Carbs play an important role in a well-balanced diet, as well as fats and proteins. It is important for those conscious of their health to experiment with different macro intakes to find the one that their body responds to the best. While eating a high intake of carbs can be one indicator that someone has a poor diet, a normal and calculated amount of carbs in a diet can be beneficial.

The problem with carbs is that our bodies are not designed to eat them in mass quantities like we do today. In earlier times, humans flourished on eating meats and eating veggies. Things like bread, fruits and juice were not readily available 365 days of the year. Now we can drop by the grocery store on any corner and get them at our whim, and on that note we can acquire carb dense foods without any work other than jumping into our car and pressing the gas pedal.

The main point I’m trying to make is simply this: Don’t blame carbs for fat gain. Plenty of healthy individuals consume carbs. The best approach to having a healthy body is having a healthy amount of all macro-nutrients. The best way to know how much you should be eating is to experiment with your own body; everyone is different.

The biggest concern I see is the youth obesity and overweight rates. It’s not an issue of poverty, it is an issue of convenience and laziness. Growing up I lived in a middle class home in Toronto. I was outside every day after school and had to be dragged in to have dinner at the family table. The meals were rich and not ‘diet conscious’ but we were ACTIVE as kids. Now? Many kids instead of playing soccer or basketball or road hockey after school go home and play video games or surf the ‘net and sit on their butts. Many parents are afraid to let their kids play outside after school, especially in bigger cities, because of the various ills that may befall their kids (Kidnapping, drugs, alcohol etc).

So even though eating habits are worse than, say, 25 years ago I think the lack of excersize is an even bigger issue regarding the overweight issue in North America. Let’s also not forget that as the entire population as a whole gets heavier the perception of what is ‘average’ changes, causing what was once considered unhealthy to be considered normal. The average waist size for a woman in North America is size 14. SIZE 14!!! So anyone with a size 16 or 18 waist can say they are ‘about right’. Unfortunately that is a falacy as size does not correlate into whether or not someone is healthy for their height. the BMI is the BEST indicator of a persons overall health with regards to weight/muscle mass/fat.

Yes, that’s shallow and superficial. But you’re allowed to be that way.
Men hook up with women hoping she’ll never change, women look at men as fixer-uppers. Of course there are always exceptions folks, this is just a more accurate statement than ‘men are from mars and women are from venus’.

The excessive consumption of sugar (above 5kg per person per year) and refined carbohydrates probably makes the major contribution of this detrimental carbohydrate effect. To rid the world of obesity, diabetes and heart disease requires that the sale and consumption of sugar and refined carbohydrates must be curtailed and the consumption of high fat/high protein/low carbohydrate diets is promoted to those who are at risk because their metabolism is carbohydrate-resistant. In as much as the affected large industries are not going to allow any reduction in the sale of their products, so there is no public health solution to the prevention of the epidemic of obesity and diabetes. Instead those industries will continue to insure that the general public remains ignorant about the simple truth of the real factor that causes obesity and diabetes. This ignorance is highlighted by some of the comments posted here.

But this does not mean that individuals at risk cannot regulate their own weights with consummate ease and hence their risk for the development of obesity. They need just adopt the eating guidelines now promoted by the low-carbohydrate movement led by Dr Dukan’s books in Europe and by many including Gary Taubes in the United States.

PS Sometimes my girlfriend gets upset when I tell her I’d only love her as a friend if she let herself go that way but fitness, health and just looking good is important to me! It’s not that shallow… is it?

I agree with you about BMI being a fallacious measurement. We should measure body composition instead… and that I believe will show how fat and unfit most Americans are. In fact, the rates of obesity would probably prove higher than those shown by BMI measurement. As most Americans have too much fat and not enough lean mass, including all the skinny-fat hipsters here in New York City.