Are Carbohydrates evil? No, carbohydrates are not evil. Some forms of carbohydrates should be avoided, but avoiding all carbohydrates is setting yourself up for diet disaster.

Let’s look at why anit-carb diets are so popular: eating too many calorie dense carbohydrates, such as white breads, pastas, cakes and cookies, causes insulin to spike. When that happens fat burning potential is greatly decreased, resulting in fat gain. So it seems that a low carbohydrate diet would make sense. And it is true; you will lose body fat more quickly on a low carbohydrate diet than other types of diets.

So why should you eat carbohydrates? Well, when carb intake gets too low, your muscles have no fuel. Your body then turns to alternate fuel sources, namely fat and protein. We don’t want to loose lean muscle mass, because lean body mass we have dictates how fast our metabolism is, 24 hours a day.

So many people are wondering, what carbs can I eat? We want to focus on carbohydrates that have a good amount of fiber and are nutrient dense. Also, don’t eat them alone – combine them with protein and a small amount of fat, to slow the insulin spike.

Here are my favorite carbohydrates

• Steel-cut oatmeal
• Brown rice
• Black beans
• Sweet potatoes
• Fibrous vegetables: bell peppers, green beans, summer squash, carrots