Can you eat carbohydrates or not?

I received and email from someone who was reading a diet and fitness point of interest over on Yahoo. The article (found here) was, to me, typical diet rhetoric which really did not give the reader a solution to a question at all. To me it would be like being a tourist and asking someone for directions and they tell you

“to turn left by the tree that they use to have that sign on” Never mind that you have no idea what tree or what sign.

Here is her questions and my answers:

I saw this story on Yahoo! Food and wanted to get your thoughts?! Does this really make sense? Can I really eat pizza and pasta and still loose weight? I literally avoid these most of the time, probably because of the points value for the portion size!

Thanks
Christine

Ok I read the article! weight gain or weight loss is ALWAYS calories in and calories out. I will go over it numerically In the article she suggests we food combined–protein with carbohydrates in a meal to lower the glycemic index of a carbohydrate source. According to the article a meal without protein gives you a burst of energy–right? Newspaper in the fireplace was the example–in exercise situations wouldn’t this be beneficial? Then she says think pasta with meaty tomato sauce–ok so she increased the calorie of the meal and slowed digestion with the fats not just the proteins. So–if you are fuller longer you would not eat more calories later as well? Right? Calories in and out.

Second point was “Not only this, but carbs must be present in the system for the chemical process of fat-burning to work. ” FALSE–she shows no science for this and it is really old school thought. Look at Lyle McDonald and his fat loss reports as well as the huge success with Atkins and South Beach–what are these people losing if they are not ingesting carbohydrates?

Her third point was just repeating her second point. I would argue, without carbs the body burns proteins which are ingested as well as fat for energy–since that IS why we have stored fat after all.

Point 4 –again calories. Your metabolism slows when you do not eat? Sure but it is boosted again when you eat–it is not like every time you miss a meal or a few extra hours pass between meals your metabolism levels are once again adjusted slightly lower–otherwise all the kids in school who skip breakfast to get there on time will be Jabba The Hut by the time they are in middle school. While childhood obesity IS on the rise it is not from a slowed to stop metabolism as a result of a skipped meal. She ten suggests cutting a meal in half if it is super late…ok so which is it? Can we eat late and not get fat or can’t we? Calories in and calories out.

Point 5–she says do not eat a whole deep dish pizza in one sitting–but you can eat light pizza 2 slices at a time when spaced out by meal time hours. Ok so a whole deep dish pizza is about 3,500 calories–4 slices of light pizza is about 500 calories–so the real difference is not the time of consumption but the calories. There is a huge difference in the calories eaten here!

So–you can eat carbs–you can eat anything you want as long as you stay in your calorie amount 90% of the time. You can have some pizza, pasta, cake, cotton candy, salt water taffy–heck pick a carbohydrate! Just make sure if you are dieting that you are in your calorie limits 90% of the time.

I hope this helps! Thanks for the question because I am putting it up on my site today as well!