Offsetting Those Wicked Carbs

It's hard to know what to eat these days. One minute fat is bad. Then it's meat. Then it's carbs. I happen to think that you can't go far wrong if you stick to primal foods that are as close as possible to what we ate during the evolution of our species.

Translated into modern terms, this means meat that has led an active, foraging life, vegetables and fruits that are organically grown, grains and nuts that are whole and unrefined. In short, food in its original state, with all the skins, seeds, hulls, germ and fibrous tissue that nature gave it.

I try to avoid anything canned or highly processed, especially white sugar, white rice and white flour -- the three evil witches of poor nutrition. Avoiding the witches is no hardship if you stick to whole-grain bread and cereal, brown rice and other tasty grains such as buckwheat groats (kasha).

These can be enjoyed in so many delicious ways that you'll forget you ever knew Uncle Ben or Little Debbie. The same goes for legumes such as lentils, kidney beans and black-eyed peas. So far so good, until you come to whole-wheat pasta. And that's where even the most wholier-than-thou among us hit a brick wall. My son said it best, the first time he was served whole-wheat spaghetti: "Mom, this tastes like lead pencils." He was right. No matter how you dress it up -- pencils Alfredo, pencils Bolognese -- it still has that raw, gritty taste.

My solution is to allow myself a system of carb offsets, rather like the carbon offsets with which people try to erase their carbon footprints by capturing carbon somewhere else in return (as in planting trees to make up for that trip to Bali). There are many ways to consume good, fiber-filled carbohydrates, and the best source of them is the garden. Potatoes, for example, have more vitamins and twice the fiber if you leave the skins on them, even when you serve them mashed. Unpeeled apples are a fiber powerhouse, as are other easy-garden fruits such as strawberries, blueberries and plums.

All of the brassica vegetables such as broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, kale and collards do their part in keeping your colon happy and your insulin levels even. Sweet potatoes, carrots, spinach, rhubarb, winter squash and any of the pea and bean family -- champions all.

My guess is that cultures in which a refined carbohydrate has become traditional without ill effect, as in Asian white rice or Italian pasta, have offset their effects by eating lots of vegetables at the same time. And that's why, in early summer, I will treat myself to a glorious bowl of capellini primavera, laden with the season's first peas, zucchini, baby carrots, baby turnips and whatever else the season yields, without any qualms whatsoever.