don your skeptic’s hat (like any good scientist) and consider
that the Mediterranean diet is healthy not because of grains,
but in spite of them.
The Problem with “Chronic Carbs”
Grains are often considered healthy because of the small
amounts of vitamins and fiber that they contain. But grains
in their most commonly consumed form spike blood sugar
as effectively as table sugar. This occurs because the starch
they contain is simply glucose molecules bound together in
chains that begin to come apart as soon as you chew them.
A major energy precursor in the body, glucose is used to
fuel our leg muscles as we ascend a flight of stairs, our
brains as we crunch for a test, and our immune systems
when we are fighting off a cold. But glucose molecules
(from a slice of whole-wheat bread, for example) can’t just
waltz into cells—they need an escort.
Enter: insulin.
Insulin is a hormone released into the bloodstream by
our pancreas when it senses that blood sugar has become
elevated. Insulin activates receptors on the surfaces of cell
membranes, which dutifully roll out the equivalent of a red
carpet, welcoming sugar molecules inside where they can be
stored or converted to energy.
When we’re healthy, muscle, fat, and liver cells require
little insulin to respond. But repeated and prolonged
stimulation of insulin receptors will over time force the cell
to desensitize itself by reducing the number of receptors on