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When I was at the PaleoFX conference, we were given mostly meat to eat. I was grateful for the food, but I really like vegetables and fruit. So I went to a co-op and got some celery. I was chomping on the celery stalk as I walked through the conference hall and someone actually said to me, “Whoa, vegetables!” as if I’d committed some Paleo crime.
There was such a vibe of carbs-are-the-devil at the conference that Dr. Emily Deans was actually sticking her proverbial neck out on stage when she “admitted” to having eaten a banana at breakfast.
I’m sorry, but this is ridiculous.
If you want to be “fat-adapted” and burn fat as opposed to carbs most of the time, you can still do that whilst eating LOTS of veggies and a couple pieces of fruit a day. For instance, along with lots of fat in your diet, you could eat 2 cups of green peppers, 2 cups of kale, 2 cups of cabbage, 1 cup of carrots, a cup of blackberries and a medium banana and still only be at 90 grams of carbs. Which is not a lot for most people, even for most people who are trying to lose weight, and especially for active people. In fact, 90 grams of carbs is still within the marksdailyapple.com effortless weight loss threshold. I’m not saying there aren’t exceptions to this rule, but in general it seems to be the case that you can eat some carbs and still be very healthy. By the way, it would take 30 cups of raw celery to get you to 90 grams of carbs… (Info below is from myfitnesspal.com)
Yes, Jack Kruse dislikes carbs and Ron Rosedale has research indicating that mice may reduce their lifespans with every insulin-inducing gram of carbohydrate they consume. However…
Jeanne Calment lived until she was 122 years old on a French diet (that I don’t doubt included some carbohydrates), and swore by her 2 pounds of chocolate a week, her port wine, and olive oil. So… I think longevity may have to do with a little bit more than just carbohydrate intake. Interestingly, it doesn’t seem as if Ms. Calment ever worked a day in her life, so maybe we should just all stop working and we’ll live to be supercentenarians, too.
So can we please quit freaking out about carbs? And can I please never be chastised again for eating celery of all things? It’s mostly WATER anyway.
