From the context, he seems to be saying that they're foods to avoid as staples of the diet, the way most people eat them. On the other hand, if we're trying to choose where to get our small amount of carbohydrate, they're considered to be better than the alternative sources (i.e., fruits, fibrous vegetables, and concentrated sugars), which he considers to be even worse.

This is reminiscent of the "don't eat fat and carbohydrates together" rule, which can be also be confusing at first reading. It's intended as a general principle about how we should provide fuel for our bodies, and he's already put it into effect when he created the diet. If we're following ON, then our fat:carbohydrate ratio is high enough that our bodies won't see it as mixing the two.