Hey Cleanish Squad! If you've cut back on bread and rice and still feel stuck, this one's for you. We went looking for where America's added sugar actually comes from, and the answer surprised us. We also read the research behind that little whole grain stamp on the front of the box, and it says less than you'd think. Plus there's a butternut squash mac and cheese at the end that our kids can't tell is squash. Let's get into it!

— Lacey Baier, Dustin Baier

There's so much talk about how carbs are evil that people lose sight of how good carbs really are for you. I can’t count the number of times I’ve been out at lunch or around other women and someone says, “I can’t have that. I’m staying away from carbs.”

The nineties were low fat. Fat was the villain, so food companies pulled it out of everything and put sugar back in to make it taste like food. We ate fat-free cookies by the sleeve and wondered why nothing was working.

Then, the pendulum swung. Carbs took the blame, and "low carb" became something you could print on a package and charge more for.

Both times, a whole category took the fall. Both times, there was a label to sell on the other side of it.

The story got simple because simple sells. And the version we were left with had oats and potatoes on the same list as sodas.

Donuts, potato chips, and french fries are carbs. Yes, those are carbs. But there's a difference between processed carbs and complex, nutritious ones, and a donut and a bowl of lentils are not the same food just because they share a line on a nutrition label.

Simple carbs are basically sugars. They burn up fast, spike your blood sugar, and let it crash, which leaves you craving more an hour later.

Complex carbs take longer to break down, so they keep you fuller longer, and don’t spike and then crash your blood sugar. Complex carbs are often high in fiber, and it's a big part of why a real meal actually keeps you full.

So the line that holds isn't how many carbs. It's what kind.

It’s about quality, not quantity.

In January 2019, The Lancet published a series of systematic reviews on carbohydrate quality, including 185 prospective studies and 58 clinical trials. This covered just under 135 million person-years of data.

People eating the most fiber had a 15 to 30 percent lower rate of death from all causes and from cardiovascular disease than people eating the least. Similar reductions were noted in heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, and colorectal cancer.

The benefit was greatest between 25 and 29 grams of fiber a day, and the authors say the evidence points to more being better.

It is. And that's where the blame belongs. An entire food group took the fall for something happening mostly in drinks and desserts.

For some people, carbs really are the problem, and it isn't in their head.

Celiac disease is autoimmune, not a preference. It affects around 1 percent of people, and gluten damages the lining of the small intestine. Cutting it out isn't a trend for them, it's the treatment. Non-celiac gluten sensitivity is real, too. So is wheat allergy. And people living with IBS, inflammatory bowel disease, or a gut that's been inflamed a long time can find a lot of foods hard to digest. Sorting out which ones is something you do with a doctor, over time.

One thing still to keep in mind, though. Gluten is in wheat, barley, and rye. It isn't in potatoes, rice, beans, fruit, or certified gluten-free oats. "I can't have gluten" and "I can't have carbs" are not the same thing.

1. Stop asking if it's a carb, and ask if it still has its fiber.

Oats have their fiber, but instant oatmeal packets mostly don't. A potato with the skin has its fiber, but chips don't. Whole fruit has its fiber, but juice doesn’t. Same food group. Completely different answer.

2. Understand your fiber baseline and minimum.

Twenty-five grams a day for women, 38 for men. That's the official recommendation, but only about 5% of men and 9% of women get the recommended amount of daily fiber. Keep track of what you’re eating to get a baseline, and then add more fiber-rich foods, if needed.

3. Put the carb next to protein.

Make it a rule: a carb doesn't go on the plate by itself.

The easiest way to hold to that is to build the meal backwards. Pick the protein first (chicken, eggs, beef, yogurt), and then add the complex carb to it. Most of us do it the other way around, which is how you end up with toast for breakfast and nothing else.

Some carbs contain their own protein, which makes this easier. Half a cup of beans has about 8 grams, and quinoa is a complete protein.

4. Fix the drinks first.

If you do one thing, start here. Keep an eye on the added sugar in your soda, sweet tea, flavored latte, or sports drink. It adds up very, very fast.

5. Keep the carbs you actually like.

You do not have to earn a potato. Cutting out foods you enjoy to feel healthy will only lead you to giving up later. The important thing is to focus most of your carbs on high-fiber complex carbs.

Here's what I want you to take from this: the goal was never fewer carbs. It was better ones, with their fiber still attached, next to some protein.

I'm currently eating about 160 grams of carbs a day, which is roughly 40 percent of my total calories. I am not on a low carb diet.

Source for the piece: Reynolds et al., "Carbohydrate quality and human health," The Lancet, January 2019

There's a little gold and black stamp on the front of a lot of bread, cereal, and cracker boxes. It says whole grain, with a number of grams underneath. So many of us use it as a shortcut: find the stamp, put it in the cart, feel good about ourselves, and move on.

A Harvard team tested that shortcut in 2013. They pulled 545 grain products off the shelves of two grocery chains and read every panel.

Here’s what they found. The stamped products did have more fiber, but they also carried more sugar per serving than the products without the stamp, and slightly more calories.

What works better is a ratio rule the American Heart Association uses:

Products that cleared that bar had about 3 grams more fiber per serving than the ones that didn't. They also had a little less sugar, a little less sodium, and no extra calories.

You can do this standing in the aisle, and there's no math involved, I promise:

So, that would mean a slice of bread with 22 grams of carbohydrate needs at least 2 grams of fiber. If the panel says 3, it passes. If it says 1, put it back.

The study is in Public Health Nutrition.

Nine carbs worth eating, and what each one does for you. Yes, bread and pasta are on the list. Watch on YouTube →

42%

of the typical American adult's daily calories came from low quality carbohydrate, including refined grains, added sugars, and starchy vegetables. Whole grains and whole fruit came to 9%.

Source: Tufts University, on Shan et al., JAMA, September 2019

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McGill researchers kept 54 young adults awake for 30 hours. Twenty minutes of hard cycling or a 90 minute nap left them 22% better on memory tests than neither. The researchers stress exercise cannot replace sleep.

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In February, the FDA said a product can claim "no artificial colors" if it has no petroleum based dyes, even when color was added from beetroot or spirulina (both natural sources of color).

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Nearly a quarter of the added sugar Americans eat comes from sugary drinks. If you include desserts and candy, you’re at 52% before a single grain appears. The one that surprised us: coffee and tea land at 11%, ahead of candy and sugars, which is a lot of sugar hiding in a cup nobody is calling a dessert.

Cereals, bars and sandwiches account for 14%.

So, while people often blame grains and “carbs,” most of the added sugars problem comes from those top 2 categories.

Sources: Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2020-2025, "Top Sources and Average Intakes of Added Sugars"; analysis of What We Eat in America, NHANES 2013-2016, ages 1 and older, two days of dietary intake data, weighted.

The coffee headlines came back around in July, so I went and read the actual research instead of the coverage of it. Read it →

A healthy mac and cheese was one of the most requested recipes we've ever gotten. The sauce is blended butternut squash where the cheese sauce would normally go, and it doesn't taste like squash. Get the recipe →

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