The Carbohydrate Misconception

On a plant-based diet you will be eating healthy carbohydrates including fruit, vegetables, potatoes, whole grains, and beans. The less processed and more whole food and organic these foods are is best. These foods are packed with fiber and nutrition your body needs for optimal function.

Fruits are simple carbohydrates which give immediate energy and digest easily and then there are complex carbohydrates which are have longer chains of sugar molecules that take longer for the body to breakdown and digest. These foods have soluble and insoluble fiber which both play an important roll in gut health. If you are not consuming enough fiber, toxins will be sitting in your intestines for longer periods of time. This is a major contributor to colon cancer.

Carbohydrates are not "bad". There is a misconception that carbohydrates are bad. Carbohydrates are your primary source of energy. When you restrict carbs, you are actually depriving yourself of having energy. Just as all macro-nutrients including fat and protein are all necessary, it is more a matter of eating the right carbohydrates, the right fats and the right proteins. ​ The main problem with the Standard American Diet today is people are eating way to much processed food, and then because they are restricting eating healthy forms of carbohydrates due to the fad diets, they are over consuming fats and proteins and most people are eating unhealthy forms of those macro-nutrients too. ​ Our body, cells, and arteries work like a drain, if a drain is full of sludge, then the water can't go down the drain. That doesn't mean the water is bad. It is the same with our body, if you fill it with a bunch of unhealthy foods, fat and toxins, then the actual nutrients won't be able to enter the cells and this creates a diseased state. When applying this to carbohydrates this is the specific cause for type 2 diabetes because the carbohydrates which break down into glucose can not get into the cells and then you have high blood sugar.

Processed sugar is not healthy and raises insulin levels. Processed food is loaded with sugar. Sugar found in nature such as fructose is not the same as processed sugar. Fructose from fruit is healthy and the preferred sugar and fuel source for our cells. Fructose does not require insulin to enter a cell. The cell membrane "the brain", the true brain of the cell, allows fructose to pass through the cell membrane without insulin.

Some people are convinced that the Ketosis diet is good due to this current movement to this low-carb fad. While ketosis can be good for short term benefits, it is not good for long term. Actual fasting, not just carb restriction, has amazing health benefits of cleaning out all the unwanted fat and toxins that we spoke about above, as well as, heal and repair cells, however this is intended for short periods of time, not year round. Continuous ketosis that is coming from fad diets is stressful on the body and suppresses the immune system. It also creates acidity within the body which creates a diseased state. In these diets, they are restricting healthy carbs which doesn't leave much to eat except for large amounts of fat and protein. Large amounts of fat from unhealthy inflammatory oils, saturated fats and toxins from animals will clog the drain. In addition, the lack of fiber from healthy carbohydrates and starches and the increase in animal consumption contribute to colon cancer due to slow elimination through the intestines. A healthy alternative, which is what most plant-based eaters do, because the body will adjust to eating less calories and less often once you give it the healthy carbohydrates and starches it needs, is intermittent fasting. When you are not depriving the body of carbohydrates, your are just eating less and less often which is the natural and healthy way of eating. You get the benefits of ketosis, without the negatives of ketosis while providing your body with the energy it needs to feel amazing, ​