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Understanding Carbohydrates and the Glycemic Index to Keep Insulin, Inflammation and Aging Down
QualityBooks.com
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High blood sugar levels are very effective at accelerating aging. They cause increased glycation, and they cause a spike in insulin that increases pro-inflammatory eicosanoids, which inflame the body and lead to a large number of diseases. So how can the diet be changed to reduce blood sugar levels, and why are they elevated in so much of the population?
Fats have 9 calories per gram, while proteins and carbohydrates only have 4, so at first glance it would seem that restricting the consumption of fat as much as possible would be the easiest way to lose weight and even slow metabolism to reduce aging. This, of course, has been the recommendation of the medical community over the last few decades, leading to an explosion in reduced-fat foods. However, the obesity rate in the United States has risen from 46 per cent to 55 per cent over the last two decades, so the advice does not appear to have had the desired effect.
While high calorie junk food and sedentary lifestyles have undoubtedly contributed to the problem, it has been exacerbated by the fact that the reduction of fats in foods has mostly been through an increase in refined carbohydrates, which are broken down too quickly into glucose by the digestive system for the body to be able to immediately make use of them. The spike in blood glucose levels triggers the release of insulin, so that the excess glucose is converted into fat and stored in the body – exactly what was meant to be avoided. Because all of the food has been quickly digested and a large amount of insulin has been released, blood glucose levels then drop to the point where the person feels hungry again – and the cycle continues. (It’s not surprising to learn that cattle are actually fed a very high carbohydrate diet to fatten them up before slaughter.) Fats, on the other hand, while containing more energy per gram, are more slowly digested and produce a feeling of satiety for much longer (the average fatty meal takes four to six hours to digest), so that it can be actually easier for a person to eat less calories on a diet that contains some fat.
This is not at all to say that all carbohydrates should be avoided (just as it is an oversimplification to state that ‘all fats are bad’). It is the carbohydrates that release glucose faster into the blood than it can be used by the body that are the problem – those with a high Glycemic Index (GI). While the glycemic index itself is important as a measurement of the rate of increase of blood glucose a particular food causes, it is important to keep in mind that eating a small amount of a high GI food isn’t a problem, while eating a large serving of a moderate GI food can lead to blood glucose levels that are too high. A more useful concept than the glycemic index is the glycemic load, which is the glycemic index divided by the amount of food in grams, multiplied by 100. A meal with a low glycemic load will be digested more slowly, producing a feeling of being satisfied for longer, so that a person will be less likely want to eat again soon afterwards – unlike with high glycemic load meals. The maximum glycemic load a meal should have to keep blood glucose at healthy levels is 3000 units (many foods are now including the GI on their labels). Generally the more processed a food is, the higher the glycemic index. Fruits and vegetables are, not surprisingly, the best source of carbohydrates, because not only do they have a much lower GI than refined carbohydrates, but they are also a great source of vitamins and minerals.
In short: if you want to reduce aging, look younger and live longer, you can’t consume excessive amounts of processed carbohydrates. Every time you eat white bread, cakes, candy, doughnuts, fried foods, muffins, pizza, rice, and waffles you spike your blood sugar up and inflame your entire body, setting yourself on the road to a long and painful death through inflammatory disease. “99 per cent fat free” food is usually 99 per cent refined carbohydrates – and they’re even worse for you, and get turned into fat by your body anyway. But the other extreme of eliminating all carbohydrates completely isn’t the answer either – a healthy balance of low-GI carbohydrates (about 50 per cent of the diet), fat (about 35 per cent), and proteins (about 15 per cent of the diet) is ideal.
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