I am sure that many of you have heard it said that carbs (carbohydrates) make you fat. Eating too many will cause your body to pack on the pounds. I have certainly been one to buy into this. And I'll share with you my experience.
See I got to the point that I was afraid to eat any carbs, I put myself on a strict low-carb diet...because I thought that that was how you really melted off those pounds. Well, it did. I certainly lost the bulk of my weight when I stopped eating all that bread and pasta. Not that I was eating a lot to begin with, but staying away from it all together made me feel like that was how I was dropping so much weight and feeling so great.
Well, after a year and a half of this, I am discovering just how important carbs are in your diet. You need carbs for all that proper body function. Lets just say that my digestive system was malfunctioning, serious stomach cramps, and I couldn't figure out why. I went to see my doctor and he was as baffled as I was. (Which is never a good sign.) So I started thinking, "Great! All this time and effort put into preventing cancer, and now I've got it." (Because as humans, we naturally assume the worst, right?! No, I do NOT have cancer.)
I tried everything to get things back on track and stop my stomach from cramping every single morning. I ate even healthier than I already was. I went to eating strictly raw vegetables and a bit of fruit and nothing else only to have it worsen. I tried eating greasy fatty foods and still the cramping. So after all this I decided to heck with it all, I'm just going to eat whatever I want. So I started indulging in carbs again. (I totally forgot just how glorious they are!!) Sandwiches, pastas, breads, OH MY!! I added it all back in. (In case you are wondering, I only slightly slipped from the plant based diet. I only slipped cheese in here and there and in very small portions. I still try and keep things healthy and whole food.)
And to my surprise, the cramping stopped and things are just working right! What?! You mean to say carbs are actually good?! There is a reason why grains are at the bottom of the food pyramid and the largest section. So why are we so obsessed with low carb dieting? Does it really help with weight loss?
Well, yes, in my case I say yes. Since I've added them back in I have gone back up a couple of pounds. But I figure I'm going to take those few pounds for now and learn a serious lesson here. It's important for us to listen to our bodies and treat them accordingly. There is a time and a season for this low carb thing. I personally do not think it is healthy long term, but in small spurts I do believe it will help you drop those unwanted pounds. The day will come that I will jump back on that band wagon, but for now, I'm going to enjoy this fresh out of the oven home made bread. :)
Now I have no science to back this up, this is purely and completely my own lesson I've just come through, if any of you know more about the science of it, I'd love to hear it.
