What Doctors Don’t Tell You Australia-NZ – July 22, 2019

36 WDDTY | ISSUE 01 | AUG/SEP 2019 FACEBOOK.COM/WDDTYAUNZ

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REFERENCES

1 Lancet, 2019; 393: 434–45

Everything

you wanted

to know

about carbs*

*but were afraid to eat

Carbs are bad for us, or so we’re told. But it’s

not that simple—you need to understand the

difference between the good and bad carbs

C

arbohydrates never seem to be out of the news. The latest

headlines suggest that you can die prematurely from

a low-carb diet, at least according to the world media’s

interpretation of a major study.

The study didn’t quite say that. In a review of 58 trials and

158 studies, researchers from the University of Otago in New

Zealand discovered that people eating up to 1 oz (29 g) of fiber

every day were less likely to develop heart disease, diabetes and

breast and colorectal cancer.^1

Yes, fiber is a carbohydrate, but it’s indigestible, and it can’t be

broken down into sugars. Instead, it helps the body regulate sugar

levels. But there are good fiber sources and bad ones, just as there

are good and bad carbs. People on a low-carb diet such as Atkins

or keto should really be on a no-bad-carbs diet, as should we all.

As one of the essential food groups (the other two are proteins

and fats), it’s pretty hard to avoid carbs. If your low- or no-carb

diet includes fresh fruit for breakfast, and vegetables seasoned

with herbs and spices for lunch or dinner, well, guess what—

you’ve just been eating carbs.

Carbs are packs of energy that the insulin in our bodies breaks

down into glucose (blood sugar). The best measure of good

and bad carbs is their glycemic index (GI), which tells you how

quickly they increase blood glucose levels. Foods with a low GI

score of 55 or less are absorbed more slowly and don’t give you a

‘sugar rush.’

That also means that the pancreas is producing less insulin

to break down the sugars from a carb. The more often that high

amounts of insulin need to be produced, the more likely that

eventually you’ll develop type 2 diabetes, which can lead to heart

disease and some cancers.

Good

sources of fiber

Bananas (unripened)

GI score 47

Apples

GI score 40

Nuts

GI score 22

So-so

sources of fiber

Muesli

GI score 66

Baked potato

GI score 60

Whole grain pasta

GI score 61

Poor

sources of fiber

Whole grain bread

GI score 71

Broad beans

GI score 79