Top 3 Reasons Why Carbs Are NOT Bad!

Carbs are not bad! I feel as though the closer the warm months get to us, the further away the carbs are… because people start running from them.

This is not only a miserable mentality, but it’s not even healthy. Yes, it is actually UNHEALTHY to cut all of your carbs from your diet. With that being said, let’s go over the top 3 reasons why it is actually beneficial to have carbs as a part of your diet!

1) Your metabolism will love you.

Yes, yes it will! Think about your life as a whole and the things that aren’t necessarily great for you, but could also be harmful long term if you cut them completely out. Let’s use germs as an example, and the fact that although they are disgusting, our bodies would not be able to build an immunity to anything without them around at some point. There have been studies conducted that have shown over time that kids who played in the dirt etc had a better immune system as adults than kids who were sheltered from all that was germy during their younger years.

Now think about carbs… although you may THINK they are bad (because you were lied to), they are actually becoming bad for you because you are eliminating them. Any person cutting carbs to cut weight faster will eventually suffer from weight GAIN once they go back to “normal eating”, and may even gain more than what they had to lose in the first place!

Cutting carbs from your diet will cause your metabolism to not recognize them as easily and therefore will forget how to process them efficiently. What does this mean? It means that these excess carbs will rest as stored body fat. The solution? Never eat carbs again… wrong! The solution is to educate yourself on how to eat carbs in the proper and most healthy manner so that they will benefit you and most definitely not hurt you.

2) You need the energy!

Count how many times you have heard people on low/no carb diets complain of being tired, lethargic etc… now count how many times you’ve heard people be excited and full of energy, all because of their amazing low carb lifestyle… exactly. Know this: the proteins that you eat can be used for energy, but they are primarily there to maintain your body, help you build muscle, recover from exercise etc… the healthy fats that you eat are used to combat the bad fats that you eat and are also used as energy at low intensities, such as when you’re sleeping. This brings us to carbs and what they provide.

Carbs are used for energy at moderate to higher intensities which depending on your daily activity level can be the majority of the day… they are also there to signal to your body important things such as “your workout is over, so stop breaking down muscle” or “hey I’m here, so use me for energy instead of your proteins… they need to build and recover your body”. These things are important and they in many cases happen through insulin levels, which carbs have a lot of influence on depending on what type they are.

To cut out this opportunity for carbs is to think that you can “trick” your body, and to think that is just wrong. I’ve had multiple clients upon coming to me be at least pre-diabetic and just through paying more attention to the types of carbs they are eating and when… this condition has been all but alleviated for them, and this wasn’t even the initial goal for them to accomplish!

Are you eating the correct amount for your goals? Ask a professional for recommendations to know the best dietary choices to make for yourself.

3) It just makes sense (to your body)!

Think about the vehicles that we drive. I’m sure that for a pretty decent while cars can run with low or even missing fluids, but would you do this intentionally just because someone told you that your gas mileage may go up as a result? No, you wouldn’t. People cut carbs because they are desperate to lose weight fast and someone tells them that this is the way to achieve that. Not only is cutting carbs a miserable process but it is NOT a healthy process.

I have a client that is a medical doctor, and he had an interesting story one day that he “just had to share”. A woman comes into the ER with complications internally, specifically with her intestinal tract. Upon further testing, scans etc the problem was found… and it was basically a traffic jam inside of her stomach. The cause? Upon further questioning it was determined that she had been cutting carbs on a certain ketogenic diet in order to put her body into ketosis and “lose fat fast”. After a situation like this, the person then has to be reintroduced to carbs so their body can relearn how to use/process them and begin the path back to normality and eventually, health. This happens because cutting carbs just does not make sense to your body, especially for a long period of time.

The moral of the story is this: it is never wise or really even fun for that matter to completely cut anything from your diet, especially an entire food group! This seems like a great idea thanks to great marketing and terrible information but people… you have to educate yourselves! This is a problem, and if you’re not careful then what weight loss success you celebrate today could be your toughest health problem you’ve encountered in your tomorrows to come.

Please ask questions about carbs and what they can do for you, and if you need a path to follow then a customized nutrition layout may be your ticket, at least to get you going in the right direction! The main thing to remember is that no matter the goal, this is your life and the conditions that you throw onto your body have to be not only healthy, but maintainable as well! Train and eat smarter… start today, ask questions, get on the right path and go have some oatmeal… maybe even get some sugar in your Starbucks yoca-java-malta-lotta-calafriggin-mochachino!