Fiber &carbs. do you subtract?

I really struggle with the concept of a macronutrient causing cravings for more of that macronutrient when the composition of a food (much less an entire meal comprising multiple foods) is determined so much later than its consumption.  Further, your body would have to learn or record the ingredients of foods over time in order to drive specific cravings and I've never seen a plausible biological explanation how that can happen.

A large spike and drop in blood sugar can certainly result in general hunger but I don't understand how eating something like plain baked sweet potato or an apple can suddenly result in a craving for Cheetos.  Your body cannot possibly know the ingredients in Cheetos.

I think cravings are created, driven, and reinforced by what happens in your mouth, not intestines.  It is the explosion of salt, crunch, sweetness, richness, and fattiness of refined foods that light up the pleasure centers in your brain like a Christmas tree.  When people throw out all the carbs what they are actually doing is indirectly throwing out a lot of refined foods that reinforce the very tight feedback loop between your mouth and brain.  However, to some degree this results in throwing the baby out with the bath water because they think watermelon will make them crave Oreos.

It's a lot like when people try gluten-free eating and feel better.  It's not that they are specifically sensitive to gluten because very few are, but instead they substantially improve their whole diet as a side effect.

Anyways, the bottom line is people have to choose a way of eating that keeps their calories in check.  I just don't think that low-carb is a requirement or that it works for the reasons people commonly believe.  And to the degree that low-carb means low-fruit, low-vegetable, and low-fiber I think it's a nutritionally deficient way of eating.

We can agree to disagree. I have been active in this community for 8 years. I have seen many people who have chosen not control their carbs and it has led to huge regains. I believe it is a factor.

Thanks for sharing your opinion, artfully disguised to look like fact.  Well played, sir, well played.

We really need a Like button!

Please do not accuse me of duplicity.  My post was full of qualifiers, "I thinks," and admissions I don't know any biological system that can connect potatoes to Cheetos.  In fact, I stated that low-carb can "work," I simply don't think it works for the reasons many people believe.

There's plenty of evidence that your body does know exactly what it's being fed. The size and shape of the food molecules have a lot to do with it, and can certainly be responsible for cravings. It all ends up as signals to our brain, one way or another.

Then I'm genuinely asking for help understanding because it doesn't make a lick of sense to me how it can possibly work.  I am not aware of any feedback or learning mechanism that could explain how a macronutrient absorbed/detected hours after consumption could be associated with its whole food form.

In order for a potato to ultimately trigger a craving for more foods that contain carbs your body would have to "know" what foods contain carbs.  I am not aware of any evidence or system for that kind of learning.  If you do I would genuinely find it fascinating.

I encourage you to eat the way you feel is proper. Don't count carbs. B  See you on the revision board shortly. 

You know what you should do. But a before pic on your fridge and keep trying to convince yourself.  We on the other hand have lived many years postop successfully counting carbs. You are just another in a long line of people who come and go here thinking you know more than the rest of us.  You should hook up with the vegan. She is going to do it her way as well. 

I let facts, not feelings, determine the way I eat.  Among those facts is the way of eating taught by surgeon, who it seems in your opinion is steering literally thousands of his patients in the wrong direction.

Anyways, most of this entire discussion is not about what works but why and whether the typical explanations are really true.  I guess that isn't clear to you.  I've never challenged the conventional message that low-carb is a viable path to weight management.  What I disagree with is that it's the only path or the optimal path.  

Here's a clinical, fact-based study that explains it:

How carbs trigger food cravings