RE: Carbs, fats, protein; water-soluble nutrients (part 1: carbs) [s]

[Guest guest]

Hi Diana and all,

 

This is a HUGE topic, we will actually have some classes or workshops later

this year here in the SF Bay Area. I'll offer a few notes for now, and add

to them if you choose to pursue the topic further.

 

Carbohydrates, proteins, and fats are the three classes of nutrients that

provide us with " calories. " The term calorie is a unit of measure of energy.

Without elaborating here, suffice it to say that carbs, proteins, and fats

are generally regarded as sources of fuel, or thermomechanical (heat and

movement) energy, for our systems.

 

This message deals entirely with carbohydrates. This post is quite long, in

case you'd prefer to read it later or skip it entirely.

 

CARBOHYDRATES - OVERVIEW

The term is a combination of two word roots, carbon and hydro or hydrate.

Carbohydrates are molecules made of carbon and water, H2O, hence carbon,

hydrogen, and oxygen.

 

In a broad sense, the term includes the following:

 

- Simple sugars, such as glucose, fructose, galactose, ribose. These are the

natural fuel of humans and mammals generally (glucose), and green plants

(glucose and fructose). They taste sweet to us (more below under the heading

Carbohydrates, Taste, and Nutrition.)

 

- Disaccharides, such as sucrose, dextrose, maltose, lactose. These are

combinations of two simply sugar molecules into one larger " simple

carbohydrate " molecule. (The prefix " di " means two, as in diameter.) For

example, sucrose consists of one glucose and one fructose, bonded together,

lactose of galactose and glucose, maltose of two glucose.

 

Sucrose, what we call " sugar " commercially, tastes sweet to us and occurs

naturally throughout the green plant world; it is a stored but readily

available form of fuel. In lettuces, it is the third component of the

carbohydrate mix (along with glucose and fructose). To my knowledge, the

other disaccharides taste less sweet to us; I haven't researched this

perfectly. But in general, we do not find them nearly as attractive via our

taste buds as we do simple sugars.

 

Note that animals (mammals) to not store any ingested carbohydrate as fuel.

Simple sugars (glucose) are assimilated from the digestive tube directly

into the blood stream, them moved into cells by means of hormonal activity

(insulin). Once in the cells, they are used (oxidized) more or less

immediately for energy.

 

Instead, we animals (mammals) make our own high-availability fuel reserve,

called glycogen, which is an animal-produced starch stored primarily in the

muscles and liver. It is our first fuel reserve when our blood sugar drops

suddenly, as in intensive exercise or a fight/flight stress reaction.

(Stored fat is also a fuel reserve, but it takes more resources, and

therefore longer, to convert into actual fuel (glucose), so it is a

secondary reserve. Our bodies to not naturally interpret protein as fuel at

all, but this will be discussed in another email.)

 

- Polysaccharides are more complex carbohydrates, generally combinations of

many simple sugar molecules. You may also encounter the term

" oligosaccharides, " used to describe a subset of complex carbohydrates.

Oligosaccharides contain " just a few " simple sugar molecules, bonded

together. (Greek oligo, as in oligarchy, political rule by a few, or

oligopoly, economic control by a few.) We won't concern ourselves with this

distinction here, as it's not particularly useful for beginners.

 

- Polysaccharides include two major subgroups of interest, starches and

fiber. Starches are the predominant form of fuel storage in

vegetables--potatoes, carrots, etc. Fiber is subdivided into digestible and

nondigestible. Digestible fiber is broken down in our bodies and does

contribute to caloric intake; therefore these calories are generally

included in nutrient analyses. The term " cellulose " refers as a group to

most forms of nondigestible fiber. Nondigestible fiber contains caloric

value, but we (mammals in general) cannot break it down, so this caloric

value is generally excluded in nutritional analyses.

 

 

CARBOHYDRATES, TASTE, AND NUTRITION

 

SIMPLE SUGARS. Our taste buds recognize simple sugars (glucose, fructose,

galactose, ribose) as " sweet. " Fruits also tend to emit aromas that are

pleasing to our sense of smell, IF IT IS CLEAR. In other words, we are

designed to fruits them attractive, and therefore to seek them out and enjoy

eating them.

 

- Simple sugars occur abundantly in fruits, almost all the carbohydrate in

fruits is in the form of simple sugars.

 

- Simple sugars also comprise the majority of carbohydrate in lettuce and

other greens, though the total carbohydrate load is small (few calories).

 

IMPORTANT SIDE NOTE: Ripeness is crucial WRT to fruits.

The sugaring process is skewed toward the end of the ripening

cycle, this is when sugar content soars, as the fruit is ready to

drop and nourish another fruit tree. This sugaring process is

accompanied by a massive loading of certain other nutrients,

e.g., vitamins, enzymes, etc. So underripe fruit is substantially

deficient in the nutrients that particular fruit is " supposed " to have.

 

 

Buy direct from farmers and you're most likely to get ripe, or at

least reasonably ripe, fruits. Shop at farmers markets!!!!!

 

Simple sugars also occur in all other vegetables. To the extent that these

taste sweet (as carrots do, do to some degree), the vegetable contains

simple sugars. To the extent they do not taste sweet, the carbohydrate mix

contains relatively little simple sugar. Ripe pineapple is one of the few

vegetables that is very high in simple sugar. (Yes, in botany pineapple is a

vegetable, not a fruit, because there are no seeds in the pineapple.)

 

DISSACHARIDES AND COMPLEX CARBOHYDRATES. In contrast with simple sugars, out

taste buds have little affinity for disaccharides (with the notable

exception of sucrose) and substantially no attraction for more complex

carbohydrates. In order to enjoy eating them, we tend to " flavor " them with

salt, sugar, spices, herbs, etc. In addition, our saliva contains an enzyme

called " ptyalin. " This is an amylase, an enzyme that breaks down some form

of carbohydrate. But ptyalin breaks down only some disaccharides, such as

naturally occurring sucrose. It does not break down complex carbohydrates to

any great degree.

 

In other words, we are not designed to seek out and eat vegetables as we are

fruits.

 

IMPORTANT SIDE NOTE: The term " fruits " embraces everything

with seeds in it, thus cucumbers and tomatoes as well as figs,

bananas, and dates. So fruits vary widely in degree of sweetness.

But if your taste buds are really healthy, then you'll perceive some

sweetness in all fruits, even avocados.

 

FIBER. We find no sweetness (simple sugar) in fiber, in fact, we generally

perceive it as a texture, not a taste. We need some digestible fiber to

motivate peristalsis, the movement of food through our digestive system, and

for a number of other reasons. However, nondigestible fiber, as occurs in

vegetables and particularly in nuts, seeds, and grains, is harsh on our

digestive lining, and we derive little or no known benefit from consuming

any significant quantity. In fact, because of the physical harshness of the

structure of nondigestible fiber (cellulose), some believe it can actually

do damage to the very delicate tissue lining the digestive tract. (Feel the

inside of your mouth, it's like that.)

 

WATER. Our digestive tube is an herbivore design. It is very long with

respect to our torso length, and it is designed to process foods high in

water. We digest high water-content foods rapidly and with minimal

expenditure of energy and other resources.

 

With the exception of high-fat foods such as avocado, fruits and vegetables

are high in water. We digest these more rapidly, easily, and completely than

any other type of food, by far. Fruits are generally higher in water than

vegetables. So of all the " food groups, " we digest fruits most quickly,

easily, and completely. They match our biology perfectly.

 

And as all water contains a large quantity of dissolved oxygen, they are

also high in oxygen. This is a good thing, because we MUST consume enormous

quantities of oxygen and water. In fact, we MUST consume more of these two

nutrients than all other nutrients combined, by far. (Interestingly,

nutritional science devotes almost no attention here, and oxygen and water

are really not treated as nutrients at all.)

 

Foods naturally high in water are also naturally high in vitamins, ionic

elemental minerals, enzymes, and virtually every form of nutrient known to

science. They DO contain protein and fat, in fact in just the right

quantities for us. (Another post.) And they are loaded with fuel

(carbohydrate). In virtually every nutrient category known to present-day

science, fruits are the #1 matched source to our needs and vegetables #2, or

vice versa. So ANYTHING we eat that is not a fruit or vegetable is #3 or

lower.

 

FUEL AND FIBER. But fruits and vegetables differ greatly in the type of fuel

and in both the quantity and type of fiber they contain. In general, fruits

are high in simple sugar, vegetables are high in complex carbohydrates. And

fruits contain primarily small quantities of digestible fiber, whereas

vegetables contain much larger quantities of primarily nondigestible fiber.

 

CONCLUSIONS The foregoing distinctions are crucial. We are most attracted to

fruits by taste. We digest them most easily (due to their high water content

and resulting structure and biochemistry). They provide us with a full range

of highly bioavailable, SMALL quantities of protein and fat. They are far

and away our best source of virtually all nutrients, in terms of quality and

bioavailability. And they are free from anything harmful, such as complex

carbohydrates we are not particularly designed to digest and nondigestible

fiber.

 

This is why, in a nutshell, some of us eat primarily fruits and greens.

 

Best to all,

Elchanan

 

 

 

 

 

Diana of Dewberry Hill [cozad76078]

Friday, February 25, 2005 7:07 PM

rawfood

[Raw Food] Elchanan- Recipes Make It a Pleasure...

Elchanan,

I am open to learning about this balance between fats, carbs and

water-soluable. I consider carbs to be things like carrots and Jicama and

corn and the grains. I do eat those too. Please explain a bit more about how

I can balance this out. A big salad with avo, carrots, lots of water

veggies.....

D of DH

Hi Diana,

I agree that you do need whatever level of calories suits your size and

activity level. But what I'm saying is that you are overeating fat calories

and undereating carbohydrate calories. In the process, you are undereating

ALL water-soluble nutrients. Eventually, this will lead to problems. (It may

take awhile, but then so does cancer. But most diagnosable health problems

arise over time, not overnight.

Glad to hear you are eliminating the grains, they are chemically addictive,

and they are the food of slaves.

Best,

Elchanan

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