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6 reasons to reduce refined carbs (part B)

Part A of this article can be found here

The majority of the population is eating their main portion of calories on a daily basis from refined grains such as pasta, cereals, bread. Is this appropriate? In the second part of the two-article series we are looking into three more 3 reasons why we need to avoid processed cards from our diet.

When eating not satiating foods it is common sense that you will end-up over-eating. Satiety is a common indicator of your body letting you know how much nutrients you are getting from your food. The most refined the carb the less satiating the food and the less nutrients it consists of. Notice where in the satiety list (in the picture above) is white bread and pasta – very low. Not far off ice-cream and I think we can all relate to eating a whole bowl of ice-cream with ease. When wanting to have a carb-load day do that with potatoes as they are the most satiating food.

Insulin and Glycemic Index (GI)

Glycemic index indicated the raise of insulin when eating certain foods. All of the refined carbs are very high in the GI with white bread hitting 100%, even higher than pure sugar (see sucrose in the provided graph). In one of the next posts we will also discussed the glycemic Load (GL) indicator but the conclusions should be already pretty clear. As already discussed insulin is the fat storing hormone and in the continious presense of insulin if it is not possible to lose weight. Additionally high insulin in foods that do not have fiber which slows down the absorbtion of sugar in the blood is the cause of the after-lunch sleepyness crash and additional cravings. We want to be able to control the insulin and let our body regulate the blood sugar levels in the absense of food. High-levels of insulin lead to insulin resistance, the main cause of diabetes and is believed to be the root cause to many other deceases.

Combining Carbs with Fats

Foods with both carbs and fats together result in much more dopamine being released from the striatum, which is the reward-center of our brain. This make fast-food very “satisfying” and it is not a coincidence why fast-food is based on the combination of both foods. When combining such foods the insulin spike is a lot higher when combining carbs and fats together which will result in most cases in a big energy crash after a couple of hours and since insulin is the storing hormone it will prioritize the fat for storing.

There are more reasons why reducing carbs will benefit you in so many ways.
This includes gluten intolerance, inflammation such as artery plaque build-up, gut inflammation

Key takaways

This article two articles (part A and B) are not intended to make suggestions as to what type of diet you should be eating, but provide a factual overview on carbs and clear-up some mis-conceptions. The key takeaway are

Refined carbs do not contain any essential nutrients.
Refined carbs can have many side effects as production has significantly changed in the last couple of hundred of years and they are not any more satiating energy sources, but inflammation and high insulin causes.
Avoid eating carbs and fats together.

Read the package ingredient labels and be aware that there are hidden sugars almost everywhere.
When going for carbs choose fruit which are seasonal, local and low in the glycemic index.

6 reasons to reduce refined carbs (Part B)

6 reasons to reduce refined carbs (part B)

Insulin and Glycemic Index (GI)

Combining Carbs with Fats

Key takaways

Further reading