The carbs you SHOULD eat and WHY

Feb 3, 2017
4 min read

There is so much confusion when it comes to what is healthy to eat for carbs. You need a combination of macronutrients (carbs, protein and fat) to stay healthy! Sounds simple right?

We have the dietary advice from the last twenty years to thank for this mess.

Low carbs, high carbs, high fats, low fats, high protein, low protein. Which one to choose? Why so many options?

Exactly why so many options?

Diets are a very success rate for failure because it does not teach how to eat healthy but rather a quick fix, a band aid. The human body is designed to work with a proper balance of healthy carbs, fats, and proteins. To sustain a long healthy life you must understand the way the body works and how to properly fuel it to get the results you want.

What do you need? Well you need a combination of carbs, protein, fat, minerals and vitamins, to live a healthy lifestyle.

WHY? Well Carbs, protein and fat are ”Macronutrients.” Macronutrients are where we get our energy from. Vitamins and minerals are “micronutrients,” as they do not provide energy, but help in the development of our bodies.

It sounds pretty easy, but yet there is still a lot of confusion surrounding this.

This ”low carb diet” people are on these days argue that:

Carbs have a high glycemic index
Eating carbs leads to obesity and other health conditions

On the surface, this may appear valid, but this approach is problematic. Not all carbs are the same, yes there are ones you should cut out but to make an under educated to decision to this approach could damage ones health in the long run.

Eat carbs, yes EAT them; you should not avoid carbs because:

Carbohydrates are your body’s most preferred source of fuel
When you eat healthy carbs, it stabilizes blood sugar and curbs cravings
Unprocessed carbs have plenty of fiber, and low carbohydrate density, which aids in weight loss

SEEK TO UNDERSTAND CARBS AND ITS ROLE ON YOUR HEALTH!!

Research tells us that the carb intake of the Incas, Okinawans, and Kitavans are high. Despite this, they have a lower disease rate and enjoy a healthy body weight. They get their energy by eating 65 – 70% of carbs every day.

They eat food like tubers, stems, leaves, fruits and other plants. And Meat was only a small amounts of their food intake.

The more you looked into histroy you can see a lot. So Based on these observations…

For YEARS we have been missing out on this information:

First off the type of carb your eating is key!

Carbs are very important for your health. Ancestral foods all over the world are heavy on cellular carbs. The majority of modern (western) diets are full of acellular carbs.

WHATS THE DIFFERENCE? Here is the quick explanation,

Cellular Carbs: Root tubers, shoots, leaves and fruits have their carbs packaged inside of cells. These cells have fiber, that remains intact during cooking. Due to this factor, the number of carbs you get from them is less. In other words, their carbohydrate density is low. Foods with low carb density help stabilize blood sugar and are healthy for you.

Acellular Carbs: Refined flour, white sugar, and processed grains are acellular carbs. They do not have cell walls or, have had them removed due to processing. Their carbohydrate density is high, which can lead to many health conditions.

Second, the right carbs prevent diseases & weight gain: YES PREVENT!!!!

If all carbs lead to weight gain and diseases, then many indigenous populations would have a high death rate.

Take a look at the Okinawans of Japan, 65% of their diet are carbs. Likewise, the Kitavans from Papua, New Guinea get 70% of their energy from carbs. Yet, they still have a lean body mass and a low rate of disease. The key factors here are the leptin and gut microbiota.

Leptin: Our body secretes this hormone to signal when the stomach is full. Research shows that cellular carbs help release leptin and stop overeating. While in western diets, dense acellular carbs interfere with the action of leptin. This leads to leptin resistance, metabolic syndrome and obesity.

Gut bacteria: A healthy gut translates to a healthy body. Cellular carbs promote the growth of healthy bacteria, but acellular carbs, cause low-level inflammation.

This causes leaky gut and small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO). This, in turn, affects the brain’s ability to process the signal of leptin. This results in overeating and weight gain.