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Carbohydrates get a bad rap
Several diets suggest you severely limit them
But carbohydrates are not dastardly denizens
Determined to cause us harm
In its simplest form
A carbohydrate is fructose
Which is found in fruits, some vegetables and refined sugars
And glucose or blood sugar
Which comes from vegetables, grains, legumes and refined sugar
Glucose is our fuel
Our brain, muscles nervous system and blood cells need it to function
We ingest glucose and use it immediately as energy
Store it as glycogen in our liver
Or store it as fat
Fructose is broken down in the liver and turned into glucose, lactate or fat
If you are seeing a trend with glucose and fructose
You are not alone
Both turn to fat if they are not used
Fructose more easily but glucose also
Additionally, glucose, if over eaten
May cause insulin resistance, a pre-cursor to diabetes
In nature, both glucose and fructose are part of more complex foods
Fructose is found in fruits
And glucose is found in grains, beans and vegetables
Of course, we would not be human if we didn’t mess with nature
What’s the fun of eating something fresh or natural when we can alter it?
We take fructose, add it to glucose
And call it sugar or high fructose corn syrup.
In addition to sweets, we add sugars or high fructose corn syrup to everything
Don’t think so?
Check the labels of processed foods at your grocery store
Ketchup – check
Cereals and breads – yep
Salad dressings, yogurts and canned fruit – check, check, check
Of course, grains, beans and vegetables have glucose
And they are healthy, therefore, glucose can’t be bad
Additionally, glucose is the fuel we use to make our engines go
So what’s wrong with it?
If glucose is eaten in whole grains, beans and vegetables, nothing
But those foods have one thing in common – fiber
Fiber slows down digestion of glucose and acts as our internal roto-rooter
Glucose eases its way into the blood stream
Allowing insulin, its bodyguard and escort
A chance to deliver it to the liver, brain and muscles at its leisure
Fiber also helps you feel fuller so you eat less
And therefore have less glucose to digest
Remember, excess glucose is stored as fat
Let’s get back to us and nature
We love fiddling with it
We take a nice fiber rich grain
By the way it also has vitamins, mineral and antioxidants
Powerful little radical fighters that keep us young
And we throw them away
We strip them from the grain
Leaving nothing but a tiny amount of fiber, a few vitamins and minerals
And glucose
Of course, we might add a little sugar to it to make it go down easier
We have white bread, pizza dough, chips, pasta
And a host of other popular and tasty grains
We end up with a refined carbohydrate
A once great grain or fruit, barren
Fructose, with nowhere to go except your fat cells
And glucose with tired insulin escorts
And bloated fat cells waiting with open arms
Does that mean avoid refined carbohydrates at all costs?
Of course not
Sweets and refined breads are great in small amounts and on occasion
However, most of the time make sure your glucose and fructose
Are joined by their fiber containing friends
Eat vegetables, whole fruits and whole grains
And skip or at least limit refined carbohydrates
Your fat cells will hate you
But the rest of your body will rejoice