Carbohydrates and inflammation

[Bearcat]

Originally Posted by tooge

Here's the thing with carbs. It's not so much the grams of carbs, but how they are absorbed into your body. Carbs are carbs. Glucose is glucose. Fruit contains fructose, glucose, and sucrose. Snickers bars also contain glucose and sucrose. The difference is that a mango, which contains twice the number of carbs as a snickers bar (50 vs 27gms), also contains a significant amount of fiber, which slows the absorbtion of the sugars, so you don't get the same sugar spikes in the blood.

That is why whole grains, despite being high in carbs, are totally fine, and actually good for you because the high fiber content helps to slow absorbtion of all sugars in your diet, thus leveling out blood sugar. Beans and leafy greens are also high in fiber. However, black and pinto beans are so high in carbs that they would wreck a keto diet.

Bottom line is, nix the keto diet. Have some carbs in the form of beans and whole grains, fruits and vegetables. Cut back on refined sugars like those in non whole grain breads, white rice, and potatos.

The old original p90x had a nutrition plan that made a lot of sense to me... basically start with really low carbs to lose the weight, then up carbs as your workouts improve.

Off keto (for me), it's about finding a balance that doesn't leave me feeling like I'm starving myself or down a slow spiral of cravings and slowly eating more and more... and like you said, when you eventually reintroduce some carbs, do it from fruits and vegetables, etc. (one of my favorites right now is the 4g net carb tortillas that have like 15g of fiber).