Are you scarred of carbs? I was. I honestly was scarred to
eat an apple. Why? Because I’ve been told that “Carbs make you fat”. Where did
I get that from? Well let me tell ya, there’s so much information out in the
internet and so many different studies proving exactly what you want to
believe. I’ve heard a lot of great things about Paleo diet and how easily
people lose weight with it. Being the “science nerd” that I am, I looked into
the science part of how it works. Insulin is a fat storing hormone. Carbs raise
insulin levels. Therefore, carbs make you fat and we should avoid them. Makes
perfect sense right? Except I couldn’t find any studies on how your body
processes fat only foods. My whole inspiration for this blog was to share my
paleo success. Well maybe that’s why this blog hasn’t had very many posts,
because I didn’t have any success!
I ate vegetarian for 3 years. And ate paleo for the last 6
months. None of those worked for me. I still suffer from an awful brain fog and
never been super lean despite of eating very healthy most of the time and always
working hard in the gym. I was developing gluten/dairy sensitivities and other health issues. This made me
question the food choices I’ve been having and lead me to discover what high
carb raw vegan lifestyle is. I recently watched a documentary on the Gerson
Method. Gerson Method diet is mostly raw fruits and vegetables protocol which
includes the use of coffee enemas to cure cancer patients. I loved the fact
that you can use the food as medicine and can heal your own body. I thought
that if the Gerson Method can cure cancer patients, it certainly can cure my
brain fog/insulin resistance issues.
Then I ran across a YouTube channel of Freelee the Banana Girl. She follows a high
carb, low fat, vegan diet. I was in shock to watch Freelee eat 51 bananas a day!
I was amazed and skeptical at the same time. Freelee is incredibly tiny
with very low body fat percentage and is never hungry! I do believe that eating
too much (bananas only diet) of one thing is not a healthy lifestyle and will deprive you of other useful
nutrients, but she did it to prove a point.
High carb vegan lifestyle inspired me to research more about
carbs. I didn’t understand how can someone be eating 3,000-5,000 calories a day
and stay incredibly lean. This is when I
discovered that everything I knew about carbs is a myth. Excess carbohydrates
do not get stored as fat. All carbohydrates consumed in excess of your glycogen
stores are simply burned off as body heat through the process of “facultative
dietary thermogenesis". Feel free to consume all the carbohydrates you want as
long as you keep a concrete limit on your daily fat intake. When you consume
high carbohydrate foods such as potatoes, bananas, pasta, and rice without
adding excess fats to them, there isn’t any excess fat for your insulin to
store. Majority of the society consumes “carbohydrates” like pizza covered with
cheese, bread slathered with butter, potatoes covered in sour cream, deep fried
French fries, and fried rice prepared with globs of olive oil. People ultimately
blame the carbs for making them fat. It’s true that healthy fats help you lose
weight but daily requirement of “healthy” fats are really minimal. We as humans only require two essential fatty
acids; Omega-3 alpha, linolenic acid and the Omega-6, linoleic acid in order to
maintain cell membranes, absorb certain vitamins, and regulate hormones. The
human body only requires 10 grams, or the equivalent of about a teaspoon. Humans
grow at a very slow pace, protein requirements is actually less than 50 grams
per day and not 1g of protein per 1 lb of body weight.
I have been eating mostly high carb vegan for the past 2
weeks, and honestly, my body loves it! I am beyond excited to finally not
having to count calories, not feeling hungry, and healing my body inside out. I
am adopting a high carb, mostly raw, vegan lifestyle for 90% of the time. The
other 10% I am allowed to eat anything I want. For example I am out with
friends, I will eat sushi or a chicken pizza. I am not limiting myself to certain
food group, but just making really good choices 90% of the time and believe this is what life balance is all about. Stayed tuned
to see my results at the end of the month!