Do you have a sense that avoiding carbs is eating clean?"
Do you figure that anything with bread or flour in it is junk food?
Is sugar something to be avoided at all costs?
If so, we need to have an intervention.
Carbsincluding sugarare good, actually.
And avoiding them can do more harm than good when it comes to health and fitness.
you could lose weight on a low-carb diet, and thats fine.
But that doesnt mean that avoiding carbs is going to make you healthierin general.
And in fact, a lot of the downsides of dieting can be improved by allowing yourself more carbs.
Carbohydrates, or carbs, include:
Sugars, including table sugar, glucose, and fructose.
There are naturally occurring sugars in fruits, vegetables, and milk.
Starches, which plants use as a form of carbohydrate storage.
White bread and white rice are examples of foods that contain a lot of starch without much else.
Fiber, which our bodies cant completely digest.
Different types of fibers are found in whole grains, fruits, vegetables, and beans.
You may hear about complex carbs.
To a biochemist, starches and fiber are both complex carbs.
But the term has been misused to mean foods with fiber in them, like fruits and whole grains.
White bread is full of complex carbs, so dont take this distinction too literally.
Fiber slows down this process, but so do fats and protein.
Im not endorsing that excess.
(Most of us would probably be better off if we cut out at leastsomeof that sugar.)
But our bodies can deal with a moderate amount of sugar just fine.
That, in turn, lets you do more quality exercise.
That much is scientifically established.
Youll feel a world of difference.
And its not just physical performance.
Research also shows that eating a low-carb dietcan interfere with cognitive tasks like memory and attention.
Your body canget byon a low-carb diet, but it performs best when it has carbs available.
Itsrealhard to eat fiber if youre swearing off starches and sugars as well.
Carbohydrates actually help you with this job.
