Carbohydrates are essential for your body and mind if you want to retain normal functional levels in all areas of life. Recently I was watching a podcast clip of a very successful and somewhat famous music producer describe his transition from a vegan, or vegetarian diet to a carnivore one. As it sounds, this is primarily protein based and excludes any carbohydrates whatsoever, even vegetables which blows my mind. Of course, mister music producer man thought it was amazing because he had lost a ton of weight because of it. The podcast owner then stated he tried it himself for a short while, and mentioned it definitely had a positive impact on his health. Although, he did decide to forego implementing it long term. The nature of his results make me believe he was most likely eating some foods, prior to this trial period, that were giving him some mild ailments or allergic reactions.
By in large, diets which exclude one entire food source are a bad idea full stop. The benefits, or results, touted by the music producer and podcast owner of said carnivore diet, are the same sort of things I have heard from vegetarians or vegans.
Diets which hyper focus on the consumption of one food group or macronutrient (fats, carbs, protein), while excluding everything else, may work for a fringe amount of humans for a short period of time. But, long term practice will most definitely create long term ailments.
To mitigate, or reduce, such ailments a much wider scope in terms of what you eat should be employed. Translation, you should focus on eating a little bit of everything. At the correct amounts of course. Learn more as to why by following the link below.
One thing you should not skimp out on is a quality form of carbohydrate. Breads, pasta, rice should not be avoided all together. When they are in their whole grain form, the maximum amount of micronutrients mother nature put into them will be on tap. Much of which may be difficult finding in any other food source.
Take the wheat berry (aka wheat kernel) for instance. Used to make flour for breads and pastas, it is a composite of three parts: the endosperm, bran, and germ.
The endosperm, located at the center, is the bit used solely for white flour. In baked goods, things like all-purpose white flour makes for smooth textured breads and desserts. The lightness of the endosperm also allows these bakes to be easily digested.
Whole grain flour, rather, is milled from the whole entire wheat berry. Endosperm, germ, and bran all together. Typical milling processes used for whole wheat flour will produce a courser texture compared to all-purpose white flour. Further time milling will make a finer flour, labeled as whole wheat pastry flour. Something I like to use for pancakes and cookies.
Each part of the wheat berry contains useful micronutrients. This is what makes whole wheat such a mega option. The increase in nutritional profile offered from the inclusion of the bran and germ is huge. And since regular whole wheat flour is generally coarser, digestion time will increase making you feel fuller for longer. As compared to the same amount of carbs, sourced from white flour that is.
All this holds true for grains of rice. So rather than white rice, go for brown or whole grain rice. Lots more nutrition on offer when you do so.
Now, when combining the net effect of going from white rice or flour to whole grain with a high quality source. That have been minimally processed… You will really be talkin' about somethin'.
Preparing said carb sources yourself, either via cooking or baking will additionally pay dividends down the line. More on that in the future.
So rather than try a bunch of new fad diets, eat a little bit of everything instead. When you carb, make sure they are of the whole grain variety. Whole wheat breads and pastas. Whole grain, brown, rice. Heaps and heaps of nutrition will be on offer. In the case of whole wheat flour, the glycemic index will be somewhat lower than their white flour versions. Again, depending on how they are milled. To learn more about the glycemic index follow the link below.
If you are wondering why people lose so much weight when they go sans any grains or carbs, like the carnivore diet dudes mentioned above, the answer is simple. The human body in an absence of carbs for energy will begin to use body fat as a source of fuel. Provided there is not enough dietary fat in what you eat. But what happens when neither exists? Say after someone has lost a ton of weight? Tissue, as in muscle tissue will start to go.
Getting a bit of quality carbohydrate in will give yourself a little more room for error, keeping your body well out of the danger zone. Something extreme fad diets don't do so well.
So carb it up at will. But make sure you eat sensible portions. Just because whole grains are among the healthiest for of carbs does not mean you cannot overdo it.
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