There is now a genetic excuse not to bother cutting carbs. Humans have genetically adapted to eating starchy foods, and our ancestors may have been carb-ivores even before modern Homo sapiens emerged. The salivary amylase gene, known as AMY1, is already known to have helped us adapt to eating carbs. It encodes amylase, an enzyme that breaks starches found in pasta and bread down to glucose—and may have given us a taste preference for them.