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Confused About Carbohydrates?
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Confused About Carbohydrates?
Do you eat carbohydrate-rich snack foods when you're hungry? Do you think you can eat all the carbohydrates you want because they're low-fat? If so, you may be surprised to learn that carbohydrate consumption in this country has skyrocketed (and dietary fat intake has dropped), yet more Americans than ever are overweight.
If you're confused because you think all carbohydrates are good for you, it's time to gain a more thorough understanding of them. Once you learn overlooked basics, you'll see why too many of certain kinds of carbs can be hazardous to your health.
Beans and grains are sources of carbohydrates; however, few people realize carbs are also in vegetables, fruit, sugar, nuts, seeds and milk. Carbohydrates are known as energy foods because when they're metabolized, they supply glucose, a sugar that circulates in our blood and provides energy where the body needs it. Our muscles use glucose for quick energy during exercise, but the brain needs glucose the most. When we're at rest, the brain uses two-thirds of our glucose. If blood glucose levels fall too low, brain function suffers and mental fatigue or dizziness result.
To prevent this from happening, the body works to maintain a steady stream of glucose. When blood sugar drops below normal levels, the pancreas responds by releasing glucagon. This hormone stimulates the breakdown of fat and glycogen (a storage form of glucose) to provide energy for all body cells, especially brain cells. Glycogen reserves are limited though, and once they're depleted, the body must break down protein from muscles to provide the glucose the brain needs. Therefore, to meet our glucose needs and to spare body protein, we need a certain amount of carbs in our diet at frequent intervals.
However, carbohydrates aren't "free foods," as many believe. It's true that carbohydrates contain fewer calories than fat, but they can easily be stored as fat if they're overconsumed. Here's why: When carbohydrates are eaten, blood sugar levels rise, and the pancreas responds by secreting a hormone called insulin. Insulin -- designed to restore blood sugar equilibrium -- works in the opposite way of glucagon: It removes excess glucose from the blood and stores it first as glycogen and then as fat. When we eat large amounts of carbs, especially high levels of refined grain products such as bread, more insulin will be produced and fat will more likely be stored. High insulin levels promote fat storage and block the release of fat-burning glucagon. This means that even if carbohydrates are fat free, if you eat too many, they'll be stored as fat and prevent your body from burning fat.
How Many To Eat?
If too many and too few carbohydrates cause problems, what's a healthy amount to consume? Recommendations from nutrition experts vary widely, ranging from 30 to 80 percent carbohydrates in the diet. Government organizations generally advocate you eat more than half your daily calories from carbs.
Julian Whitaker, M.D., director of the Whitaker Wellness Institute in Newport Beach, Calif., recently modified his dietary recommendations from a higher carb diet to one that contains 60 percent carbohydrates (from mostly vegetables, legumes and fruits), 20 percent protein and 20 percent fat. The reason is people seem to overdose on carbohydrates, he says. Common problems Whitaker cites include abdominal obesity, difficulty losing weight, high triglycerides, high cholesterol, low HDL cholesterol, adult-onset diabetes and an increased risk of heart attack. All these conditions are associated with high insulin levels, says Whitaker, author of Reversing Heart Disease (Warner).
Barry Sears, Ph.D., author of The Zone (ReganBooks), advocates a more moderate carbohydrate intake -- 40 percent of calories as carbohydrates (mostly from vegetables and fruits) with 30 percent protein and 30 percent fat. He says a 40/30/30 ratio is best because it keeps insulin at optimal levels. "Insulin makes you fat and keeps you fat," Sears says. "A high level of insulin is the number one factor that predicts heart disease."
Although blanket recommendations serve as public guidelines, both experts believe carbohydrate intake must be individualized because insulin responses vary. Sears cites research showing 75 percent of the population has an excessive insulin response to high levels of carbohydrates. Most Americans need a moderate carbohydrate intake, and only 25 percent of the population does well on a high-carb diet, Sears says. Whitaker believes individual tolerance for carbohydrates ranges from 40 to 70 percent of calories.
The Hazards of Processed Carbs
Researchers link increased white flour and white sugar consumption to the degenerative diseases that plague modern people. Weston A. Price, D.D.S., noticed this connection as early as the 1930s. After studying the diets and health of more than a dozen nonindustrialized societies around the world, he found all these cultures had different whole-food diets and all were healthy. However, once white flour and white sugar were introduced to these cultures, physical degeneration set in over a period of a single generation, according to Price's Nutrition and Physical Degeneration (Price-Pottenger Nutrition Foundation).
In The Saccharine Disease (Keats), researcher T.L. Cleave, M.D., traced the development of diabetes, hypertension, ulcers, gallbladder disease, colitis and heart disease to the intake of refined carbohydrates. When people from non-Westernized societies, who normally didn't eat white flour or white sugar, began to eat these foods, they didn't develop immediate health problems. However, two decades later Cleave notes that these people displayed health problems associated with the newly introduced sugar and flour.
Excessive sugar and processed carbohydrate consumption contributes to the development of other health problems including cancer, osteoporosis, hypoglycemia, adrenal exhaustion, and parasitic and yeast infections, according to Get the Sugar Out (Crown) by Ann Louise Gittleman, M.S., C.N.S.
Eating refined carbs sets the stage for disease because they raise insulin levels and cause nutrient deficiencies, Whitaker says. Nutrients are stripped during the refining process. Since we need minerals and B vitamins to assimilate carbohydrates, the body uses its nutrient reserves to digest refined carbohydrates and convert them to energy. This causes nutrient deficiencies that lead to a variety of ailments. In the 1930s, doctors noticed many white bread eaters suffered from health problems caused by iron, thiamin, riboflavin and niacin deficiencies. This led to the development of "enriched" flour, which is fortified with four nutrients but is still missing 20 others in whole wheat.
What Type Is Right for You?
To understand which carbohydrates are good for you and which aren't, it's important to know how carbohydrates are classified.
Chemical Structure. Carbohydrates are separated into two types: simple and complex. Simple carbs are found in sweeteners such as refined sugar, honey, maple syrup and fruit juice concentrates. These sugars have simple chemical structures that are quickly broken down in the digestive system. Simple sugars should be avoided because they supply calories but few nutrients and encourage tooth decay and yeast overgrowth. They also weaken immunity (American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 1973, vol. 26).
Complex carbohydrates found in vegetables, legumes and whole grains consist of long chains of sugars that take longer to digest. They should make up most of our carbohydrate intake.
Glycemic Index. Another system of classifying carbohydrates is the glycemic index (see "Glycemic Index of Common Foods" on page 69). It refers to the rate of glucose entry into the bloodstream after a carbohydrate is eaten. Since complex carbohydrates are digested more slowly than simple sugars, it had been assumed they release glucose into the bloodstream more slowly. However, research conducted in the early 1980s found this isn't always true. Some of the foods with the highest glycemic rating (foods that cause the highest rise in blood sugar and insulin levels) are so-called "complex" carbohydrates such as breakfast cereals, potatoes, bread (both whole wheat and white) and grains. Carbohydrates with low and moderate glycemic ratings (foods that release glucose more slowly and produce more moderate insulin responses) are nonstarchy vegetables such as lettuce, celery, broccoli and most fruits. According to Sears and Whitaker, you should emphasize low- and moderate-glycemic fruits and vegetables and limit your intake of high-glycemic grains.
Americans are doing the opposite. Statistics show most of us still consume low levels of green and yellow vegetables, but we eat more grains than ever. Since 1977, intake of ready-to-eat cereals has increased by 60 percent, and grain mixtures (such as pizza, pasta and nachos) has increased 115 percent. Consumption of snack foods such as crackers and pretzels has risen even higher -- 200 percent!
During the same time period that grain consumption has escalated, 36 percent more women and 72 percent more men have become overweight, according to the United States Department of Agriculture. "The increase in obesity is just the first step toward an increase in a wide variety of other chronic disease states," Sears says.
Sears believes people need to keep adjusting the amounts and kinds of carbohydrates, protein and fat in their meals until they find "winning combinations" -- meals that satisfy hunger and carbohydrate cravings and provide mental focus and steady energy four hours later. In his new book Mastering the Zone (ReganBooks), Sears explains that people who are mentally focused but hungry four hours after a meal have eaten too little carbohydrate in that meal. Those who are hungry and mentally fatigued four hours after a meal have consumed too much carbohydrate.
If a lower carbohydrate intake is needed, it's not necessary to cut out servings of carbohydrates altogether. "The best way to control your intake of carbohydrates is to eat fruits and vegetables in place of grain products," Sears explains. Vegetables and fruits are so much lower in carbohydrates that six cups of steamed broccoli have the same carbohydrate content as one cup of pasta! That means you can eat a lot more fruits and vegetables without consuming too many carbohydrates.
Ultimately, being savvy about carbohydrates is a bit more complicated than believing all carbohydrates are good for you. However, in the final analysis, a simple guideline to remember is long-standing advice: Always eat your fruits and vegetables.