Eating Carbs Actually Leads to Weight Loss and Health
Copyright 2006 Mark Hyman MD
Carbohydrates are the single most important food you can eat.
That statement probably goes against everything you've ever
heard, so let me explain.
If you don't believe me, take this little test. Think of a carb!
If you're like most Americans, bread, pasta, soft drinks, French
fries, sugar, and similar foods probably flew into your mind.
Yes, these foods are carbs -- highly processed and refined ones.
And if these are the kinds of carbs you consume on a regular
basis, let me warn you, (unless you regularly run marathons),
you're most likely either overweight or heading down the road to
weight gain.
You may like them, you may consider them "comfort foods," you
may think that they couldn't be so bad since they are so
predominant in our current diet. But the biological bottom line
is that human beings have not evolved to metabolize these types
of carbohydrates.
They slow down your metabolism and contribute to every one of
the major diseases associated with aging including diabetes,
heart disease, dementia and cancer.
In most, cases they are also "empty" calorie foods-the worst
possible combination -- high caloric foods, low in nutrients.
They deprive you of vital nutrients as well as burden your body
with the task of digesting food molecules that aren't giving you
anything you need.
Eating them (especially in excess) is a prescription for weight
gain. But they're not the end of the carb story. If you're like
most people, you may not realize that the wide world of carbs is
actually much, much bigger than this limited crowd of processed
carbs.
In contrast, natural carbohydrates, which come to your table
just like Mother Nature made them, contain many essential
nutrients and specialized chemicals that turn up your metabolism
via newly discovered plant chemicals call phytonutrients.
So you have a choice: use phytonutrients to spark your
metabolism into action, or drown your metabolism with
indigestible nutrient-poor carbs.
Our genetic nutritional template goes back 20,000 years. Our
ancestors foraged for wild food, like wild berries, grasses,
roots, and mushrooms to find life-giving phytonutrients that all
humans are designed by nature to eat.
On a recent vacation I found myself in a sea of phytonutrients
in the wild islands of Southeast Alaska. I was foraging along
with the grizzly bears for bog cranberries, blueberries,
nagoonberries, raspberries, and strawberries. These scrumptious
berries, bursting with phytonutrients, were smaller, richer in
color and taste, (and lower in sugar) than their domestic berry
cousins.
Here's a tip: The greater variety and the deeper the color of
plant foods you eat, the higher their concentration of
phytonutrients. The key is to learn which phytonutrient-dense
foods can prevent disease and promote weight loss.
Want phytonutrient power?
Here 's a small sample of the many superfoods that contain these
powerful phytonutrients: isoflavones in soy foods, lignans in
flax seeds, catechins in green tea, polyphenols in cocoa (yes,
chocolate!), glucosinolates in broccoli, carnosol in rosemary,
and resveratrol in red wine.
And there are hundreds more that can help you unlock the secret
to natural weight loss. All of these compounds -- and dozens
more -- will help you fight disease and obesity. These special
compounds literally communicate with your genes and turn on
messages of health and weight loss. They are key to the success
people experience in losing weight on a program I've developed
during my 20-years practicing medicine, called UltraMetabolism.
Before you reach for that Cinnabon, know that phytonutrients
only occur in whole, unrefined, unprocessed plant foods. All
vegetables (and many fruits) score high in phytonutrients, while
processed carbs, like bread and pasta, have virtually none.
Here's a shorthand to distinguish between the metabolism
boosters and the processed carbs that will only weigh you down:
Anything that has been packaged or put through a machine is
processed (like a potato chip). Anything that comes right out of
the earth is natural (like a plum).
Don't let all the terminology -- high fat, low-fat, high-carb,
low-carb, high glycemic index, low glycemic index, complex carbs
and simple carbs -- confuse you. The key is eating whole, real,
unprocessed, food found as close to nature as possible. Now you
know why your grandmother always told you to eat your vegetables!
Folk wisdom passed down the generations showed how to give the
body what it needs. In the early twenty-first century, that
wisdom is being confirmed in the research of leading edge
scientists. So you can follow these recommendations I offer with
total confidence that the latest medical science backs them up.
This new science reveals why you should never do what some
ill-advised diets suggest: cut out all carbs. Not a good
idea-because you also cut out all the phytonutrients (and the
fiber) that only comes from whole plant foods.
Along with their obesity fighting chemicals, vitamins, and
minerals to accelerate your metabolism, most whole carbohydrates
are filled with healthy plant fiber to slow the absorption of
sugar into your bloodstream.
And for super fast weight loss, you'll want to eat some special
"super" fiber foods which I use as my secret weapon with many
patients who have had difficulty losing weight. Once you
incorporate them into your diet, you'll feel full, experience
steady energy, and will never be tempted to overeat.
Here's a guarantee: If you've been consuming highly processed
foods such as sodas, chips, and crackers, and you decide to
boost your intake of those powerful phytonutrients that I've
reviewed, you'll be taking the first step towards re-programming
your body for automatic weight loss and health.
My dirty little secret as a doctor is that I never treat anybody
specifically to lose weight; I simply help them become healthy
using these and other techniques and the weight automatically
comes off.
So remember, eat your carbs, but make them the right carbs!