TESTOSTERONE NATION - The Truth About Nutrition
T-Nation: Interesting points there. Now, you've written a couple books about low-carb diets, so what do you think of the idea that there's no such thing as an essential carbohydrate?
Bowden: That's correct. There are essential fatty acids and essential amino acids, but not essential carbohydrates.
Let's say we put all T-Nation readers on an island for a year. We give half of them nothing but protein and fats for that year. The other half gets all carbohydrates — no protein, no fat. That group, the carb-only group, would be dead in a year. The other group will do just fine.
The actual dietary requirement for carbs in the diet is zero. Now, does that mean we should eat zero carbohydrates? No. There are incredibly important things in carbohydrate-containing foods such as phytochemicals, flavonoids, vitamins, minerals, anti-inflammatories and all kinds of stuff we desperately need for optimal health.
But is there a physiological need for the metabolism to have carbohydrates in the diet? No. There is, however, a physiological need for glucose. The brain needs a certain amount of glucose per day. But, the body can make that amount of glucose just fine from fatty acids and proteins.
You know, it's kind of weird that the idiotic American Dietetic Association has us eating a 65 to 70 percent carbohydrate diet, the one thing we actually don't even need!
When you see a dietician, run the other way. Sure, talk to experts in nutrition, but avoid dieticians like the plague. It's like trying to get objective advice about religion from the Taliban. The ADA is a pathetic and irrelevant organization.
And doctors aren't much better. Doctors know **** about nutrition. They're not trained in it and they know nothing about it. Those that do know something about it got that education on their own. They didn't get it in medical school.