5 Myths About Carbohydrates

Doing without your daily bread is neither wise nor necessary. Say "Pasta la vista!" to this and other confused carb logic today.

- By Kate Rockwood

1 MYTH: Low-carb diets are the best way to lose weight.

MYTHBUSTER

Nope. A JAMA study found no difference in pounds lost after one year between followers of a low-carb diet and those who followed a low-fat diet. While lowcarb diets may initially help you shed pounds faster due to loss of water weight, that "does not guarantee long-term weight-loss success, or fat loss," says Kelly Jones, a registered dietitian and owner of Kelly Jones Performance Nutrition. That's partly because low-carb diets can be pretty tough to stick with. "In the long term, we often see weight come back on if the diet is too limiting," she adds. Also, weight loss isn't the be-all and end-all. It's more important to improve metabolic health factors like blood pressure, fasting glucose, waist size, and cholesterol (risk factors for heart disease, diabetes, and some cancers) by "eating a balanced and varied diet, engaging in regular exercise that you enjoy, practicing good sleep hygiene, managing stress, and caring for your mental health," says Hannah Magee, a registered dietitian. "All these things can have a positive effect on metabolic health, with or without losing weight."

2 MYTH: Carbs cause diabetes.

MYTHBUSTER