Do you really need carbs?

That’s a big debate in the nutrition world. Frequently, low-carbohydrate proponents say things like “there are essential amino acids, and essential fats. There are no essential carbohydrates.”

Original source: here.

            But let’s backtrack a little bit.

You might already know, but just in case you don’t, what foods contain carbohydrates? Pasta, potatoes, rice, fruits, vegetables, candy, pastries, etc. These are all carbohydrate-containing foods.

You might be thinking “hold on a minute. How can both vegetables and candy be carbohydrates? How can they both be in the same category?” You can read up on that in this other article I wrote, titled “Carbohydrates: How Many and What Type?”

But back to our question of “do you really need carbs?” In the strictest academic sense, no. You don’t need carbohydrates.

I know what you’re thinking: “But what about energy? Don’t you need energy? Doesn’t your brain need carbohydrates? Don’t you need carbohydrates to maintain your blood sugar?”

The answers are no, no, no.

One of my clients once asked me if my favourite word was “no.” I answered “no.”

You see, the brain doesn’t require carbohydrates. It requires glucose (sugar). If you’re eating carbohydrates in your diet, the brain gets the glucose from the breakdown of carbohydrates. But what about situations when you don’t get carbohydrates? What then? In that case, your brain still gets glucose from non-carbohydrate sources. There is a process in the body called “gluconeogenesis” (try using that one in Scrabble). Gluconeogenesis is the process of creating glucose from non-carbohydrate sources. What are those sources? Certain amino acids (the building blocks of protein) can become glucose. And other sources, like pyruvate can also become glucose.

So that’s when we’re talking in the strictest academic sense. If we were able to have carbohydrate-free fruits and vegetables, we could theoretically survive, and thrive. But the real-world is different. Fruits and vegetables are classified as carbohydrates (after all, they’re not fats, and they aren’t proteins). And fruits and vegetables are pretty important to your health (your mother was right). So in that sense, no, we don’t need carbohydrates, but we do need the nutrients found in carbohydrate-containing foods. And since the nutrients in carbohydrate-containing foods are kind of a package deal with carbohydrates, we need carbohydrates. To put it another way, as Frank Sinatra once said “you can’t have one without the other” (although funny enough, I had no idea it was Frank Sinatra until just a few years ago… I thought it was just the theme song of Married with Children).

Original source: here.

            We should also distinguish between survival and performance. Would you die without carbohydrates? No. If you live a fairly sedentary lifestyle, and you don’t exercise, you should really minimize your carbohydrates. And by the way, if you don’t exercise, why not??? I’m sorry, we can’t be friends anymore.

But if you already have fairly low body fat (that is, less than 12% for men, and less than 20% for women), you would likely do better on a moderate-to-high carbohydrate diet. You’d have better energy levels, better performance in the gym or in your sport, and maybe even better blood chemistry.

However, if you are the person who has some body fat to lose (again, you’re above 12% if you’re a man, and above 20% if you’re a woman – and that’s REGARDLESS of age), you should probably keep your carbohydrates lower even if you do exercise. That is until your body fat comes down to where it should be, and then, you can raise your carbohydrates again.

The saying that “carbohydrates need to be earned” is very true. How do you earn your carbohydrates? In two ways:

1. By having low body fat
2. By intense physical exercise. Just walking doesn’t cut it.

If you need help figuring out what carbohydrates you need, and how much, it’s best to get in touch with us.