‘QUITTING CARBS WON’T DO YOU ANY GOOD’

Research has found that those with a low-carb diet live shorter lives than people who don’t dodge them. Dr C hopes we take notice

A study of more A than 15,000 people over 25 years found that moderate carb eaters lived four years longer than those with a diet low in carbs. It’s confirmation that extreme carb avoidance is doing us no good.

BEWARE FAD DIETS

Trendy diets have suggested that fat and meat are completely fine and it’s carbs that make people fat. People have been encouraged to eat fry-ups for breakfast, to have cream in their coffee and steaks for dinner, but just no bread, potatoes or pasta. Arguably, that kind of diet is worse for your health than the extra stone you might be trying to lose by cutting out carbs.

BALANCE YOUR PLATE

The research showed this: people were upping their meat and cheese intake to replace carbs, but excess meat has been linked to poor heart health and even cancer. People need to eat more plant-based proteins like beans and legumes and have lots of vegetables. The advice from Public Health England is still that a third of your plate should be starchy carbs like rice and pasta, then the rest filled with vegetables and a bit of protein. That’s why vegetarian and vegan diets tend to fare better – because they’re not low carb and they’re full of veg. Eating a rainbow of different colours keeps your gut bacteria healthy, too, which is crucial to health.

It’s a standard celeb tip not to eat carbs, but I hope that changes. While reducing carbs might be useful in the short term to lose weight, long term it’s a bad idea. Plus, it can give you headaches and make you nauseous, weak and dehydrated. You may get short-term weight loss, but you’ll feel awful. The best diet is one you don’t realise you’re on; cut portion sizes by ten per cent by weaning yourself off sugar in your tea, having fewer roast potatoes at dinner and losing the crisps at lunch.

Not all carbs are equal – brown rice and wholemeal bread are better than white – but you need them because they fuel your body and brain.

DON’T MISS OUT ON VITAMINS

Also, carbs like bread and potatoes provide calcium, vitamins and fibre, which almost all of us are low on. It’s fine to say, “I’m cutting back on white bread”, but not, “I’m quitting carbs”. A lot of them are very healthy. The research summed it up by saying, “Low carbohydrate diets are unsafe and should not be recommended”. We need to listen to that.