Carbohydrates are one of the 3 macronutrients, the preferred fuel source for the body and a food category that brings many controversies today. In the 80s and 90s, as waistlines and lifestyle related illnesses kept on growing, nutritional science and the popular media were pointing the finger at fat and saturated fat particularly as the main culprit.
Margarine, and too many ineffective low fat diets later, modern carbs have grown to be seen as a bigger problem. And yet, generalisations, good vs bad statements and confusion abound. Nutrition is like personal finance. You can be a very capable professional or corporate type and have no clue on how to invest your money (I also would benefit from some advice on the matter).
So it goes that many otherwise accomplished people don’t regularly make good food choices, disregard nutrition as a second class subject, one they don’t want to focus on or understand. This way they end up inflamed, bloated and overweight.
Might the biblical bread, archetypal source of life, the body of Christ, play a key role in their discomfort? If you are a carbs lover, a vegan or anyone with an inclination for starch & sugar, don’t worry. I come from the country of ciabatta, the land of pizza and lasagna, I will be moderate, respectful and polite, as much as my cheeky current predisposition allows me to be.
Let’s start from the beginning: carbohydrates can be divided into sugars, starches and fibre. Sometimes sugars are called simple carbs and starches complex as the body takes longer to turn them into glucose, the major free sugar circulating in the blood.
GLUCOSE METABOLISM
Glucose is the most important source of energy for the cells, its metabolism is crucial and largely dealt by insulin. This hormone and its functions are so vital to be called a Master hormone, which means many other hormones up-regulate or down-regulate depending on insulin.
You see above when you eat carbs, insulin takes glucose from the bloodstream to the cells (particularly brain & muscles) to be turned into energy. Excess is stored in the liver.
Too much carbs, and particularly carbohydrate containing food with little fibre (simple sugars and processed starches) will strain this mechanism and cells will overtime build resistance to the insulin signal. They won’t be as effective at taking in glucose.
Excess glucose might be turned into fat and stored around the liver and other organs and then more superficially in the belly area. Keep this up for long enough and you’ll have more and more sugar staying in the bloodstream, eventually leading to type 2 diabetes.
So, if you have belly fat and love handles, you now know where they might come from. Do you have hormonal issues? Restore an optimal blood sugar metabolism. If insulin, the Master hormone, works well other hormones will benefit too.
DIETARY FIBRE
Fibre is not digested but very important to clean the intestine and to maintain a healthy microbiome (gut bacteria, fungi and other microbes we live with and thanks to). It is the plant matter that ends up in your poop. Fruit and vegetables are great in too many ways and should be the cornerstone of healthy nutrition for the vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients they carry and also for the fibre element.
Apples, pears, plums and other fruit are rich in soluble fibre pectin. Garlic and onions pack some good inulin. Both types of fibre act as a prebiotic. It’s literally food for your good bacteria. Pectin in particular is known to slow down spikes in blood sugar and insulin levels too.
Beta glucans are also a prebiotic and found in oats and other grains. The grains category is a little more controversial, I will discuss it separately later, but beta glucan fibre is great to clear excess fat and cholesterol.
Broccoli, cabbage, kale contain cellulose which help creating bulk in the stool. A second category of insoluble fibre is lignin, found in lots of carb foods. You want well formed, soft but solid stool and this is the answer.
How about pulses (beans and lentils)? If you are a vegetarian you might consider these as protein foods. They actually carry more carbs than protein and a type of beneficial fibre called resistant starch, also good to support the microbiome.
How much fibre do we need? Dietary guidelines are only indicative and state 30g per day. Depending on certain variables, you might take quite a bit more but the majority of the population consumes considerably less and not enough.
SUGARS
Let’s start with the very bad version, refined sugar. Highly potent, industrially produced food like stuff which saves manufacturers money (it is very cheap to make) and comes in various low quality versions like dextrose, maltodextrin or high fructose corn syrup.
Why do we love it so much? It activates the dopaminergic pathway and dopamine is the neurotransmitter that feels like intense pleasure and motivation. Standard table sugar mixes fructose and glucose.
Glucose is metabolised by insulin with a direct effect on your belly fat, hormonal health and general well-being. Spikes of glucose also trigger oxidative stress and inflammation. For most people, a lot of glucose comes from the digestion of starches, the type of carbs found in grains, root vegetables and pulses.
The Glycemic Index (GI) of food was created to measure the relative rise in blood glucose level two hours after consuming any food. Low GI is the way to go.
Fructose, naturally found in fruit doesn’t spike insulin (good!) but… Fructose is metabolised and stored by the liver in the form of glycogen (another type of body glucose) so eventually used for energy. When consumed in excess, it is turned to fat.
The key here is not only quality (as always, get rid of processed stuff as much as you can) but also quantity. Up to 60g of fructose a day, given a moderate intake of calories is well tolerated by the body. Go much over 60g and increase your calorie intake and you might start (directly or indirectly) accumulating liver and visceral fat and “very bad” cholesterol VLDL.
Dairy contains lactose, made of glucose and galactose, yet another type of sugar. Lactose is sometimes not well digested for the lack of enzyme lactase. I don’t have enough time to cover all sugars in this brief post but you get the idea.
Artificial sweeteners like aspartame are not a good alternative as they may impair memory performance and increase oxidative stress in the brain. Xylitol can cause bloating, gas, cramping and diarrhea.
STARCHES
And now the most controversial bit.
We already mentioned pasta, bread, potatoes, wholegrains and pulses contain starch which is converted by the body into glucose upon digestion. Nothing wrong with those in principal but quality and quantity matters a lot here.
Imagine a warm, soft white baguette. Easy to chew, it almost melts in your mouth. It does because digestion starts with saliva and, almost like table sugar, it is very easy to convert this high GI bread into glucose. Because of the effect of insulin, you’ll go from a sugar high to a sugar low very rapidly, from high energy to low energy, from high mood to low mood as many hormones follow insulin.
Now think of German or Scandinavian style wholegrain rye bread. Dark, dense and much more complex, which means higher in fibre and protein. It takes a bit to chew it down and it takes digestion much longer to separate the starch from the rest. That’s a complex, much healthier carb.
The wheat and gluten controversy.
I am of Western European descent and was brought up on bread and pasta. Why so many people don’t do well with this way of eating? Various hypotheses include the supposition modern wheat has been crossbred and changed so much as becoming less digestible, but this theory seems to have been disproved.
Maybe our guts are damaged by modern lifestyles (stress) and modern food (industrial). If you feed your body too large amounts of the same low quality food (white bread, pasta, pastries…) it is meant to develop a sensitivity.
There is up to 15% of the population reporting discomfort linked to wheat and gluten consumption. If you think you are one of those try the German style rye bread I mentioned earlier in small quantities. It still carries gluten and if your body tolerates it, it might not be it! Or try sourdough, commercial yeast is fast and ready and brings about little complete fermentation.
Best types of grains and pseudo-grains include ancient and wholegrain spelt, amaranth, buckwheat, and quinoa. Minimally processed red, black and brown rice, barley, oats, teff and sorghum.
A side note about phytates, non nutrient components of grains, pulses, nuts & seeds. They might reduce the absorption of minerals, but this is a problem only when you consume them in large quantities. Yet one more reason to balance your diet and not to go crazy on grains.
How about low carbs diets? Both high fat and high protein nutrition can work well short term, for gut healing and weight loss but carry significant issues in the long run. More on both macronutrients in future posts.
It is much easier to keep good measures of all 3 macronutrients in your meals and you don’t want to follow a “diet” unless there’s some good reason and for a short period of time only.
I am a proponent of wholefood balanced nutrition and I’d keep large portions of vegetables and fruit, and moderate amounts of beans and wholegrains in. In what proportion the 3 macronutrients should be consumed is a difficult question and depends on many variables including current lifestyle, environment, age and genetic predisposition.
CONCLUSIONS
Added sugar needs to be eliminated or reduced, your fruit should mostly be eaten whole and not juiced. White, refined stuff is out as much as you can.
A side note for vegans and vegetarians. Watch the amount of grains you put in your diet and limit them as much as you can as even wholegrains can be not well digested and inflammatory when eaten in large quantities.
I hope you do well with and like beans and pulses as these carry the benefits of being low GI and fairly high in protein. Consume good quality fat in moderation and a ton of vegetables and fruit. See how your blood sugar levels do and be careful not to end up on a high carbs, high fat diet as that’s a metabolic trap. Unless you keep close control of calories, it will grow your visceral fat and mess with your hormones, inducing cravings and mood swings.
Do you know any food in nature which is high in fat and sugar at the same time?
As an Italian, did I give up pasta and high carbs and high fat pizza? The former, almost and when I eat it tends to be wholewheat, spelt or high quality and as part of a bigger meal together with vegetables and good protein sources. The glycemic impact of a 70g wholewheat pasta starter is not the same as a 150g pasta dish on its own.
Pizza is pizza and once or twice a month I indulge and I don’t care. Quality and moderation is the name of the game. I am not a purist and it’s mentally healthy to skip some rules, some of the times! As Picasso was quoted to say “Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist”.
Extra buffalo mozzarella on my pizza, pleeease!
