Every diet out there is about avoiding carbs. In particular, “refined” carbs are considered evil, foods like pasta, bread, rice and potatoes (the white foods). It’s true that whole grains are healthful and contain higher amounts of fiber than their refined counterparts BUT refined grains like flour are also enriched with additional nutrients like iron and folate that aren’t in whole wheat flour. So eating both whole AND refined grains can cover a wide array of nutrients. Also, something to note about pasta, white rice and bread: they contain starches that “resist” digestion similar to fiber. In other words, these starches are not broken down by our digestive enzymes but by gut bacteria in the colon. The gut bacteria use the resistant starches as fuel and produce short chain fatty acids like butyrate and acetate both of which are very important for human health.
