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Is it proved that Carbs are harmful? Don't want to cut down on them only so that a study 10 years down the line lists out Carb-diet benefits just like Fat ones

Is it proved that Carbs are harmful? Don't want to cut down on them only so that a study 10 years down the line lists out Carb-diet benefits just like Fat ones these days.

bognition 9y ago
Its pretty well understood that a diet that is high in carbs and low in nutrients is generally unhealthy. Our bodies are totally capable of generating all of the glucose/ATP they need from a diet that is high in protein and fats and these diets tend to be more nutrient rich as fats and proteins (in general) are found in more complex foods. Our bodies cannot, however, produce all of the nutrients we need from a diet that is high in carbs but deficient in other things like proteins. And yes there is always a change that future work will require us to rework our current understanding, thats how science works after all.
mtgx 9y ago
I think it's proven that carbs make you gain weight faster, at least.
simonsarris 9y ago
It's not carbs per se, whats proven is this: Insulin spikes in your body drive fat storage. "Foods with lots of carbs" are a very good approximation of the nature of foods that tend to do that. (More accurately, foods with a high glycemic load/glycemic index) So offhand we can say foods that contain a lot of carbs tend to have a high gylcemic index, some more than others. Eating raw sugar is different than slowly eating al dente pasta with other foods in the mix like butter, cheese, etc, even though they both "have carbs." Think about approximately how long it takes different foods to break down. I hope that's intuitive as an example. So "carbs are harmful" isn't quite the right picture. You can eat carbs, they're not going to harm you. But if you want to easily maintain a healthy weight, eat mostly fat and lots of protein. And being overweight is harmful, obviously. (No such thing as fat but fit: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/may/17/obesity-health-no-such-thing-as-fat-but-fit-major-study https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/may/17/obesity-heal...)
- indogooner 9y ago
  Thanks for the intuition. My weight is normal so just cutting down a bit on rice and sugar should help.
- filleokus 9y ago
  An interesting point (which you bring up) is how complex the behaviour of the glycemic load is. It's dependent on the combination of food stuffs (as you point out), but also on things like the physical shape of the food. In Sweden we have something called "snabbmakaroner", which is basically macaronis but smaller and with thinner walls to shorten the time needed to boil them. Regular "makaroner", with the thicker walls has a lower GI compared to these thinner-walled ones. Even though they have the same exact ingredients and nutrients. I did a report on this during highschool when I tested it out on a bunch of willing classmates, and I was able to confirm it.
- majkinetor 9y ago
  Carbs are actually harmful. Uniquely damaging for teeth, nobody will disprove that. There is even a well known problem among professional sportsmen related to energy drinks and parandentosis. Since there is no discussion about this, carbs must be generally harmful, as to eat anything, you must use your mouth.
ralmeida 9y ago
As you have basically mentioned yourself - nothing stops it. Many people, with varying degrees of understanding of the studies involved (from almost none to very deep), believed high-carb-low-fat diets to be the best option before high-fat-low-carb became more mainstream. Can't recommend a particular course of action, but my approach is to experiment with different diets on yourself and be as methodical as time and will allows in evaluating them: I note (either mentally or writing down) objective and subjective indicators. Objective would be weight, waist width, blood test results, etc, and subjective would be energy, drowsiness, amount of willpower required to stay on diet, environmental pressures for or against (social eating, food availability, cost), etc. Of course, being this quantified may require significant effort itself. If you stick with it long enough, interesting things usually happen, though: it either becomes automatic and thus low-effort, or at least you train yourself to become mindful enough of your various habits, which is a huge plus itself.
- matwood 9y ago
  > Objective would be weight, waist width, blood test results, etc, and subjective would be energy, drowsiness, amount of willpower required to stay on diet, environmental pressures for or against (social eating, food availability, cost), etc. This is really the best answer here. Lower calories is the way to lose weight. It is how someone switches to less calories and maintains that state for their lifetime where problems arise. Mentally, some people just cannot eat a single cookie. For them they have to avoid cookies all together or else they wreck their caloric intake. Only protein and fat for some people is good because it's easy to follow. Carbs are not evil, unless they make up 70%+ of your diet. Look at all of the people who are very successful on If It Fits Your Macros for example. They have a mix of carbs/fat/protein to hit each day.
DiThi 9y ago
It's proven that they are through many studies. One of the aspects is insulin spikes, mentioned in another comment here. Another aspect is very well explained in this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_4Q9Iv7_Ao https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_4Q9Iv7_Ao (with t̶e̶x̶t̶ ̶v̶e̶r̶s̶i̶o̶n̶ and all sources linked in the description). edit: I also recommend the rest of the channel (I'm not affiliated in any way, it just explains a lot of things I've learned in the past decade in a very neat way) edit 2: Sorry, this video doesn't have text version, but "story of fat" does.
mstaoru 9y ago
It is proven that everything is "harmful" and, eventually, leads to death. 100%. Another question is how certain things make you feel, short-term, as well as long-term. I think it's wise not to chase the extremes and latest developments in everything (not only diets), but to allow yourself to try and see for yourself. Many people, myself included, feel great without carbs. Improved mental clarity, energy, easier to wake up and better sleep.

Is it proved that Carbs are harmful? Don't want to cut down on them only so that a study 10 years down the line lists out Carb-diet benefits just like Fat ones these days.

bognition 9y ago

Its pretty well understood that a diet that is high in carbs and low in nutrients is generally unhealthy. Our bodies are totally capable of generating all of the glucose/ATP they need from a diet that is high in protein and fats and these diets tend to be more nutrient rich as fats and proteins (in general) are found in more complex foods. Our bodies cannot, however, produce all of the nutrients we need from a diet that is high in carbs but deficient in other things like proteins. And yes there is always a change that future work will require us to rework our current understanding, thats how science works after all.

mtgx 9y ago

I think it's proven that carbs make you gain weight faster, at least.

simonsarris 9y ago

It's not carbs per se, whats proven is this: Insulin spikes in your body drive fat storage. "Foods with lots of carbs" are a very good approximation of the nature of foods that tend to do that. (More accurately, foods with a high glycemic load/glycemic index) So offhand we can say foods that contain a lot of carbs tend to have a high gylcemic index, some more than others. Eating raw sugar is different than slowly eating al dente pasta with other foods in the mix like butter, cheese, etc, even though they both "have carbs." Think about approximately how long it takes different foods to break down. I hope that's intuitive as an example. So "carbs are harmful" isn't quite the right picture. You can eat carbs, they're not going to harm you. But if you want to easily maintain a healthy weight, eat mostly fat and lots of protein. And being overweight is harmful, obviously. (No such thing as fat but fit: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/may/17/obesity-health-no-such-thing-as-fat-but-fit-major-study https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/may/17/obesity-heal...)

indogooner 9y ago
Thanks for the intuition. My weight is normal so just cutting down a bit on rice and sugar should help.
filleokus 9y ago
An interesting point (which you bring up) is how complex the behaviour of the glycemic load is. It's dependent on the combination of food stuffs (as you point out), but also on things like the physical shape of the food. In Sweden we have something called "snabbmakaroner", which is basically macaronis but smaller and with thinner walls to shorten the time needed to boil them. Regular "makaroner", with the thicker walls has a lower GI compared to these thinner-walled ones. Even though they have the same exact ingredients and nutrients. I did a report on this during highschool when I tested it out on a bunch of willing classmates, and I was able to confirm it.
majkinetor 9y ago
Carbs are actually harmful. Uniquely damaging for teeth, nobody will disprove that. There is even a well known problem among professional sportsmen related to energy drinks and parandentosis. Since there is no discussion about this, carbs must be generally harmful, as to eat anything, you must use your mouth.

ralmeida 9y ago

As you have basically mentioned yourself - nothing stops it. Many people, with varying degrees of understanding of the studies involved (from almost none to very deep), believed high-carb-low-fat diets to be the best option before high-fat-low-carb became more mainstream. Can't recommend a particular course of action, but my approach is to experiment with different diets on yourself and be as methodical as time and will allows in evaluating them: I note (either mentally or writing down) objective and subjective indicators. Objective would be weight, waist width, blood test results, etc, and subjective would be energy, drowsiness, amount of willpower required to stay on diet, environmental pressures for or against (social eating, food availability, cost), etc. Of course, being this quantified may require significant effort itself. If you stick with it long enough, interesting things usually happen, though: it either becomes automatic and thus low-effort, or at least you train yourself to become mindful enough of your various habits, which is a huge plus itself.

matwood 9y ago
> Objective would be weight, waist width, blood test results, etc, and subjective would be energy, drowsiness, amount of willpower required to stay on diet, environmental pressures for or against (social eating, food availability, cost), etc. This is really the best answer here. Lower calories is the way to lose weight. It is how someone switches to less calories and maintains that state for their lifetime where problems arise. Mentally, some people just cannot eat a single cookie. For them they have to avoid cookies all together or else they wreck their caloric intake. Only protein and fat for some people is good because it's easy to follow. Carbs are not evil, unless they make up 70%+ of your diet. Look at all of the people who are very successful on If It Fits Your Macros for example. They have a mix of carbs/fat/protein to hit each day.

DiThi 9y ago

It's proven that they are through many studies. One of the aspects is insulin spikes, mentioned in another comment here. Another aspect is very well explained in this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_4Q9Iv7_Ao https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_4Q9Iv7_Ao (with t̶e̶x̶t̶ ̶v̶e̶r̶s̶i̶o̶n̶ and all sources linked in the description). edit: I also recommend the rest of the channel (I'm not affiliated in any way, it just explains a lot of things I've learned in the past decade in a very neat way) edit 2: Sorry, this video doesn't have text version, but "story of fat" does.

mstaoru 9y ago

It is proven that everything is "harmful" and, eventually, leads to death. 100%. Another question is how certain things make you feel, short-term, as well as long-term. I think it's wise not to chase the extremes and latest developments in everything (not only diets), but to allow yourself to try and see for yourself. Many people, myself included, feel great without carbs. Improved mental clarity, energy, easier to wake up and better sleep.