by Max Hammonds, MD

The purveyors of popular fad diets are enraptured by the evils of sugar. Consequently, they try in every way possible to recognize sugar in all its forms (honey, dates, bananas, soda, etc.), which is a good thing, and eliminate it. But they confuse the issue when they label simple sugar as carbohydrate (which it is) and then try to eliminate all carbohydrates from the diet as if they were all as bad as sugar.

Carbohydrates come in many varieties. All are made up of sugar molecules attached to each other in different ways. Candy, cakes, rolled oats, potatoes, corn, pasta, donuts and bagels, whole wheat bread, squash, peas, beets, carrots, rice, soy, pineapple, strawberries are all carbohydrates. Fiber in all its useful varieties is carbohydrate in an indigestible form.

The difference between the various carbs is how easily the sugar molecules are separated from one another and absorbed by the gut. The more easily separated and more rapidly absorbed are called high glycemic (another word for sugar) index carbs (candy, soft wheat pasta, potatoes, donuts, pineapple).

Carbs that require more digestion, the sugar molecules coming apart slowly, are called low glycemic index or complex carbohydrates (whole wheat bread, rolled oats, sweet potatoes, brown rice). All the foods just mentioned fall along a continuum from high to low glycemic range.

High glycemic index carbs release sugar into the blood stream extremely rapidly, more rapidly than the body can burn them (if we are not doing any extreme physical activity at the moment).

What carbs the body cannot immediately use it converts into storage molecules, such as starch in the liver and in the muscles, what athletes call “carbohydrate loading” when eating large amounts of carbohydrates just before a contest. But the athletes know that the storage space for starch is limited. The rest of the excess sugar must be converted into triglyceride, cholesterol, and fat molecules for long-term storage. (Check your favorite magazine for how good these molecules are for you.)

High glycemic index carbs are absorbed rapidly. Insulin, which pushes sugar into cells for burning, shoots up rapidly, actually overshooting, causing sugar levels to drop rapidly (within 1-2 hours) and that let-down, dragged out feeling, requiring another shot of sugar pick-me-up. Insulin in high doses is inflammatory (read: arthritis, heart disease, kidney disease, auto-immune, chronic fatigue).

High insulin and high fat levels cause body cells to ignore insulin. Sugar cannot enter the cells, raising the blood sugar level (read: diabetes, type 2). High fat storage levels increase body weight and raise blood pressure. This combination is called metabolic syndrome and is disastrous on many levels.

A high fat diet? No! Hardly. Think heart disease and stroke. A high protein diet? The body needs high energy, not high protein. It will have to strip off the nitrogen to convert the protein to carbohydrate for burning, straining the liver and kidneys to get rid of the excess nitrogen, pushing the body to burn fat causing ketosis, an acid condition that causes, nausea, headache, irritability (like diabetes).

Five meals a day? That’s only necessary if one continues to eat high glycemic index carbs with the 1-2 hour yo-yo blood sugar and insulin that results.

Choose complex carbohydrates for energy, those that digest slowly, enter the blood stream slowly. Blood sugar levels do not shoot up. Insulin levels do not shoot up. Fat does not build up. Hunger stays away for up to 6-8 hours as sugar is being released slowly. Fiber is provided. Energy is provided in controlled doses over a longer period of time, avoiding ketosis.

Choose to eat 60-70% low glycemic index carbs, the good carbohydrates, in a diet balanced with 10-15% fats (and their vitamins) and 10-15% protein. See, that’s not hard.