When you decide to go on a diet to live a healthier lifestyle and lose some weight, there are plenty of keywords that pop into your head that you might not actually have a firm grip on. In my experience with advising people on their diets, I have learnt that ‘carbs’ is definitely one of those keywords! We all know on a basic level what they are, but thanks to the internet and word of mouth misinformation, there are probably more myths about carbs than anything else related to health and fitness! Here is some of the biggest myths about carbs that need to be busted right now.
Snapshot Survey
Snapshot Survey
1. They Leave You Drained and Foggy Brained
This simply isn’t true, because the fact is that every single cell in your body uses carbohydrates for energy. It is actually when your brain can’t get any carb glucose for energy (on a low carb diet for example) that it turns to ketones instead. If this happens too much, the burning of ketones can lead to impaired brain function and fogginess.
2. Avoiding Gluten is Healthy
This is only the case if you have an intolerance to it! Less than one percent of people in the Western world are gluten intolerant, so if you are in the other 99 percent, there is absolutely no need for you to avoid it. You shouldn’t be cutting out whole food groups if you don’t need to.
3. Gluten Free Helps Weight Loss
There is no evidence to suggest that being gluten-free helps you to lose weight if you don’t have an allergy to it. At the very least, the simple calorie restrictions might be beneficial for you, but there is nothing about avoiding gluten in itself that is known to accelerate and encourage weight loss.
4. Humans Weren’t Designed to Eat Starch
Several studies have proven that our ancestors ate starches just the way that we do today. Starch grains have been found in skeletal remains that are as old as thirty thousand years, so the myth that starches are a new and detrimental addition to human diets is a complete lie.
5. Carbs Cause Type 2 Diabetes
You can definitely eat bread without giving yourself diabetes! In fact, recent studies have shown that people who enjoyed whole grain heavy diets actually reduced their chances of type 2 by about 20 to 30 percent. Dietary fats are what you really need to be paying attention to instead.
6. Carbs Cause Heart Disease
Carbs are definitely not the enemy of your heart, in fact, people who have low carb diets have a higher risk of mortality than people who eat them normally. The problem arises from people avoiding carbs and tending to replace them with animal-based proteins instead rather then plants and fibre.