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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To ask why carbs are The Enemy?

77 replies

MitchyInge · 28/11/2010 11:49

Isn't it just a portion control thing? Or are they actual Evil Doers?

OP posts:
MitchyInge · 28/11/2010 11:50

Oh yay, I started a THREAD. It's fixed!

OP posts:
Cyb · 28/11/2010 11:50

Its white processed carbs really, isnt it? high fat, high sugar adn low fibre

MitchyInge · 28/11/2010 11:56

So not rice, pasta or potatoes or decent bread?

OP posts:
Cyb · 28/11/2010 11:57

well in smaller quantities. or just one meal a day. theres lots of threads about it I beleive.

YuleBeLucky · 28/11/2010 12:00

I don't believe they are the enemy. I think low carb / no carb is a horrible and, ultimately, quite unhealthy, way to eat.

People who lose weight on Atkins etc can only maintain their weight loss if they continue eating horrible things like half a pound of cheese and three rashers of bacon for breakfast for life. Unattaianble for most.

Sensible portions of complex carbs are a) good for you, b) NOT fattening.

MitchyInge · 28/11/2010 12:04

Yes was wondering in general, not as an anti-podge thing (though that would be good). Just don't understand the arguments either way, only know that I have absorbed the 'carbs bad' thing.

OP posts:
TrillianAstra · 28/11/2010 12:28

Carbs are an important part of your diet.

TheFarSide · 28/11/2010 12:35

Vegetables are carbs. I think the issue is distinguishing between high carb and low carb.

motherinferior · 28/11/2010 12:42

The fact is that if you cut out a food group, you may well lose weight. People fixate on the idea that Carbs Are Bad, without actually clocking this basic fact.

MarshaBrady · 28/11/2010 12:44

It is easy to introduce 'good' carbs in a diet in a way that doesn't pile on the pounds.

Small amounts of sensible carbs is much better than piles of pasta or bread or even low-fat 'diet' stuff.

Anniegetyourgun · 28/11/2010 12:46

Fats and sugars are the bits with the flavour, and carbs are the things you put the fats and sugars on top of. Everything else is a Puritan device to take the pleasure out of life.

kodokan · 28/11/2010 12:56

All carbs are ultimately treated by your body as if they were sugar - they are all processed into glucose, and your body has to produce insulin to deal with it and restore your blood sugar balance. If you do this too much too often, your body's insulin response starts to fail - hence the enormous rise in diabetes in recent years.

With white carbs, this happens very quickly. With complex carbs, it happens more slowly so you don't get the lows and highs, the 'so hungry I need to eat now because I feel slightly nauseous'. Eating carbs with protein also helps smooth out the extremes.

I eat moderately low carb - I eat whole grain carbs at one meal a day at most. The rest of the time, I replace the carbs with extra veggies or fruit: Greek yog with berries for breakfast, a huge salad with protein for lunch, courgette 'pasta' strips with a carbonara sauce for dinner, etc.

I've lost some weight, which is always pleasing, but mostly I like it because I never feel hungry and have completely lost that 3pm desire to find a flat surface and have a small nap.

Sure, the Atkins-esque myth of a block of cheese for breakfast - of course that's unhealthy. But swapping veggies for carbs like pasta or rice, which have virtually no nutrients whatsoever and are simply cheap bulk for mass production eating - don't see any problem with that at all.

motherinferior · 28/11/2010 13:00

How come so many cultures are carb-dependent, then, and have been for a long time before the recent 'enormous rise in diabetes'? Across Asia, people load up on rice. (White rice. My mother is from India - I was 18 when I first ate brown rice and believe me, it's not eaten in south Asia. Revolting stuff.) Pasta. Couscous. Potatoes. In fact in many of these countries what we are seeing, with a rise in general wealth, is a move to meat eating, ie moving away from carb-dependency.

sarah293 · 28/11/2010 13:03

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

YuleBeLucky · 28/11/2010 13:13

Complex carbohydrates such as brown rice, wholewheat pasta and wholegrain bread do NOT contain 'virtually no nutrients'. They contain fibre, essential B vitamins and, very often, iron.

Any decent dietician or nutritionist will advise you that this food group should make up roughly a third of what you eat every day.

So much misinformation surrounding food in this country, peddled mostly by either the food industry or the diet industry!

LittleMissHissyFit · 28/11/2010 13:32

Every nation has a way of bulking up what they eat to fill them up and give energy and reduce dependence on meat.

This IMO dates from when we had to run and catch our own food.

the problem is that the hydrogenated fats, the msg, the fillers and the glucose syrup added is hooking us onto the idea of eating more and more of the stuff.

When I was in the US in the 80's I was appalled how no 2 people could ever stand in a line for anything without consuming something.

Now look at british society, you can't move for fast food, cinemas are packed with people eating hot dogs, popcorn and nachos.

We don't need any of this shit to get us through 90 minutes of film...

PGWomble · 28/11/2010 13:37

As an aside from the nutrition debate, a wannabe WAG in my office has a bag which declares 'carbs are the enemy'. Frankly she walks around looking like she could do with a few. Perhaps in the form of a White baguette shoved up her...

Oblomov · 28/11/2010 13:54

I don't agree with kodokan's post or her points.
No nutrients ? Really ?

I look forward to being enlightened then.
I find that slow-release good carbs have worked very nicely for the last 35 years of my diabetes.

TrillianAstra · 28/11/2010 14:09

ROFL at 'no nutrients'. Yep, nothing at all in there...

Even white refined carbs are not bad. A sugar mouse brings joy and useful energy. :)

scallopsrgreat · 28/11/2010 14:19

And lets not forget that if you do sport/exercise regularly then carbs are most definitely your friend.

kodokan · 28/11/2010 15:58

'Virtually' no nutrients, I said, certainly comparative to their volume. And definitely nothing that can't come from other sources.

Try giving up protein or fats, and see how long you last. But carbs? Not essential. Agriculture was only invented 10,000 years ago, and before that the scant amount of wild grains available were indigestible without the sort of processing that nomadic tribes weren't carrying out. And yet humans had survived for millenia.

And I get round the issue of needing extra calories to fuel my exercise by not exercising. :) I already have an active lifestyle as I don't own a car, so don't need to run for half an hour and then eat 300 extra calories to compensate. Problem solved.

Diamondback · 28/11/2010 15:59

I love the whole myth that potatoes are fattening and contain nothing good - potatoes are only fattening if you smother them in tons of butter or mayonnaise!

People believe carbs are the enemy because they're lazy and want a 'magic' quick fix diet like Atkins to make all the fat go away. Cutting out carbs - especially healthy carbs such as wholewheat pasta and bread, starchy veggies and other vegetables - will mess up your metabolism and your health and eventually your muscles will start digesting themselves (wasting away, effectively) and your kidneys will fail.

Hug a carb today! Stay away from faddy diets and too much processed food and you'll be fine Smile

pointydog · 28/11/2010 16:10

They are the enemy only if you want to lose lots of weight fast.

Thus they are not the enemy.

Jumpty · 28/11/2010 16:33

I'm with kodokan. I don't eat grains, sugar or vegetable oils (exceptions for birthday cake), haven't done for three years and I'm doing great. Doctor always gives me a gold star when I get a blood test. I lost weight and feel great. No heartburn, bloating or puffiness. For the first time in my life I don't have a doughy face. Bread, pasta, rice etc have no real flavour - they're just a medium for fat. If you cut them out, you cut out loads of fat as well.

Tee2072 · 28/11/2010 16:41

Carbs are brain food. As you can tell by the idiotic posts by the people who don't eat them.

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