Let's get the boring yet necessary science out of the way shall we? Carbohydrates are one of the macronutrients that your body needs to survive. Along with protein and fats, carbs are part of the building blocks for every cell and therefore function in your body. Moreover, just like everything else in our lives, carbohydrates are classified into two types: Complex and Simple. The difference in each is the number of sugar molecules (I promise not to be this techy next time) in the chain. For example, simple carbs have only one or two sugars while complex carbs have three or more sugars. Therefore, it makes sense that the complex carbs will take much longer to break down and digest while just the opposite is true for simple carbs, they absorb and are digested very quickly. You need both however, it's the source and how much you get that matters.
Simple carbs, a.k.a SUGAR are most notoriously known in the obvious like candy, soda, and fruit "juices". But it is also very important to understand the simple carbs are also known as white, bleached, enriched flours, white rice, white pasta, (notice a connection yet?), and alcohol. Well doesn't that just suck! Yes, it does. Really it does. Most of us were raised on this type of diet. We were just fine with it during our younger years but in our thirties and beyond we may just notice uh, changes in ourselves. "Unexplained" changes. Sugar is also in fruit, vegetables, and milk. So if we are eating these things throughout our days then we are getting enough simple carbs in our diet. Anything in excess is well, just that, excess and will be stored as fat in the body. Does this mean you should give up your fruit for some candy? I won't even answer that one. Fruit, veggies and yes-even milk (I have mixed feelings about dairy that I discuss in other articles) have important nutrients associated with them. Eliminating them in your diet uh... Atkins, will be robbing your body of precious nutrients needed.
Complex carbs are things like whole grains; "whole" meaning the entire grain is intact therefore providing essential nutrition, brown rice, some veggies like broccoli, and legumes that consist of peas, lentils, etc. Complex grains take longer to absorb in the body and therefore doesn't create a spike in your blood sugar. Simple carbs do. Since they are absorbed quickly, they will create elevated blood sugars quickly, working the pancreas extra hard as this organ must deliver insulin to help stabilize your blood sugar. In addition, take the glucose to areas of the body that need it and deliver all the excess to the liver where it's stored as fat and is responsible for causing the liver to produce more cholesterol. What? Sugar is also responsible for high cholesterol? Who knew...
A diet high in sugar is a huge concern for us right now because most everything has sugar in it. Sugar is mostly disguised as high-fructose corn syrup or just corn syrup. A very cheap, highly stable concoction that was founded in the 1970s. A great invention for food manufacturers (long shelf life, cheap alternative to sugar, just a little bit needed which is VERY sweet) but a devastating one for human health. At this moment sugar is the leading cause of obesity and "Adult-onset" Type II diabetes (in quotations because children as young as five are found with symptoms of this debilitating disease). It's also responsible for internal inflammation - this is a topic for a later date as inflammation is the main contributor for a whole host of issues in the body including cancer and almost all autoimmune diseases.
Sugar affects your mood. Have you ever noticed you feel completely awesome after you eat a Snickers bar and wash it down with some Mountain Dew? I know I always did. We received that sugar "high" but as Newton so fantastically put it, "what goes up must come down". That awful crash you felt about an hour later was due to the outpour of insulin your body just put out to help stabilize your blood sugar. Now you're tired, cranky, moody, and irritable. It's just not worth that high. What most people do in that situation is reach for more sugar. Sounds just like a drug addict. In reality sugar acts just like a drug and there really are "sugar addicts" out there. Are you one?
What now? Here are the top five ways to make sure you aren't in sugar excess and you stay that way.
1.) Avoid white sugar. Try to stick with the natural sweeteners like raw honey, brown rice syrup, blue agave syrup, maple syrup, and stevia. Be careful however, with the syrups. They contain a lot of fructose and you must use those sparingly. Once you begin to get the white stuff out of your system and your taste buds have returned to normal, you may just find you don't want things so sweet and enjoy eating foods in their natural state.
2.) Avoid white flour. This is a hard one since it includes all of the pastries, bagels, doughnuts, cakes, cupcakes, pies, breads, and the list goes on. There are really no substitutions here. You will need to reduce these items before you completely eliminate them. For these it's best to just say no!
3.) Say no to the booze. Alcohol is pretty much fermented sugar. When you ferment sugar, you create alcohol. Moderation is the key however; I am not trying to take away all your fun. I want you to be aware of this fact and if it's sugar you want to stay away from then you must include all alcohol.
4.) Now white rice has very little sugar and actually, brown rice has more. It's the fact that rices both brown and white contain mostly carbohydrates so you want to limit the amount. I have no problem with eating rice and as we all know neither do the healthiest people on the planet Okinawa's population. But you must choose the healthier of the two, the one that has not been stripped of all goodness and sent through the processing mill a few times over. Choose brown or whole grain rices.
5.) Reduce your dairy intake. Dairy is made up of mostly lactose. Lactose is a sugar. When you add cream to your coffee your adding sugar with your sugar. When you're eating cheese pizza, you're eating sugar on top of sugar (crust). Just be away and reduce as much as you can.
6.) Read labels. This is the most important piece of advice everyone should adhere to. As I said before sugar is in everything, even newborn formula. You must read the labels for everything that you buy. If it contains high fructose corn syrup, corn syrup or any of the other sugars, which by the way anything that ends in "OSE" is sugar, ditch it! For example maltose, dextrose, sucrose, lactose all sugars.
These not so simple yet simple in theory changes that you make will have a huge impact on your health and therefore life. Even if you can't eliminate everything, just know with each step in the right direction is a step forward aimed at a healthier and happier life. If you have children please share this information with them. It is the children that suffer greatly now and it is our responsibility to make sure they live longer than their parents as this is the first generation of children that is expected to die before them.
Kristen Peters is an Aromatherapist and Holistic Health Coach residing in Raleigh with her husband, three children, and two Chihuahuas. She has dedicated her life to assisting others to Be the Change. Visit her website http://www.kristenpeters.net to download her free eBook entitled: "How 5 Small Changes Can Have a Big Impact on Digestive Health".
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