34: Carbs: The Most Misunderstood and Vilified Macronutrient

Most rational people realize that there are different varieties, types, and sources of carbohydrate.  But the dialogue around carbs is not a rational one.  We’re far more likely to hear about how carbs are bad, period.  They make you fat.  They give you diabetes.  You shouldn’t be eating them.  There’s just a blanket condemnation of an entire macronutrient without really knowing all that much about carbs.In today’s episode The Nutrition Grouch explains what carbohydrates are, the difference between simple and complex carbs (there really isn’t), how carbs are digested, absorbed, and metabolized in the body, how carbs can be converted into fat but probably won’t make you fat, how energy balance and carbohydrate control fat burning, and what he looks for in a grain based carbohydrate product.This podcast episode is jam packed with great information that hopefully can help you better understand carbohydrates, be a little less afraid of them, and maybe even learn to love them, guilt free.Some of the topics in today’s episode include: Carbs weren’t the enemy for 99.999% of human existence (2:53)Hunter-gatherer diets varied greatly by region and availability (6:03)The saturated fat/cholesterol hypothesis of heart disease (9:03)Just say “NO” to saturated fat, says the American Heart Association (12:51)The low saturated fat diet became the “low fat” diet by mistake (14:23)If you don’t eat fat, you HAVE to eat carbs almost by default (15:22)Low fat diets should be low in fat AND low in carbs! (15:54)Along comes Dr. Atkins to turn diet advice on its head (17:03)How a high saturated fat diet can actually reduce heart disease risk (18:33)There isn’t just one type of saturated fat, there’s at least 10 in the diet (20:24)Not all saturated fats are bad and not all unsaturated fats are good (22:14)We tend to hate things we don’t know or understand (27:13)What do all carbohydrates ultimately become in the body? (28:15)Fat doesn’t control fat burning, carbs do! (29:14)The single unit sugars: the monosaccharides (31:25)More simple carbs, the disaccharides (32:38)Simple carbs (sugars) versus complex carbs (sugars) (32:56)The gut can only absorb monosaccharides, sorry di and poly (33:43)Glycogen is the storage form of carbohydrate in the animal (35:49)Will eating carbs make you fat? (37:23)How the body can convert carbs into fat (38:26)Energy balance, not fat, controls fat burning (40:10)Your inability to burn fat makes you fat (41:57)The oxidative hierarchy of nutrient metabolism (42:11)Carbs can turn to fat AFTER glycogen storage is maxed out (45:33)A calorie is a calorie is a calorie, the first law of thermodynamics (49:23)Fat and protein calories are not superior to carbohydrate calories (49:23)32 controlled feeding studies, the nail in the coffin (Hall & Guo) (49:23)Macros DO NOT MATTER!!! (51:28)Is the ability to burn fat predictive of long term weight change? (54:08)The myth of choosing complex carbs over simple carbs (58:05)Less processed carbs have to be better for you than processed carbs, right? (58:53)Should I make my carb choices based upon the glycemic index? (59:19)What exactly are “added” sugars? Should I avoid them? (1:00:01)“0” added sugars don’t make a food healthy (1:02:55)There are no healthy desserts or indulgences (1:07:34)Two things I look for on a nutrition label (1:10:15)What food groups contain carbs? (1:13:30)Carbs are easy to produce at scale, that makes them cheap (1:15:36)Carbs: what are the take home messages? (1:19:46)