Why is everybody on here always saying “no carbs?”

Anyone who says "no carbs" knows it usually means rice/pasta/bread/potatoes, not all fruits/vegetables.

Have you been in a coma the last 30 years? Atkins, anyone? The Zone? Low carb? Paleo? Keto? All similar and depressing fad diets. It does work to shed pounds quickly short term but not good for you in the long term.

Better to limit carbs to thimble sized amounts and sustain yourself on tears, celery, vodka and bitterness.

Where are the 2000+ calories coming from without grains?!

That’s minimum. Hard exercise can require like 3000. Maybe they’re referring to cutting for just a few days?

because unless you work like a field hand, you probably don't need carbs all that much.

anything that is not protein, fat or insoluble fiber is a carb, btw. so they likely mean "no refined carbs", for the most part.

it's just a fancy way of saying they don't eat pasta, rice and potatoes. kind of like people who are "gluten sensitive" are simply trying to cut out carbs.

Only fat people say no to carbs.

Metamucil is my favorite carb.

no carbs

People hate on carbs because they are basically broken down into sugar by our bodies. You can still end up fat or even obese never or rarely eating sugar, but consuming lots of carbohydrates. More so things made from white flour such as breads, pasta, etc...

This explains all those jokes about "fat" Eastern Europeans who live largely on diets rich in potatoes. Ditto for some Italians, but there its is pasta.

Moderate amounts of carbs aren't going to harm anyone. Until recently the French who love all sorts of breads, cakes and baked goods were rather slim. Again key there was moderation.

I did the Atkins diet when it first came out R2. It really fucked with my body. Yes I lost weight, but now I am very limited in the calories I can eat. Atkins diet is not sustainable.

Thing is with Americans because food is generally cheap and plentiful (especially lower quality stuff) they tend to gorge themselves.

Take pasta; in Italy it is not served either in restaurants or in homes piled high on plates; but rather part of a series of dishes (usually primo) and thus in small portions.

Americans (including some Italians) took this to extreme for various reasons of their own. So what normally would have been a small plate of pasta served as part of several course meal became the main meal heaped onto plates.

Part of this of course is that pasta (especially store bought mass produced ) is cheap and filling (as most carbs are generally. So if you want to feed lots of people, or have lots of mouths to feed either way on little money, you cook tons of pasta. Then drown it in sauce or gravy....

Rice, potatoes, etc... all same thing. These are meant to be served in small portions along with something else, not heaped on a plate... But again carbs are filling and if you want to stretch things they usually are part of a go to meal plan.

If you grew up in the 1970's and your mom or whoever needed to stretch food budget you remember "Hamburger Helper" and other things that were basically based on rice/pasta/noodles, etc... Small amount of meat, some type of gravy or sauce and tons of carbs could feed a family for very little money.

R10, Looks like Italians biggest meal is at lunch with a much lighter dinner.

R11

Which is how it once was or still is across many parts of Europe. Though things can vary by socio-economic classes.

Until late 18th century most European cultures "dinner" was main meal service around noon time. Supper or whatever you want to call it was a lighter meal served later in day. Gradually in UK and elsewhere main meal was moved back to what is now "supper time" and luncheon became the small meal it is today. However it was usually the wealthy (who weren't preparing, serving, nor cleaning up into late hours) that had these late dinners. For everyone else it makes sense to have a large meal early in day, especially when you consider breakfast was normally nothing more than some sort of bread and milk with perhaps coffee or tea.

In Spain, many parts of France and other places where it is warm to hot much of year dinner is eaten very late for an obvious reason. It is too hot during mid-day to consume a heavy meal. I personally don't know how the French (in partiuclar inhabants of Paris) do it; dinner time is from about 7PM to 11PM. Luncheon is mid-day and they don't (largely) snack.