Ray's take

Yes. You should eat carbs.

Every single person should eat a lot of veggies. And veggies have carbs. They also have fiber, which is really important for gut health and health in general.

The question is if you should eat whole grains and starchy vegetables (IE potatoes). Let's dig in.

Who I am

I'm Ray, a doctor that is obsessed with making food tastier than any restaurant, while being 10x healthier.

Value of food

Recap: Rather than just considering taste, you should eat foods that are high in value, meaning they taste amazing and are healthy. Macros and nutrients matter, but the simplest way to assess value is with calories.

So given this framework, how do we decide if we eat whole grains or not?

Value analysis

Calories

Its clear that veggies and low-carb replacements have way less calories than the same volume of whole grains and starchy vegetables:

Veggies and low-carb replacements have 1/2 the calories (or less) vs whole grains from calorie perspective.

Full nutritional info included in below section

Taste

This one is up to you.

Here is my personal opinion:

Due to my taste, skill in cooking replacements, and the calorie info, I only eat veggies and low-carb replacements. Eating only those maximizes my food value.

What you do is up to you. Is the traditional version 2x as good? (I'd not judge until you learn how to make the lower cal version the way I'll teach you).

If yes, then your value calculation would say you should eat some more whole grains.

If not then you shouldn't.

An alternative strategy is to just eat half as much of the whole grain version.

There isn't definitive scientific evidence that low-carb or low-fat is better for long term weight control, so you should pick what's right for you.

Just know calories matter in any case.

Beyond calories - net carbs, glycemic index and glycemic load

I included net carbs, glycemic index ,and glycemic load in the nutritional info (below).

Net carbs are carbs - fiber. Your body can't digest fiber easily so it "doesn't count." Fiber is very good for you.

Glycemic index is how much the food increases your blood sugar, with 100 being pure sugar (a lot) and 0 being not at all.

Glycemic load is how much that food actually increases your blood sugar based on net carbs from 100g (above 20 is high, 10-19 medium, less than 10 is low).

Glycemic load = (Glycemic index * net carbohydrates per serving) divided by 100

Note - use glycemic load as a general guide. Not a specific number.

Glycemic load values vary widely on the internet. It's bc Glycemic index also varies widely based on the exact item, how its prepared, and infinite other forms of variability.

Almost every researcher, nutritionist, person with a brain would say that low glycemic load foods (under 10) are better. They cause your blood sugar to go up less, which means less insulin, which means less diabetes (and better metabolic health).

Just take a look yourself at the glycemic load of veggies and low-carb replacements.It's basically 0, meaning they do not raise your blood sugar, at all.

Veggies do not raise your blood sugar at all.

The glycemic loads of whole grains are much higher than veggies. Refined carbs are even worse.

Nutrition info

Veggies and low-carb alternatives:

Whole grains and starchy vegetables:

Legumes:

Refined Carbs:

Refined carbs have even higher glycemic load. An interesting note is that the calories from these foods aren't necessarily higher than the whole grain version. However, the negative effect probably comes in part to the high impact on blood sugar, insulin, and other hormones...

More on this in the future.