I am living proof that we don't need carbs to be healthy.
It is now going on five years that I found out that my body is literally carb intolerant.
I have a few problems with any type carb above a certain amount of them.
Of course even those foods which are very low carb do have a limited amount of carbs within them. So you cannot go carb free.
My threshold all depends on how much fat and portion size.
So after painstaking research, I can eat about ten (brand name) baked beans with the sauce drained and heated, left to stand and reheated. That is it! I can only eat that many because of the fibre in the bean.
I know most of you don't have to be so careful with carbs, but I do! Hence the example.
It is not only carbs but how your body reacts to insulin triggers such as there is a glucose index, there is an insulin index.
Because high circulating insulin can be the cause of prediabetes and T2, because the insulin resistance causes the remaining insulin to go into your organs as fat.
That is why very low carb works for some T2s.
Can we live without carbs, well, yes!
Do we have to. I do, but the majority don't.
I also believe that our ancestors ate what was there to eat, wether it was meat, vegetables, fruit, and all sorts of concoctions which we would turn our noses up at.
There is evidence of trade around the Mediterranean areas over a million years ago.
And most of it was cooked in olive oil!
How did the ancient Americans (indigenous if you want) get to the Americas?
I could say more but it is a personal lifestyle choice, and most believe that eating any type of food to excess is really bad for your health and even some poisons in moderation can be good for you.
For me, the food that is the British staple diet, is not healthy. (Except the meat!)
I had to find that balance that was healthy for me!
Final point, a lot of what the population eat in this country is what we can afford, not by choice, if you look at what most food banks receive and what they give to those that need the food, it is mostly refined, factory produced foods, or tinned vegetables in a liquid which has sugar in it!
A lot of convenience foods and take a ways are cheap and full of ingredients that are not recommended for certain conditions, but can they afford the pricey fresh food, fresh meat, fresh vegetables, non processed foods. A working class family, with both parents working would rather go the fast food outlets rather than cook from fresh.
No wonder the lower classes struggle with dietary options.
Would you have thought that in your twenties or thirties, you would get diabetes?
No, nor did I!
It was easier to have fish and chips!
Who would have thought that spuds are poisonous?
Well, they are to me!
Who would have thought that vegetable oils make me ill?
I know it does because I have done the experiment.
Even a tin of cream of tomato soup can be so bad for some of us!
The amount of preservatives and E numbers present in processed foods is unbelievable.
Only someone who can tolerate such things, most people would not notice the sugar rush these days.
Children affected by glucose drinks, going hyper in class and crashing in the classroom in the afternoon, ring any bells?
Most people would not know how starchy carbs affect diabetics, they have been brainwashed by the so called medical science of the last fifty years!
Sorry for the long post but it is not easy to sum up, wether carbs are the evil they can be painted on some posts.
Carbs are ingrained in our diet, unfortunately!
Only in moderation can they be as healthy as the person is intolerant to them at that time!
My food diary reckons that I should be able to up my bean portion after Christmas.
So I will check! (By experimenting)
Best wishes
The OP said that it is only recently we have had carbs in our diet. My point was that it is the type of carbs not the fact that we have them at all.
