Do Carbs Make You Fat? | The Art of Manliness

Brett and Kate McKay | August 1, 2018 Last updated: March 13, 2020

For the past ten years, carbohydrates have been labeled as public health enemy number one by many popular diet books, websites, and health gurus. They have been thoroughly excoriated as almost single-handedly causing the obesity epidemic in the West.

This actually isn’t the first time carbs have had a target on them. The food group has been a perennial nutrition punching bag since the 19th century.

The phenomenon of low-carb dieting goes all the way back to 1863, when it was called “banting” after undertaker William Banting, who popularized the diet with a bestselling pamphlet. The diet was so popular, people took to commonly asking each other, “Do you bant?” or “Are you banting?”

In the 1970s, 80s, and 90s, the low-carb diet was known mainly by the Atkins name. Then the 2000s saw an explosion of different kinds of low or no-carb diets: paleo, South Beach, Whole30, and slow-carb diets were some of the most popular. While they all differed in the level of carbohydrates permitted, they all generally discouraged things like bread, cereals, rice, or starchy veggies like corn and potatoes.

In the 2010s, the war on carbs continued and even picked up steam with the Bulletproof Diet and the Carnivore Diet. The battle has become so pitched against carbs, that many people are opting to eliminate them altogether so they can enter a state called “ketosis” which allows your body to fuel itself without any carbs at all.