Here's Why Bob Harper Ditched Paleo For a Super Carb Lifestyle

Bob Harper wants to put carbs back on your plate. In his new book, The Super Carb Diet: Shed Pounds, Build Strength, Eat Real Food, he described the word "carb" as "the most terrifying of all the four-letter words." In the introduction to his new diet and new lifestyle, he promises to change your perception of carbohydrates and give you your power back.

This is a new change for Bob. After suffering a massive heart attack earlier this year, he took his recovery seriously and began to make serious changes to his diet.

"After my heart attack, I was searching for a way to balance my diet without gaining weight," Bob said in his book. "I needed a diet high in nutrients that would help me maintain my weight and give me the energy I needed to recover . . . The dieting world went back in time to find variations of the caveman diet, but I found those high-protein plans had too much fat and weren't so great for my heart. They didn't work for me. They left my body off balance."

Bob told POPSUGAR that he had fallen into this caveman diet thanks to external influence from his community. "I have been in the CrossFit world for several years now and it seemed like for the longest time Paleo was the diet many CrossFitters were talking about, so I decided to give it a try," he told us. "The problem that I faced was my craving for certain complex carbohydrates, so for me it was difficult to sustain. That is why I worked on developing the super carb diet. I wanted to put a balance back into my eating habits and incorporate all the macronutrients on my plate."

His book also calls attention to current diet trends and their pitfalls. "Trendy diets tell you that you can't have carbs," Bob wrote. "But I want bread. So does Oprah. So do you. I want to eat a sandwich at lunch without feeling like I'm committing a crime. Did you know a sandwich isn't a sandwich unless there's bread?" Preach, Bob!

Are you ready to have a few more carbs on your plate? Get your power back? Bob's diet isn't a steady wave of pasta, but you will definitely see some whole grains in there. Bob's approach is about balanced macronutrients with a goal of losing weight — as he describes it, "Your plate is going to start to look like a beautiful and delicious math equation."

Carb-friendly doesn't mean unhealthy, and according to Bob's book, "That means giving up a lot of foods you may love and discovering foods that may be new to you." He says, "I love a chocolate chip cookie just as much as the next guy, but it doesn't have a place in my weight-loss plan." Damn.

Interested in trying this on for size? Bob's book comes out after Christmas, but you can try his diet for a day to see how you feel. Check it out:

A day on Bob's new diet

Breakfast: scrambled egg whites with spinach with a toasted whole grain muffin and some avocado
Lunch: sauteed or grilled chicken breast with roast cauliflower, carrots, broccoli, and slivered almonds
Dinner: "extra-big salad" with a lean ground chicken burger on a whole-grain bun
"Floater": nonfat Greek yoghurt with 1/2 tablespoon of nut butter