61–70 of 275 posts
Because they are delicious. Life is too short, not to enjoy one of life's simple pleasures. Obviously moderation is key, but it's silly not to take advantage of being human.
"Moderation" doesn't mean anything, obviously.
When I lived alone it was easy. I simply didn't buy any at the grocery store and as such didn't eat any. It's nearly impossible, now living with my wife who adores pasta and everything potato based.
Preface: Over the past 12+ years I have spent a fair amount of time learning about foods/diets, at first to try to get rid of my acne (which I was successful at), but then later to stay lean and stop any diet-related dips in my mood (which I was also successful at). What I want to say: Cutting carbs is difficult for most people because of two things: 1) withdrawal from the sugar-high that you get from eating high-gly…
The body is perfectly capable of deriving carbohydrates from essential fats and essential proteins.
Beyond the physical addiction there's also a lifestyle addiction, this is a similar problem chronic cigarette smokers who want to quit encounter. Sometimes they do quit and get through the physical discomfort of withdrawal but often fall back in because a pavlovian response has been built into many experiences like socializing, hanging outside and chatting, having a smoke as a break from severe stress, etc.
Because refined carbohydrates have been threaded through almost every food marketed to people in our society there are second order lifestyle addictions too which require clever environmental structuring, determination, and often times social support to overcome.
Social support is key and is often the failure point for most people. Particularly when engaging non-mainstream methods or ideas. Most people across many different social groups think the idea of self experimentation to be an alien or downright stupid idea.
[Edit] the body doesn't derive carbohydrates, it derives glucose.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The addiction is the part that does not receive enough attention in regards to sugar, caffeine, and other substances that don't carry the stigma of alcohol, nicotine, or other drugs.
This really is a shame. We could improve the quality of many people's lives, extend their lifespans, and save money on health care if we treated sugar addiction as serious social problems, the way we do alcohol, nicotine, and harder drugs.
Preface: Over the past 12+ years I have spent a fair amount of time learning about foods/diets, at first to try to get rid of my acne (which I was successful at), but then later to stay lean and stop any diet-related dips in my mood (which I was also successful at). What I want to say: Cutting carbs is difficult for most people because of two things: 1) withdrawal from the sugar-high that you get from eating high-gly…
Research the ketogenic diet which is Starting with a low carb diet and transitioning to keto can be done without a lot of pain and I've eaten less than ~30 carbs a day for 6 months with no loss of energy - in fact I think my energy levels have increased since going keto, but I've also lost significant weight.
Weaning off carbs is not hard.
I've posted these numbers before, but I'll post them again because they are so low as to be totally unintuitive: Normal human blood sugar [1]: 70-100 milligrams per deciliter of blood. Blood volume of average human [2]: 5.5 liters Thus, total blood sugar in non-diabetic human: 3.85 to 5.5 grams Density of glucose: 1.54 grams per cubic centimeter Thus, total volume of sugar in average human: 2.5 to 3.6 milliliters Vol…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> your body needs a fair amount of carbs every day, I think you're mistaken. Carb is the only macronutrient that is not required. The body can make glucose via gluconeogenesis. Take someone who has not eaten a single carb for a month and measure their blood glucose level and you will find a stable 90mg/dL. This is why Type-1 diabetics still need insulin (although much much lesser than otherwise) in spite of being on…
Thanks for that information; I'm not expert enough to respond to the scientific claim that you made, but what I can say is that I suspect I'm using the term "need" in a less-strict sense than you are, to mean "if a person is not consuming any carbs, that person is likely going to eventually feel some level of 'healthy' craving for carbs".
Carbs were only available in the summer/spring, and food became even more scarce in autum/winter. Thus, humans developed a powerful chemical response to carb intake - we crave carbs because they were the only means to fatten up and avoid starvation and death.