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The issue people take is that when people talk about this they frequently make it sound like carbs are what make cause obesity (eg the title of this post). How

by mason55 13y ago

The issue people take is that when people talk about this they frequently make it sound like carbs are what make cause obesity (eg the title of this post). However it's not that carbs cause obesity it's that carbs allow you to easily consume lots of calories and excess calories cause obesity. It's funny because most of the "carbs are bad" and "carbs are fine" people agree that in reality it's calories that make you fat. For some reason when they talk to each other that point gets lost and it turns into two people talking past each other who agree in actuality.

toomuchtodo 13y ago
Carbs also trigger an insulin response, which commands the body to store excess glucose not currently being burned as fat: http://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=carbohydrates+insulin+fat+storage http://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=carbohydrates+insulin+fa...
jerf 13y ago
That's because "calories make you fat" is effectively a tautology. "You are fat" and "you are over consuming calories" may be two different English sentences, but they say the same thing. People get confused because of the English and think they can use one sentence to explain the other, but it doesn't make any sense. The correct question is, why do people over consume calories? And for that you get two very different answers. One is an external answer about how food has been made very available and appealing and is manufactured to be overconsumed (and often more than a faint whiff of Puritan moralism, indeed, often a great deal more than a faint whiff), and the other is about the biochemistry of consuming food and what happens to the satiety mechanisms and your blood sugar and where the blood sugar goes and why and how it comes back out again. There's a real difference at that level.
fingerprinter 13y ago
IMO, it would be better for the general public to think of them as "bad" rather than "good" as we do now. Most people shouldn't be consuming carbs, nearly at all. In general, the average person should be high fat, mod protein, low carb (very low) and they would be in much better overall health. I think the problem is that carbs, much more than either of the other 2 macros, have more complex mechanisms at play. For instance, carbs in the morning or at night? Most people know that you are burning fat when you wakeup from your overnight fast. But what most people don't know is that the first time you eat carbs, the fat burning stops. 6 meals or 2? Smaller insulin spikes over time lead (it appears) to insulin resistance moreso than one or two big spikes. The jury is a bit out on this, but the data is leaning this way (last I looked). The meal frequency doesn't really matter with protein and fat, just carbs it seems. Those are just some examples, but I think you get the idea. My mother (65) recently asked me what she should do for her diet in old age. Simple, I told her, eat lots of fish, meat, veggies, cream and some nuts. Avoid grains, bread, over doing it on fruit etc. She's worried about living a long time, heart health and cancer. No reason she should be anywhere near carbs.
- a8da6b0c91d 13y ago
  > average person should be high fat You probably want to be getting a substantial fraction of your calories from sugars and starches, mixed with fat and protein. Ya know, like portions in cuisine all around the world has favored for ages. I used to buy this high fat idea before reading more broadly. Firstly, non-saturated fats should be avoided to the extent possible, and that's hard to do on a high fat diet. Secondly, high fat meals are clearly inflammatory. More inflammatory than carbs. They cause endotoxin absorption and promote dysbiosis. The hormone profile of being a "fat burner" is not so great either. Cortisol goes up, because that drives fat metabolism. This is why people who go atkins or go on a fast say they feel great. It's elevated cortisol, just like a runner's high. That's fine in short doses, but sustained it leads to breakdown and damage. Relax and have some sugary chocolate milk. It's perfectly healthy. Almost a balanced meal, in fact.

by mason55 13y ago

toomuchtodo 13y ago

Carbs also trigger an insulin response, which commands the body to store excess glucose not currently being burned as fat: http://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=carbohydrates+insulin+fat+storage http://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=carbohydrates+insulin+fa...

jerf 13y ago

That's because "calories make you fat" is effectively a tautology. "You are fat" and "you are over consuming calories" may be two different English sentences, but they say the same thing. People get confused because of the English and think they can use one sentence to explain the other, but it doesn't make any sense. The correct question is, why do people over consume calories? And for that you get two very different answers. One is an external answer about how food has been made very available and appealing and is manufactured to be overconsumed (and often more than a faint whiff of Puritan moralism, indeed, often a great deal more than a faint whiff), and the other is about the biochemistry of consuming food and what happens to the satiety mechanisms and your blood sugar and where the blood sugar goes and why and how it comes back out again. There's a real difference at that level.

fingerprinter 13y ago

IMO, it would be better for the general public to think of them as "bad" rather than "good" as we do now. Most people shouldn't be consuming carbs, nearly at all. In general, the average person should be high fat, mod protein, low carb (very low) and they would be in much better overall health. I think the problem is that carbs, much more than either of the other 2 macros, have more complex mechanisms at play. For instance, carbs in the morning or at night? Most people know that you are burning fat when you wakeup from your overnight fast. But what most people don't know is that the first time you eat carbs, the fat burning stops. 6 meals or 2? Smaller insulin spikes over time lead (it appears) to insulin resistance moreso than one or two big spikes. The jury is a bit out on this, but the data is leaning this way (last I looked). The meal frequency doesn't really matter with protein and fat, just carbs it seems. Those are just some examples, but I think you get the idea. My mother (65) recently asked me what she should do for her diet in old age. Simple, I told her, eat lots of fish, meat, veggies, cream and some nuts. Avoid grains, bread, over doing it on fruit etc. She's worried about living a long time, heart health and cancer. No reason she should be anywhere near carbs.

a8da6b0c91d 13y ago
> average person should be high fat You probably want to be getting a substantial fraction of your calories from sugars and starches, mixed with fat and protein. Ya know, like portions in cuisine all around the world has favored for ages. I used to buy this high fat idea before reading more broadly. Firstly, non-saturated fats should be avoided to the extent possible, and that's hard to do on a high fat diet. Secondly, high fat meals are clearly inflammatory. More inflammatory than carbs. They cause endotoxin absorption and promote dysbiosis. The hormone profile of being a "fat burner" is not so great either. Cortisol goes up, because that drives fat metabolism. This is why people who go atkins or go on a fast say they feel great. It's elevated cortisol, just like a runner's high. That's fine in short doses, but sustained it leads to breakdown and damage. Relax and have some sugary chocolate milk. It's perfectly healthy. Almost a balanced meal, in fact.