Monday 4 April 2011

"But you need your carbs..."

If I had a penny for every time I’d heard that, I’d have…  Well, about eight pence.  But that’s not the point.  Yes, Carbohydrates are a food group, but that doesn’t mean you should give them any sort of special respect.  The quote "There’s no such thing as an essential carbohydrate” (Taubes) should always be in the back of your mind when you’re wondering what to have on your plate.

But I appreciate that this is counter intuitive, and that the idea of giving up carbs is not easy to swallow (so to speak). If you don’t believe me after reading this, that’s okay – because I’m NOT an expert and you shouldn’t even take my word for it if I tell you it’s raining.  But do yourself a favour and find out for yourself.  Education will save your life one day. Unless you get hit by a falling bookshelf in your library.

The Essentials

Food groups fall into three main categories.  These are – Protein, Fat, and Carbohydrate.  I know you can divide and subdivide these until the cows fall asleep, but everything boils down to that sooner or later.

It’s quite possible for a food to belong to more than one food group.  For example, meat is likely to contain protein and fat.  Nuts will give you  fat, carbohydrate and protein. Etc.

Some of these ingredients are known as “essential” (As we discussed here, that means the substance can’t be made in your own body in the same way that glucose and cholesterol (for example) can), but there are no carbohydrates which can’t be done without. I’m quoting wiki here.  I know that’s not wise, but I’ll bet you a quid that the person who write this knows more than I do:

Carbohydrates are a common source of energy in living organisms, however, no carbohydrate is an essential nutrient in humans.
Carbohydrates are not necessary building blocks of other molecules, and the body can obtain all its energy from protein and fats.
The Wiki entry then backs up its claims with notes from here and here.

Are you still awake?

Sorry.  That was heavy going.  Must try harder (*adds comedy bow tie)

Dogma

Kids are taught about diet from a very young age.  If you’ve had anything at all to do with Primary School age children, you’ll have already heard about the Eatwell Plate.

It’s a cosy diagramme that the government hopes our darling spawn will take to their hearts and enjoy healthy, fulfilled lives as slim and active members of society.  There’s just one small problem though:  It’s bollocks.

But it’s so much part of received wisdom now that even Joan of Arc wouldn’t  be likely to challenge the assumption in public.  There are industries which have a very strongly vested interest in keeping the public ignorant. We’re talking about billions of dollars invested in a food industry which is killing people and selling its garbage as “healthy and nutritious”.

Do I sound like a conspiracy theorist?  Sorry.  Just for the record – I DO think we landed on the moon, and I’m pretty sure Elvis isn’t working in our chip shop  Just so that you know.

So what am I talking about?  Well – When did the obesity crisis start?  ….And when did we all start eating low fat? #justsaying. Enough on that for now.

But the idea that “you need your carbs” is SUCH a strongly entrenched idea that it’s used to attack low carb diets and make out that they are unhealthy – simply because they challenge that concept.  There are agencies such as The Flour Advisory Bureau, who will put press release after press release into the media simply to enforce the idea that “you need your carbs”.

New and Unimproved

And the net result of that now is that we are seeing a whole lot of low fat diets reinventing themselves and changing their spots to accommodate the completely false arguments which have been made against them.

So now, instead of Atkins, we have New Atkins. Rebranded, repackaged and rehashed, simply to accommodate the myth that plenty of carbs are an essential part of a human diet. We’ve also got a sudden glut of low carb plans selling themselves as “high protein” diets for pretty much the same reason.  In just about any recent Low Carb book you pick up, you’re likely to find a statement like this one:

“We’re not asking you to give up carbohydrates.  Oh no!  That would be stupid!  What we want you to do is eat loads of fresh, healthy green vegetables, and lots of delicious fruit…”  (Not a real quote)
Even though there is absolutely NO evidence that we need a lot of fruit and veg in our diet.

But does that mean that I don’t eat fruit and veg?

No.  I do eat both fruit AND vegetables.  But mainly because I enjoy them.  I’m a big fan of raw spinach.  And I love raspberries.  But I keep my intake relatively low, and regard all salads and such like as a daily treat, rather than something I “need” to get enough of.

I’ll finish by showing you what Hannah Sutter has published in her book “Big fat Lies” which is subtitled: Is Your Government Making You Fat?  It’s her answer to the Eatwell Plate myth, and is rather cunningly called the Meatwell Plate.  I’d say it was a far better model to follow.

You might well disagree.  In which case, I'd suggest you buy the book and read it for yourself.  If you still disagree after that, then you'll still be wrong, but at least you'll have read a good book.

2 comments:

  1. I also like the way Hannah Sutter treats 'Low GI'. Glycaemic Index != (does not equal) low insulin. Low GI foods still allow high levels of fructose in the diet which stimulates an insulin response. She presents some good evidence for lowering total carbohydrate intake to well under 200g per day - under 60g for weight loss.

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  2. In that case, I think that you should get on board this Blog Crew as an administrator and tell the good people exactly what an insulin response is and why they should care.... ?

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