How can carbs be bad when ppl have eaten them for thousands

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20carrots
20carrots Posts: 279 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Look at all the civilizations that eat carbs, like white rice daily, up to 3x/day. How can it be that bad for us? When I lived in Europe we had white crusty bread with EVERY meal. Most people in the areas where they eat a lot of carbs are (or have been) healthy. And yes the walk more than Americans but I live in a city and walk everywhere now too...

So what's the deal? Are carbs really that bad? And if you say yes, how do you explain Asian, South American and European eating habits and health?
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Replies

  • kellybean14
    kellybean14 Posts: 237 Member
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    There's a big diff. between carbs and processed carbs - the processed crap is the stuff that's not good for you, and is so refined that all the nutrients are essentially stripped from the food source.

    This is a great book and I totally recommend it - In Defense of Food, by Michael Pollan. He argues that ::real:: food is great for your body (including rice, potatoes, anything that you can get in the produce aisle), and we should be avoiding the processed stuff (think: any brand name).
  • philco41
    philco41 Posts: 68 Member
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    Someone posted a long, detailed defense of carbs the other day. I've lived in Costa Rica where people eat rice every day. My father in law lived to be 97. But he was active all his life and worked hard. We do tend to have a more sedentary lifestyle. I don't see carbs as bad, but I do tend to avoid processed and empty carbs. I like whole grains, brown rice, etc. I do have type 2 diabetes, so I also look to control that. You have to look at the total picture and what works for you. I think we have made a lot of "bad" carbs over the years (junk foods, etc.,) so there is something to the idea that carbs are bad. I don't, however, go along with diets that avoid almost all carbs.
  • angeldaae
    angeldaae Posts: 348 Member
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    Carbs are not inherently bad. Overeating carbs is, just as with anything else.
  • theartichoke
    theartichoke Posts: 816 Member
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    Carbs aren't bad but too many can be bad for certain people. Diabetics, people with PCOS or Celiac disease for example. Also, depending on their goals, some heavy lifters go low carb to help their bodies build muscle and turn the protein they eat into fuel. Maybe it's the tone used when discussing carbs that strikes you as off. I've even heard it referred to as being "afraid" of food. There are just some of us who have to be super careful with them.
  • 20carrots
    20carrots Posts: 279 Member
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    One time my trainer asked me what I eat and as I was listing it she said "Oh you're still ON bread?" like it was a drug or something!!
  • Nicola0000
    Nicola0000 Posts: 531 Member
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    Carbs are not inherently bad. Overeating carbs is, just as with anything else.

    ^^This^^
    Carbs have the same amount of calories per gram as protein
  • Acg67
    Acg67 Posts: 12,142 Member
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    It's just the newest thing to demonize, just like fats before it
  • lilojoke
    lilojoke Posts: 427 Member
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    It's just the newest thing to demonize, just like fats before it

    YES!
  • mmapags
    mmapags Posts: 8,934 Member
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    Carbs aren't bad. There're good. You just have to balance them properly in your diet. There are no foods that are inherently good or bad (with the possible exception of transfat but you could make the case that they are not really a food!) Even highly processed foods aren't inherently evil. They are just extremely energy dense and can cause people to have difficutly maintianing their energy in/ energy out balance. Now the additives can make a processed food bad but something like say, bleached flour which would be considered a processed food is not bad inherently. It has little nutrient value and is very energy dense but not evil. What more important is dose and context as my friend Acg67 would say.
  • angeldaae
    angeldaae Posts: 348 Member
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    It's just the newest thing to demonize, just like fats before it

    Exactly. I remember my family being on a diet in the 90s where we all ate 20g of fat or less a day. Fat was evil!

    Then came Atkins...
  • em9371
    em9371 Posts: 1,047 Member
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    ACG is right, I remember everything being low fat when i was younger and now the latest 'fad' is low carb - everything in moderation is the way to go!!

    Carbs are not bad, more the type of carbs that most people eat nowadays - asians eat a lot of rice and are generally super healthy, americans / uk eat too many carbs that are processed to death and usually deep fried!!!!!!

    BTW - carbs are fine for coeliacs, its wheat gluten that causes the problem (which is found in PROCESSED carbs like bread / pasta) so natural carbs such as oats, potatoes and rice are fine :-)
  • taso42
    taso42 Posts: 8,980 Member
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    They're not bad. Virtually no food is "bad".
  • cutie2b
    cutie2b Posts: 194 Member
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    Bread isn't bad. Something to consider though is that the flour in America is more refined and a cheaper quality than that in Europe. The flour here has less fiber and protein. The higher the protein/fiber content the thicker/heartier/crustier the bread. Have you not noticed the difference between American "bread" and European bread? The bread in Europe is usually fresh, hand made, and made from starters with fermented grains/yeast - like sour dough. I think the quality of ingredients and how things are made do make a difference in my personal opinion.
  • bcattoes
    bcattoes Posts: 17,299 Member
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    There's a big diff. between carbs and processed carbs - the processed crap is the stuff that's not good for you, and is so refined that all the nutrients are essentially stripped from the food source.

    This ^^ I've also noticed that many people on these forums tend to use "carbs" when they mean "grains", as if grains are the only foods with carbs in them. I see posts saying "I'm giving up carbs" all the time. That would mean giving up pretty much all food. Even most meat has some carbohydrates. What they really mean is giving up grains and it's usually because they have been eating nothing but overly processed grains and sugar.

    Whole grains, vegetables and fruits are all foods with moderate to high carbs that are healthy for most people.
  • bcattoes
    bcattoes Posts: 17,299 Member
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    It's just the newest thing to demonize, just like fats before it

    Exactly. I remember my family being on a diet in the 90s where we all ate 20g of fat or less a day. Fat was evil!

    Then came Atkins...

    If your profile age is correct, the Adkins diet has been around longer than you. The Diet Revolution by Dr. Atkins was published in the late 70's or early 80's..
  • LDunzweiler
    LDunzweiler Posts: 21
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    I believe in the right portions, they are okay. I tend to eat my entire allowance daily because I love bread, crackers, ect! I will never give them up, diet or not. I just watch them like a hawk and dont take in anything that is overprocessed. I would prefer to eat a bowl of rice as opposed to a bowl of salad (however, I do do the latter). I believe it IS fad just like anything else before!
  • nikkijoshua
    nikkijoshua Posts: 85 Member
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    I love carbs!!!
  • Theresafinallygetsitright
    Theresafinallygetsitright Posts: 157
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    It's just the newest thing to demonize, just like fats before it

    Exactly. I remember my family being on a diet in the 90s where we all ate 20g of fat or less a day. Fat was evil!

    Then came Atkins...

    Atkins was around before the 90's. His first book was published in 1972. My parents tried it for a while. They did just as well as everyone else who did it - dropped the weight and gained it back.
  • beckajw
    beckajw Posts: 1,738 Member
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    Carbs aren't bad. Insulin dependent diabetics have to eat carbs. Yes, you have to watch how many you eat so you take the right amount of insulin, but you can't just cut them out of your diet. Carbs have a lot of vital nutrients and give you energy.

    Processed carbs (to an extent) are bad. But as long as you aren't overdoing it, nothing is really bad.

    What everyone needs is the right balance of carbs, fats, and proteins.
  • grinch031
    grinch031 Posts: 1,679
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    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3253466/?tool=pubmed

    This talks about why many people may have intolerance to carbs.

    Another thing to remember is that sugar is different than other carb foods because it contains half fructose and that could also be a differentiator between the weight problems in the USA and not other cultures.

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