Up until a couple of months ago I was a high carb junk food addict. I consumed lots of cookies, milk chocolate and potato chips, cakes, burgers, you name it. Ok this wasnt my whole diet just a large part of it. There was healthy food as well. Will be 50 years old soon. For the first time in my life is seriously decided to lose some weight. I started a Ketogenic diet a couple of months ago to lose body fat and get more healthy, so far have lost 22 pounds. Looking to lose 12 pounds more over the next month. Keto involves eating very low carbs, ideally less than 20g per day. And getting majority of calories from healthy fats instead of carbs. This causes your body to go into 'Ketosis' where it starts to burn off stored body fat. There are a few reports that Keto is bad for you, but i am only doing it for 3 months. And its got to be a lot better for me than the processed junk i was eating before. Intermittent fasting also seems to help a lot, eg fasting 16 yours a day and only eating in an 8 hour (or less) window, eg only eating between 10 am and 6pm, or 12pm to 8pm. I aim to eat less than 1200 calories a day. My diet consists of (all organic): Eggs Salmon Chicken Macadamia nuts Pecan nuts Strawberries Blackberries Tomatos Green Peppers Avocados Spinach Coffee with Almond milk Dark chocolate Water Low carb Beer (eg Bud Lite) Dry sparkling wine and champagne. I also once a week eat the following, which aren't the most healthy, but are very low in carbs: Ribeye Steak Sausages and Bacon and low sugar baked beans Diet Soda (mainly zero sugar Coke) No cakes or cookies or pasta or rice or potatoes or fruit juices or any high carb fruit! Starting weight: 174 pounds Current weight: 152 pounds Target weight: 140 pounds
Best of luck to you. Regarding the comment about Keto being bad for you, I believe that applies mostly to the extremers who consume mostly bacon, lots of eggs, and large quantities of red meat. The diet you listed seems like a very sensible approach. A limit of <50g carbs per day should be fine after your initial weigh loss and won't keep you craving for more.
Congrats! The first month sucks but you are way past that so I'm sure you are loving not being hungry all the time from those sugars. I went keto over 3 years ago and intermittent fasting is easy when you aren't hungry. I'm probably more like a mediterranean type diet now but I basically just keep my sugars low to keep the triglycerides down so I keep my doctor happy. She'll still tell me to drink less booze and she's right.
I think you're painting carbs with a rather broad brush, essentially characterizing them as junk food. There are good, fiber- and nutrient-rich carbs as well. I think it is unfortunate that you are overlooking them.