Today’s post is a guide to how much stripped carbohydrate is okay to eat. For purposes of today’s post, stripped carbohydrate means white flour and sugar.

This post is not a discussion about whether it’s okay to eat carbohydrate at all. There are people who feel that carbohydrate has no place in their diets, and who manage on a very-low-carbohydrate diet. Sometimes I receive comments from readers who eat this way. Perhaps someday we will discover that this group of people carries a combination of genes that markedly reduces their ability to tolerate even a modest amount of carbohydrate. No judgments here. Personally, I am glad that they have figured out how best to take care of themselves. This post is not for them. Instead, this post is for the vast majority of people who nourish themselves well with whole grains, fruit, and beans, among other foodstuffs.

If you think about it, you will notice that — except for perhaps honey and maple syrup —  there is no such thing, in nature, as carbohydrate without fiber. Where do white flour and sugar come from? They result from the stripping of fiber from whole grain wheat and sugar cane, respectively. Human beings figured out how to do this only in the past few hundred years. We did not evolve to eat stripped carbs, and most certainly not in the amounts at which we currently consume them. But consume them we do, at rates that are driving rates of diabetes and obesity sky high. 

Many people have asked me, over the years, how much stripped carbohydrate is safe to eat. In my opinion, not a lot, though I am not going to say zero. At the end of the day, I think it comes down to three factors: 1) your genes, which are also affected by your environment; 2) the amount of uncontrolled stress you are juggling; and 3) the level of activity you engage in regularly. 

Stress can be physical, emotional, or spiritual. It can be internal (anxiety, bereavement, fever) or external (blizzard, traffic, winning the lottery). Sometimes it’s both (newborn twins). It can be the result of circumstance (a safe falls on your head) or questionable decision-making (skipping breakfast). It can be due to conflict, real or imagined. Agents of stress can be small, like a virus, or large, like an asteroid. Pain and fatigue are common and serious causes of stress. 

Nutritious food is one way to decrease the amount of stress in your life. Stripped carb does the opposite. Instead of serving as a source of nutrition, it directly stresses your metabolism. 

If you’re looking for a number, I’m going to give you one right now. You can have two servings of stripped carbohydrate. In how much time, you ask? Well, that depends. Maybe it’s two servings per day, per week, or per month. If you are active and your blood pressure is perfect, your metabolism might tolerate as much as two servings a day of white flour or sugar. Not two cans of soda, but two ounces. A can of soda with 12 teaspoons of sugar is not one serving. It is 12 servings. Two servings is one-sixth of a can. 

If, on the other hand, you are markedly overweight, with two diabetic family members, under a crushing amount of stress, and getting little or no exercise, I suspect that your metabolism is having trouble tolerating even two servings of white flour and sugar. Maybe twice a month would be better. In other words, save it for special occasions.

For comparison’s sake, the average American eats 10-12 servings or more of stripped carbohydrates every day. Be honest with yourself. If that describes you, don’t try to make big changes all at once. Instead, try reducing your stripped carb intake just a little bit. In another couple months, when you’re ready, you can try reducing it a little bit more. Small changes.

White flour and sugar don’t nourish you at all. They’re just for fun.