Reduce Grains and Sugar to Lose Weight and Improve Health

[Guest guest]

Reduce Grains and Sugar to Lose Weight and Improve Health

(http://www.mercola.com/)

Dr. Joseph Mercola

 

For several million years, humans existed on a diet of animals and

vegetation. It was only with the advent of agriculture a mere 10,000 years ago - a

fraction of a second in evolutionary time - that humans began ingesting large

amounts of sugar and starch in the form of grains (and potatoes) into their

diets. Indeed, 99.99% of our genes were formed before the advent of agriculture;

in biological terms, our bodies are still those of hunter-gatherers.

While the human shift to agriculture produced indisputable gains for man -

modern civilization is based on this epoch - societies where the transition

from a primarily meat/vegetation diet to one high in cereals show a reduced

lifespan and stature, increases in infant mortality and infectious disease, and

higher nutritional deficiencies.

Contemporary humans have not suddenly evolved mechanisms to incorporate the

high carbohydrates from starch- and sugar-rich foods into their diet. In

short, we are consuming far too much bread, cereal, pasta, corn (a grain, not a

vegetable), rice, potatoes and Little Debbie snack cakes, with very grave

consequences to our health. Making matters worse, most of these carbohydrates we

consume come in the form of processed food.

That 65% of Americans are overweight, and 27% clinically obese, in a nation

addicted to sesame seed buns for that hamburger, with a side of French fries

and a Coke, is no coincidence. It is not the fat in the foods we eat but, far

more, the excess carbohydrates from our starch- and sugar-loaded diet that is

making people fat and unhealthy, and leading to epidemic levels of a host of

diseases such as diabetes.

If you are experiencing any of the following symptoms, chances are very good

that the excess carbohydrates in your body are, in part or whole, to blame:

* Excess weight

* Fatigue and frequent sleepiness

* Depression

* Brain fogginess

* Bloating

* Low blood sugar

* High blood pressure

* High triglycerides

We all need a certain amount of carbohydrates, of course, but, through our

addiction to grains, potatoes, sweets and other starchy and sugary foods, we

are consuming far too many. The body's storage capacity for carbohydrates is

quite limited, though, so here's what happens to all the excess: they are

converted, via insulin, into fat and stored in the adipose, or fatty, tissue.

Any meal or snack high in carbohydrates generates a rapid rise in blood

glucose. To adjust for this rise, the pancreas secretes the hormone insulin into

the bloodstream, which lowers the glucose. Insulin is, though, essentially a

storage hormone, evolved over those millions of years of humans prior to the

agricultural age, to store the excess calories from carbohydrates in the form

of fat in case of famine.

Insulin, stimulated by the excess carbohydrates in our overabundant

consumption of grains, starches and sweets, is responsible for all those bulging

stomachs and fat rolls in thighs and chins.

Even worse, high insulin levels suppress two other important hormones -

glucagons and growth hormones - that are responsible for burning fat and sugar

and promoting muscle development, respectively. So insulin from excess

carbohydrates promotes fat, and then wards off the body's ability to lose that fat.

Excess weight and obesity lead to heart disease and a wide variety of other

diseases. But the ill effect of grains and sugars does not end there. They

suppress the immune system, contributing to allergies, and they are responsible

for a host of digestive disorders. They contribute to depression, and their

excess consumption is, in fact, associated with many of the chronic diseases

in our nation, such as cancer and diabetes.

I encourage you to delve into this subject in greater detail by clicking on

the links below, or by using our powerful search tool above.

The bottom line is this: Americans need to reduce their intake of grains,

including corn-based foods, and all sweets and potatoes, dramatically.

 

 

The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing.~ Albert Einstein ~

 

Check Out My Groups:

 

Everything Natural

http://health./

Everything Magick

EverythingMagick/

 

 

 

--

 

 

Version: 7.1.385 / Virus Database: 268.3.5/300 - Release 4/3/2006