I have a confession to make.
Despite knowing better, over the past couple of years I fell deeper and deeper into the “carbs are bad” fitness trend.
Now, I knew when I first started hearing about the low carb fad that it was just that: a fad. I knew carbs were crucial to a healthy, well rounded, diet, yet I let myself demonize them anyway. And most of all, I knew carbs were absolutely crucial for athletic performance, yet I kept ignoring the evidence, despite knowing better.
And I wasn’t alone—other performance-focused fitness lovers and athletes began to fall into the low carb trap over the past few years as well. Writers like Adam Bornstein and Jason Ferruggia have recently talked about their own experiences with the low carb diet trend, and the success of Eat to Perform, a site pretty much dedicated to helping athletes add carbs back into their diet in order to improve their athletic performance as well as their overall health, is pretty telling as to just how many athletes are dealing with this issue.
Yet this isn’t to say that low carb diets have absolutely no place for anyone—in fact, if you’re overweight and sedentary, a diet low in carbohydrates can definitely help you lose weight. And if you only do light or moderate exercise, a low carb diet may be right for you as well.
But if you train like an athlete, you have to eat like one. And that means embracing carbs.
