Carbohydrate consumption seems to be the biggest influence of obesity today. Fat consumption serves to increase fat burn, not fat stores. Carbs certainly are not fats, but our body can convert them into the deadliest fats of all.
Eating carbs raises blood glucose levels, and insulin is released to carry the carbs to the individual cells for power. Leftover carbs are used as stored energy by the liver. The end product is a triglyceride, a deadly fatty acid that comes from vLDL.
There is no doubt by anyone that excess triglycerides are a clear indication of obesity and heart disease. Triglycerides are the deadly fatty acids that hardens your arteries and builds plaque within them.
I have not even scratched the surface with how many issues come from long-term carb intake. After chronic carb intake, your body tries to predict how much insulin to release. Blood glucose is brought to dangerously low levels, as a result from too much insulin being secreted. Low blood sugar is dangerous, because the brain needs a 30-40% sugar level to function properly. Excess insulin also stops leptin from communication with your brain. Leptin is the hormone that makes you feel full.
This is a dangerous path that begins with insulin resistance, follows with metabolic syndrome, and ends up as type 2 diabetes. Low blood glucose causes carb cravings, because the brain needs energy and leptin isn’t working properly. A vicious cycle results, causing people to have a “sweet tooth” or “carb cravings”. Other symptoms of insulin resistance include: depression, anxiety, inability to sleep well, poor thinking ability, memory loss, and constant fatigue.
Even complex carbs like whole wheat bread and brown rice cause blood sugars to rise.
When was the last time you checked to see if an item you bought had high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) or sucrose in it?
It is known as a “toxic” ingredient that was invented by Japanese and introduced to the United States in 1975. Fructose is the bad guy as it makes up about 50% of HFCS and sucrose, the other half being glucose.
Due to the revised dietary guidelines, fat was replaced with fructose in our foods. The entrance of HFCS to the American market stabilized the prices of food/sugar, because it was so inexpensive.
Fructose made the unpalatable low-fat food taste good again.
Fructose:
- Fails to suppress the hunger hormone, ghrelin.
- The hormones that make you feel satisfied after eating are suppressed.
- Is treated differently in the liver. Most of the glucose consumed is used to provide energy for cells, but 20% ends up in the liver. All of the fructose gets broken down in the liver, as the body sees it as poison just like alcohol.
- Causes metabolic syndrome.
- 30% of amount ingested is converted into deadly triglycerides.
- Produces too much uric acid, which causes gout and hypertension.
- Causes insulin resistance and obesity.
Regardless of all the known facts, fructose is found in all foods. Avoid HFCS and sucrose if you want to prevent major health complications.
Having said that, fructose can be fought with fiber. Fiber, however, has been removed from just about everything to ease the cooking and eating processes. Foods without fiber were easier to freeze and lasted longer.
Fiber counteracts all carbs and is the most effective weapon against obesity, along with omega-3. Fruits are harmless, but fruit juice is bad simply because fruits have fiber and the extracted juice does not. 100-300 grams of fiber per day used to be taken in by people, now only 12.