Lunch starch and carb question

Hey peeps. Hope your thrive goals are coming along well. I have a question not regarding this goal directly, but to a comment Jeff made in the lesson about carbs being the bodies primary choice for fuel.

Are carbs the preferred energy source for the body because it considers it a "waste" product that it wants to get rid of as quickly as possible?

An argument against this could be that vegetables contain the most nutrition, yet most of the best choices are incredibly low in calories and contain only a small amount of carbs as well. It might just be my small frame too but I certainly can't have a feast of 250gm of spinach at a meal but can easily down 250gm of chicken breast.

From reading around ive seen it is the only macro nutrient not entirely essential, though his comment about low carb in the long term decreases protein synthesis could answer my question anyway but I'll give it a shot and promote some discussion

Tomas, 

If carbs, protein and fat are eaten at a meal the carbs will get used first. Its true that there is no essential carbs but what that statement leads you to believe is that the body does not need carbs. Yes, if your were left alone a deserted island with no carbs you could live. But, the truth that no carb people will never tell you is the reason you don't have to have carbs is because the body will turn protein into carbs and then your body uses that. And that process leaves behind more "bad" things than just eating the appropriate amount of carbs in the first place.

You are absolutely right vegetables do contain great nutrition but to get a days calories from them would be quite difficult. 

The idea that there is no carb that is essential is to basically go without dozens of micronutrients (antioxidants, vitamins, minerals) and claim that because you won't die from a lack of them you don't need them. 

My idea is: What is optimal?

I'm not disagreeing with ya there Jeff. I consider myself still on nutrition 101 lol so thrive is perfect for me.

I'm not subscribing to the fact that carbs are useless, it was more just a brain fart I had that I thought would be something to talk about lol. Plus it helps to ask these sometimes ridiculous questions to further my understanding, I don't mind looking like a fool in front of professionals if they're willing to enlighten me lol

Ruining protein synthesis with low carb makes sense, more protein being used to replace carbs means less used for other functions. Can protein to carb conversion cause effects like insulin to rise and other processes carbs are generally responsible for? Or is that not enough of an impact for that sort of effect?

Do we theoretically, have a use for extra carbs once our micronutrients/antioxidant levels are met? For instance, a lot people in the bodybuilding community will keep protein the same when cutting as they are when bulking yet play around with their carb levels for the increase and decrease of weight.

Tomas, good stuff I will get you an answer in the AM. But good post and good question. The difference between body building and sports performance nutrition is something I want to chat about. 

@Jeff Serven Just gonna bump this. I'm sure we'd all like to hear your thoughts on this!

Thanks Jason.

And, Sorry Tomas! Long response time. 

Lets first step back and identify the goal of the two perspective programs

Thrive: Improve heath and performance. Open ended goal - after you complete step 1 we move you to step 2 when your ready. After you complete level 1 we move you to level 2 when your ready until you are eating food that is optimal for longevity, body composition, performance and high energy levels. 

Bodybuilding: To appear a very lean on one specific day at one specific time.

Do you see the initial problem here?....Two very different goals. Im not saying one is better than the other Im un-bias remember? But if a Navy SEAL on Thrive had to fight a bodybuilder on a typical bodybuilder diet in the next Hunger Games well lets just say it wouldn't be a long day. 

The problem in comparing the 2 is there is no overlap in goals to actually compare. We could do this ethnocentrically and judge a bodybuilding diet by Thrive standards but thats obviously a losing battle. Or vise versa. Thrive is excellent at getting people lean but we are not going to dehydrate you for 72 hours, take the sodium out of your diet, starve you, spray tan you and more than likely give you steroids all to make you lean on one day of the year. So if the comparison is who can get the most lean on one day - I would say they win. But if the goal was to walk around at sub 10% body fat for the next 10 years there is no comparison. I win, to boot Ive done it exceeding the Navy SEAL performance standards. 

More to follow on sports performance as it relates to the two...sorry I went off on a whole different point.