Are You Eating Too Few Carbs?

Its been drummed into us all for a long time now that ‘carbs are the enemy,’ and should be avoided at all costs if you want to stand any chance of losing weight. But did you know one of the common traits of the regions/countries that rank highest as the ‘healthiest’ and with the longest life expectancy is that they actually have a relatively high carbohydrate intake? Could you be eating too few carbs?

What Are Carbs?

Firstly, the term carbohydrate is an incredibly broad one. So it’s important to understand what constitutes a carbohydrate and how different carbs differ.
You can break carbs down into 3 main areas; sugars, starches, and fibres.

Sugars (simple carbs) would most commonly be from processed foods such as biscuits, cakes, chocolate bars etc.

Starches (complex carbs) would come from foods such as bread, pasta, potatoes.

Fibres come from foods such as fruits, vegetables, beans, pulses, nuts, seeds.

Suffice to say that the effect on your body when you eat a certain amount of sugary carbohydrates compared to a fibre carbohydrate is drastically different. The simple carbohydrates have little or no nutritional value and are usually refined and processed. So will do little more than spike your blood sugar levels which can then lead to fat storage. Carbs from fibres on the other hand are usually packed full of vitamins, minerals and fibre. All of which your body can use to function. They are usually slow release carbohydrates as well which means they actually help to regulate blood sugar levels and keep you fuller for longer.

So whilst keeping a track of calories is certainly important to someone trying to lose weight it certainly isn’t the only factor. Particularly when it comes to carbs what you eat within those calories is critical.

Low Carb Diets

The rise in popularity of diets such as Atkins and Keto in recent years has led more and more people to try very low/no carb diets in a quest to lose weight.
The first thing to say is that these diets can produce weight loss results. In the short term at least. You put your body into a state of ketosis (I have written another blog going into more detail on this) which does lead to weight loss results. The problem is twofold. Firstly a lot of the weight you lose is water and muscle mass (not fat). So the actually fat loss results are nowhere near as impressive as you may think. Secondly most people find ketosis totally unsustainable. To even have to energy to work let alone push themselves in an exercise session. So if the method you use to get results is unsustainable I would argue there is little or no point pursuing it.

Overall Thoughts – Are You Eating Too Few Carbs?

I try not to be too judgemental because I have learnt over the years there is a no ‘right way’ to lose weight. It’s what works and is sustainable for each individual person that’s important. And no doubt there are some people who have lost and kept off the weight on one of these low carb diets.

But I think it would be fair to say these people would be in the distinct minority. More likely it’s something people do for a while, get some results in the short term but fall off the wagon because it’s totally unsustainable and end up back where they started (or even worse probably).

Show me 100 people who actually have control over their weight, i.e. have been a healthy weight over a long period of time and I bet you 80 of them eat a fair amount of carbohydrates.
Show me 100 who have followed a low/no carbs diet and I bet you 90/95 have put the weight back on.

Going back to the point I made at the start about the healthiest countries eating a fairly high carb diet. This is true. But something else those people/countries have in common is a high activity levels. Not necessarily traditional exercise as we tend to do in this county but they are very active on a daily basis. This means they actually USE the carbohydrates and the energy they provide. It’s when you eat lots of them and don’t use them that the weight issue come in.

So to sum a lot of people trying to lose weight are eating too few carbs. Don’t be scared of them, you need them and you don’t have to avoid them to be slim. Oats, vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, pulses should play a key role in all of our diets. But choose the right ones and pair them with an active lifestyle for best results.