Um, yes. I wish more people would have this epiphany.
You should read Dr Atkins’ book. You don’t have to follow the diet, but it is an interesting read. I have many physician friends who wish he would be posthumously awarded the Nobel prize in medicine. But I doubt the establishment would ever allow that to happen.
Yes, and the government food pyramid was a deadly joke played on millions of Americans.
Absolutely!
For example, put a piece of a cracker in your mouth and just let it dissolve. In a few moments, it will begin to taste sweet. The conversion into some type of sugar begins with the saliva in your mouth.
I’ve been on a meat, water and fat only diet for over 5 years.
Lost tons of weight, blood sugars perfect, cholesterol great shape, energy terrific, heart in great shape.
Carbs were killing me. I wasn’t diabetic, but I had serious issues with carb addiction and insulin reactions.
So, yes...carbs are sugar.
You also realize that fruits also contain suger, right?
Carbohydrates need to be broken down into sugar - that is what makes them a great long term energy source - while a bunch of sugar itself will just burn you out.
There is a reason serious athletes “carbo-load” before a strenuous event - so their muscles will have energy to burn down the stretch.
Do you understand why they don't “sugar-load” before an event?
When you understand that you will understand the difference between a diet high in carbs and a diet high in sugar.
Yes, your analysis seems correct and is well-stated.
Fruits are also confusing - some are just sugar - I've always wondered why diabetics weren't put on a very low carb diet.
Nutritional Myths, Distortions, and Lies
That Will Destroy Your Health
http://www.biblelife.org/myths.htm
Another problem with carbohydrates is that most grains consumed in the US are processed and convert quickly to sugar. With whole grains, the process is slower, so you don't get the sugar spikes.
Both my mother and grandmother had diabetes. When my mother came to live with us, she had been diabetic for at least 20 years. Her sugar would spike as high as 350 in the nursing home. After a month living with us, her sugar levels were at near normal levels. The visiting nurse wished I could go and cook for all of her diabetic patients. When she went to her doctor and he ran the test that gives sugar levels for the previous six months (I'm still not sure how that works). The doctor was amazed - my mother was on the low side of normal instead of being off the chart on the high end.
We need sugars to be slowly realeased into the blood. When there is a spike in blood sugar it triggers fat storage.
Acids such as vitamin “c” and vinegar help to regulate blood sugar.
That is what I have taken from my research.
Yes, carbohydrates are indeed a form of sugar.
Yes, but it’s a bit more complicated than that.
Here’s a start ...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citric_acid_cycle
I just watched this movie the other day, check it out. It goes into detail about insulin and sugar, animal fat Vs. Vegetable fat and how the current “science” regarding cholesterol is bogus and based on politics.
http://www.fathead-movie.com/index.php/about/
Also look into “Glycemic Index”, a measure of how fast carbohydrates are broken down to release glucose into the blood stream. For the most part, slower is better. This is why brown rice, whole grains and nuts are better carbs than white bread, white rice and twinkies.
There is a quantitative difference in the glycemic index between refined carbohydrates and complex carbohydrates. While all carbohydrates are processed by the body into sugar, complex carbohydrates contain substantial fiber preventing the spike in blood sugar as the fiber is eliminated as undigestible.
Refined carbohydrates, on the other hand, are readily digestible into sugars, predominantly glucose, resulting in the pancreas churning out more insulin.
Beans, wholemeals (such as steel-cut oats), whole grains are complex carbohydrates that have substantial amounts of fiber that do good things for your pancreas, arteries and digestive tract. Here’s a good resource:
http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/what-should-you-eat/carbohydrates-full-story/index.html
I’ve frequently said that a baked potato is nutritionally the equivalent of an ice cream sundae, as far as getting the nutrients your body needs.
But there is one important difference between sugar and carbohydrates:
Carbohydrates are converted into sugar by the process of digestion, and thus they enter the bloodstream more gradually. Sugar enters the blood stream all at once, creating a deadly situation sometimes called, “hyperglycemia.” You’ve seen extreme hyperglycemia in diabetics, as they go into seizures. The body releases insulin into the body to remove the sugar as quickly as possible. But if a meal consists of just sugar, and not enough slower-digesting food sources, the insulin continues to remove sugar in the bloodstream even after the excess amounts have been removed. This causes the infamous “sugar crash,” and can lead to “insulin resistance,” wherein the body adapts to ignore insulin, causing wait gain and possibly diabetes.
Some carbohydrates cannot be digested at all. Like other undigestable substances, this helps keep the plumbing working. These carbohydrates include fiber, from plants, but also chitin, for animals. Chitin is the hard substance which forms the exoskeletons of shrimp, lobster, insects, spiders, etc.
Carbs are not your friend. They all metabolize as sugar — the more complex, complete metabolize a bit more slowly. I am a musician, so this is not Lab Stuff. But my body does not tolerate sugar, so I really stay away from it, and I react to carbs just the same. I can eat bits of it but if I overdo it I always know it.
“Carbs are your friend” is, I suspect, a FAD which has passed through and is finally, mercifully, being seen for what it is.
This issue is addressed in a highly informative book, “Wheat Belly,” by William Davis, MD, a cardiologist. He also has a blog at http://www.trackyourplaque.com/blog/
Also on point is Gary Taubes’ newest book, “Why We Get Fat.”
There is also something called “Glycemic Index”. The higher the index number, the more nearly the carbohydrate compound resembles the effects of glucose. Very complex carbohydrates, such as cellulose (the fiber in wood, for instance) can only be broken down by microbial action, then when reduced to a simpler carbohydrate, can then be digested by the enzymes and digestive juices of most vertebrate and invertebrate animal life (including human beings). A cow cannot, on her own, digest grass, which is largely cellulose fiber. The microscopic biota in the cow’s rumen can convert the cellulose into simpler sugars, which are then used as building blocks for the formation of lipids (fat) and most vitamins, and formed up in conjunction with various nitrogen compounds (urea) to form a wide array of amino acids, basis for protein formation.
Human beings, for the most part, do not have this capability, as compounds like urea are essentially biological poisons for most human body tissue. The intestinal microbes of the large intestine complete the digestive process that began with the act of chewing and passage through the stomach and the small intestine.
So far as Glycemic Index is concerned, think the more white the carbohydrate source is, the higher the index. White sugar, white flour, white potatoes, and white rice are all very high, while the carbohydrates in dark-colored grains, fruits and vegetables have a much lower Glycemic Index.
And there are tables that already have much of this information.
The fact is that complex carbohydrates come in forms that our bodies metabolize differently. So, it should come as no surprise that when you eat a potato your blood sugar does not skyrocket immediately. Starch is not equal to glucose; your body knows this and responds accordingly. If you want to lose weight in an effective manner, you cannot take in excessive low complexity carbs — make your body work to break it down, that is the key.
As a side note, if you want to burn more calories and don’t want to put in the work, then you should eat less; the math is not hard. Alternatively, you will burn ~15% more calories/day by simply putting your feet in ice water for 10 min. It may be uncomfortable, but the thermogenic effects are systemic and REAL!