Not enough carbs

Not enough carbs

A whole lot of people who embark on a Paleo diet become very carb-phobic and associate carbohydrates with instant fat gain. We have to keep in mind that fat gain is much more complicated than that and that we are well adapted to function on carbs or fat for energy. For this reason a lot of people limit their carbohydrate intake to very low amounts. Even when adequate amounts of fat are consumed to make up for the lesser amount of carbohydrates, limiting the amounts of carbs consumed by too much can lead to intense cravings and binging on unhealthy foods.

Sources of starchy carbohydrates are especially feared because they are concentrated sources of carbs. If we start with the belief that carbohydrates are not bad per se we can then see why it doesn’t make sense to fear concentrated sources like starchy vegetables. Read up on Paleo 2.0 for the complete demystification of starchy vegetables.

Also, while this is getting into an entire other discussion, being in ketogenic a state from time to time is a healthy thing, but being there all the time can lead to problems in the long run. I talk about that issue  in more details on my article on the perfect macro-nutrient ratio.

Carbohydrates in general shouldn’t be feared, carbohydrates from toxic sources like grains, legumes and refined sugar should.