Why Cutting Out Carbs Makes You Binge More

Keto, low carb, paleo, years of diet evolution seems to send out the same message: Carbs are not unnecessary to the human body, and it seems to be healthier to not eat carbs.

Meanwhile, as the low-carb diets arise, more and more people find themselves searing off carbs, only to later devour an entire loaf of break like it’s the last meal.

If you resonate with this, you are not alone. In this article, we are diving in the carbs science, and why eliminating carbs might be feeling your binge, emotional and compulsive eating episodes, or the low-carb community like to call “sugar addiction”

Are carbs really unnecessary? - The Origins of carb-phobia

Let’s rewind to the 1920s. The ketogenic (keto) diet was created to help kids with epilepsy.

Why? Scientist found that when the body runs low on carbs, it breaks down fat and produces ketones, which can fuel the brain. And for some people with epilepsy, this switch somehow stabilises brain activity and reduces seizures. We still don’t fully understand why, but it was a pretty groundbreaking discovery at the time.

Fast forward: scientists studying religious fasting noticed a similar thing—ketones kick in when you go without food, helping fuel the brain during starvation.

Then came the 60s–80s, when fatness started getting framed as a public health villain. Enter Atkins, keto, paleo, intermittent fasting... all promoted as fat-burning solutions.

Add in Cold War-era Olympic competition and the rise of wellness culture (which, let’s be real, quickly became diet culture in disguise), sports nutrition has started exploring using low-carb diets to boost performance and yielded some promising results.

To top it off, a Yale study showed sugar activates the brain’s reward centre.(1) The media ran with it and called it “just like heroin”, and boom: sugar = evil, carbs = enemy.

So here we are, decades later, still glorifying low-carb living like it's the ultimate health gospel. It all sounds science-y, right?

But here’s what’s missing: the other side of the story—the impact of cutting carbs on your relationship with food, your mental health, and yep... your tendency to binge.

But wait - let’s look at the full picture

Back in my freshman year studying nutrition, I was a pro at quoting the conclusion of a paper just from the abstract. But years of training and working as a research dietitian later, I’ve learned that’s like reading a restaurant menu and thinking you know exactly how the dish tastes—without spotting that it contains coriander (and you hate coriander). Spoiler: that’s exactly what most headlines and media outlets do.

Keto and Fasting: Not the Miracle Fixes You Think

First off, keto was never designed for the average person wanting to lose weight or “eat clean.” It was a medical diet for epilepsy, and yep—there are plenty of side effects reported, from the annoying stuff like bad breath, mood swings, and fatigue, to serious issues like nutrient deficiencies, constipation, hormonal disruptions, and even ketoacidosis—a dangerous risk for people with diabetes.

Fasting isn’t a walk in the park either. It often leads to headaches, dizziness, poor sleep, gut problems, and yep... that irresistible urge to binge once you finally eat.

Carbs: Still the MVP for Performance and Brainpower

Modern sports nutrition is clear—carbs fuel your training and performance better than keto. Why? Because carbs give you steady, reliable energy. When your fuel tank is full, you can train harder, lift heavier, run longer, moves faster and make split-second decisions like a pro.

And here’s a fun fact: when sports dietitians say “low carb day” for athletes, they might mean 90-120 grams of carbs—that’s just what average adults need per day! A “high carb day” can hit 500+ grams.(2)

The Sugar “Addiction” Study: What They Didn’t Tell You

That famous Yale study showing sugar lights up your brain like heroin? The data’s solid, but the context? Not so much.

Most of those students were either dieting, stressed, or scraping by on a budget—and their brains were basically throwing a party when they finally got some energy-dense food. It’s survival instinct, not heroin-level addiction.

A 2016 review confirmed sugar doesn’t meet the scientific criteria for addiction. Instead, it’s food restriction, fear, and control that trigger that dopamine rush when you finally eat “forbidden” foods.(3)

Plus, what looks like “food addiction” might actually be a form of disordered eating or an eating disorder that isn’t screened for in these studies. (1)

Cutting carbs? For many, it’s a fast track to feeling out of control and binge eating more, not less.

Why cutting out carbs is the very reason you are addicted to sugar.

1. Carbs is your brain’s best friend

Think of your brain like a high-performance engine, and carbs are its premium fuel. When you cut carbs, you’re basically trying to race on empty. Sure, you might keep going for a while, but eventually, your brain’s going to sputter—leading to foggy thinking, irritability, and intense hunger signals that feel impossible to ignore. Science backs this up: a recent study in Eating and Weight Disorders found that people on low-carb diets reported higher food cravings and more disordered eating behaviours than those who didn’t restrict carbs (4).

Your brain literally needs carbs to function optimally—and when it doesn’t get them, it sends strong “feed me” signals that can push you toward overeating later.

2. The Restriction-Binge Cycle

Restrictive dieting is a bit like holding your breath under water. At first, you manage, but sooner or later, you have to gasp for air.

Cutting out carbs often triggers the same response in your body. When your willpower starts to wane, your brain flips into “survival mode,” sending you into a binge. This is the classic restriction-binge cycle: you diet, lose weight, your body panics and tries to protect itself, you lose control and binge, regain the weight (and then some), feel guilt and shame, and… start dieting again. Not exactly a fun merry-go-round.

Research in Current Opinion in Psychology highlights how these restrictive habits don’t just mess with your physical health (think weight cycling and increased risk of chronic diseases), but also take a toll on your mental wellbeing, making you more anxious and preoccupied with food (5), and that’s where the “thinking about food 24/7” can come from.

3. Guilt: The Unwanted Dinner Guest

Cutting carbs might seem like a straightforward way to get control, but it often backfires by inviting a not-so-welcome guest to your table: guilt. Studies show that people on low-carb diets, especially those prone to binge eating, experience higher levels of food cravings and guilt.(6)

And it’s not just the guilt itself—fasting and low-carb diets also increase the likelihood of intense, uncontrollable cravings and binge episodes compared to people who don’t restrict carbs.(7) Your body and brain are wired to notice restriction and react—sometimes with cravings so strong, they feel impossible to resist.

That unwanted dinner guest? Yep, it’s guilt—and it loves to stick around long after the food is gone.

4. Putting it Up the Pedestal

When a food is forbiddened, it’s instantly associated with rare, scarcity and novelty. Restrictive thinking around food increases something called cognitive restraint—where you’re constantly trying to mentally control what, when, and how much you eat. Research shows that high levels of cognitive restraint are linked with more intense food cravings and binge eating, especially for the very foods you try to avoid (4).

So when you tell yourself “I can’t have bread”, your brain starts to view bread as more tempting, more irresistible, and more emotionally charged. In other words, by putting carbs up on a pedestal, you’re also handing them the power to control your thoughts.

5. The day before you start cutting out -Last Supper Effect

You know that “I’ll start fresh tomorrow” feeling? That’s the Last Supper Effect in action—when you plan to cut out carbs (again) starting Monday, and suddenly feel compelled to eat all the pasta, all the chocolate, and definitely all the chips… tonight. This all-or-nothing mindset doesn’t just live rent-free in your head—it actually triggers patterns of overeating. When you are anticipating an future restriction, cravings and urges starts stronger than ever.

So every time you say “this is the last time I’m eating this,” your brain treats it like a food emergency—and overeating becomes a protective response, not a failure of willpower.

Takeaway

Low-carb and keto diets aren’t inherently evil. But they’ve been  misapplied—sold to people looking for food peace as if they were miracle cures. When in reality, many folks find themselves stuck in a restrict-crave-binge cycle, wondering why they can't just "stick to it."

So if carbs have been painted as your personal villain...

Maybe it's time for a plot twist.

Ready to Reclaim True Control and Peace Around Food?

Join me in my *free webinar: 3 Steps to Overeating (*The step-by-step roadmap to stop binge & emotional eating for good without more willpower).

In just 1 hours of your day, you will learn:

• Why you Struggle with Constant Cravings (spoiler alert: it’s not willpower)
• Top Mistakes that Keep You Stuck in the Binge Cycle (it’s not just “eating healthier”)
• 3 Essential Steps to End Binge & Emotional Eating (my complete framework to help my clients break free)
• The Tools & Skills to Make Food Freedom Reality (so you stop being controlled by food)

Sounds right up your alley?

CLICK HERE TO SAVE YOUR SEAT

References

1. Gearhardt AN, Corbin WR, Brownell KD. Development of the Yale Food Addiction Scale version 1.0. Appetite. 2009;52(2):430–6.

2. Burke LM, Deakin V, Minehan M, editors. Clinical Sports Nutrition. 6th ed. Sydney: McGraw-Hill Education; 2021.

3. Westwater ML, Fletcher PC, Ziauddeen H. Sugar addiction: the state of the science. Eur J Nutr. 2016;55(Suppl 2):55–69.

4. Ganson KT, Saw YT, Mitchison D, Murray SB, Nagata JM. Low carbohydrate diets and disordered eating patterns among adolescents and young adults. Eat Weight Disord. 2023;28(1):11. doi:10.1007/s40519-022-01437-z

5. Linardon J. Can flexible dieting reduce disordered eating and body image concerns? A systematic review of the literature. Curr Opin Psychol. 2023;48:101497. doi:10.1016/j.copsyc.2022.101497

6. Fontes KB, Pinto IC, Barbosa MA, Guimarães EC. Low-carbohydrate diet and binge eating disorder: a cross-sectional study among Brazilian adults. Einstein (Sao Paulo). 2018;16(3):eAO4232. doi:10.31744/einstein_journal/2018AO4232

7. Ludwig DS, Dickerman BA, Frazier AL, Robinson WR, Willett WC. Trends in fasting and low-carbohydrate diet use among US adults. Clin Diabetes Endocrinol. 2023;9(1):10. doi:10.1186/s40842-023-00152-7