If you're looking to avoid confusion you should refer to them as starches, they are the complex carbs (such as rice, beans, potatoes etc.) that give us energy and should form the largest proportion of any healthy diet.
- These starches should preferably be unrefined (yes, quit that white bread, discover the great taste of brown rice) and eaten alongside some green and yellow vegetables to get extra vitamins, minerals and fibre.
- If you're trying to lose weight faster, avoid consuming oil and fatty foods (e.g. nuts, avocado), use sparingly otherwise.
- Avoid dairy products at all costs.
- Add meat in small amounts if you really can't live without it.
You'll be getting more than your daily calorie/vitamin/mineral/fibre needs, and by not eating a tonne of refined carbs, fats, dairy, and meat you'll be less of a burden on the planet/country/healthcare systems too!
I mostly follow the above advice, but I'm pragmatic when eating out, not everywhere caters to a vegan/plant based diet, or even vegetarian. So while you'll occasionally catch me eating a delicious chicken burger or even possibly a steak, 99%* of the time I eat a plant based diet with zero added oil.
As for the myth of sugar turning to fat: it's a process known as de novo lipogenesis, and yes it happens efficiently in cows, but in humans not so much unless you're eating carbs in greatly excess of your body's energy needs[0]. In 99%* of normal circumstances, the human body will increase its metabolism to cope with the extra calories from carbs. The problem really _is_ consuming too much fat.
* estimated ;)
[0] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10365981 "Only when CHO energy intake exceeds TEE [total energy expenditure] does DNL [de novo lipogenesis] in liver or adipose tissue contribute significantly to the whole-body energy economy. It is concluded that DNL is not the pathway of first resort for added dietary CHO, in humans."
I won't resort to personal attacks, but I consider this absolutely terrible nutritional advice.
The issue here is "excess carbs" are very easy to exceed consuming grains and sugar.
Carbs (especially sugar) are what most easily gets converted to adipose fat tissue on the body... unintuitively consuming dietary fat is NOT conducive to increasing body fat. Counter intuitive but true.
Consuming a high carb diet, especially if a significant portion comes from high glycemic index sources, will guarantee body fat increase.
Oils, fats, nuts should be primary components of ones diet.
Excess body fat and high carb diet eventually leads to diabetes and metabolic-syndrome, the overall systemic decrease in health and increase in risk factors for other diseases because of being overweight (specifically, over fat).
I could post study after study but for anyone else reading this, you'll have to do your own research and learn from your own experience. Try both diets.
If you've never tried low carb (and high fat.. it's important to replace carbs with fat) then you should do so and observe your energy changes and decrease in body fat. It will happen.
Look at the before and afters, read the experiences.
My nutritional and fitness experience? 5 years Army Special Operations, where diet and nutrition were studied and an important component to unit readiness....and a lifetime of sports and athletics including college football. And then studying the issue quite a lot.
Read the science behind the Atkins / Keto diet. It's not complicated how our bodies store fat.
> Oils, fats, nuts should be primary components of ones diet.
One is not like the others.
Refined vegetable oil is not appropriate for human consumption. Butter and coconut oil are not refined with hexane, or steam deodorized, and are stable at room temperature (and human temperature). Refined vegetable oil can still be used as biodiesel, though.
Small amounts of nuts are okay, but their oils are not exactly stable either.
I'm trying to convince my keto-devoted friend to eat more fruits, to get her metabolism up. She has lost a lot of weight by watching her carb intake. But she's not "well".
I think your advice about oil and fat works well mainly because fat is very calorically dense, and not because there is something inherently wrong with fat. Otherwise fat, fiber, and protein form the backbone of the only meals that I'm sated by, and I get hungry much faster after a meal consisting only of starches and vegetables, which makes dieting by your guidelines very unpleasant.
- These starches should preferably be unrefined (yes, quit that white bread, discover the great taste of brown rice) and eaten alongside some green and yellow vegetables to get extra vitamins, minerals and fibre.
- If you're trying to lose weight faster, avoid consuming oil and fatty foods (e.g. nuts, avocado), use sparingly otherwise.
- Avoid dairy products at all costs.
- Add meat in small amounts if you really can't live without it.
You'll be getting more than your daily calorie/vitamin/mineral/fibre needs, and by not eating a tonne of refined carbs, fats, dairy, and meat you'll be less of a burden on the planet/country/healthcare systems too!
I mostly follow the above advice, but I'm pragmatic when eating out, not everywhere caters to a vegan/plant based diet, or even vegetarian. So while you'll occasionally catch me eating a delicious chicken burger or even possibly a steak, 99%* of the time I eat a plant based diet with zero added oil.
As for the myth of sugar turning to fat: it's a process known as de novo lipogenesis, and yes it happens efficiently in cows, but in humans not so much unless you're eating carbs in greatly excess of your body's energy needs[0]. In 99%* of normal circumstances, the human body will increase its metabolism to cope with the extra calories from carbs. The problem really _is_ consuming too much fat.
* estimated ;)
[0] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10365981 "Only when CHO energy intake exceeds TEE [total energy expenditure] does DNL [de novo lipogenesis] in liver or adipose tissue contribute significantly to the whole-body energy economy. It is concluded that DNL is not the pathway of first resort for added dietary CHO, in humans."