Carbs Are Not the Enemy: Why Your Body Needs Them (Especially If You Want to look and Feel Good)

Carbs Are Not the Enemy: Why Your Body Needs Them (Especially If You Want to look and Feel Good)

When I speak to my female clients who are battling with their weight and hormonal issues, one food group that seems to spark more fear than joy is carbs. It’s the first food group to be eliminated from their diet because they’ve been told they’re fattening, unnecessary, and the root of all health problems. But then I see women bingeing on sweets, biscuits and even whole loaves of bread, and telling me that their diet is ‘perfect’, aside from the fact that they have a sweet tooth, and if only they could get a handle on their sugar cravings, their bodies and their health would thrive.

But I’m here to challenge that belief. What if carbs are actually the unsung heroes of your health—the key to better energy, balanced hormones, and feeling like your best self? What if carbohydrates are EXACTLY what you need to be consistent with your dietary habits, get you off the monthly hormonal roller coaster and build the toned, athletic body you desire?

Let’s Talk About The Carb Crisis

Imagine this: You decide to go low-carb because you’ve heard it’s the fastest way to shed those “last 10 pounds.” You cut out bread, potatoes, rice, and fruit. You’re surviving on eggs, fish, meat, and greens, and maybe a sprinkle of avocado, and some nuts and seeds. You step on the scale after a week and you have shed some weight. Happy days!!

But after a couple of weeks, you’re dragging. You wake up at 3 AM, drenched in sweat and starving. You’re craving sugar like never before; and succumb to eating a whole packet of biscuits in what feels like an out of control snack attack. You can’t think straight. Your workouts feel like wading through quicksand… and you don’t seem to have that toned physique you work so hard to achieve.

Sound familiar?

Here’s what’s happening behind the scenes: Your body is running out of its preferred fuel—glucose. And when that happens, it’s going to do everything it can to get more, which most often means ramping up the sugar cravings and sending you head first into the cookie jar.

And if by any change you have the iron will to resist the craving signals your body is sending you; it will still manage to make glucose. It will do so by breaking down your muscle tissue to make sugar through a process called gluconeogenesis. This process is the reason why a lot of low- or no-carb proponents use it to justify not eating carbs. ‘They’re not essential! The body can make carbs itself; it’s called gluconeogenesis!’ Yes, that is technically true; but this process is not something the body wants to do on a regular basis; it’s a backup mechanism to ensure we always have glucose available. And what they don’t tell you, is that gluconeogenesis is fueled by cortisol, our main stress hormone.

So, instead of burning fat and thriving, you’re burning through your hard earned muscle and stressing out your body. And that’s not a win. So let’s take a step back and explore the importance of carbs for our body.

Carbs Are a Lifeline for Your Thyroid

Your thyroid is your body’s metabolic powerhouse. It governs your energy, mood, hormones, weight, and even how warm your hands and feet feel. But guess what? It can’t function properly without enough carbohydrates.

When you cut carbs, you’re also cutting your body’s ability to produce glycogen—the stored form of glucose that keeps your blood sugar stable and cortisol levels in check.

Without enough glycogen, your body pumps out cortisol to raise blood sugar levels (by breaking down our own tissues). This constant state of stress can suppress your thyroid, leading to fatigue, weight gain, digestive issue, hormonal dysregulation, dry skin, hair loss and brain fog, amongst other symptoms.

As Dr. Ray Peat says:

“When there isn’t enough stored glycogen, cortisol rises, breaking down tissue proteins to provide amino acids and glucose.”
(source)

Translation? Your body starts eating its own muscle to keep you alive. And that’s a hard no.

Carbs Are Protein-Sparing

Think of carbs as your muscle’s best friend. When you eat enough carbs, your body uses them for energy, sparing protein to build and repair muscle tissue. This is especially important if you are looking to build muscle in the gym…and if you want to ‘look toned’ you need more muscle!

But when you skimp on carbs, your body taps into protein (a.k.a. your muscle) for fuel. This can lead to muscle loss over time, which slows your metabolism and makes it harder to maintain a healthy weight. Did you know that when we lose weight too quickly with crash diets, low carb diets, fasting, keto, and drugs like Ozempic, we are not just losing fat, but also muscle? This will lower your basal metabolic rate; which means that you will then gain weight quicker when you start to eat normally again. This is one of the reasons most people who yo-yo diet or who opt for quick fixes end up putting on all the weight… and more.

Eating carbs protects your muscle, keeps you strong, and helps you recover faster from workouts.

Blood Sugar Balance: The Low-Carb Double-Edged Sword

Ever wonder why low-carb dieters often wake up at 3 AM with a pounding heart and racing mind, or even just to urinate?

That’s your body’s adrenaline and cortisol pumping through the roof to raise your blood sugar levels which have dropped in the night. Because without carbs, there’s no glycogen. And without glycogen, your blood sugar plummets, triggering a stress response.

Signs you’re in blood sugar chaos from low-carb dieting:

Waking up in the middle of the night feeling anxious or wired.
Intense sugar or carb cravings, especially in the afternoon or evening.
Low energy, brain fog, or mood swings.
Feeling cold, especially in your hands and feet.
Unable to achieve your weight loss goals.

Carbs are important for progesterone production and hormonal balance

Katharina Dalton, a British physician and pioneer of PMS, was the first physician to challenge the belief that PMS symptoms were ‘all in our minds’ and to identify the link between low progesterone levels and PMS symptoms. She also noted that progesterone was unable to exert its effects in the presence of adrenaline; and noted that the main cause for adrenaline spiking in women was blood sugar dropping. She worked at a time in which women started entering the workplace (50’s) as well as when women started being sold this idea about dieting and thinness. Before that time, women mainly stayed at home and “would have been nibbling all day. The well-heeled ladies had their breakfast, morning coffee, lunch, afternoon tea, supper, and a snack before bed to prevent night starvation.'”

She also makes the connection that “It was before the Twiggy era [the first world’s supermodel], and before health education advised everyone to lose weight. … There were no fast foods, no convenience food …”

Whilst she was able to prescribe progesterone therapy to her patients, she started off by getting them to implement what she called ‘The Three Hourly Starch Diet’, which consisted in patients eating something starchy every 3 hours, as well as their three main meals, and eating within an hour of waking up and an hour of going to bed. She advised against leaving it too long between meals and only recommended a nightly fast of maximum 10 hours. In her book, The PMS Bible, she recalls that “When each patient returned her food forms, she was given advice about the Three-Hourly Starch Diet and advised to continue with it until her appointment. During the interval, several cancelled their appointment, thanking us, because the diet alone had solved their problems; others came only to thank us as they did not need further help.”

But why do we feel (initially) better when we eliminate carbs?

This is a question I get asked often, and there could be a couple of reasons for this. When women tell me they have eliminated ‘carbs’, as well as bread, potatoes, rice and fruit, they most likely have also eliminated pastries, cookies, cakes, crisps, tortilla chips, and sweets. So do you feel better because you have eliminated ‘carbs’ or do you feel better because you have taken a lot of ultra processed foods out of your diet? Calling a shop bought cake ‘carbs’ is like calling a hamburger ‘onion’. These foods not only contain sugar and flour, but they contain a plethora of additives and preservatives, as well as heaps of cheap, processed industrial oils.

Women also report an initial drop in weight on the scales when going low carb, and this is most likely due to the depletion of glycogen from your muscles, which will give us the illusion of being lighter. But you most likely have only lost water weight. To lose 1kg (2.2lbs) of fat, you need a caloric deficit of around 7000 calories, so it’s very unlikely that you will have lost a kg of fat after a day or two of eating low carb.

But don’t Carb Cause Insulin Resistance?

We’ve been told for decades that carbs cause insulin resistance. But the real culprits are stress and seed oils.

Stress (be it emotional stress, from undereating, overexercising, taking on too much or not sleeping enough, to name a few) raises cortisol, which raises blood sugar, which leads to insulin resistance over time.

And seed oils—like canola, soybean, rapeseed and sunflower oils—are packed with polyunsaturated fats (PUFAs) that impair insulin signaling and promote inflammation. In her article ‘The energy model of insulin resistance’, Catherine Shanahan suggests that the dramatic rise in consumption of refined, bleached, and deodorized seed oils—rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids —triggers cellular oxidative stress. That stress shifts metabolism toward aerobic glycolysis (the Warburg Effect) to reduce mitochondrial fat oxidation. This systematic shift increases tissue glucose demand, causing mild and repeated hypoglycemia, which then prompts simultaneous release of insulin and counter-regulatory stress hormones, leading to chronic insulin resistance. (source) . So this begs the question: is it the sugar in the donuts which is causing insulin resistance, or is it the cheap oils which have been used to manufacture this food?

And hey, guess what? That juicy steak you are eating without any starches or carbs? That also triggers an insulin response and causing your blood sugar to be all over the place!

“Insulin release is also stimulated by amino acids such as leucine, and insulin stimulates cells to absorb amino acids and to synthesize proteins. Since insulin lowers blood sugar as it disposes of amino acids, eating a large amount of protein without carbohydrate can cause a sharp decrease in blood sugar. This leads to the release of adrenalin and cortisol, which raise the blood sugar. Adrenalin causes fatty acids to be drawn into the blood from fat stores, especially if the liver’s glycogen stores are depleted, and cortisol causes tissue protein to be broken down into amino acids, some of which are used in place of carbohydrate. Unsaturated fatty acids, adrenaline, and cortisol cause insulin resistance.” Ray Peat (Source)

Some studies even suggest that ketogenic diets can cause Type 2 diabetes:

“Although ketogenic diets are known to be healthy, our findings indicate that there may be an increased risk of insulin resistance with this type of diet that may lead to type 2 diabetes,” said Christian Wolfrum, PhD, a professor at ETH Zurich and co-author of the research. (…) A century ago, doctors had recognized that fasting or starvation for several days, or strict carbohydrate restriction (without starvation), can cause something called ‘starvation diabetes’ in rodents, dogs, and humans. Now Grandl thinks that’s similar to the findings in his paper.(source)

So, it’s not the carbs themselves. It’s what we’re pairing them with and how we’re treating our bodies.

What Are the Best Carbs for Thyroid and Hormonal Health?

Ok, so hopefully now I have outlined some arguments to why carbohydrates should be included in your diet. But not all carbs are created equal. Here’s what I normally recommend my clients focus on:

Ripe fruits: Any ripe fruit is great, but oranges, mangoes, papayas, kiwis, pineapple, cooked apples and pears are especially nutritious. These are rich in simple sugars that your body can easily convert to glucose, and packed full of potassium and other minerals to fuel so many of your body’s processes.
Root vegetables and squashes: Potatoes, carrots, beets, squashes, pumpkin. Packed with nutrients and slow-digesting carbs.
Properly prepared grains: Sourdough bread, white rice, oats. Easy to digest and more nutrient-dense than most refined grains.
Simple sugars: Honey, maple syrup, even table sugar can be beneficial when paired with protein and fats to stabilize blood sugar.
Dairy: if tolerated, I believe dairy can be very health promoting! Milk and yogurt have a significant amount of carbohydrates, while cheese generally contains less. Milk also contains protein, calcium, vitamins (A, B12, D, K), and minerals (phosphorus, potassium, magnesium, zinc, iodine).

How to Make Carbs Work for You

Pair carbs with protein and fat: This helps stabilize blood sugar and keep you fuller for longer.
Eat carbs earlier in the day: Frontload your day with carbs and protein to keep cortisol in check and provide a steady source of glucose. I can almost guarantee you that your sugar cravings will disappear!
Listen to your body: Craving sugar? That’s your body’s way of asking for a quick hit of glucose. Opt for a piece of fruit, some honey in tea, or a square of dark chocolate. And check in with yourself and ask yourself if you have eaten enough in that first half of the day. More often than not, I find that the answer is ‘no’ – so adjust your schedule for the next day.

The Takeaway: Carbs Are Not the Enemy—They’re Your Body’s Best Ally

Carbs don’t just fuel your body—they fuel your thyroid, keep hormones happy, spare your muscle, and keep your blood sugar stable.

Instead of demonizing them, consider how you can use them to support your health, boost your energy, and keep your hormones happy.

Next time you reach for that freshly squeezed orange juice to pair with your breakfast, remind yourself: You’re not “being bad.” You’re nourishing your body with what it truly needs.

Because feeding yourself well isn’t just smart. It’s an act of self-love.

If you have any questions or would like to chat further about how a bespoke nutrition and lifestyle plan can help you flourish, click here to book a 30 minute discovery call with me and let’s chat about how you can have vibrant health and your dream body, whilst eating the foods you love!