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Comment by i_cant_speel | Hacker News Reader

Where is the connection you're making between carbs being unnecessary and bodybuilders coming from?

Bodybuilders use carbs restrictions (keto, intermittent, kind - complex vs simple carbs) to regulate muscle mass and fat, insulin and GH sensitivity, water retention mediated by glycogen, etc...

Leading up to a competition and getting into single digit BF%, yes. But throughout most of the year they are generally consuming a good amount of carbs. I don't think using bodybuilders as an example translates well to good habits for the general population.

Traditional diets include lots of carbs. Bodybuilders realized early that protein is good for muscle growth. So they started eating tons of protein, and reducing other macronutrients. They realized after a while that carbs can actually be cut out totally and indefinitely (which is not true of protein and fat). They discovered this because nobody else had a reason to try to eat such a strange, protein-focused diet.

At least in modern societies. Of course the Inuit and other far-north peoples have known forever that one can live healthily off essentially nothing but meat.

Inuit and other far north people will eat vegetables by preference when they can get them. Sure you can survive on none, I will contend that to thrive you need a balance.

Note than balance does not mean soda is the bulk of your calories (that should be a straw man, but I see many people who drink that much soda).

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