How much white poison do you eat?

What exactly are you doing to your body when you eat foods containing sugar?

There are various diet plans available that suggest limiting Carbohydrate intake to help reduce weight. Adkins is probably the most well known for this.

The Institute of Medicine, part of the National Academy of Sciences recommends a minimum of 130g (approx 5oz) carbohydrate per day to maintain maximum brain function.

Northwestern University, Feinberg School of Medicine Advocates that 55-65% total energy consumed daily should come from carbohydrates (300 – 450g)(12-15oz).

The World Health Organization and the Food and Agriculture Organization jointly advocate 55-75% of total energy per day come from carbohydrates.

What is a Carbohydrate?

Chemically, a carbohydrate is made up from molecules of Carbon, Hydrogen and Oxygen. Carbohydrates are more commonly known as sugars. Some Carbohydrates are more complex than others. It is the level of complexity that determines whether they are good for us or not.

If you can imagine the different carbohydrates as different models made up from a construction set.

In this set there are three basic building bricks, glucose (blood sugar), fructose (from fruit), and galactose(found in Milk). Fructose and galactose are broken down by our liver to glucose. In order for our bodies to use the carbohydrates we eat for energy they must be broken down into the smallest component – glucose.

If we made models using our building bricks we can construct representations of sugars we eat.

A model made up of two glucose bricks would give us Maltose. This is the sugar found in beer and sprouting grains.
A model made up of glucose and fructose would represent sucrose, the table sugar made from sugar beet or cane.
A model made up of galactose and glucose would represent lactose, the sugar in milk and dairy products.

More complex models made up of many chains of bricks represent complex carbohydrates that require being broken down into their individual bricks (glucose) before they can be absorbed.

Insulin, the hormone associated with diabetes, is produced by the body to convert the glucose into a usable form of energy. When a simple carbohydrate, maltose, sucrose, or lactose is eaten the digestion is fast the body detects large amounts of glucose so it produces large amounts of insulin. Since we are designed to eat more complex carbohydrates, our systems are really designed to deal with carbohydrates that digest more slowly, it is fooled into thinking that there is a lot more glucose to work with than in reality there is and it over produces insulin. As a consequence, once the glucose has been processed excess insulin is still present giving the feeling of hunger.

This could be the reason why you still feel hungry shortly after eating a large meal or something very sweet.

Another way in which the body reacts is the sugar high, feeling – nausea or discomfort after eating too many sweet things such as candy.

A complex carbohydrate has many stages of breakdown to go through before becoming individual glucose bricks. The body sees this as only a few bricks at a time and produces much lower quantities of insulin at a much slower rate. As a result all of the insulin is used up on all of the glucose and you do not suffer from pangs of hunger or sugar highs caused by an imbalance of insulin waiting for something to work on.

How can I be more intelligent about the carbohydrates I eat?

Food companies are a business. They want you to buy their products. That is how they make their money and stay profitable and in business. In order to entice you to buy food products are made attractive to all of your senses. They are packaged to look good. They are smell and taste tested. Some even have a listening factor – the sound of something tasty cooking and the texture on the palette is also optimized. Not only are these senses accounted for but branding and advertizing make the product even more appealing.

Think of the most successful food companies in the world. Coca-cola, Pepsi, Campbell’s, even fast food chains like MacDonald’s. All are recognizable by most people just by the packaging and branding.

But are you actually aware of what you are eating, putting into your body, when you eat or drink these products? Have you ever read small print on the labels?

Just for the sake of example I am going to choose one product, Coca-cola classic.

The nutrition facts tell us that one can of Coca-cola Classic is one serving size.

It is 140 calories. Depending on which source you read, daily calorie intake should be between 1000 and 2000. For most people aiming to release a few pounds 1200 calories per day is a good guideline. On this regimen 10 cans of classic Coca-cola would equal 1400 calories and would exceed that daily limit.
Zero Fat
Total Carbohydrates 39g, all of it sugars. So 3.3 cans of coca-cola will provide the total carbohydrates for maximum daily brain function using the figures given by the Institute of Medicine numbers. The Feinberg School of Medicine requirement for 300-450 g of carbohydrate per day can be totally fulfilled by drinking 7.6 – 11.5 cans of coca-cola in a day.

What Happens to carbohydrates after we use the required daily amount?

Once the glucose enters our system some of it is used as fuel by the brain, muscles and nervous system. What is not used as fuel is converted to glycogen and is stored in the liver and muscles. Once the liver and muscles have stored all they can hold the rest is stored under the skin as glycogen reserves or what we see as excess pounds.

Coca-cola is only one example of a food high in simple carbohydrates. Any prepared food that has sugar in it contains them. Without making drastic changes we cannot avoid them. What we can more easily do is become aware of what we are putting into our bodies. We can become conscious of the times we reach for a cookie, cake, beer or soda, or prebaked meal. It takes seconds to check the label for sugar content.

Non processed foods are full of complex carbohydrates. Vegetables and fruit contain carbohydrates but absorb into the system so much slower than refined and processed foodstuffs.

At a recent health seminar, Bill Philips, author of “Body for Life” and “Eating for Life” was heard to say that “the biggest addiction problem in the United States is portion size.”

It is relatively easy to check on the quantity or portion size of the carbohydrates consumed in a day just by being aware of what the quantity or portion size is.

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