I understand what you are saying, and I agree to an extent. Processed carbs are lower quality carbs, no doubt. But if you eat quality unrefined carbs you can eat a relatively higher % of carbs and still not throw your body off. And some people have no trouble eating some refined carbs and controlling their caloric intake.
Sure. Many people can eat a great quantity of carbs and do fine. You see this often in children. Children can often eat almost any amount of carbohydrate and never gain any weight.
But with age and consistent carb intake you build insulin resistance. Until such a time your bodies internal systems get thrown off and you can no longer regulate your food intake if your diet is high in carbs.
So for those people lowering their grain/sugar intake allows them to better regulate their food intake as the bodies feedback mechanism should in fact work better.
This is because when your insulin levels are low your fat cells can start to 'give back' the energy they have stored. If you have chronic insulin elevation the fat cells are chemically signalled to stay 'greedy.'
Why is starvation the only alternative you see to a low carb diet? You can cut back a bit on calories without starving yourself, and even on a low carb diet, calories do matter. And of course when you go off the diet and start consuming more calories you will gain weight, but if you go off your low carb diet, and start eating carbs and too many calories you will gain weight as well.
Starvation makes it sound extreme. But anytime you 'diet' by restricting your calories you are in a sense 'starving' yourself. You are withholding food when you are hungry.
Low carb diets are UNRESTRICTED. You can eat till when you are full. You rely on your body to signal your mind that you have had enough calories.
I am talking about an entirely different mindset - that was the thrist example i gave. You do not have to consciously regulate the amount of water you drink to live. Your body signals your mind that you are thristy and if you listen to your body you will do fine.
People tend to think that only the conscious mind controls food intake. But when you are hungry your cells themselves can be starving in that they don't have the energy they need.
If you are on a high carb diet you could potentially be very fat - but your lean body mass cells would be starving for nutrients. If you are insulin resistant your fat cells end up "stealing" all the food.
Personally I have switched from a diet of about 80 g of CHO/day to a diet of 200-250 g of CHO/day without any change in bodyweight (or LBM from what it appears). I felt an increase in the quality of my more intense running sessions immediately. My protein intake and overall caloric intake stayed constant. I have no trouble not eating too much and I eat things like flour tortillas, grits, rice, potatoes, sweet potatoes, white bread, oatmeal w/blueberries and brown sugar. More processed carbs than I would recommend to others, but it works well for me. I also eat plenty of whole eggs, chicken, beef, and cheese with these carbs.
And there are many individuals like you. But its people like you who probably shouldn't be giving weight loss advice. Because what works for your internal chemistry at your stage in life might now work for the OP who wants to lose a few pounds. LIkewise I am sure there are plenty of young smokers who can beat me in a race. You have a better functioning body then another individual might.
Ideally what should happen is you eat your food - excess calories get stored as fat. Your insulin levels FALL - your body needs additional fuel. But instead of just getting hungry your fat cells 'share' their fuel. Even if you had a high carb diet you MIGHT NOT be insulin resistant. That's why I said sugar is considered the x factor. If you at a low sugar high carb diet your whole life you might do fine.
So, sorry, I don't think there is anything special about a low carb diet compared to a high carb diet if protein levels are equal and CHO quality is high.
Quality of CHO doesn't matter that much for someone trying to fix chronically high insulin levels. Truth is even if the carbohydrates are complex they can still spike insulin levels. They might not spike it as rapidly but even if they are more slowly released into the blood they are spiking it.
The point of eating fat instead of carbohydrates is that medically they are proven not to cause much of an insulin response. So IF you suspect you are somewhat insulin resistant (and most pudgy overweight americans are) the the logical reponse is be careful about eating things that crank up your insulin levels. And taken to the next level you try to "time" your insulin spikes.
Insulin is a good thing too. People who can't produce any insulin (type I diabetes) can't gain any weight and need the insulin to live. It can help boost your muscle cells too. So elite athletes etc try to spike their insulin right after working out to jam nutrients into the muscles.
Its a hormonal theory of weight gain - and directly in conflict with the mental view of weight gain which posits that fat gain is a problem of 'sloth'. Certainly the sloth view is more ego fulfilling for people of good health but that doesn't mean its correct.
So in contrast to the eat x amount of calories - and do y amount of exercise and you will lose weight. I am saying let your body take care of itself. Eat the right foods and eat different foods at different times - and your you can right the ship. THis is the theory anyway.
And its actually way more complicated then this. There are tons of hormones that control nutrient partioning. For example its quite possible to take steroids - eat more - and get stronger and leaner WITHOUT working out. This is because the steroids make the fat cells 'giving' and at the same time the muscle cells become very accepting of nutrients and grow.
Hopefully in like six months I can tell you how well it all works in practice
So far so good..about 12 pounds down for me. But not in like bragging shape yet.
