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On Eating Carbs
Apr. 7th, 2012 01:44 pmRobin recently told me about yet another article describing how carbs make you fat; this one said everyone used to know this before the seventies anti-fat fad.
Well, I love carbs, so I don't want that to be true. And so I have two hypotheses on how that might not be true for me. Because my superpower is rationalization.
The Unrefined Carbs Hypothesis
It could be that it's only the simple carbs (sugars) that make you fat. In this case, you're still allowed to eat plenty of whole grain breads, carrots, beans, and brown rice, even if you don't want to be fat. If that's the case, all these studies have been sloppy, and haven't separated out the two kinds of carbs, so that's why people get confused.
A highly desirable but unlikely related hypothesis is that it's only high-fructose corn syrup that makes you fat. Which is in everything in America and thus wrecking all the studies. Everything except my own cooking. So I'm good!
The Diabetic/Hypoglycemic Hypothesis
It could be that everyone is somewhere on a scale between diabetic and hypoglycemic. And it's only people on the diabetic end of the scale who should stay away from carbs if they don't want to be fat. (But then, gaining weight can move at least some people closer to the diabetic end, so it gets complicated.)
With this hypothesis, I get to pretend that I am on the hypoglycemic end of the scale, even though every woman on my mom's side of the family eventually became diabetic (even the thin ones), because I get hungry every four hours no matter how much I've eaten. (It's a happy land I live in. Tra la la!) And so I get to eat sugar.
Some brief googling has shown me that diabetics can get hypoglycemia, which seems to disprove my hypothesis.
However, the way they get it is as a side-effect of treating their diabetes, as if over-treating it pushes them too far along the scale, thus supporting my hypothesis.
All so that is why I still eat plenty of carbs, even though I don't want to gain weight. And why I think it's okay to eat a little sugar (every single day!) and to occasionally eat restaurant and party food (full of hidden and not-so-hidden simple sugars).
Cake of the Day
Today's cake is a great barracuda on ice:
Oh, did you think these would all be appetizing?
Well, I love carbs, so I don't want that to be true. And so I have two hypotheses on how that might not be true for me. Because my superpower is rationalization.
The Unrefined Carbs Hypothesis
It could be that it's only the simple carbs (sugars) that make you fat. In this case, you're still allowed to eat plenty of whole grain breads, carrots, beans, and brown rice, even if you don't want to be fat. If that's the case, all these studies have been sloppy, and haven't separated out the two kinds of carbs, so that's why people get confused.
A highly desirable but unlikely related hypothesis is that it's only high-fructose corn syrup that makes you fat. Which is in everything in America and thus wrecking all the studies. Everything except my own cooking. So I'm good!
The Diabetic/Hypoglycemic Hypothesis
It could be that everyone is somewhere on a scale between diabetic and hypoglycemic. And it's only people on the diabetic end of the scale who should stay away from carbs if they don't want to be fat. (But then, gaining weight can move at least some people closer to the diabetic end, so it gets complicated.)
With this hypothesis, I get to pretend that I am on the hypoglycemic end of the scale, even though every woman on my mom's side of the family eventually became diabetic (even the thin ones), because I get hungry every four hours no matter how much I've eaten. (It's a happy land I live in. Tra la la!) And so I get to eat sugar.
Some brief googling has shown me that diabetics can get hypoglycemia, which seems to disprove my hypothesis.
However, the way they get it is as a side-effect of treating their diabetes, as if over-treating it pushes them too far along the scale, thus supporting my hypothesis.
All so that is why I still eat plenty of carbs, even though I don't want to gain weight. And why I think it's okay to eat a little sugar (every single day!) and to occasionally eat restaurant and party food (full of hidden and not-so-hidden simple sugars).
Cake of the Day
Today's cake is a great barracuda on ice:
Oh, did you think these would all be appetizing?