Why do people resist the idea that carbs are worse than fat?
scientificamerican.com
Why do people resist the idea that carbs are worse than fat?
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Re: Why do people resist the idea that carbs are worse than fat?
#2Neither should be demonized.
Re: Why do people resist the idea that carbs are worse than fat?
#3So many of these articles do not distinguish between simple and complex carbs and lump them all together. There is a difference between 20g of carbs from a piece of fruit vs 20g carbs from, say, pasta.
Re: Why do people resist the idea that carbs are worse than fat?
#4I've found the fat hypothesis - 'fat makes you fat' - to be false, or at least not to apply to me. I am not exactly anti-carb - I eat potatoes, and a little rice - but I have been eating a diet that I guess you could call 'Paleo 2.0' for the last 7 months or so. The basic goal is to minimize my intake of grains, fructose, and legumes, and maximize that of saturated fats. I also happen to be vegetarian, so for me this means a diet of mostly dairy and vegetables (and limited fruit). I eat a lot of full fat Greek yogurt (Fage brand, typically), butter, cheese, eggs, very dark chocolate (85+%), potatoes, etc. I eat until I'm full and I never count calories. I probably cheat 1-2 times a week on average, usually by eating something rice- or corn-based (Chipotle, corn chips, an Indian meal with rice, etc.).
I didn't do this to lose weight - I wasn't exactly a big guy - but there were some surprisingly quick effects. After about 5-6 months I'd dropped from around 155 lbs to 135 (+/-2), and I've been stable there for a couple months. My waist went from 33" to 30" and my body fat went from around 21% to 12%. Had a checkup a few weeks ago and, other than very low vitamin D, the doc said I was pretty much in perfect health.
http://archevore.com is probably a good resource, if you want to know more about the diet itself.
Re: Why do people resist the idea that carbs are worse than fat?
#5Well, my guess would be: Because "evangelists" on both sides use words like "worse" to reduce complex issues to sound bites.
Re: Why do people resist the idea that carbs are worse than fat?
#6[deleted]
Re: Why do people resist the idea that carbs are worse than fat?
#7God I remember when everywhere (even in school) was hooked on the "you are killing your kids with butter, eat margarine" line.
Of course, then they banned it most sensible places because of the hydrogenated/trans fats. Shocking that something made by chemical process by companies with large sums of money will be heavily advertised and pushed to people over, say, something that can't be patented by any one body.
Similarly, carb laden foods are cheap to produce and will last even if stored badly, you just have to try going out to dinner to an "average place" and try not to eat something where the dish is not mostly potato, noodles, rice, or flour based (pasta, bread, pizza base) to see why industry wouldn't think it was great if carbs came with health warnings.
Having said that, It strikes me from experiences in the past that everyone reacts differently to the mix of carbs and fats in their diet, but everyone seems to react to good amounts of protein, so while I'm not sure either should be demonised, clean sources of protein should be made more important.
Re: Why do people resist the idea that carbs are worse than fat?
#8Neither should be demonized.
Of course. If it wasn't for wheat, potato, rice, and other grains and tubercles, most of humanity would starve. Simple carbs are cheap.
Re: Why do people resist the idea that carbs are worse than fat?
#9God I remember when everywhere (even in school) was hooked on the "you are killing your kids with butter, eat margarine" line. Of course, then they banned it most sensible places because of the hydrogenated/trans fats. Shocking that something made by chemical process by companies with large sums of money will be heavily advertised and pushed to people over, say, something that can't be patented by any one body. Simil…
You just used the words "potato", "noodles", "rice", and "flour" in a distinctly negative tone. Those are some of my favorite foods, preferable doused in butter.
And I'm 6'1", 170 lbs.
Re: Why do people resist the idea that carbs are worse than fat?
#10Because people say, "I am getting so fat!", not, "I am getting so carbed!" So they equate calories from fat being converted directly to adipose tissue.