Carbohydrates: Part Deux

Grains, Pastas and Breads, Oh My!

What starts out looking like this......

     

     After going over my first blog on Carbohydrates I felt that I needed to tell you more! Lets take a deeper look at one of our bodies worst nutritional enemies: grains. Grains are starches surrounded by a kernel, and when eaten, digests down to maltose and isomaltose in the intestines, and then into glucose. As we all know glucose is a simple sugar, and too much sugar is bad! To illustrate, take a single slice of bread and crush it in your hand, what you see is roughly equivalent to that same amount of refined sugar. Now think about how much breads, pastas, grains, wheats, and other forms of glutens the average american eats in a single day (including you!) and mentally crush all that in your hand and put it on a plate. At the end of the day you probably have a pretty hefty portion of muck. Now realize that the hefty portion of muck is nothing more then a heaping mound full of sugar!

Quickly turns into this....

     Lets put things in to perspective shall we? According to the usda, the average american in the year 2000 consumed 153 lbs of added sweeteners. This comes to 2/5ths of a pound or 182 grams per day! This is just added sweeteners. The annual grain consumption was a whopping 200 pounds in 2000 which equates to half a pound or 250 grams per day. That means that the average american in the year 2000 consumed nearly a pound of starch per day! Im going to be nice and not include the carbs and sugars from fruits, yogurts, milk, and potatoes (chips count!). Now if you want to look at it in terms of calories then know that 1 gram of a carbohydrate provides 4 calories, now take the 432 grams of carbohydrates consumed daily and multiply that by 4 and you get 1728. Right there you have nearly consumed the USDA recommend daily caloric intake from starches and sugars ALONE!

And may lead to this!!!

     We are not adapted to eat such high amounts of refined and processed carbohydrates and all this excessive consumption wreaks havoc on your body! These high amounts elevate blood sugar levels amazingly fast and cause your pancreas to produce lots and lots of insulin to metabolize it. Our pancreas and adrenals aren't fit to handle these enormous amounts we consume and over time can lead to insulin resistance, hypoglycemia, type 2 diabetes, and even crashes in your immune system! To make matters worse, refined grains are virtually void of minerals and vitamins, which are essential to the proper digestion and metabolization of these huge amounts of starch. So, with each slice of bread you eat, and each can of soda you drink, your body is stripping minerals and vitamins from its limited stores to digest it! This only leads to further deficiencies over time! But wait, aren't there healthy, unrefined grains as well? Yes there are, but they are anything but healthy and when these are consumed so are the anti nutrients they contain. Anti-nutrients are substances that bind to vitamins and minerals, making them worthless to absorb! Looks like a lose, lose situation to me.

     If all this isn't enough to make you think twice about eating those 4 slices of pepperoni pizza sitting in front of you at lunch then think about this. Inflammation from dietary deficiencies is caused by subtle biochemical injuries that occur in tissues resulting from a lack of vitamins and minerals which are a direct result of, surprise surprise, high grain and sugar intake! Initially, this inflammation may happen symptom free, but haven’t you ever noticed how swollen you seem to get after eating that pizza and chasing it down with a milkshake or mega-gulp of soda? Over time, this initially symptom free, diet driven inflammation leads to diseases that plague modern man, causing chronic aches, pains and endless suffering!

     Don't believe me? The above information is readily available to anyone willing to do the research. There are many, many more reasons why we as americans are so unhealthy as a direct result of what we eat. If you are tired of being unhealthy, overweight, sluggish, or just ready for a change, then I can help you! All it takes is a little commitment, a little will power and truly believing and you too can turn your life around! If you haven't already read in my first blog, then know that I went from 370 pounds down to 205 pounds by committing myself to proper nutrition and living an active lifestyle. If your goal is 10 pounds or 100 pounds, you can achieve it. I have done it for myself and I want to help you do it too! Subscribe to my blog, keep informed, post your questions or comments and please let me help!