To be confused about carb heavy diet?

[GreenestValley]

Just reading a thread on here about weight loss and diet. Many posters commenting that the Op in that thread has a very carb heavy diet.

I feel quite confused about it as I always thought carbs were an important part of a balanced diet and a source of energy. Obviously not too much white bread, white pasta etc, but from a personal perspective I have to have a fairly carb based diet or else I get hungry and end up snacking. And I’ve always had a normal weight.
I was also under the impression that the “low carb” diets of the early 2000s eg Atkins etc that were very popular, were kind of debunked now.
Am I missing something? Do carbs affect some people differently to others? Would welcome a bit of de mystifying here if anyone has expertise just for my own understanding!

@MillyMollyFarmer I posted it because @yeOldeTrout was questioning what scientific evidence is available for that way of eating and I thought it may be helpful. Maybe there are better studies out there, this was the first I came across.

That’s sort of what I mean. Googling for a study isn’t really that helpful at all. You’ll always find one.

Carbs and Fat are the enemy when it comes to MN diet advice. In reality you need all food groups for a balanced diet, and no food is 'bad' food either.

This!

There are a lot of disordered eaters placing themselves as diet experts on mn and giving quite frankly sometimes dangerous advice!

All those who claim low carbing helped them lose weight I have 2 questions for

1 were you still eating the same number of calories though? Because if not then in all likelihood it wasn't WHAT food you cut out/down but HOW MUCH.

2 did you maintain the weight loss long term? I mean more than 5 years.

No food is a 'bad' food? Are you sure about that?

Pretty much, the only food with no nutritional value at all are pure sugar sweets - boiled sweets type thing

All other foods contain nutrients

There are healthier and less healthy foods but a realistic, sustainable diet contains both.

there’s always a study to ‘prove’ your theory

Yep - plus you always need to consider who was behind the study, what was their agenda (there's ALWAYS an agenda)

A study conducted over 8 weeks with a 4 week follow up and using less than 50 people? Meh yep! 12 WEEKS is no time at all and that's a VERY small sample group - plus how was the sample group selected?

@yeOldeTrout I have been doing the Fast800 for twelve weeks and I have been surprised how easy it has been to stick to, I actually enjoy it! And have lost a lot of weight. There’s a group on Facebook and lots of people all around the world are having really good, sustained success with it.

However others may have a different experience. Different things will work for different people!

@anotherpersontoday

Carbs are important and yes low carb diets have been debunked but people love a gimmick.

Absolutely not true. More and more dietary advice is about reducing the amount of carbs in your diet.

@Onxob

I've tried low carb alongside intermittent fasting and it definitely reduces hunger but life if you're a person who derives pleasure from food then it's a dull way to live!

You can be slim/lose weight while eating carbs. I try to reduce my carb portion sizes where I can, but for me life really is too short to live without bread and potatoes.

Then you have no imagination when it comes to food and cooking

@Chicchicchicchiclana

Low carb high fat is impossible for people who have gallbladder problems.

Not for all this depends on the individual again we are all different

I probably eat a “high carb” diet because I don’t eat meat. I eat tonnes of spuds, parsnips, sweet pots, bananas, grains, bread etc etc and have never approached what you’d call overweight.

I think low carb works for some, low fat for others but all of these things seem to serve to bring a sense of moderation to what would otherwise be a diet of abundance in all areas. Generally I think it’s calories in, calories out for weight loss and then if you actually want to be healthy you need high quality calories rich in vitamins and minerals.

Back when I ate meat I tried low carb for a while and had horrendous headaches and smelly breath. Not for me but each to their own - perhaps the ideal diet is not one size fits all?

Any of these low 'xxxxx' diets seem to work by inadvertently reducing calories.

@hamstersarse

When people talk about low carb, all they are talking about is removing processed crap.

That's just not the case - people talk as though carbs are evil when in fact whole grains like brown rice, millet, barley, spelt etc are a great source of protein and fibre. When people wax lyrical about low/no-carbs they arent all saying bake your own sourdough just lay off the domino's.

I know lots of people have great results (not just weight - wise) from cutting down on carbs but let's not pretend it's only about processed food.

@BananaLlamaConCalma

People lose weight on low carb because there are less calories in veg and meat fills you quicker than bread and potatoes. There is no science involved in weight loss, just maths. Burn more calories than you consume... consistently.

Sorry but this is complete nonsense.

It's nothing about calories and all about your hormones - insulin specifically.

@yeOldeTrout

Isn't the problem with these "very low carb for T2 diabetes" studies -- the attrition is very high. Literally only half the participants can stick the programme for 8 weeks and that's only with a lot of intensive daily support. So yeah... it works to help weight loss & reduce diabetes symptoms. But it's incredibly tough to stick.

It honestly isn’t really hard to stick to. I think the main problem is bad advice. I can honestly say that I have no need to go back to eating high carb as everything I craved is available to me still. I LOVE milk and milky drinks - now I use coconut milk. I LOVE bread. Now I eat small quantities of low carb bread. My partner (also low carb) couldn’t live without sugar in his one cup of tea per day - I bought him a low carb sugar alternative. He really missed bread - I bought him low carb bread. He also missed pasta - I bought him a low carb alternative. Everything else is just normal real food - meat, eggs, fish, full fat dairy, vegetables that grow above the ground, berries.

What there is a distinct lack of when eating low carb is highly refined processed crap. No one is going to argue that this stuff represents a food group. What you need to do is form new habits and for that you need good, sound advice.

@ItMustBeBedtimeSurely

It's just a generational thing, like our mums are all obsessed with low fat. Mumsnet generation is into low carb.

... and back in the 70s it was all about low carb!

Low Carb was around when Victoria was on the throne.

It was referred to as 'banting' after Banting who, I think, won a Nobel prize to do with the discovery of insulin.

Fruit and vegetables are NOT low carb. But they are high fibre I don’t know why I bother really because these online nutritionists will still keep banging on discussing food as if they’re nutrients in themselves.

There’s a lot of misinformation on this thread, wrapped up to sound legit. Basically the message here needs to be:

1. Don’t take nutritional advice from mumsnet because you have no clue who you are talking to or what their qualifications are
2. Like most things in medicine, nutrition is quite a lot more complicated than most people realise and can’t really be summed up in a post on an internet forum so please stop bleating on about insulin.
3. Googling something, selecting the first article you come across that agrees with you, and using that to add weight to what you’re saying isn’t really how scientific research works.

Running a lot is the only thing thats ever made a sustained difference to me, weight wise (though that is mostly because I don't have the willpower to not eat a lot).

People who think it’s simply down to calories just don’t know how carbs, protein and fat are dealt with by the body.

I’ve sadly had to read an awful lot about human digestion due to a chronic illness, otherwise I wouldn’t know either

Oh, and

1. Michael Mosely needs to be stopped.

Low carb helped me lose weight but I agree running is the only thing that tones me up

I thought it was pretty well known sugar is and for you. The NHS don't recommend more than 30g of added sugar a day. Simple carbs are very similar to sugar in how quickly they are broken down.

Bad for you.

@SpuriouserAndSpuriouser interested to know why you think MM needs to be stopped?

I thought the whole point of Mumsnet was that someone posted a question and then people discussed it?

I’ve been clear on my posts that this has worked for me but every body is very different and haven’t given advice, more an account of my lived experience.

@LongPauseNoAnswer

You don’t ever need to eat carbs, they’re not necessary at all. Your liver can produce all of the glucose that your brain (some cells only run on glucose) and body needs.

This is so not true. I know a guy who was on Atkins for months who ate beef tartar and ended up in coma. He recovered but is on meds for life,

Anyway OP, the reason you’re constantly hungry is because you have a high carb diet, so you are caught in a vicious cycle. If you start using your fat stores instead of glycogen you’ll find you’re rarely hungry and will naturally start intermittent fasting with no effort.

This might be an interesting read for some of the skeptics. Olympic rower James Cracknell is running 100 miles in 5 days to prove the viability of a low carb diet in tacking diabetes.

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8755827/amp/Olympic-rower-James-Cracknell-running-100-miles-five-days-drinking-water.html