By moderating carbohydrate intake to control insulin production,
you can increase your ability to burn fat as an optimal and efficient
source of almost unlimited energy. Rather than using the glycemic
index as a guide, which has become more common, especially among
diabetics, all individuals should learn which foods and food combina-
tions work best for their individual needs. This is most easily accom-
plished by performing the Two-Week Test, along with proper follow-
up, as discussed in the next chapter.
Carbohydrate Intolerance
With generations of people over-consuming carbohydrates, many now
have a problem I call carbohydrate intolerance, or CI. It’s now an epi-
demic. CI begins as a functional problem that negatively affects quali-
ty of life and gradually results in serious illness and disease. Though
most people are unaware such a condition even exists in its early
stages, a high percentage of the population suffers from CI in its early
and later stages. The symptoms of early CI are very common and
include sleepiness after meals, intestinal bloating, increased body fat,
fatigue and many others listed in the survey that follows.
CI is referred to by other names, but it is best viewed as one long
progression of the same problem. In the early stages, the symptoms
can be elusive, often associated with blood-sugar problems, fatigue,
intestinal bloating and loss of concentration. In the middle stages, the
worsening condition may be referred to as carbohydrate-lipid metab-
olism disturbance, and cause more serious conditions such as hyper-
tension, elevations of LDLand lowering of HDL cholesterol, elevated
triglycerides, excess body fat and often obesity. In the long term, CI
manifests itself as various diseases, including diabetes, cancer and
heart disease. These end-stage conditions are part of a set of diseases
now well recognized and referred to as Syndrome X, or the Metabolic
Syndrome. To make this process easy to understand, the full spectrum
of these problems can simply be referred to as CI.
Young people with CI are at much higher risk for disease later in
life. For example, those with CI have an estimated tenfold greater risk
for developing diseases such as diabetes. Some individuals who ulti-
mately become diabetic display symptoms of carbohydrate intoler-
34 • IN FITNESS AND IN HEALTH