sean

It's not that carbs are "bad" Carbs may be useful for some purposes, such as quick energy. Anyone who exercises intensely or for long stretches can handle quite a lot of carb foods without putting on weight.

What is "bad" is that most of the carbohydrate foods in the modern diet--definitely including the two you mention--are empty calories or nearly so, providing very little protein (truly an essential nutrient-- why have you cut out meat?), and very little fat (some fats are also essential, and while these can sometimes be found in starchy foods, they are not usually found in refined "white" foods such as pasta or white rice or white bread). So, all you get are the calories. Most of these foods are so refined that they don't even provide much fiber--the one truly useful commodity we might expect from these foods.

Then, without going into an Atkins riff, the second thing objected to is that carbs can, and in large amounts almost certainly will, lead your body into an insulin reaction, and this can spur fat storage. This is good if you are too thin, but not if you want to lose weight.

So, many would say that if you want to cut your body fat, the first group of foods to reduce would be simple carbohydrates.

You sound like you need to srudy up quite a lot more before tampering radically with your diet. No, fats are not all bad, not at all--some will cause disease if you avoid them completely. That's why they are called Essential fatty acids.

Better you should just cut down on portion size, emphasize protein and whole foods (brown rice, whole wheat or whole grains, leafy low carb, high-fiber vegetables), and spend several hours reading up on things before making too many radical shifts.

also, I'd advise a good quality multi vitamin and mineral before you take any foods out of your diet.


hope this helps


sean