Who Actually Doesn’t Need to Cut Carbs (Hint: It’s Not Most Adults)
- Erin Reardon
- Feb 9
- 3 min read
I hear this phrase constantly:
“You don’t really have to cut carbs to look and feel great.”
And every time I hear it, I know exactly where it’s coming from.
It’s coming from social media.
It’s coming from fitness influencers with elite genetics.
It’s coming from people with bodies and lifestyles that look nothing like the average adult sitting across from me in their 30s, 40s, 50s, and beyond.
What concerns me most is how often overweight adults ask me about “carbing up.”
Not because they are training for explosive athletic performance.
Not because they’re doing hours of intense physical labor.
But because:
They saw a shredded influencer do it
Their teenage kid eats that way
Or their grandchild can “eat anything and stay thin”
These comparisons are not just unhelpful. They are metabolically dangerous.
Let’s Clear This Up:
Who Can Eat More Carbs Without Consequences?
There are categories of people who can tolerate higher carbohydrate intake without inflammation, weight gain, or metabolic damage. They are the exception, not the rule.
Here they are:
1. Children with healthy metabolism
Growing, moving, developing brains and bodies. Exception: children already struggling with obesity or insulin resistance.
2. High-level endurance or competitive athletes
People training hard enough to actually empty their glycogen storage daily.
3. People with physically demanding jobs Landscapers, roofers, construction workers. They move intensely all day and burn through fuel immediately.
4. Underweight or malnourished individuals
Cutting calories, including carbs, is never the goal here.
5. Powerlifters and explosive-sport athletes
A very specific, rare group requiring short bursts of maximal power.
6. The genetically gifted
Naturally thin people with extremely fast metabolism who rarely store excess fuel.
If you don't see yourself in this list, you are in the majority which represents about 96% of all people! This list represents a small minority of adults.
The Carbing-Up Myth Needs to Die
“Carbing up” didn’t come from modern science.
It came from 1970s-era sports nutrition.
It was designed for endurance athletes doing prolonged, extreme exertion.
Unfortunately, I still see endurance athletes today grabbing for those heavily marketed sugar gel packs and sugary sports drinks. Wake up! EXTREME athletes are no longer doing this! Routine healthy complex carbs are the norm.
This practice has been scientifically debunked and labeled dangerous for athletes and has absolutely no place when considering general health and longevity.
We now see the long-term consequences clearly:
Chronic sugar dependence
Insulin resistance
Rapid metabolic decline after athletics end
A fast track to diabetes once intense training stops
Many former athletes struggle deeply with their health later in life because they were trained to rely on sugar as fuel, never learning metabolic flexibility.
What once seemed helpful becomes harmful the moment the sport ends.
The Reality for Most Adults
Let’s be honest.
Most adults I work with:
Sit at a desk all day
Sit on the couch at night
Are not doing explosive athletic training
Are already inflamed, fatigued, and frustrated
Are struggling to lose weight no matter how “healthy” they eat
Adding more sugar or starch to that equation does not fix metabolism.
It worsens it.
Excess sugar that isn’t immediately burned gets stored.
Stored fuel creates inflammation.
Inflammation creates pain, fatigue, hormone disruption, and disease.
And yes, it also creates the stubborn weight people can’t lose.
This Isn’t About Extreme Dieting
It’s About Getting Smart
Reducing sugar is not punishment.
It’s not deprivation.
It’s knowing about your biology.
No matter where you fall on the carb spectrum, one rule applies to everyone:
Eat real, whole, unprocessed food
Stop relying on manufactured carbohydrates
Get your carbs from mostly vegetables and occasionally fruit
Understand how your metabolism actually works
When you match your food to your biology, everything gets easier.
Energy improves.
Cravings quiet down.
Inflammation drops.
Health begins to rebuild.
Why I Wrote Sugar Be Sugarin’
I wrote this book because too many people are blaming themselves for the biology they were never taught... that's because the science related to this is NEW!
Inside Sugar Be Sugarin’, I break down:
Why sugar quietly drives inflammation and disease
How modern food is loaded with sugar ON PURPOSE (hint: addiction keeps you coming back!)
Why “healthy eating” often fails
How to take control of your metabolism without extremes
And how to finally get off the sugar roller coaster for good
This book isn’t about getting things perfect.
It’s about understanding the system you’re living in and learning how to stop "suffering through" and start getting ahead.
If you’re tired of doing everything “right” and still feeling stuck, this book is for you.
📘 Sugar Be Sugarin’ is available now on Amazon.
And it just might change the way you think about food forever.
Pick up your copy today!
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