Ep. 64 Are Carbs Really Bad for Teens Who Want to Lose Weight ?

In this episode, I answer a question I get all the time from teens I work with: “Are carbs bad if I’m trying to lose weight?”

The short answer? No, carbs are not the enemy!
In fact, your body needs carbs—especially during puberty—to grow, to have energy, and to keep your hormones balanced.

I’ll walk you through:

• The difference between whole food carbs and processed carbs
• Why cutting carbs too much can actually hurt your health
• Easy swaps that make a big impact
• How to still enjoy pizza, chips, and even soda without guilt

This episode is all about finding balance and learning how to choose the right kinds of carbs that support your goals—without cutting out food groups or feeling restricted.

Do you worry your teen is gaining weight quickly or seems hungry all the time?
Are you afraid this could lead to prediabetes or diabetes later in life?

That’s why I created the “Healthy Weight Starts with Healthy Habits": A 7-Day Hormone Reset Program for Teens.

ONLY $25 - Learn more here !

I’m Dr. Jenny Gourgari—pediatric endocrinologist, certified in obesity medicine and a health coach. 
After helping hundreds of teens struggling with their weight and hormones, I’ve created a whole new path by doing what most programs miss: balance puberty hormones naturally and create habits that actually last.

Here's what makes this different:
✅ No dieting. No calorie counting. No shame.
✅ No more food fights between parents and teens.
✅ No weight obsession—just healthy habits
✅ Real science behind how puberty hormones affect weight
✅ A safe, supportive approach that prevents eating disorders

Because when teens understand their hormones and get the right support, they don’t just lose weight—they gain strength, energy, confidence, and freedom!

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Transcript

 Hello. Welcome to another episode of the Lifestyle and Weight loss for teens podcast. This is Dr. Jenny Gourgari, and on this topic I will go into more details about a question that, one of the teenagers I work with asked me the other day. She told me, are carbs really bad for me when I'm trying to get into a healthier weight?

So we had a great discussion and I wanted to bring this discussion here so that hopefully more teenagers will benefit from this. So let me just start by saying I do not believe that certain foods are Bad, and you should never have them. And certain foods are good and you should have them.

I believe in balance of great foods and foods that may not be the best, but they still have a place in your diet and in your routine.  This rule also applies to the carbohydrates, Carbohydrates are not bad for your health. Carbohydrates are actually essential, I would say for teenagers, especially when they go into puberty.

We need carbohydrates. to help us give the energy because teenagers have very high energy requirements as they go through the puberty changes or as they're going through the growth spur. cutting back on carbohydrates and cutting back on calories in teenagers can actually have detrimental effects.

 I see many teenagers that come to see me because they're not growing well. or they may have problems not going into puberty. Like they can be 14 years and not have periods if it's a girl and things like that. And that happens when they're underweight. So we don't wanna get to that extreme 

We also don't wanna get to the other extreme when there's Too much weight that creates a lot of insulin resistance that can also lead to irregular periods, for example, in girls can lead to, pre-diabetes and things like that. So maintaining a good balance and that ideal weight and healthy options in teenagers in a way that is sustainable.

That is what I believe is the healthiest approach. Not all carbohydrates have the same nutritional value. Not all carbohydrates have the same benefits when we're talking about, insulin resistance or not. For example, you can have 40 carbohydrates of a food that has little fiber, that has no other protein in it and has no healthy fat, and you can see a huge spike insulin and you can have 40 grams of healthy carbohydrates that gives you more satiety. You're not hungry, you're not craving, carbs after it and does not cause all these crazy pubertal hormone changes that can create more, cravings. Now, what are some examples of healthy carbs and less healthy carbs? some examples of healthy carb will involve whole grains, like brown rice and compared to less healthy option, which and sugary cereals, for example.

If you are gonna have breakfast and you choose to have milk and oats versus choosing milk and sugary cereal, even though those two breakfast options can have the same amount of calories, it doesn't have the same effect in terms of your hormone regulations. You get way more insulin resistant and insulin spikes with the sugary cereals compared to the oats. And I have created a previous, podcast episodes where I talk about the differences between the breakfast. You can go and listen, to that episode.

Another example is if we are having fruits like bananas, apples, berries, all these fruits have carbohydrates, but then if you compare, 40 grams of carbohydrates that come from a banana versus 40 grams of carbohydrates that come from cookies or a can of soda or candy. Then they're not, even though they are the same amount of calories, they're not the same in terms of your metabolism. you are more likely to overeat if you are having candy, soda, and cookies versus if you're having a banana.

Banana also gives you vitamins and it gives you the fiber that your body needs to regulate that insulin spike after eating the banana. The same is also for vegetables. If you are having sweet potatoes or carrots that have, carbohydrates and fiber compared to the same amount of carbohydrates from chips or pasta, you don't get the same effect on your metabolism.

Same thing if you have beans or lentils. Those are natural food that has carbohydrate, but along with carbohydrates, there's a lot of protein that you get with beans and lentils. There's a lot of fiber that you get with beans and lentils compared to if you have a can of soda with the same amount of carbohydrates.

So choose your carbohydrates in a smart way, choose carbohydrates that make you feel full, that make you less prone to grab a snack. So by itself, the carbohydrate is not bad, but the type of carbohydrate is what is more important. So what is. the ideal way to keep eating carbohydrates while you're still trying to get into a healthier weight.

One thing is to choose whole fiber foods, balance your plate, and add protein and healthy fats to those carbohydrates. And your portions? Of course, if, you wanna even have the chips or you wanna have the pizza, or you wanna have, the soda. I'm not saying never have it, but let's say instead of having one soda every single day with your meals, try to cut back one soda per week or even cut back in three  if you are consuming 20 sodas per week, right? Like wherever your starting point is, cut back. if you're eating as a regular thing, like one bag of chips for your lunch and one bag of chips for your snack, then cut back. even if you cannot eliminate those not healthy carbs, cutting back on the proportion and on the portion size of this can make a huge difference.

And finally try to avoid ultra processed food. I created a previous podcast. It's episode. 61 where I talk about the  processed food and  how they promote belly fat, which we know is the most dangerous belly fat.  Try to eat carbs that are not processed in other ways they're not in a packet, but they are like natural food, no one is gonna get into a healthier weight because they had carbs from lentils or carbs from fruits and carbs from vegetables, right? Most unhealthy weight comes from carbohydrates that are consumed in too much quantity that is processed carbs and is consumed like directly without adding any protein or fiber.

' now another question I get asked a lot that has to do with carbohydrates is it better to have low carbohydrate diets or low fat carbohydrate diets? So I  created a previous episode on this podcast. I believe it's episode number two, where I talk about is low carb or low fat best plan for teenagers. So you can go and listen to that episode. But in summary, what I would say to this point is choose a style that best fits your nutritional, preferences. If you are, meat lover and it may be better for you to go for a low carbohydrate diet. if you don't like, to have a lot of fruits and vegetables you can find some, healthier alternatives to still get the fiber and the vitamins that you need from other natural sources and make sure you get enough carbohydrates in your diet.

We know also that carbohydrates are very important for hormonal development. I mentioned earlier that I see a lot of teenagers that come to see me because They're not gaining height, they're short, and oftentimes that's because they don't consume enough carbohydrates. They don't consume the energy that they need in order for them to get taller.

I also see a lot of teenagers that can have problems with not progressing into puberty because they don't have enough carbohydrates. So be careful when you are restricting your carbohydrates. Be careful not to become, deficient in the minerals that your body needs when you are into puberty. So prioritize whole food options, whole grains fruits, vegetables, legumes, overused food. 

Try to limit the amount of added sugars that are in those beverages and candies and desserts, and ensure that every meal has a good balance of carbohydrates, proteins, and healthy fat. Now if you wanna learn more about what's the good balance of protein and fat, that created another episode I think it's episode number 53. What's the ideal breakdown of carbs, fats, and protein, and also how much protein teenagers needs? That's episode 52. You can go and listen to this episode for more details. That's all I had for you for today. I hope this was helpful. Don't hesitate to go to my lifestyle for teens.com and click on free resources to start your journey as soon as possible.

Take care. Bye.