A friend wanted to learn more about nutrition, specifically why the word carbohydrates is typically used incorrectly. So I did my best to explain...
What are carbohydrates? Plants. Whole food fruits and vegetables. One of the three macronutrients. What are the three macronutrients? Fat, Protein, and Carbohydrates.
I'm doing something similar to 80/10/10, mostly whole food plants, I'm personally closer to 70% whole food carbs, 15% whole food fats, and 15% whole food proteins.
There are no empty calories in my diet. No sugar, oils, and salt. And as a result there is very little of my diet that is in the "hyper-palatable" category. Yeah it's kind of boring...where's the taste?? You get used to it and then you can actually taste "whole" that adds no hyper-palatable substances that are not food.
Again, sugar and salt have a few calories and ZERO nutrition, and oils have a TON of calories but ZERO nutrition. These three substances (not food) are collectively the cause of obesity and resulting diseases.
Carbohydrates are misunderstood because they are called junk foods, which are not food. It's a mistake to call the kind of crap you get at fast food places carbs.
What do the three macronutrients do? Protein builds the tissues, fluids and bones of the body. Carbohydrates and fats, the other two macros, provide the fuel the body burns. Apes are not adapted to burning fat, they can only burn carbs (plants). Humans can burn both fats and carbs for fuel. Why can we burn fats and carbs but apes can't? After all, they are our close biological cousins. The big human brain (that evolved very slowly) allowed us to make tools, use fire, and make warm clothing. This allowed early humans to migrate gradually into colder climates. In colder climates humans consumed animals and plants. In extremely cold climates humans consumed whale blubber and burned only fats as fuel. These extreme frozen climates meant a sparse populaton of humans.
And where are humans most prolific? The equator and either side of it. This is where carbohydrates (plant foods) are the most plentiful.
So, calling the toxic and semi toxic junk we get in restaurants carbohydrates is misinformation.
Basically at the extremes you have so-called carnivores (meat only) and vegans (plants only). There are whole food people who eat some fruit but mostly animals, and also whole food people that eat some animals but mostly fruits and vegetables. These people are eating "whole foods" deliberately because they do not want to eat the empty calories that come from sugar, salt and oil. What is an empty calorie? A calorie that carries no nutrients and that makes "foods" hyper-palatable.
Hyper-palatability is an addiction. If you don't do too much of it you will be better off. In this day and age so many are addicted to hyper-palatability, and will eventually have degraded health. Yeah it's basically that simple.
If there was a version of Big Pharma whose job was to teach us nutrition we would be living in a different world. Their job instead is to keep us confused about nutrition, which makes money for Big P by keeping us sick.
A great way to learn about health and nutrition is do a water fast at True Health Center in Santa Rosa CA.
Start by reading this book:
The Pleasure Trap: Mastering the Hidden Force that Undermines Health & Happiness
A warning about this book: it is written by vegans!
