Carbohydrates: Why They're Not The Enemy.
Carbohydrates have had a rough ride over the years. They’ve been blamed for weight gain, poor health and everything in between. Low-carb diets have become increasingly popular, with many people believing that cutting out bread, rice, potatoes and even fruit is the secret to getting lean.
But carbohydrates aren’t the enemy. They play an important role in our health, physical performance, muscle growth and everyday wellbeing. The key is understanding which carbohydrates to eat, how much to eat and when they might be most beneficial.
1. Carbohydrates and Weight Loss: Fibre Is Your Friend
One of the biggest misconceptions about weight loss is that carbohydrates make you gain weight. They don’t. Consistently consuming more calories than your body uses is what drives weight gain, regardless of whether those calories come from carbohydrates, fats or protein.
In fact, high-fibre carbohydrates such as oats, wholegrains, beans, vegetables and fruit can make losing weight easier. Fibre helps keep you fuller for longer, slows digestion and adds volume to meals, helping control appetite without excessive calorie consumption. Foods such as boiled potatoes also contain plenty of water, making them filling without being particularly calorie-dense.
The takeaway: Don’t automatically remove carbohydrates when trying to lose weight. Focus on portion sizes, fibre, overall calories and glycaemic load (the amount of available carbohydrate in a portion and its effect on blood sugar).
2. Carbohydrates and Physical Performance: Fuel for Your Engine
Whether you’re lifting weights, running, cycling or playing football, carbohydrates are an important fuel source.
When we eat carbohydrates, some of that energy is stored as glycogen in our muscles and liver. During moderate- to high-intensity exercise, our muscles rely heavily on carbohydrate availability for energy. When glycogen stores become depleted, performance can suffer, resulting in fatigue, reduced intensity and poorer recovery between sessions.
For anyone exercising regularly, sufficient carbohydrate intake helps maintain training quality and supports recovery. You wouldn’t expect your car to perform well without fuel. Your body isn’t much different.
3. Carbohydrates and Muscle Growth: The Protein-Sparing Effect
When people think about building muscle, protein usually gets all the attention.
Protein provides the amino acids needed to repair and build muscle tissue, but carbohydrates also play an important supporting role.
Firstly, they provide energy for demanding resistance-training sessions, helping you maintain the intensity and volume needed to stimulate muscle growth.
Secondly, carbohydrates have what’s known as a protein-sparing effect. When sufficient carbohydrates and energy are available, the body can rely more on carbohydrates for fuel rather than converting certain amino acids into glucose.
This allows dietary protein to support its other important functions, including muscle repair and growth.
4. Carbohydrates and Brain Function: Feeding Your Mind
Your brain requires a continuous supply of energy, and glucose is its primary fuel under normal dietary conditions.
Although the body can adapt to using ketones as an alternative fuel source, achieving and maintaining nutritional ketosis is more demanding than many people realise.
The ketogenic diet has become fashionable, but it generally requires restricting carbohydrates to around 20–50 grams per day.
I do wonder how many people claiming to follow a ketogenic diet actually achieve sustained ketosis, rather than simply restricting carbohydrates and potentially experiencing lower energy levels as a result. For the average person, particularly someone who exercises regularly, there’s little reason to assume that such extreme carbohydrate restriction offers an advantage over a balanced diet.
Just because your body can function with very little carbohydrate doesn’t mean it’s necessarily the best approach for your health, lifestyle or performance.
5. Carbohydrates, Vitamins and Minerals: More Than Just Energy
When people eliminate carbohydrates, they sometimes forget they’re also removing foods packed with essential nutrients.
Fruit and vegetables provide vitamins, minerals, fibre and beneficial plant compounds.
Citrus fruits and berries provide vitamin C. Sweet potatoes and carrots contain beta-carotene, which the body converts into vitamin A. Leafy greens provide folate, while potatoes and bananas contribute potassium. Wholegrains and pulses also provide B vitamins, magnesium and iron.
These foods shouldn’t be judged purely on their carbohydrate content. Food is more than just calories and macronutrients. The vitamins, minerals and fibre found in carbohydrate-rich foods are essential for long-term health.
6. Simple vs Complex Carbohydrates: What’s the Difference?
Carbohydrates are commonly divided into simple and complex forms. Simple carbohydrates include sugars found naturally in fruit and milk, as well as sweets, sugary drinks and desserts.
Complex carbohydrates include starches found in potatoes, rice, oats, bread and pasta, alongside dietary fibre.
However, simple doesn’t automatically mean bad, and complex doesn’t automatically mean good. Fruit, for example, contains natural sugars but also provides fibre, water, vitamins and minerals.
The overall nutritional value of a food matters far more than simply labelling its carbohydrates as simple or complex.
7. Glycaemic Index vs Glycaemic Load: Understanding Blood Sugar
The glycaemic index (GI) measures how quickly a carbohydrate-containing food raises blood glucose under standard test conditions. Glycaemic load (GL) considers both the GI and the amount of available carbohydrate in a portion.
Watermelon, for example, can have a relatively high GI but a low glycaemic load because it contains relatively little carbohydrate per serving. Now consider grapes and raisins. They’re essentially the same fruit, but raisins have had most of their water removed. This means raisins contain considerably more carbohydrate per gram, giving them a higher glycaemic load than the same weight of fresh grapes.
But that doesn’t make raisins bad. They can be useful immediately before a run or during prolonged exercise when you want a convenient, concentrated source of carbohydrate. It’s about understanding how different carbohydrate sources can serve different purposes.
8. There Are No Bad Carbs: Just Different Nutritional Choices
Rather than labelling carbohydrates as good or bad, it’s more useful to consider which foods offer greater nutritional benefits. Rice, potatoes, sweet potatoes, oats and wholegrain breads can all be excellent carbohydrate sources.
A doughnut or portion of French fries isn’t inherently forbidden, but these foods are often more calorie-dense because they contain significant amounts of added fat.
Depending on how they’re prepared, a substantial proportion of their calories may come from fat rather than carbohydrate. That doesn’t make them bad foods. It simply makes them less nutritionally advantageous as everyday choices compared with foods rich in fibre, vitamins and minerals.
As a practical starting point, aim for roughly a fist-sized portion of starchy carbohydrates on your plate, alongside protein and plenty of vegetables. Adjust that portion according to your body size, activity levels, training demands and goals.
The Bottom Line
Carbohydrates support exercise performance, muscle growth, brain function, digestive health and the intake of essential nutrients.
They can also play an important role in a successful weight-loss diet.
Instead of fearing carbohydrates, focus on choosing nutritious sources, eating appropriate portions and matching your intake to your lifestyle.
Stop demonising carbohydrates. Start understanding them.
Co-Founder Phil Jones
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