Why you should eat carbs and a coleslaw recipe without the mayo

Let’s talk about carbs.

Why do they get such a bad rep? Carbs ARE NOT “bad for you”, “making you fat” or whatever other crazy claim you may have heard.

What are fruits and vegetables mainly? CARBS Would you ever think that eating an apple (approx. 22g carbs) would be “bad” for you?

YOUR BRAIN NEEDS ABOUT 130 GRAMS OF GLUCOSE (the simplest, broken down form of a carbohydrate) A DAY. JUST YOUR BRAIN. Yes. glucose can come from several other sources when carbohydrate intake is low, but I’m not even going to get into that because why complicate things?

I’ve never met anyone who doesn’t like carbs. Just eat carbs & be happy.

Now obviously certain carbs have greater benefits than others. The majority of your carbohydrates should come from fruits, vegetables, legumes, and whole grains for overall health purposes, not even weight loss purposes. If you really wanted to, you could lose fat eating a diet of donuts and ice cream if you consumed the right amounts to be in a caloric deficit, but you would probably feel like shit. I’m definitely not saying to try such a diet. I’m not saying to go eat a donut or bagel every day either. BUT, you can certainly incorporate those things into your diet if you desire to/if that would help keep your sanity. How? With portion control and the right balance of the other macronutrients (protein and fat) throughout your day.

Now why do people think low carb diets are so superior? Decreasing carbs is just a way of decreasing your overall intake (remember 1g carbohydrate=4 calories).

Low carb diets may be simple to implement, but is it simple to maintain? What happens when your energy levels dip, your mood is all over the place, and you see a piece of cake or pizza? You just might eat it (I know I would in such a situation). This again goes with the restriction mindset. When you tell yourself you “can’t” have something such as carbs, you make yourself want them more. Your brain doesn’t hear the “can’t” part of the message, it’s just fixated on the other part of the message; having carbs, cake, pizza, ice cream, etc.

YOU CAN AND SHOULD BE EATING CARBS, ESPECIALLY IF YOU ARE PERFORMING PHYSICAL ACTIVITY.

“How many carbs should I be eating?” There is no one right answer. Every single person is different and has different requirements based on their height, body weight, and physical activity levels/type. For this reason, I’m not going to throw out any numbers or give and general recommendations. Obviously a high level athlete would need significantly more carbs than a sedentary office worker and your weekend warrior might be somewhere in between.

My suggestion would be to asses your current diet and go from there. Always start from where you’re at. For example, if you have a donut for a mid morning snack every day, maybe start by replacing that with fruit and yogurt or any other more balanced, nutritious snack you enjoy. Make this a habit. Once it becomes a part of your routine, reassess and figure out what tweak you can make next, while still maintaining sanity. Do you really need that 100 calorie gatorade or OJ to hydrate you? Drink water. Reassess and repeat. Yes, this way will definitely take longer than calculating your macros and following a strict nutrition plan from the get-go. But, the results will be lasting healthy habits with weight loss coming as a side benefit rather than just quick, and possibly unhealthy weight loss.

LIGHT, FRESH, 0 MAYO COLESLAW RECIPE

1 whole cabbage cleansed and chopped 6 oz chopped carrots (I used baby carrots, cut them in half so you have 2 flat halves, then chopped into smaller pieces) 1 serving (0.5 cup or 105g) Small Curd Cottage Cheese 3 tbsp Lemon Juice 4 tbsp vinegar 1 tsp garlic powder Salt and Pepper to taste

Put everything together in a tupperware and shake it up good! And there you’ll have a quick, easy, healthy coleslaw.

Makes about 8 Generous Servings Macros Per Serving: 61 calories. 10g carbs. 3g protein. 1g fat.

Once again, have a good weekend. I hope you learned something beneficial from this. Let me know if you have any questions or make the coleslaw!

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