Carmen wrote:
There's no need to tag on
> grains or pooh-pooh them as "nonessential".
>


Except that they are exactly that -- inessential. Carbohydrate is
inessential. In nutrition-speak, "essential" is defined as something
the body cannot make for itself. Given protein and fat, the body is
perfectly capable of making all the glucose it needs. (I'm sure that
there's *someone* out there whose body doesn't perform gluconeogenesis,
but they're the tiny exception.)

Doesn't mean that some carbohydrate foods don't supply essential
elements -- vitamin C in fruits and vegetables comes to mind. But the
carbohydrate itself is inessential, and I'm unaware of any essential
nutrient in grains or legumes that's not available in foods with a far
lower glycemic load.

Dana