Never before has the US seen as ridiculous a trend as the low-carb craze. For some reason, we still haven’t managed to figure out that trendy diets do not work to healthily lose weight and maintain the weight loss! Everyone jumps on the bandwagon, believing they can eat unhealthy, fattening foods and stay thin. We believe these diets because we want to believe them. And we are capitalized on from every angle (books, videos, restaurants, cook books, frozen meals, etc).
Carbohydrates are VITAL for providing energy to our bodies & brains. The problem with carbs is that they have been manipulated so much by the food production companies that this has made them unhealthy.
Simple Carbs: This is the stuff that gives all carbs a bad rep. White flour, white pasta, white rice, white sugar (notice a trend here?), etc. For some odd reason, manufacturers decided we wouldn’t buy their food unless it was white, so they stripped these natural grains of all their color, and in doing so, stripped them of all their nutrients, vitamins, & minerals. What’s even more asinine is that some of them then try to add the nutrients back in with “enriched” and “fortified” products. Simple carbs are made of mostly sugar, which releases quickly in our body, gives us a “sugar high,” then a “sugar crash,” and leaves us feeling hungry.
Complex Carbs: Mostly starch & fiber, complex carbs release gradually, providing a steady source of energy, and leave us feeling full. Potatoes, yams, corn, brown rice, beans, hummus (chickpeas), lentils, quinoa (pronounced keen-wah), fruits & veggies, whole wheat pasta, whole wheat bread, and whole grains are all complex carbs. They have not been stripped or refined, and still posses all the nutrients from the original grain.
The absolute worst thing about the low-carb craze is the resistance to eat fruit. Fruit is quite possibly the most perfect food in existence. Fruit is unique in that it takes very little work to be digested because they are high in enzymes (a protein – yep, fruit has protein - that increases the rate of chemical reactions, i.e. digestion). Fruit effortlessly passes through our body supplying carbohydrates, fiber, vitamins, minerals, fatty acids, amino acids, and cancer-fighting tannins and flavonoids. Plus, because fruit is mostly water, if hydrates the body and aids in cleansing, detoxifying, and eliminating. EAT FRUIT!
Now, before you start spouting off misinformation you’ve been brainwashed with, let me address how the low-carb diets work. I briefly touched on this in my diatribe about vegetarian protein, but I’ll elaborate here: OF COURSE you’ll lose weight if you cut out simple carbs! Because these are the bad ones! And there’s the magic. That’s it. That’s how it works.
Well, that and the large amount of water weight you lose as your kidneys furiously try to rid your body of all the excess protein you’re taking in. Your body can not store excess protein (it can store excess carbs & fats, but not proteins), so excess protein gets converted into either acid or fat. The fat gets stored, but the acid needs to be removed. To remove this excess acid, your kidneys leech calcium from your bones, stressing your kidneys & putting you at a higher risk for osteoporosis. (PS – The highest rates of osteoporosis occur in the countries that eat the most meat.)
So, cut out the simple carbs (the white stuff), but don’t get sucked into this low-carb BS! It’s simply not healthy.
