
kenyonhaff wrote: »Bad? Seriously? We need carbs, just as we do Vitamin C and water and fats.
Well, technically we don't need them. They are a non essential nutrient. If we don't ingest enough to meet our body's needs we will convert proteins to glucose through the process know as gluconeogenesis. We do need glucose though. So, we will get it one way or the other. I prefer to eat carbs myself.
(Lol, with my last 2 posts, I feel like Bill Nye the Science Guy. We may have hit on 2 of the few things I actually know...)11 -
Tell that to @quiksylver296kenyonhaff wrote: »Bad? Seriously? We need carbs, just as we do Vitamin C and water and fats.
Well, technically we don't need them.
4 -
Tell that to @quiksylver296kenyonhaff wrote: »Bad? Seriously? We need carbs, just as we do Vitamin C and water and fats.
Well, technically we don't need them.
17 -
1
-
quiksylver296 wrote: »
Tell that to @quiksylver296kenyonhaff wrote: »Bad? Seriously? We need carbs, just as we do Vitamin C and water and fats.
Well, technically we don't need them.
I couldn't like this hard enough so I'm saying it out loud.
LIKELIKELIKELIKELIKELIKELIKE.
Me likee.2 -
No, it’s the main source of energy. Do you know how many organisms require glucose. It’s basic biology...our brains need use it as does pretty much every cell.4
-
Im following the South Beach Diet so I like certain carbs in certain amounts.1
-
Carbs aren’t “bad”. No food is “bad”. I have always and always will love carbs.3
-
With the term “essential” meaning the body needs it, there are essential vitamins, essential minerals, essential protein and essential fats. Name one essential carbohydrate.8
-
kingrat2014 wrote: »With the term “essential” meaning the body needs it, there are essential vitamins, essential minerals, essential protein and essential fats. Name one essential carbohydrate.
But carbohydrates are important.1 -
L1zardQueen wrote: »kingrat2014 wrote: »With the term “essential” meaning the body needs it, there are essential vitamins, essential minerals, essential protein and essential fats. Name one essential carbohydrate.
But carbohydrates are important.
Carbohydrates are a tool, but they are not essential. Google essential carbohydrates.7 -
kingrat2014 wrote: »L1zardQueen wrote: »kingrat2014 wrote: »With the term “essential” meaning the body needs it, there are essential vitamins, essential minerals, essential protein and essential fats. Name one essential carbohydrate.
But carbohydrates are important.
Carbohydrates are a tool, but they are not essential. Google essential carbohydrates.
A tool? Please explain. Google will give me all sorts of weird answers. You Google for me.0 -
L1zardQueen wrote: »kingrat2014 wrote: »L1zardQueen wrote: »kingrat2014 wrote: »With the term “essential” meaning the body needs it, there are essential vitamins, essential minerals, essential protein and essential fats. Name one essential carbohydrate.
But carbohydrates are important.
Carbohydrates are a tool, but they are not essential. Google essential carbohydrates.
A tool? Please explain. Google will give me all sorts of weird answers. You Google for me.
https://fmidr.com/carbs-essential/0 -
I love carbs, and that is the reason I am typing this while on my exercise bike2
-
kingrat2014 wrote: »L1zardQueen wrote: »kingrat2014 wrote: »L1zardQueen wrote: »kingrat2014 wrote: »With the term “essential” meaning the body needs it, there are essential vitamins, essential minerals, essential protein and essential fats. Name one essential carbohydrate.
But carbohydrates are important.
Carbohydrates are a tool, but they are not essential. Google essential carbohydrates.
A tool? Please explain. Google will give me all sorts of weird answers. You Google for me.
https://fmidr.com/carbs-essential/
I agree that carbs are not an essential nutrient, because glucogenesis is a thing our bodies can do. That doesn't make carbs evil.
And there's a lot of sheer nonsense in the linked article.10 -
kingrat2014 wrote: »L1zardQueen wrote: »kingrat2014 wrote: »L1zardQueen wrote: »kingrat2014 wrote: »With the term “essential” meaning the body needs it, there are essential vitamins, essential minerals, essential protein and essential fats. Name one essential carbohydrate.
But carbohydrates are important.
Carbohydrates are a tool, but they are not essential. Google essential carbohydrates.
A tool? Please explain. Google will give me all sorts of weird answers. You Google for me.
https://fmidr.com/carbs-essential/
I agree that carbs are not an essential nutrient, because glucogenesis is a thing our bodies can do. That doesn't make carbs evil.
And there's a lot of sheer nonsense in the linked article.
Interesting how people take a survival mechanism (gluconeogenesis) and turn it into a lifestyle...7 -
kingrat2014 wrote: »L1zardQueen wrote: »kingrat2014 wrote: »With the term “essential” meaning the body needs it, there are essential vitamins, essential minerals, essential protein and essential fats. Name one essential carbohydrate.
But carbohydrates are important.
Carbohydrates are a tool, but they are not essential. Google essential carbohydrates.
The topic of the thread is "carbs are bad, yes or no?" How does the fact that they are a nonessential nutrient address that question?4 -
kingrat2014 wrote: »L1zardQueen wrote: »kingrat2014 wrote: »With the term “essential” meaning the body needs it, there are essential vitamins, essential minerals, essential protein and essential fats. Name one essential carbohydrate.
But carbohydrates are important.
Carbohydrates are a tool, but they are not essential. Google essential carbohydrates.
I see it differently. If carbs (sugar) weren't so essential to survival, the body wouldn't have developed a mechanism to make them. In that sense, they're more essential than any nutrient to survival. I don't want to survive, I want to thrive.16 -
Vegetables are important. Our bodies can make carbs out of basically anything because we run on carbs, but the nutrients in carb based foods are still important.
Also, most junk foods dismissed as "carbs" are as much fat as carbs.9 -
Glucose is the preferred energy source of the body. Glucose gets broken down in our bodies from carbs so I'd say it's more than likely pretty important. If there are not enough carbs, our bodies turn to fat and protein to make glucose, (IMO a survival mechanism). If you don't want to eat carbs don't eat carbs, but don't be silly and say they are unimportant because they are "non-essential".6
-
Carbs are not bad, or as Tony the Tiger would say "They're Great
Without them, I could never do my 2hrs on the bike...need that gas so to speak 1 -
Carbs are only bad if your intake of them is too high and you’re taking in the wrong types. So much info out there on the internet to educate oneself about carbs and make your own choices & opinions.
One thing that seems to jump out from every article I’ve read is that without carbs, you feel fatigued because there is nothing left in the ‘fuel tank’ of our bodies to provide the energy we need to function.16 -
Carbs are good for you and are necessary. They are a source of "fast energy" in that the body uses energy from carbs before it uses energy from fat and if there are any excess carbs in your body that aren't used, they get turned into fat for "long term storage".
Most people aren't really concerned with how much they weigh unless it is affecting them medically and even then, many don't take heed and either end up with diabetes or even dead! Most people are concerned with how they look and if their clothes still fit them or if they are too tight and show up all the rolls of fat that are hanging over.
The ONLY way to lose weight is to burn off more energy than you put into your body through your mouth. The way of looking at energy in food is using the "calorific value" of foods.
Now, the definition of a "calorie" is "the amount of heat require to raise the temperature of one gram of water through one degree Celsius". The calorific value of food is measured using what is called a Bomb Calorimeter and it does this by burning the food in pure oxygen and measuring the amount of heat produced compared to the amount of energy required to burn it.
Different foods/drinks have different calorific values. Water has no calories at all, as it cannot be burnt; that's why it put out fires quickly. Sugar has a high calorific value; throw a teaspoon of sugar onto an open fire and see what happens. Fat is also VERY high in calories; remember the chip fires of the old days when the pan caught fire and was virtually impossible to put out and sometimes even burnt the house down?
So, it all comes down to these two very simple equations:
Energy Out < Energy In = Weight Loss
Energy In > Energy Out = Weight Gain
Therefore if you want to lose weight, there are only two options; eat/drink less or exercise more, although a combination of both is a good idea.
Finally, it is IMPOSSIBLE to put on weight without putting drink/food in your mouth. You can prove it by doing this simple confirmatory test: Stand on a set of scales and weigh yourself. While you are on the scales, drink exactly one pint of water. I will GUARANTEE that you will put on exactly 20oz in weight! Why? . . . because that is how much a pint of water weighs!
Apologies for "prattling" on but there are so many myths about oversize/overweight people that I thought I'd bring a bit of physics and chemistry into the discussion.
Only if it's an imperial pint. A US pint weighs just a smidge over 16 ounces.1 -
Carbs are only bad if your intake of them is too high and you’re taking in the wrong types. So much info out there on the internet to educate oneself about carbs and make your own choices & opinions.
One thing that seems to jump out from every article I’ve read is that without carbs, you feel fatigued because there is nothing left in the ‘fuel tank’ of our bodies to provide the energy we need to function.
What constitutes too high of an intake of carbs?
What are the wrong types? Why are they wrong?6 -
willwhitelaw wrote: »I don't like em. Do you?
@willwhitelaw keep in mind not all carbs even count because there are carbs that humans can not even turn into energy. Those that we can not gain weight from eating but some of the good gut microbiome needs those same carbs to help keep us healthy because of the metabolites they can excrete that we require for health.
To like carbs or not like carbs is more of an emotional issue in one sense.
Now personally when I eat high carb AND high levels of fat it causes me more pain and other health issues.
19 -
GaleHawkins wrote: »willwhitelaw wrote: »I don't like em. Do you?
@willwhitelaw keep in mind not all carbs even count because there are carbs that humans can not even turn into energy. Those that we can not gain weight from eating but some of the good gut microbiome needs those same carbs to help keep us healthy because of the metabolites they can excrete that we require for health.
Examples please?1
This discussion has been closed.
Categories
- All Categories
- 1.4M Health, Wellness and Goals
- 393.6K Introduce Yourself
- 43.8K Getting Started
- 260.3K Health and Weight Loss
- 175.9K Food and Nutrition
- 47.5K Recipes
- 232.5K Fitness and Exercise
- 431 Sleep, Mindfulness and Overall Wellness
- 6.5K Goal: Maintaining Weight
- 8.6K Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
- 153K Motivation and Support
- 8K Challenges
- 1.3K Debate Club
- 96.3K Chit-Chat
- 2.5K Fun and Games
- 3.8K MyFitnessPal Information
- 24 News and Announcements
- 1.1K Feature Suggestions and Ideas
- 2.6K MyFitnessPal Tech Support Questions