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2 Are Refined Carbs and Sugar the Bad Guys?

They’re sweet, they’re comforting, they give you an instant feelgood high – small wonder that so many of us keep on turning to refined carbohydrates and sugar. We’re also surrounded by food products containing these instantly gratifying substances – fizzy drinks, chocolate bars, bagels, pasta, ice cream, sweets to suck, chew or swallow – and because the ‘fix’ we get from them is sweet and addictive, we are tempted time and time again.

We have been refining foods for centuries, as far back as the ancient Pharaohs who also observed the dangers of excess carbohydrates, but never as intensively since the middle of the 20th century. Too busy, too tired, too dissatisfied or too depressed, we are easily seduced by the promise of a quick sugar or carb high. So, you may not want to hear it but carbohydrates and sugars really are the bad guys, especially when it comes to Insulin Resistance and all of its knock-on effects. Understandably, it is a message that most people don’t want to hear. We are consuming more sugar in our diets today than ever before: in the UK the average person consumes 1201b of sugar a year, while in the USA the average person eats a staggering 1951b. This equates to people in the UK eating nothing except sugar every fifth day and in the US every fourth!

Captain Cleave on sugar

As early as the 1930s a Royal Naval doctor, Captain Thomas Latimer Cleave, identified the dangers of refined carbohydrates and sugar. He observed the correlation between rising incidences of heart and bowel disorders, obesity, diabetes, varicose veins, dental decay, haemorrhoids and related diseases with the under-consumption of dietary fibre and over-consumption of refined carbohydrates. Sailing around the world between different countries and communities, he observed that there was a close correlation between the degree to which a society’s diet was refined with cereals, rice and sugar plants, and the incidences of these diseases. For instance, tribal communities eating a traditional wholefood diet were free from these diseases, whereas tribal communities who had adopted a more refined diet were not. He continued to study the effects of refined foods on health, eventually publishing The Saccharine Disease in 1974.

The sugar-body fat connection

The single most significant cause of being overweight is eating too many refined carbohydrates, for example white bread, bagels, white pasta, white rice, biscuits, cakes, sweets, chocolate. It is virtually impossible to be obese on a natural food diet. It is very easy to overeat refined carbohydrates because they are a denser form of calories: an apple contains the same amount of calories as a single teaspoon of sugar. You could quite easily eat 10 teaspoons of sugar in a fizzy drink but you’d be hard pushed to eat 10 apples in one sitting! The best way to prevent being overweight is to avoid refined carbohydrates. The ultimate refined carbohydrate is white sugar.

The key difference between natural foods and refined sugars is that natural foods contain fibre, vitamins, minerals and other nutrients, whereas sugar and refined carbohydrates do not. This is why sugar and refined carbohydrates are often referred to as empty calories. What is more, sugar and refined carbohydrates also deplete nutrients in the body when they are metabolized. For example, every time you eat white sugar, you deplete your zinc and chromium levels as your body needs zinc and chromium in order to make insulin.

Although fat consumption and exercise play a part in weight control, they are not as important as you may think. It is quite possible to lose weight by reducing refined carbohydrates and not making any changes to your fat consumption and exercise routine. However, the Insulin Factor Plan does still recommend moderate exercise and emphasizes the need for good quality fats.

Sugar and diabetes

There is also a strong link between sugar and diabetes. This is because refined carbohydrates encourage the body to produce high levels of insulin, which ultimately exhausts the pancreas so it is unable to make enough insulin to control blood glucose, leading to diabetes.

Sugar and heart disease

Not only does sugar increase your risk of diabetes, but it also increases your risk of heart disease. Interestingly, sugar will actually start affecting the health of your cardiovascular system long before you ever get diabetes. This is because high levels of insulin, normally caused by a diet high in refined carbohydrates, exist for many years before you develop diabetes, and excess insulin is one of the most powerful causes of furred arteries, high cholesterol and blood fats, (triglycerides) and high blood pressure (see chapter 1). Insulin is as responsible for elevated bad cholesterol and blood fats as dietary fat. As you know, there is a strong link between high cholesterol and blood fats, and heart attacks and strokes.

Sugar and tooth decay

Of course, it will come as no surprise that sugar is also the main culprit when it comes to tooth decay.

Digestive problems

Refined carbohydrates are also behind many digestive problems, because they feed unwanted bacteria in the gut. The refined carbohydrates line the wall of the gut and enable bacteria to thrive and survive rather than pass on through. These bacteria contribute to a range of conditions from excess flatulence, appendicitis, inflammation of the gallbladder and poor digestion of fats, abdominal bloating, offensive smelling stools, and even cystitis and interstitial cystitis.

The hostile bacteria cause inflammation in the gut provoking the immune system to produce molecules called cytokines. This is a normal self-defence mechanism. However, an excess of these immune defence molecules causes problems in the same way excess insulin causes problems. They can escape the gut and get into the bloodstream and disrupt the binding of insulin to its receptor cells. Research shows that these cytokines are a significant contributory factor to Insulin Resistance.

This is why the health of your digestive system is an important part of the Insulin Factor Plan.

Surprisingly, the health of your digestive system plays an important part in reversing Insulin Resistance.

But if you are completely appalled at the idea of not being able to eat sugar again, don’t panic! Firstly, it’s more a question of cutting down on foods that contain refined carbohydrates, and secondly it really isn’t as difficult as you think, particularly as there are supplements you can take to stop your cravings – most of my clients who are hooked on sugary things are surprised how easy it can be to give them up.

Summary of key points

Refined carbohydrates including sugar really ARE the bad guys when it comes to your health, particularly regarding Insulin Resistance.

Sugar has been identified as a main cause of weight problems, heart disease, high cholesterol, diabetes, tooth decay and even digestive problems.

To restore your health, it is more a question of cutting down on refined carbohydrates, not necessarily cutting them out completely. In any case, there are supplements to stop your cravings, so it is not just a question of your will power!