Carbs Do Not Make You Fat. Final Answer.

The Carb Conundrum

Carbs have been labeled at the “Big Bad Wolf” for more than a decade in health and diet culture.

Ever since the “Low Fat Diet” of the 90’s made it’s exit, the “Low Carb Craze” quickly took it’s place and has continued to evolve over the years—making us believe that carbs are the number one public enemy when it comes to fat and weight loss, brain clarity and focus, mental health, hormone balance and even gut health.

I see it all the time in my functional medicine and nutrition practice.

Do any of these sound familiar? 

Brief History of The Low Carb Conundrum

The Big Fat Lie: 2002

Gary Taubes publishes New York Times Magazine Article, “What If It’s All Been a Big Fat Lie?” launching the momentum of the Low-Carb Movement. 

Atkins New Diet Revolution #1 Bestseller: 2002.

The concept of “net carb” was first introduced in 2002 when research demonstrated fiber had a minimal impact on blood sugar in the book Dr. Atkins’ New Diet Revolution which remained on the bestseller list for 285 weeks.

South Beach Diet Goes Viral: 2003

The South Beach Diet was developed in the mid-1990s by Dr. Arthur Agatston, a leading cardiologist who originally designed the diet as an eating plan to improve the cholesterol and insulin levels of his patients. The diet focused primarily on the “glycemic impact” (short term change in blood glucose) of foods and categorized carbohydrates and fats as “good” or “bad”. 

Whole 30 Launches: 2009

The Whole 30 is a 30-day diet that emphasizes whole foods (meat, nuts, seeds, seafood, eggs, vegetables, and fruits) and eliminates soy, sugar, dairy, legumes and grains—a stricter version of the paleo diet. Although not strictly called a “low carb” diet, many adopters of the diet end up accidentally under-eating—particularly carbs. 

Bulletproof Diet Popularizes Fat-Hates on Carbs: 2014

Created by Dave Asprey, based on his own body-hacking experiments to lose weight unconventionally: by eating lots of fat. Prior to the diet, Asprey followed the standard medical advice for losing weight—restrict calories, exercise, whole grains—but even when he was working out for 90 minutes and eating 1,500 to 1,800 calories a day, he wasn’t dropping pounds…until he cut the carbs. The Bulletproof Diet advises getting 50 to 70 percent of your calories from fats, compared with the 20 to 35 percent that the USDA recommends.

Intermittent Fasting: Low Carb Style: 2016

IF is a weight loss approach has been around in various forms for centures, but was highly popularized by Dr. Jason Fung’s 2016 bestseller The Obesity Code, based on the carbs-make-us-fat insulin theory. 

Keto Craze: 2019.

The ketogenic diet was called “the most popular consumer diet for 2019.” In fact, Google searches for “keto” hit a record high in January 2019 as the diet exploded as the #1 solution for New Year’s resolutioners. Online training courses, self-help books, cookbooks and ketogenic “foods” (shakes, ice creams, meal replacements, bars, soups, etc.) flooded the market. Keto became the new low fat. 

Carnivore Cavemen Rise: 2019

The carnivore diet – also known as the all meat diet or the carnivorous diet – entails eating almost nothing but meat for every meal. The simple theory: Cutting out all carbs will put you into ketosis, and people on carnivore report many of the benefits that you get from a keto diet: mental clarity, faster weight loss, improved athletic performance, and a healthier digestive system, to name a few. Shawn Baker, a former orthopedic surgeon, is often credited with the popularity of the carnivore diet. Other advocates include television personality Joe Rogan, and Mikhaila Peterson, the daughter of Canadian Psychologist Jordan Peterson.

The Bottom Line: “Carbs Are Evil”

With all this noise and “research backed” information, no wonder many of us feel like we’ve committed a heinous crime if we even think about ordering sushi with rice, adding banana to our smoothie, or eat a sweet potato.

Low Carb Gone Wrong

I get it.  I’m living proof of the “Low Carb Conundrum” and a byproduct of what happens to your body after years (and years and years) of an imbalanced, low carb diet. 

[Disclaimer: This is NOT just an article about carbs—or low carbs—but instead, it’s an article about the misguided information out there and about what the lack of balance in your diet (of any one primary macronutrient—carbs, proteins or fat) for too long can do to your body.

Carb Fears Begin

My “carb fears” initially began way back in the day (2000)—when Atkins’ and South Beach made a splash.

In fact, I was actually a “trendsetter” of the carnivore (all protein) diet and intermittent fasting long before they became “a thing” in 2019—eating well less than 20 grams of carbs most days, mostly in the form of steamed zucchini and spinach.

Although I had a short season of forced-reintroduction of high carbs in over 15 eating disorder treatments between the years 2000-2012 (where Poptarts, pizza and pasta were daily staples in my diet), my “norm” on the other side was pretty low carb paleo—at most eating 50 grams or less per day between a handful of berries, some squash and maybe a sweet potato.

Fast forward to 2018, and “low carb” took a whole new meaning when I decided to go “keto” in order to “heal my gut.” 

The Keto Solution

In the spring of 2018, I contracted a pathogenic gut infection from a routine hospital procedure (a colonoscopy) that not only identified colitis (Irritable Bowel Disease) in my body, but left me infected with “pseudomonas aerginosa”—a pathogen known for its fermentation of glucose in starchy carbs. Around this time, I also discovered I had candida and mold illness from living in toxic mold for 2 years—unbeknownst to me.

Even on the lower carb diet I was eating, I soon found I couldn’t even tolerate sweet potatoes, fresh fruits or butternut squash.

Measuring my blood sugar, I’d eat a sweet potato, only to go from a blood sugar of 80 to 180 and back down to 80 in a matter of minutes—like I was riding a roller coaster inside (a.k.a. “reactive hypoglycemia” or “metabolic inflexibility”).

My body could NOT tolerate carbs or convert it to a useable form of glucose like a normal body should. My gut bacteria were feasting on it instantaneously and making me feel miserable. Headaches, nausea, brain fog, fatigue, shakiness—all of it happened if I so much as looked at a carb.

My solution? Cut carbs out. Nearly all of them.

To avoid feeling awful and “heal my gut,” I said “good bye” to berries, bananas, sweet potatoes, winter squash, rice, cassava, plantains, parsnips, even roasted carrots and Brussels sprouts. 

Oxalates, FODMAPS, Starches—Oh My!

However, the more restrictive my diet became to “feel good,” I soon found myself in another dilemma: ARFID (avoidant restrictive food intake disorder)— limited to only about 5 to 10 foods, not because I wanted to fit into a negative 5 jeans, but instead because it’s all my body could tolerate!

• Oxalates in spinach gave me IBS.
• FODMAPS gave me brain fog and constipation.
• Starches and fruits spiked my blood sugar.

I lived in fear of how food made me feel…and ultimately, I felt stuck.

Perhaps like many of you—earnestly striving and trying to “be healthy” and “feel good”, but becoming more and more confided to a “box” of restriction, continued symptoms and metabolic inflexibility. 

Houston, We Have a Problem: Metabolic INFLEXIBILITY

Metabolic flexibility is defined as “the ability for an organism to adapt fuel oxidation to fuel availability”—in other words, your body’s ability to convert different nutrients (fat, protein or carbs) into energy and burn them efficiently to nourish and energize your body.

Metabolic inflexibility on the other hand is the complete opposite—it is the inability to convert different fuel sources into usable energy (like carbs).

Both my chronic gut infection and my long-term restrictive carb diet resulted in an inability for my body to maximize and absorb my daily fuel.

Gut Bacteria Determine Your Metabolism of Energy (& Carbs)

My stool test results—even a year after the gut infection and “killing off” the bad bacteria with antimicrobial herbs and supplements— proved this to to be true.

As you can see, on the left hand side, I have a HIGH growth of Bacteroides bacteria (associated with high fat and high protein diets) and a VERY LOW GROWTH of Lactobacilli and Bifidobacteria gut bacteria (associated with a higher fiber intake, short chain fatty acids from carbs, less toxic burden in the body and healthier immune system overall).

If you know anything about how gut bacteria work in your body, your gut bacteria are the “conductors” of thousands of metabolic, hormonal, neurological and other cellular processes in your body. The healthier our gut bacteria=the healthier we are too!

No wonder my body had been fighting a cascade of syndromes including:

• “Mass Cell Activation Syndrome” (MCAS)
• Low T3 syndrome (“hypothyroidism” of the HPA Axis)
• Loss of my period
• Osteoporosis
• Fungal overgrowth (long term low carb diets can feed yeasts)
• Histamine Intolerance
• Catabolic muscle breakdown
• Plateaus in my fitness + weight lifting 

Stuck. (REALLY Stuck).

In short: My gut was still unhealthy and my metabolism was still inflexible—despite doing “all the things” to be healthy! 

What my gut and my body really needed after years of imbalance and stress? 

Not a magic pill. Not a Bulletproof coffee. Not an intermittent fasting schedule.

Instead:

• More sleep (7-9 hours instead of 6)
• More food variety (instead of the same 5-10 foods every day)
• More fitness variety (instead of CrossFit or HIIT workouts 6-7 days per week)
• And more carbs

Simple? Yes. Sexy? No.

Carbs do not (and will not) make you fat. Instead, carbs can actually make your body work better…gut bugs and metabolism included.

Let’s address one of the #1 Carb Myth (“carbs make you fat”) then chat about the #1 truth about how to “not get fat” (that actually includes) eating carbs…

The #1 Carb Myth: Carbs Make You Fat

Let’s make one thing clear: you absolutely can lose weight on a low-carb/high-fat diet (just like you can lose weight on a higher carb/low fat diet). These have BOTH been proven both anecdotally and through scientific research.

Where things get sketchy is when some low-carb/high-fat diet advocates explain  why you lose weight on low-carb diets, arguing that it was carbs that made you fat in the first place, and that dropping them is why you dropped the pounds.

According to the carbs-make-you-fat theory: “Carbohydrates are quickly broken down into sugar (which our cells use for energy), but if our cells don’t use it all, we end up with excess insulin (“fat storage hormone”) in our bloodstream and store extra glucose in our fat cells as fat.”

Enter the seemingly obvious “solution”: If you eliminate or reduce the carbs in your diet, you short-circuit this vicious cycle—since insulin levels are lower, fat cells don’t get fatter. You’re also not as hungry, which means you eat less. So eliminate the carbs, and you stop getting fat.

Although this theory sounds really good, there are several key factors that this theory overlooks including:

Fact #1: Carbs are your body’s #1 preferred fuel source.

Carbs do not instantly convert to fat like you may think. When you eat carbs, your body and metabolism first prefers to use glucose and fatty acids to provide fuel for cells so we can move and exist not go right to storage. Translation: Eating carbs can actually rev metabolism (fuel burning) because they are the quickest source of energy—especially in those without insulin resistance. If and when you eat an appropriate amount of whole food carbs for your body, “fat storage” simply doesn’t happen.

Fact #2: Too much of anything is what causes fat storage.

The simple act of eating carbohydrates will not cause fat storage or weight gain. It’s the excess of any one nutrient (carbs, fats, or protein) that causes excess weight gain or “fat”.

Fact #3: Carbs can actually help build lean muscle and tone.

There’s a reason why body builders and fitness models actually eat carbs—and often times lots of them. Paired with protein, carbs help shape and hydrate muscle.

Fact #4: Carb quality matters.

Unfortunately, many studies do not distinguish between Westernized acellular carbs and whole food carbs. There is a difference. A peak at the diets of the Hazda tribe (modern-day hunter gatherers) for instance reveals people who eat nearly 10 times the amounts of carbohydrates as we do, but people who are relatively free of disease—including obesity and “fat” epidemics.  Similarly, the Kitavan Islanders of Melanesia have very little access to Western foods, yet carbohydrates make up 60 to 70 percent of their energy intake—mostly coming from fruit or starchy tubers with a pretty high glycemic index. However, despite more carbs, Kitavans boast levels of fasting insulin and blood glucose that are tremendously lower than the levels deemed healthy in Western populations.

However, what do you think happens when such hunter–gatherer populations transition to a Western diet? They develop Western metabolic diseases—fat “storage” included. The bottom line: vegetables, fruits and starchy tubers are night-and-day different than refined grains and processed starches.

Fact #5: Carbohydrate malabsorption—not carbs—is a primary cause of “fat storage.”

 An unhealthy gut=metabolic imbalances.

Simply put: If your body (and gut bacteria) are unable to convert carbs into usable energy (or you’re “metabolically inflexible” due to excess stress and gut imbalance), then you end up with excess, unabsorbed nutrients and weight imbalances (either weight gain/fat gain or if you’re body is super stressed—catabolism and weight loss).

Another study looked at 77 pairs of twins — one twin was obese, the other wasn’t. The researchers found that the obese twin had different gut bacteria — as well as less bacterial diversity — than their non-obese twin

Similarly, ongoing research has found that a diverse mix of bacteria—not necessarily a “low carb” or “low fat” diet— in the gut is key to staying lean, and naturally slender people have more of a bacteria from the Bacteroidetes phylum, whereas heavier-set people have more Firmicutes bacteria in their guts, which is correlated with weight gain

Fact #6: Carbs provide beneficial fibers (to make your gut microbes healthier and happier).

Simply put: A healthy gut equals a healthier metabolism.

Carbohydrates—namely prebiotic fibers- are the #1 choice of fuel for beneficial gut bacteria. These fibers help beneficial bacteria produce short chain fatty acids which fight off toxins in your gut and promote the growth of more healthy bacteria in your gut.

Some top prebiotic fibers include most whole vegetables and some fruits include:

• Cooked and cooled potatoes
• Cooked and cooled rice & lentils
• Green bananas & green plantains
• Jicama
• Artichoke
• Asparagus
• Apples
• Pears
• Soluble fibers (winter squash, summer squash, parsnips, rutabagas)
• Cruciferous veggies (broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, kale)

Researchers have found that the intake of these foods is associated with the positive manipulation of the gut microbiota and “side effects” like weight loss, reduce blood sugar and cholesterol (inflammation) levels, and decreased disease (including diabetes and heart disease).

Hence, a big reason why some folks may believe that “carbs make them gain weight” or “make them fat”, once more, is because they are not metabolizing carbs effectively in their gut.

If bloating, constipation, IBS or inflammation is common for you when you eat carbs—even whole food carbs like prebiotics—it may indicate that you actually have something deeper going on “under the hood”, including but not limited to:

Common Gut Issues That Inhibit Carbohydrate Digestion & Metabolism

• Metabolic endotoxemia (leaky gut)
• Dysbiosis
• Parasites
• Bacterial infection (pathogens)
• Fungal or yeast overgrowth (candida)
• Impaired immunity (autoimmune gut—like IBD—colitis/Crohn’s)
• Liver/gallbladder dysfunction

Working with a functional medicine practitioner well-versed in gut health could be a game-changer for helping you get to the real root cause of why carbs bug your tummy or your metabolism. 

Fact #7: Stress (cortisol) causes fat gain…Not carbs.

There is always a root cause for gut bacteria disruption and malfunctioning of your body’s hardwired “carbohydrate metabolizing” mechanisms (especially your liver and pancreas). Cortisol—your stress hormone—goes hand in hand with your body composition. Long-term stress in subjects has been shown to yield both excess fat gain, as well as catabolism.

Stress is inevitable in life and our bodies are also hardwired to “deal with stress” (for example, we can run really fast from a bear if it’s chasing us, a.k.a. “fight or flight mode”).

However, if and when stress exceeds our body’s ability to recover from that stress is when “metabolic mayhem” happens.  The last thing your body wants to do in “fight or flight” mode is shed any body fat—instead it wants to hold on to that body fat to protect you for dear life! Chronically high cortisol (for too long) can also lead to body catabolism—“body breakdown,” loss of muscle, tone or strength, and organ breakdown.

Common Cortisol Raising Triggers

Contrary to popular belief, stress includes both mental and physical factors.

Physiological Stressors

• Overtraining
• Sedentary lifestyles
• Lack of sleep
• Dehydration
• Circadian rhythm disruption (screens late at night or all day long)
• Toxins in hygiene and cleaning products, water and foods
• Nutrient-poor diets
• Low variety in the diet
• Not chewing our food enough
• Eating on the go
• Underlying gut infections/leaky gut

Perceived/Mental Stressors

• People pleasing or saying “yes” to everything
• Negative news, social media binging
• Lack of connections and community
• Overworking (with little breaks or vacations)
• Financial stress
• Relationship conflicts
• Poor sense of purpose or life meaning

In other words: Stress, not necessarily carbs, is what impacts your body’s ability to digest, absorb, and use those carbs.

In fact, did you know that getting less than 7 hours of sleep significantly alters “glucose metabolism” (blood sugar and carb uptake)—cutting your body’s ability to regulate sugar (in carbs) in half the next day?

Fact #8: Stress (cortisol) also affects sugar metabolism & hormone balance.

When it comes to stress, carbs and blood sugar, your cortisol levels go hand-in-hand with the carbs you eat (primarily because in states of high stress, cortisol’s #1 fuel of choice is glucose in carbs—quick energy). Sugar is what helps your body “escape” the bear in the wild when your cortisol levels are low. And when your cortisol levels are already high, more sugar is what pushes your body into a hyper-glycemic or “fat storage” (“insulin resistance” state)—not knowing what to do with the excess sugar.

In healthy people, when we eat carbs, since our cortisol levels are more balanced, our blood sugar is more balanced. Consequently, carb intake does not quickly spike or suppress our blood sugar levels drastically because cortisol levels are not super high or super low already and demanding sugar to function.

However, in super-stressed out bodies (dysregulated cortisol), their blood sugar is much more sensitive to any intake of carbohydrate.

In cases of low cortisol, cortisol zaps up the sugar in the carbs, only to spike blood sugar, then send it plummeting—what is known as the “blood sugar roller coaster.” Shortly after energy stores are again depleted, and your body then begs for more sugar to fight the stress.  In cases of high cortisol, cortisol goes even higher with the intake of more carbs or sugar, leading to the unwanted weight gain or fat storage.

This is perhaps the real reason why when people are under high amounts of stress (“adrenal fatigue”, hyper/hypoglycemia, and disease states), short term low carb-high fat and/or higher protein diets actually prove to be effective. In states of stress, the body is very sensitive to sugar and glucose, and has a more difficult time regulating cortisol.

However, there is a threshold. Long term low-carb diets can also cause more stress. if we don’t address the stress, and low carb diets go on for too long, we can also eventually feed into more stress in the body (not less), as the body goes into a more “catabolic” mode or suppressed metabolic and hormone function.

Cortisol has been shown to increase on a low carb diet. This means that a low carb diet is a potential adrenal stressor in certain individuals. Combine that with a stressful job, inadequate sleep, and overexercise, and you’ve got yourself a recipe for adrenal burnout.

Another study in Olympic and Ironman athletes found that, due to higher energy demands and cortisol levels with their training, that a higher carbohydrate diet helped balance cortisol levels, and kept their immune system healthier.

What to do about it? If we choose the right types of sugar, we can actually make peace (not war) with cortisol.  While poor quality carbs (like sugars, refined grains and cereals) can send you on a blood sugar “roller coaster” and lead to further metabolic mayhem, whole food carbs—and enough of them—actually helps our body mitigate and overcome stress.

Fact #9: Vagus nerve suppression impairs carbohydrate metabolism in the liver and pancreas, along with body composition.

Glucose & carb metabolism depends on the function of your pancreas and liver. Carbs are metabolized by your pancreas and liver. In an ideal world, if these two organs are functioning correctly, efficient carbohydrate and sugar metabolism occurs and the sugars (energy), vitamins and minerals derived from plant sources are delivered throughout your body. If these two organs are hypo-functioning, then carbs are NOT used by your body ideally and the “excess” blood sugar paradigm may occur.

The cause of pancreatic and liver dysfunction? Vagus nerve suppression (i.e. stress)!

Your vagus nerve is a “key conductor” of your parasympathetic nervous system, which plays a crucial role in healthy digestion, pancreatic and liver metabolism, heart rate and cardiovascular function, blood sugar balance, mood regulation, immune health, metabolism homeostasis and body composition. Hence, if your vagus nerve is NOT “online”, it negatively affects your metabolism and decreases your ability to digest carbs or use glucose for energy.

Interestingly, studies have shown that simple “stimulation” of the vagus nerve inhibits the production of inflammatory cytokines and positively effects body mass in obese individuals. Vagal nerve stimulation has also been shown to prevent fat storage and weight gain in people on a high-caloric diet.

Why Carbs Don’t Make You Fat

Your body is innately wired to run and survive on 3 main macronutrients—protein, carbs and fats included.

If carbs “make you fat”, you more than likely have a case of “Metabolic inflexibility”— primarily caused by poor gut health and stress cause “fat” storage. Not carbs themselves.

The #1 Carb Truth: It’s the Gut Bacteria & Stress. Not the Carbs.

I’ve said it once, but I’ll say it once more…it’s your poor gut health and stress that “make you fat”. Not carbs themselves.

If we are stressed, the body cannot metabolize glucose or use it correctly. We become metabolically inflexible (sort of like I did when I completely cut out carbs for many years—under stress, my body adapted to survive and thrive off the only other energy sources I gave it, and when I reintroduced carbs while still under stress, my body remained sensitive to the glucose).

Likewise, if we have an underlying gut imbalance, then our glucose metabolism is also greatly altered. Certain gut bacteria feast and zap up certain carbohydrates to feed the pathogens, whereas other bacteria and yeasts are highly sensitive to the carbs you eat—a big reason why you may feel bloated when you eat sweet potatoes or berries if you have SIBO or candida.

If we have bacterial or yeast overgrowth, pathogens or dysbiosis, as our toxic gut bacteria digest the sugars in these carbs, they produce “off gases” leading to ill feelings and inflammation in the gut.

Pathogenic bacteria also send signals to the brain, and stress can send signals to the gut that trigger inflammation in our digestive abilities—from IBS, to IBD “flares”, to constipation and bloating. The brain-gut connection is a two-way street.

Top 7 Benefits of Carbs

The next time an Instagram carb-hater gives you fear about eating carbs, keep these 7 benefits in mind:

1. Carbs Rev Your Metabolism + Give You Energy
2. Carbs Help You Build Lean Muscle + Prevent Catabolism
3. Carbs Help Balance & Regulate Hormones (especially thyroid + cortisol hormones)
4. Carbs—particularly fiber rich veggies and fruits—Feed Beneficial Bacteria
5. Carbs Assist in Elimination (i.e. help you poo!)
6. Carbs Aid in the Absorption of Proteins + Fats (fiber helps move food through your system)
7. Carbs Enhance Power in Your Workouts + Aid in Glycogen Recovery in Your Muscles

How Many Carbs Do You Need?

There is not a one-size-fits-all approach to the “perfect” amount of carbs, but here is a chart displaying a good “rule of thumb” baseline for carbohydrate amounts to match your goals (Hint: your carb needs will probably change throughout your lifetime).

Round out your carb amount with adequate protein and fat intake. For protein:

Once you’ve determined your carbohydrate and protein levels, the rest of your calories will come from fat. This could be as high as 80-85% fat on a low carbohydrate/low protein diet or as low as 10-15% on a high carbohydrate/high protein diet.

Best Sources

Lots of color!

Prebiotic Fibers (Starches, Roots & Tubers)

• Apples
• Arrowroot
• Artichoke (Jerusalem)
• Asparagus
• Banana (Green Tipped)
• Beets
• Carrots
• Cassava root
• Chayote
• Chickpeas (cooked & cooled)
• Chicory Root
• Coconut Flour
• Dandelion Greens
• Flaxseeds
• Green Peas
• Jicama
• Konjac Root (Glucomannan)
• Leeks
• Lentils (cooked & cooled)
• Oats (steel cut, gluten free)
• Onions & Garlic
• Parsnips
• Plantain (green)
• Potatoes (Red, Yukon Gold, Purple, New, etc.)
• Pumpkin
• Rice (cooked & cooled)
• Rutabaga (Turnip)
• Seaweed
• Sweet potatoes/Yams (cooked & cooled)
• Taro
• Tapioca
• Tiger Nut
• Turnips
• Winter Squash (Acorn, Butternut, Spaghetti, Delicata, Kombocha, etc.)
• Yacon Root
• Yuka

Leafy Greens

• Kale
• Chard
• Lettuce
• Mustard
• Collards
• Parsley
• Spinach
• Beet greens
• Sweet potato leaves
• Arugula
• Baby greens
• Endive
• Romaine Lettuce
• Butterhead Lettuce
• Turnip Greens
• Cabbage
• Kelp
• Seaweed

Other Colorful Non-Starchy Veggies

• Artichoke
• Asparagus
• Broccoli
• Bean Sprouts
• Bell peppers
• Bok Choy
• Brussels Sprouts
• Capers
• Cauliflower
• Cucumber
• Celery & Celery Root
• Dill Pickles
• Garlic
• Grape Leaves
• Green Beans
• Hearts of palm
• Horseradish
• Fennel
• Kohlrabi
• Mushrooms
• Onions
• Okra
• Leeks
• Parsley
• Pickles
• Radicchio
• Radish
• Rhubarb
• Sea Vegetables
• Shallots
• Snow Peas
• Tomato, raw
• Watercress
• Water Chestnut
• Yellow Squash
• Zucchini 

Fresh Fruits

• Acai Berry
• Apple
• Apricot
• Bananas
• Blueberries
• Blackberries
• Cranberries
• Cantaloupe
• Cherry
• Date
• Elderberry
• Fig
• Goji Berry
• Grapes
• Grapefruit
• Guava
• Kiwi
• Mango
• Nectarine
• Oranges
• Lemon
• Lime
• Melons
• Papaya
• Peach
• Pear
• Persimmon
• Plums
• Pineapples
• Passion fruit
• Pomegranate
• Plum
• Raisin
• Raspberry
• Starfuit
• Strawberry
• Tangerine
• Tangelo
• Watermelon 

Properly Prepared Grains & Legumes

• Cooked & cooled rice
• Quinoa
• Chickpeas
• Beans (black, kidney, white, fava, mung, etc.)
• Lentils
• Steel-cut Oats
• Sourdough Bread (homemade)
• Homemade Bread (coconut flour bread is delicious)
• Gluten-free Bread (especially arrowroot, coconut flour & cassava flour)

Want Food Freedom? (Carbs Included)

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