Definitely. The importance of dark green and fibrous vegetables is is extremely downplayed in any official dietary guidelines, and they really should be at the base of the food pyramid, at least for most of the year.
Carbohydrates are, however, fairly useful in terms of overloading the body's metabolism. (That's why you lost the 30 lbs.) Back in college, I used to burn protein pretty badly, and my performance in the gym was severely hampered. I had a meeting with the S&C coach, where he imparted the need to carbo-load after a workout to prevent metabolism from using protein as quick energy. (At the time I was eating around 6-7k calories a day while losing weight, this helped me drop to a manageable diet.) Since carbohydrates are largely energy stores much in the same way as fat is, but without the added benefit of fat-soluble vitamins, they should be the first thing to cut down on. Well, probably fatty meat as well.
More recent low-carb advice (e.g. the Paleo Diet for Athletes) recommends eating carbs before a workout/training session, and protein + some carbs after for replenishing. I've been doing that and it works out pretty well.
Carbohydrates are, however, fairly useful in terms of overloading the body's metabolism. (That's why you lost the 30 lbs.) Back in college, I used to burn protein pretty badly, and my performance in the gym was severely hampered. I had a meeting with the S&C coach, where he imparted the need to carbo-load after a workout to prevent metabolism from using protein as quick energy. (At the time I was eating around 6-7k calories a day while losing weight, this helped me drop to a manageable diet.) Since carbohydrates are largely energy stores much in the same way as fat is, but without the added benefit of fat-soluble vitamins, they should be the first thing to cut down on. Well, probably fatty meat as well.