No. That’s the short answer. Is that what you came here for? Awesome, that was easy.
Okay, as I expected, you want a little more than that don’t you. You’re also wondering why someone who spends most of her life encouraging others to eat more protein and fat and less carbohydrate is on here telling you carbs aren’t bad for you…well let me tell you all about it…
Sugars, saturated fats, refined carbohydrates, fruit, they’ve all been demonised – perhaps unfairly at times – for the roles they play in the western diet. There’s been waves of conflicting evidence, some more robust science than some other studies, so it’s completely understandable to see these heavily contrasting schools of thought emerging. You’ve got your keto crowd, your vegan tribe, your carnivore crew, your low-fat club, you name it, there’s a diet plan for it! But who’s right?
I believe in balance.
I like to look at as much of the evidence as I can, not just from a scientific literature point of view, but from a historical point of view. I like to evaluate the human condition as a whole, by examining our modern lifestyles vs those of our ancestors and how our diet fits in with this bigger picture. I also like to look at how our goals and aspirations have changed and how our healthcare statistics have had their ups and downs according to our changing habits as well.
And what have I learned from this big picture?
Let’s look at how the modern diet has changed over the decades.
- We have more processed, packaged foods than any moment EVER in history.
- We are less reliant on seasonal and local produce due to our ability to import foreign foods and grow produce in artificial conditions.
- We are more sedentary than ever.
And despite our technology improving the availability and preservability of food, we seem to be unhealthier than ever; WHO estimates nearly 40% of men and women are overweight across the globe and that 650 million people are classed as obese. Alongside this obesity pandemic, we see increases in related preventable health conditions such as type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease, gall stones, pancreatitis, sleep apnoea, osteoarthritis, depression and chronic pain. So what’s going on? How is it, that with all this technology and available nutrition, our health is actually DETERIORATING? Could the answer be carbohydrates?
Not entirely. Carbohydrates are not the bad guy here and they play an important role in fuelling certain activities. They’re also the primary source of fuel for the brain, so we wouldn’t want to deprive ourselves of carbohydrates completely. But we have to acknowledge what role carbohydrates ACTUALLY play in our modern lifestyles.
Carbohydrates are essentially the rocket fuel of human performance. If I want to do well in a race, I load up on sugars every 20mins through the event and I’ve usually had a metric tonne of caffeine and a nice couple of slices of white bread toast – all instantly accessible fuel that my body can almost immediately access and put to good use stoking the triathlon fires within. But what would happen if I were to eat the same diet of instantly accessible fuel throughout the day? Well if I were counting my calories and ensuring I had a calorie balance then I wouldn’t gain fat, because as we know, fat loss is down to CALORIE DEFICIT.
But if we look at how human health and nutrition has changed, we can see that there is a correlation between the amount of processed foods we eat and the negative health impacts we’re seeing. That’s because we’re basically living off “simple carbohydrates” way too often. Simple carbohydrates are basically little packets of energy that are super easy for our body to access. It means that it’s easy to eat too many of them (usually because they’re also super tasty…) and that it’s easy for our body to live off the energy they provide. The trouble is, they usually don’t contain as many micronutrients as we would like (e.g. vitamins and minerals to keep us healthy) and they tend to cause vicious hunger highs and lows that bring mood swings, irritability and difficulty with concentration. They also attract water when we eat them in order to store them and that can leave us feeling heavy and bloated.
If we compare this to eating more proteins and healthy fats (e.g. avocados, nuts, seeds, olive oils, fish oils), we see that we feel fuller for longer and don’t have all the sugar highs and lows we have when eating carbohydrates. Our bodies are designed to be able to live off fat stores when energy levels are low, but most of the time in the western world, we are giving our bodies so much energy, they don’t ever need to tap into their fat stores. That means we don’t see any weight loss and the system involved with digesting carbohydrates is working far harder than it was ever evolved to do.
Fats are actually a great source of fuel for lower intensity activities. For daily life, we can quite happily live off the fat stores we have, with a little added carbohydrate to keep our blood glucose levels at a normal level and ensure our brain has easy access to the energy it needs. Avoiding processed and refined carbohydrates may help us to stabilise our moods better, stay fuller for longer and thus aid fat loss, productivity and energy levels. BUT, we shouldn’t be avoiding carbohydrates altogether. To do so means we would be missing out on a whole host of valuable nutrients that we need to function normally and indeed optimally. We can also use our knowledge of carbohydrates to our advantage and know that if we are going to be completing a strenuous, high level workout, in order to perform to the best of our ability, we want to be fuelled by carbohydrates.
How can we apply this knowledge to our daily lives?
- Build meals around proteins, fresh vegetables and fruits and healthy fats when not in need of a big carbohydrate hit for intense exercise.
- Focus on starchy vegetables (e.g. root vegetables), pulses, legumes, seeds, nuts and whole grains for the carbohydrate we need in day to day life.
- Leave refined carbohydrates like the cakes, biscuits and chocolates for the high intensity workouts to fuel harder efforts and maximise fitness performance.
That’s about it! Pretty simple eh?
Remember, anyone who tells you that carbohydrates are bad for you doesn’t have the full picture. Likewise, anyone who lists pasta as their top choice carbohydrate isn’t what you’re looking for either…