Carbs. Much maligned, often praised. Some claim you don’t need them at all (I’m looking at you, Mark Sisson) and many low-fat proponents have hailed them as the natural alternative to fat.
I’ve done a lot of reading and experimenting on my own body with carbs, and you know what? I think they are necessary for me, but not in the quantities I used to consume.
I did a little experiment on my body a few months ago. During a four-week span, I ate no carbs except those found in vegetables. No fruit, no sugars, no honey, no breads, no anything but meat, veggies, and cheese. Why four weeks? I figured that was long enough to get over any “low-carb flu” or whatever it’s called, that short adjustment period your body is supposed to go through to get used to burning other fuel sources than carbs.
The result. I FELT LIKE HAMMERED SHIT JUST ABOUT THE ENTIRE TIME!
I was tired and sluggish, and my eyes burned. (I use the eye burning sensation as a gauge of overall well-being. Not sure why on that one, but I know when my eyes burn, I don’t feel nearly as well as when they do not burn. Take that for what it’s worth, which is just one guy’s experience.)
If you’ve read some of my other posts, you may know that I am no friend to white carbs like flour and sugar. I try to avoid them, even looking at sugar as a poison.
But other carbs, like those from honey and fruits, well, once I added them back into my diet post-no-carb-experiment, wow, I felt a lot better. More ready to face the world. More alive.
Are carbs right for you? Maybe you feel great not eating any carbs. Fine. Do what makes you feel healthy. Note that I did not say, “Do what makes you feel good.” I said “healthy”.
When people question my eating habits as they shovel the cake into their mouths, with a glib, “Gotta die sometime!” — I would really love to be at those people’s deathbeds, just to see how glib they are then — I simply reply that, while I may not outlive you, it won’t be because I didn’t try.
And that’s the whole point of life to me. I don’t want to live recklessly. I only have one life, so I want to make it as long and healthy as possible. And if I die before you, well, at least I gave it a shot, and that will allow me to die happy.
So, how do I feel about carbs? Refined carbs are poison. Fruits and vegetables are natural. I’m gonna eat ’em, because I need some carbs.