6 convincing reasons you should keep carbs in your diet

"eating “slow-release” carbohydrates didn’t spike blood sugar as high as eating refined carbohydrates, such as white toast. In turn, insulin levels didn’t spike as high and because insulin plays a role in signaling your body to store fat..."

Following this line of thought, one might logically conclude that eliminating carbs from one's diet will mean no insulin production, and no signals to store fat.

Why settle for 'not quite as bad' carbs when you can have no carbs at all?

— Anonymous

'Whole grains are better than refined carbohydrates' is not even slightly an argument to keep carbohydrates in your diet. Of course whole grains are better than starchy and sugary foods. That doesn't mean they're better than not eating the carbohydrates in the first place, which you did not address at all in these points.

Fiber has nothing to do with a low-carb diet. People on low-carb diets actually tend to eat a lot of fiber. Fiber does not work in your body like normal carbohydrates do. It is only very technically a carbohydrate and is not at all restricted. The benefits of fiber are absolutely irrelevant to a discussion on low-carb dieting.

'One study showed x after they had been on the diet for a week' is horrible reason to cite, even assuming the study was carried out properly and the results were interpreted accurately. A low-carb diet takes 2-4 weeks for the body to adjust to. Taking a picture of ANY results after one week on ANY diet is short-sighted.

I'm not sold on low-carb diets being right for everyone, but they work well for many people, and this is not at all a reasonable refutation of them.

— Anonymous

I think this is a great post to promote healthy carbs- I try to make fruits and veggies the bottom of my pyramid and get my carbs from these sources- then having some grains whether it is bread, oatmeal or pasta in smaller amounts to add to any protein we are having for dinner. As my teens get older, they are starting to do this too. Great for adding phytochemicals and colors to my diet but also having great variety and taste.

— Anonymous

I don't have a carb that is permanent, but I do have a question that I haven't been able to find the answer for anywhere.
On all the packaging nutrition information it breaks carbs down to fiber and sugar. What I want to know is what are the carbs that are left over. Say that a product has 22g of carbs 7 of which are fiber and 3 of which are sugar.... what are the remaining 12 carbs and how do I manage them?

— Anonymous

Ha, I've been right about keeping carb as part of my food all along! I NEVER thought it was GOOD to ELIMINATE CARB OR ANY NATURAL BASIC FOOD to begin with. I just avoid those "artificial ingredients" in my "food ingredients" as much as possible. It's hard to pick just "one" carb because I do enjoy having "variety". When making something from scratch, I like to pick unbleached, whole-grain, or multi-grain choices if available; they do taste better to me, anyway. If it's something ready-to-eat, no matter for a meal or a snack, I pick products with the same idea, such as Kashi, first.

— lohcy1