I eat them throughout the day. Have dieted down from 237 to 191 since July 1st. No muscle loss, about 10% body fat now. Just find what works best for you.
I am in the minority with the carb-philosophy. Diet on as many carbs as you CAN. there is no magic in going low carb, although it shifts tons of water around and makes tracking things a bit more difficult. Obviously as calories go lower over the diet, carbs will likely be the place they are cut.
calorie deficits matter overall. I did the super low carb stuff many times in the past, thinking i was "carb sensitive", and it just added to muscle loss and made for shittier workouts.
If you do great on carb cycling or low carb, more power to ya ;-) But there is much bro-science and tradition behind it all as well.
Insulin is not an enemy if you are in a calorie deficit. In fact, it is still your friend as it is anti-catabolic.
I can understand the carb cycling if you are trying to get stage shredded and small % increments matter. But people way overthink this stuff.