By By Jake Boly, Staff Writer

Carbs and sugar are the devil? Wait, what? If this is true, why don’t we avoid eating fruits? Fruit is mainly made up of fruits and sugars, but we still continue to eat them. Which makes me wonder, where did this fear of carbs come from?

The truth is, there has always been a bad guy when it comes to nutrition. We need someone to point the finger at or put the blame on, because in no way could it be ourselves. How many people remember when saturated fat, cholesterol, and sodium were the devils? The fact of the matter is, these popular trends make people feel better for the reason something isn’t working out for them. In this scenario people say carbs add massive amounts of fat and make your insulin sky-rocket! 

Our body has roughly 400-500 grams of carbohydrates stored at all times to release energy when needed. When there is an absence of stored carbs after a series of low carb days, the body begins to burn up glycogen.

This leads to a huge loss of water at the beginning, which in turn makes people feel like low-carb diets are the way to go!

In reality though, you’ll gain back all of the water weight plus some the next time you replenish your glycogen stores. The continued avoidance of carbs might also lead to carbohydrate sensitivity. Which basically means the body will have a harder time recollecting what and how to use a carb when it’s consumed. 

The body always has a stored amount of carbs for use at all times. Say you were to consume 200 grams of carbs today and stayed in your caloric limit, your body wouldn’t store them as fat. Your body would utilize them and rotate out the 200g consumed with 200g you have stored. Basically, when consumed in moderation and in your caloric limit, your body ends up equaling out at the end of the day.

Ask yourself a question. What is the real reason for fear carbs and sugar, or where did you hear that? Was it a trend diet that demonizes them? Think about this. Carbs and sugar generally have a high amount of calories. So wait – you mean I was eating a diet with an excess amount of calories and putting on weight? Of course you were. 

When you start a diet you’re essentially just watching or tweaking the way you already eat, making yourself more aware. If you start consuming less carbs and sugar and lose weight its not because of the carbs and sugar demons, it’s because you’re consuming less calories. Eat with moderation and you have nothing to worry about. I guarantee if you know what your daily caloric maintenance is, you can safely eat carbs that fit in your calories and you won’t gain weight.

Hopefully, I’m inspiring you to stop demonizing carbs and sugars or at least do your own research on the topic. Eat in moderation, a diet shouldn’t be the most stressful part of your life. Check out next week when I talk about nutrient timing.