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Are Carbohydrates Essential?
Actually, your body is perfectly capable of running on fat for energy – it’s called being ‘fat-adapted.’ While glucose can provide energy, it’s not essential because your liver can make all the glucose you need through gluconeogenesis. What we really need to question is whether the frequent carb-burning many people experience is optimal for health.
The More Detailed Response:
When someone says “people need carbs for energy,” they’re conflating two different things:
1. Need for glucose (which is real but limited – your brain uses about 120g daily, red blood cells need some)
2. Need for dietary carbohydrates (which is actually zero)
Your liver is incredibly efficient at producing glucose from protein and the glycerol backbone of fats. This process – gluconeogenesis – can meet all your glucose needs without eating a single carbohydrate.
The Real Issue:
When people eat high-carb diets, they become dependent on constant carbohydrate intake for energy because:
– High insulin levels (from frequent carbs) block fat-burning
– They lose metabolic flexibility – the ability to easily switch between fuel sources
– They experience energy crashes when glucose runs low because they can’t efficiently access their fat stores
In Contrast:
Fat-adapted individuals can:
– Access tens of thousands of calories stored as body fat
– Maintain stable energy without frequent meals
– Avoid the blood sugar roller coaster
– Preserve muscle protein (because they’re not breaking it down for glucose as much)
The Evidence:
There are a number of human populations who thrived on very low-carb diets – the Inuit, Maasai, many hunter-gatherer societies. They had excellent energy, strength, and metabolic health without dietary carbohydrates.
The Context:
What people really need is metabolic flexibility – and for the 35-50% with insulin resistance, continuing high-carb intake keeps them metabolically broken and unable to access their own fat stores for energy.
The Gut and Phycology Syndrome diet is a well proven approach that has been successful for over 20 years around the world with GAPS certified coaches. This is a core part of the integrative remission programs and you can learn more on this introduction to GAPS.