We are born with miraculously integrated bodies and minds. Our lungs draw in vital oxygen, essential for producing energy. Our hearts ceaselessly pump blood through vast networks of vessels to all of our tissues and organs. Raw materials are transformed into fuel by our digestive systems. Our muscles and bones propel us through the world, allowing us first to stand, then walk, then play and work.

Each day our brains take in a barrage of new information, filtering it, selectively storing it, and adapting their way of working accordingly. At the end of each day, we recharge and reset our systems by sleeping. All of us come equipped with a self-contained set of tools that, properly used, may allow us to live 100 years, or maybe even longer.

Beginning early in our lives, though, our genes, our environment, our culture, and our own free will conspire to test this marvelous organism—sometimes to the breaking point. There are people who maintain their health and live long, fruitful lives, sustaining minimal wear and tear. But others—perhaps most of us—push our bodies to the limit. Instead of eating the way our bodies were designed to eat, we indulge in foods filled with sugars and other refined carbohydrates, trans fats, and unhealthy food additives. Instead of walking to nearby destinations, we drive our cars. We sit most of the day. Some of us smoke. Some of us drink too much. Many of us allow negative feelings and stress to rule our thoughts. Not many of us get adequate sleep. The wrong choices trap us in a lifestyle that actually endangers our lives.

The effects of these poor choices compromise every system that keeps us well, and the damage is not pretty. After years of a diet high in refined carbohydrates, arteries become narrow and clogged with plaque, raising the risk of cardiovascular disease and heart attack. We find ourselves on the unhealthy path to metabolic syndrome, type 2 diabetes, osteoarthritis, and cancer. Eating too much of the wrong foods and getting too little exercise allows fat to build up around our organs and beneath our skin. Smoking fills our lungs with toxins, damaging our health in myriad ways. Not getting enough sleep worsens our memories and disrupts an important hormone cycle that prevents us from overeating. And too much stress compromises our body's natural immune system, the very tool that would help us combat much of the other damage.

Return to the Path of Good Health

Fortunately, we have the ability to choose.

That’s where our series of HealthJournals on Wellness come in. Our Wellness series will show you how to completely change your lifestyle to a healthy and sustainable one that will restore your vitality and reverse chronic medical conditions. It will provide you with innumerable health benefits. It will lessen dangerous abdominal fat, lower chronic inflammation, and reduce the threat of other chronic diseases. Your risk of getting heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and autoimmune diseases will be greatly reduced. You will be likely to live longer, too. What’s more, your systems and organs will be provided with all the nutrients they require, so that your hunger will be satisfied, and your body brought into homeostatic balance.

This wellness information is based on real science that refutes current mainstream medical notions of what we should be eating. In this series, we explain the most natural way to eat—so that fat melts away and the body’s hormonal systems rebalance themselves. In doing so, we turn popular notions of a “healthy diet” on their head. Moreover, we give you all the leading science on other aspects of wellness in your life—including how to break your bad habits, the benefits of sleep, how to de-stress, and the real benefits of exercising.

It’s rarely too late to make changes that can reverse damage to your abused organs and tissues. Even people who are sensitive to carbohydrates, and therefore genetically predisposed to putting on weight, can get back on the path to good health. By eating the right foods, exercising, modifying your negative habits, quitting smoking, sleeping well, and celebrating life, you can reverse many chronic conditions—and increase your enjoyment of life immeasurably.

We hope that you will continue to explore the miracle that is your body, knowing that the good choices you are making will enable you to enjoy a life full of activity and fulfillment. You have the power to keep your body and mind healthy, strong, and alive. You can live longer and live better.

To life!

Wellness and Nutrition – Prevent and Reverse Chronic Diseases with the Right Diet

In the series of HealthJournals on Wellness and Nutrition, learn which foods work to burn fat, which work to keep fat on you—and why. Learn about nutrition, including the macronutrients and micronutrients that your body does and doesn’t need. Learn to make the necessary changes to your diet while we provide you with the necessary tools to be successful with your new way of eating. Finally, learn about intermittent fasting and how it can help with weight loss and the reversal of chronic diseases.

Starting in the 1970s, saturated fats and cholesterol in the diet were demonized. Consuming high levels of these foods was thought to cause cardiovascular disease and weight gain. Following the advice of their doctors and the medical establishement, Americans reduced their fat intake and avoided cholesterol-rich foods in the hopes of defeating obesity and heart disease. The hole created by a lack of fats in the diet was filled instead with carbohydrates, and in particular, refined carbohydrates, which have served as the main fuel source for Americans over the past three decades.

Those dietary beliefs haven't changed much since the seventies. Our fear of consuming fats still remains—but we, as a nation, are fatter and unhealthier than ever before. We are experiencing epidemics of obesity, heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and many types of cancer. If reducing fats in the diet wasn't the answer, then what is?

More recently, it's been suggested that fat is not, in fact, the culprit. Carbohydrates in the diet—specifically, refined carbs such as white sugar—have spurred a massive debate between researchers, medical professionals, the media, and the general public. Are refined carbohydrates the cause of the many chronic diseases occurring today?

Some researchers believe that overconsumption of carbohydrates in general is the key driver of obesity, type 2 diabetes, metabolic syndrome, heart disease, and even cancer. Other researchers have taken a more focused approach and have honed in on one specific sugar, fructose. They claim that fructose is the principal cause of our ongoing obesity crisis and of many other debilitating diseases.

Getting to the Truth

Is there any truth to these claims? Can we group all carbohydrates together and say that they are the main cause of obesity and related disorders? Or is fructose alone to blame? There is no simple answer to this very complex subject, and many of the researchers and journalists who are part of the debate have noted the complexities of this issue.

But what's been lost in these debates is really the crux of the issue: It is the chronic consumption and overuse of certain types of carbohydrates, particularly refined carbohydrates, that is driving obesity and its related disorders.

It is all too easy for only limited aspects of this important conversation to be focused upon and for certain ideas to be blown out of proportion. Any oversimplification of the science behind nutrition will result in more complex issues being lost or misrepresented. For instance, the belief that "all carbs are bad" and that "fructose is poison" has already led some members of the public and certain professionals to misguided practices. It's missing the point to say that all fructose, is bad. It's equally misleading to claim that consuming any type of carbohydrate is going to make you fat.

Yes, an ever-increasing body of research does show that overconsumption of refined carbohydrates is dangerous, even deadly. But it's important that we do not demonize carbohydrates in the same way fats have been demonized. Instead, it's vital to understand that there are different types of carbohydrates of varying quality, and that they can affect you in different ways. The negative effects of carbohydrates on your body really depend upon the quantity and quality of the carbohydrates you consume.

The overconsumption of refined carbohydrates being the culprit behind the obesity epidemic is based on sound scientific evidence. By eliminating refined carbs from your diet, you will reduce your weight and reverse a whole slew of chronic diseases.

We want to reemphasize that it is the chronic overconsumption of refined carbohydrates—poor-quality, low-fiber carbs—in your diet that is to blame. However, every individual has a different ability to process and deal with carbs in their body. This means that you can't expect to have exactly the same results as another person who is eating the same way as you. Your individual genes, your age, and personal lifestyle strongly affect how your body weight is regulated and how sensitive your body is to carbohydrates.

Rather than simply saying that all carbohydrates are bad, we're going to take a step back and give you balanced, factual information on what carbohydrates are and how they may affect your body. There are high-quality carbs, low-quality carbs, and in-between-quality carbs. Being able to identify the differences between them, and figuring out your own personal threshold for carbs in your diet, will benefit your well-being and give you your own personal road map to health.

Before you can fully understand the impact of chronic carbohydrate consumption on your body, you must first understand what a carbohydrate is and what your body does with it once you've consumed it.

Carbohydrates, found in the foods you eat, are broken down into simple sugars by your body and used primarily as fuel. You might have heard of endurance athletes "carbo-loading" before a marathon—they're essentially stocking up on fuel. Glucose is the carbohydrate that your body prefers to use as fuel, and it is one of the major carbohydrates found in your diet. It can be used by all of the cells in your body to generate energy. In fact, when you consume a moderate-to-high level of carbohydrates, your brain uses glucose as its only fuel.

When you consume a carbohydrate, your body breaks it down into glucose and releases it into your bloodstream. Glucose circulating in your bloodstream is known as blood glucose, or, more commonly, blood sugar.

Because glucose is such a vital fuel, the body has evolved mechanisms to maintain a constant level of glucose in the blood. The maintenance of blood sugar levels is a homeostatic process—a process in which your body always strives for balance—that is regulated by insulin.

Insulin is a hormone that helps your cells to use glucose as fuel by telling them to take up glucose from your bloodstream. The amount of glucose you eat determines how high your blood sugar level will be, and in response, how much or how little insulin is released. The more glucose you eat, the more insulin is released in response. Once the glucose is cleared from your blood, insulin stops being released. Insulin, in large or small amounts, is the main force behind gaining or losing weight.

Too Much Glucose

Insulin

Insulin and glucose affect each other greatly. Insulin is a hormone that instructs your cells to allow glucose to enter inside them, where it can be used as fuel. The amount of glucose in your blood dictates how much insulin is released. Insulin also causes fat to be stored inside your fat cells and prevents stored fat from being burned for energy. When blood glucose levels rise, so do levels of insulin. If insulin levels in your blood are too high, the food you eat gets converted directly to fat without giving your body the chance to use it for energy. This leaves you hungry for more food, even while you’re storing fat. Over time, high insulin levels cause your body to become resistant to leptin. Leptin is a hormone secreted by fat cells that tells your brain you’ve had enough to eat.

Oxidative Stress

Too-high levels of glucose in the blood create dangerous molecules called reactive oxygen species (ROS). ROS damage your cells’ DNA and their mitochondria (“power plants”). ROS damage, called oxidative stress, always leads to inflammation. Together, oxidative stress and inflammation play major roles in many acute and chronic illnesses, including high blood pressure and atherosclerosis.

Advanced Glycation End Products (AGEs)

Too much glucose inside your cells causes the buildup of substances called advanced glycation end products (AGEs). AGEs are derived from sugar. AGEs create cross-bonds with collagen in cells, including the cells that line your blood vessels. This makes the cells—and the blood vessels—stiff and hard. Eventually, AGEs kill the cells. That’s one reason why diabetes, with its high glucose levels, is so damaging to large and small blood vessels. Other dangers of AGEs also include:

• Hardened arteries
• Skin aging
• Vision damage

There are two systems that allow you to measure the effect of various foods on your blood sugar. They are called the Glycemic Index (GI) and Glycemic Load (GL).

GI classifies hundreds of foods according to their impact on blood sugar, that is, how quickly the body converts a specific food into glucose when consumed. The foods are ranked from 0 to 100. Pure glucose has a GI value of 100, and all other carb-containing foods are evaluated by comparison with pure glucose. Foods with a low GI value are digested more slowly than those with a higher value. This means that they are absorbed into the bloodstream more slowly. Foods with a low GI value don't cause a surge in blood sugar or insulin.

However, GI is somewhat limited. It doesn't take into consideration portion size or the amount of fiber and water in a given food. Both of these are important factors in how quickly a food raises blood sugar levels. That's where GL comes in.

GL is a relatively new way to assess the impact of carbohydrate consumption. GL takes a food's GI rating into account, but it gives a fuller picture than does GI alone by considering the food's fiber, water, and protein content as well. Unlike GI values, GL values factor in the actual amount of a food you are likely to eat in one sitting.

As an example on the following image, carrots' GI is 35 (moderately low). But carrots contain a lot of fiber, so one large carrot, about 72 g, has a GL or 2 (very low).

Glucose, as abundant as it is, isn't the only carbohydrate to be found in our foods. There are many different kinds of carbohydrates, and they give foods many of their unique, individual properties.

Foods such as rice, milk, bread, vegetables, and fruits all contain carbodydrates. These foods seem vastly different from one another—some taste sweet while other's don't; some are crunchy, others are soft. Given the great differences in taste, texture, smell, and more, you might wonder how exactly all of these foods can be rich in carbohydrates. The answer lies in their chemical makeup.

Anything considered to be a carbohydrate is made up of one or more sugar units. There are different types of sugar units, and each one can be thought of as a building block. As the building blocks join together, their variety and quantity determines the type of carb that they build. Because each building block in a carb is a simple sugar unit, all carbs, when broken down in your body into individual blocks, are considered to be sugar.

There are two main categories of carbohydrates. Simple sugars (also referred to as simple carbohydrates) are carbs that are composed of only one or two sugar units. Complex sugars (also called complex carbohydrates) are made up of three or more sugar units joined together.

Simple Sugars

Simple sugars may contain one or two sugar units. The carbohydrates made of just one simple unit of sugar include glucose, fructose, and galactose.

Glucose

Glucose can be present in foods as one simple building block, but as you'll see, glucose is usually the main component of more complex carbs as well. This means, that if you're eating a typical American diet, you're probably ingesting a lot of glucose. Glucose is a source of energy for your cells, but it is also the carb that most dramatically alters your blood sugar and insulin levels. You should limit your consumption of this sugar to control the amount of glucose in your blood and the amount of insulin being released. High levels of glucose and insulin can lead to many different forms of illness.

Fructose

Fructose is found in fruits, sugar, and sweeteners such as high-fructose corn syrup. It is the sweetest of all naturally occurring carbohydrates—even sweeter than glucose. This carbohydrate has been in the news recently because it has been labeled a "toxin" by some researchers. You'll learn more about fructose later on in the text—but for now, just know that fructose, like glucose, is not good for your health when consumed in large amounts.

Galactose

Galactose, the third and final carb containing one sugar unit, is primarily found in dairy products. Unlike glucose, which raises insulin levels, or fructose with its "toxic" labeling, galactose has not had much publicity in terms of weight gain or health consequenes. It seems that high doses of galactose may have a laxative effect, but apart from that, galactose appears to be harmless.

The single-unit carbohydrates discussed above are the smallest and simplest carbs and are the building blocks of all the other carbohydrates.

Farther up the scale of complexity are the carbohydrates containing two sugar building blocks. They include maltose, sucrose, and lactose. All are made up of different combinations of the one-sugar-unit carbs listed above.

Maltose

Maltose, or malt sugar, is the least common carbohydrate found in nature. It's composed of two glucose sugar units joined together. It can be found in germinating seeds such as barley. The foods that are highest in maltose are grains, potatoes, and cereals.

Sucrose

Sucrose, or table sugar, is a very sweet sugar that occurs naturally in every fruit and vegetable. Sucrose is made up of one glucose and one fructose unit joined together.

Lactose

Lactose, or milk sugar, is found in the milk of mammals, including human breast milk. It is also a byproduct in the manufacturing of cheese. Lactose is made up of one galactose and one glucose unit joined together.

All the simple carbohydrates listed above are so small that they don't need to be broken down much when you eat them. They pass quickly through your intestinal wall and straight into your bloodstream. That's significant, because their ability to pass quickly into the bloodstream also means they can cause a rapid rise in blood sugar.

Complex Sugars

Complex sugars, also called complex carbohydrates, are built from three or more sugar units. The complex carbs are glycogen, starch, and fiber. All of these complex sugars are made up of just one type of sugar unit: glucose. When you eat complex carbs, you break them down into individual units of glucose, only you break them down more slowly than you do simple carbs. Interestingly, even though complex carbs are made up of multiple units of glucose, they tend not to taste sweet.

Glycogen

Glycogen is unlike all other carbs in that it doesn't come directly from the foods you eat. Glycogen is the storage form of glucose. It's made in your body when other complex sugars or sources of glucose are consumed. Glucose is converted into a glycogen storage unit so that it can be stored in your muscle and liver cells. When your body needs energy, your cells can break the glycogen storage units back down into glucose, which can then be used for energy. Remember those marathon runners and their carbo-loading? They're carbo-loading to build up glycogen stores for their long races!

Starch

Starch is made only in plants. Just as humans store glucose as glycogen, plants store glucose as starch. Starch is the most common carbohydrate in our diet. It's found in rice, potatoes, corn, and a multitude of other foods. Like simple carbohydrates, starches can be broken down relatively quickly, so they can raise your blood sugar and insulin levels quickly as well.

If you want to improve your diet, you should initially avoid eating starches, but then slowly reintroduce certain starches, in small amounts. Starches such as grains and legumes aren't just empty calories: They're filled with nutrients that can be an important part of a long-term healthy diet. Some simple carbohydrates, such as table sugar, don't contain healthy nutrients. That's why we advise you to cut them out of your diet for good.

Fiber

You might be surprised to learn that fiber is a carbohydrate, too. Fiber, also called cellulose, is entirely made up of units of glucose, like the other complex sugars. And yet, we're continually advised to eat a great deal of fiber!

Fiber is different from other carbohydrates. Your body can't break down fiber into smaller glucose units because it's packaged together in long chains. Instead of being absorbed into your bloodstream, it passes through your body essentially undigested. Even though fiber is not a nutrient or fuel source (as it's not absorbed), it's nevertheless very beneficial. Fiber aids digestion, encourages the growth of healthy-enhancing gut microorganisms, and makes you feel fuller. And, when fiber is consumed along with other carbohydrates, it actually slows the absorption of the other carbs into the bloodstream. This prevents an upsurge in your blood sugar and insulin levels. So there are many good reasons why you should eat lots of fiber!

The foods you eat always contain a mixture of simple and complex carbs. How much of one or the other is present in the food determines how "good" or "bad" that food is for your diet. Carbohydrates are not all bad. There are great carbs, some really terrible carbs, and other carbs that you can have in moderation.

The carbohydrates in the foods you eat are made up of a combination of complex and simple carbs, also called complex and simple sugars. The healthiest and most nutritious carbohydrates have a lot of fiber (a complex carb), little sugar (a simple carb), and little starch (a complex carb that is easily broken down into simple sugar units). The worst carbs are the opposite: They’re high in sugar and starch and have little fiber. When changing your diet to incorporate more beneficial carbs and eliminate the worst one, you can think of carbs as being divided into three categories: great carbs, not-now carbs, and bad carbs.

Great Carbs (Whole/Unrefined Carbs)

The category of “great carbs” includes many nonstarchy vegetables. The best vegetables are very high in nutrients and extremely rich in fiber, yet they’re low in starch and sugars. Their high fiber content means they raise your blood sugar very slowly. The best carbs are whole foods that are unrefined. These are foods eaten either just as they’re found in nature or with minimal processing. We, along with many nutritionists, strongly recommend that you eat whole foods. Be sure to include lots of green and leafy veggies, such as kale, broccoli, spinach, peppers, and romaine. All are high in nutrients and fiber, and so have a low Glycemic Load (GL).

Not-Now Carbs

Not-now carbs include legumes, fruits, some forms of alcohol, and starchy vegetables. Due to their relatively high starch and simple sugar content, and because they have less fiber than do great carbs, we recommend that you avoid eating these foods in the initial stages of your diet change. Legumes (including dried beans and lentils), for instance, while very high in fiber and rich in nutrients, are also relatively high in starch. Holding off on eating these foods will ensure they don’t interfere with your initial weight loss. Once you’ve established healthy eating patterns and have recalibrated your satiety signals, you can reintroduce these carbs to your diet—in moderation.

Bad Carbs (Refined Carbs)

Bad carbs are made up of simple carbohydrates and/or processed, refined starches. Simply put, they are terrible for your health. Because they’re highly refined and processed, they have very little nutritional value. Refined foods have undergone processing that removes the nutritional and fibrous parts of the original food. Bad carbs are quickly digested, which allows them to spike blood sugar levels and, as a result, insulin levels as well. Chronically consuming bad carbs can result in gradual weight gain and lead to health disorders such as insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes.

It’s worrying that more and more highly processed, refined carbohydrates have been creeping into our food supplies throughout the past few decades. In today’s supermarket, it’s nearly impossible to find a packaged food product that hasn’t been overprocessed or stripped of its nutrients. In our busy lives we often value convenience above all else, and this has led us to consume increasing amounts of highly processed, easy-to-prepare foods.

The misguided nutrition advice that has led us to believe all fats are bad hasn’t helped. Nonfat and low-fat items now crowd the shelves of our markets. But when fats are removed from a product, they are often replaced with sugar to improve the product’s taste.

To put things in perspective, Mark Sisson, author of The Primal Blueprint, points out that the average American eats from 300 to 500 grams of carbohydrates per day. That’s about 1,200–2000 calories, just from carbs! Individuals vary, but the average person can maintain a steady body weight by eating 100-150 grams of carbs per day. This quantity of carbs might even be too high for many people who are sensitive to the effects of glucose in their bodies.

In the next section, we’ll take a closer look at overprocessed, refined foods and reveal why they’re so dangerous for your health.

Refined foods—those we’ve labeled as “bad carbs”—start out as whole foods, but they are so overly processed that most of the healthy ingredients—fiber, vitamins, minerals, and essential nutrients—are removed.

Take a look at the following image—a cross section of a kernel of corn. In its unprocessed state, the corn kernel is a whole food. But in the hands of food manufacturers, its various parts are separated out to make different products, including cereal, corn oil, and high-fructose corn syrup. All of these highly processed products have few nutrients and, if eaten regularly over a period of years, can cause serious health problems.

Before processing, the corn kernel is composed of three different layers. The outer part, called the pericarp or bran, is the hard covering that protects the inside of the kernel. The bran is rich in fiber, which as you now know is a great addition to your diet! But the healthful bran is usually discarded as part of the refining process.

The middle layer of the corn kernel, called the endosperm, is the least nutritious of the components that make up the corn kernel. It’s composed primarily of starchy carbohydrates. This part of the kernel is widely used in a large variety of refined foods. It’s utilized in the production of corn starch, high-fructose corn syrup, bioplastics, and many other products.

The innermost layer of the corn kernel, called the germ, is very rich in oils. This layer contains numerous vitamins and minerals that nourish the seed and enable it to grow into a corn plant. This is the part of the corn kernel that’s extracted and pressed to make corn oil. Sadly, when the oil is extracted, the vitamins and minerals are lost. Nearly everything that was once healthy about this kernel is now gone!

Below is an example of how corn kernels, once a whole food, can be processed and refined into a new product.

Notice, in the image, the place where a sugar solution and “nutrients” are sprayed on. Most manufactured foods have sugar, fat, high-fructose corn syrup, preservatives, and artificial colors and flavors added to make them taste better. The result is a true chemical cocktail—one that you put inside your body when you eat a highly processed food.

Robert H. Lustig, MD, Professor of Clinical Pediatrics at the University of California and author of Fat Chance: Beating the Odds Against Sugar, Processed Food, Obesity, and Disease, sums up this process: “There’s a lot of hidden sugar but there’s also something else that’s even more important, and that is the removal of fiber. It’s the addition of sugar and the removal of fiber together that makes processed food, and that combination together is really toxic.”

Slapping on the “Whole Grain” label

The term “whole grain” has been thrown around and overused so much that it’s hard for consumers to identify foods that actually contain whole grains. We’ve all heard that whole grains are good for the heart and may reduce the risk of diabetes. The reality is that some whole grains do nothing to reduce disease risk, while others that are legally marketed as “whole grain” may have little or no health benefit.

We want to clarify exactly what a whole grain is. Whole grains are cereal grains, such as wheat, barley, and oats, that contain the cereal germ, endosperm, and bran. Just as with corn, when they’ve been refined, only the endosperm of the cereal grain remains.

The problem really stems from what the food industry is allowed to label as “whole grain.” The Food and Drug Administration’s definition states that “whole grain” can refer to any mixture of bran, endosperm, and germ in the proportions found in an intact grain. This means that the grain can be processed, and its edible components separated, as long as the individual components are mixed back together in proportions similar to the original, intact grain. This enables the food industry to make “whole grain” products that taste—and act—nothing like real, unrefined whole grain products. Because these “whole grains” often lose fiber and nutrients in the processing, consumers miss out on the benefits that actual whole grains provide. Your body can break down these processed “whole grains” quickly, leading to spikes in your blood sugar and insulin similar to those you get from refined carbs.

In reality there is very little whole grain available in our modern diet. Nearly every grain we eat has undergone some level of processing. In general, the more processed a food is, the more unhealthy it is. When you see products bearing labels such as “whole grain cereal” or “whole grain bread,” be aware that these are most often processed foods that contain grains that have been altered and stripped. In the process, these products have lost most of their nutritional value and fiber.

There are, however, different levels of processing, resulting in varying levels of nutrition in the finished product. Take a look at the example below of oat grain processing. You can see that there are three different levels of oat processing, which results in three different products.

This holds true for all grains.

Refined whole grains may not only be lower in nutrients, they also raise blood sugar levels more quickly. When it comes to choosing whole grains, the most important factor is how quickly the grain will raise your blood sugar levels. For example, steel-cut oats, rolled oats, and instant oatmeal all are very similar nutritionally. However, the starch in the finely ground instant oatmeal can break apart more easily into smaller glucose components in your digestive system, causing greater glucose and insulin spikes.

Why Refine?

Why are our foods refined in the first place, especially when the results are so damaging to our health? The amount of processing most foods undergo has grown out of control over the years. One reason is shelf life: Processed foods remain edible for longer periods of time, which benefits the food industry’s bottom line: profit. In addition, food manufacturers know some things about making people crave their foods—and one way to do that is to add sugar. Sugar can be very addictive, and you could say that manufacturers have tapped into potential for addiction to help sell their products. A huge number of processed foods, from pasta sauce to yogurt to soup, have a feature in common: They contain large amounts of sugar (or more frequently these days, high-fructose corn syrup).

IMAGE: While it’s not surprising that chocolate frosting contains a lot of sugar, you may be surprised at the amount of hidden sugar found in other food products

High-fructose corn syrup (HFCS), which is derived from corn starch (the middle endosperm layer of the corn kernel), was developed in the 1950s. Since then, HFCS has been further modified into the sweetener we know today. On a sweetness scale, HFCS is slightly sweeter than sucrose (table sugar). From the time of its creation, HFCS has been increasingly integrated into our food supply.

Currently, it makes up 40% of all sweeteners used in foods and beverages. Like sucrose, it makes food seem tastier and prolongs shelf life—but it’s cheaper and easier to manufacture than sucrose.

Recently, however, there’s been a great deal of publicity concerning the negative effects of HFCS on the body. You’ve probably seen headlines linking HFCS with the rising obesity epidemic, type 2 diabetes, and heart disease. It would seem, from all the hype, that sucrose is a healthier sweetener than HFCS.

But the reality is there isn’t a huge amount of difference between HFCS and sucrose. They’re very close in chemical structure as well as in nutritional value (very little to none).

Sucrose is made up of 50% glucose and 50% fructose. HFCS is made up of about 40% glucose and 55% fructose (the remaining 5% consists of other sugars and ingredients). Take a look for yourself:

IMAGE: Sucrose is made up of 50% glucose and 50% fructose

IMAGE: HFCS is made up of about 40% glucose and 55% fructose

Because of the new negative attention surrounding HFCS, some food manufacturers have switched over from HCFS to sucrose. You’ve probably seen labels claiming the products are sweetened with “organic” or “natural” sugar. This may sound like they’re offering a healthier alternative to HFCS, but the truth is that neither table sugar nor HCFS can honestly claim to be “natural” or “organic.” Both should be avoided if you want to lose weight and maintain a healthy lifestyle. Why? Not only are they chemically very similar, both sugar and HFCS are highly processed, simple carbohydrates. Table sugar, much like HFCS, is not a whole food. Sugar, in its whole form, is found in sugar cane—and a lot of processing needs to be done in order to turn raw sugar into the white sugar granules that you buy in the supermarket.

Both sucrose and HFCS can overload your body with high levels of glucose and insulin. Chronic consumption of either HFCS or sugar can lead to weight gain and the development of health disorders such as cardiovascular disease, fatty liver disease, and metabolic syndrome (a group of medical disorders that is associated with obesity). Don’t fall for the line that sugar is healthier than HFCS. Beware, too, of assertions that HFCS is as “healthy” as sugar because the two are chemically similar. Both claims are just clever marketing ploys to persuade you to buy more products loaded with these simple carbs.

While we’ve discussed the effects of glucose on your body, we haven’t looked closely at the effects of fructose. As you know, sugar and HFCS are composed of 50% and 55% fructose, respectively. Is there a big difference in how glucose and fructose affect your body?

While virtually absent from our diets a few hundred years ago (except for the occasional piece of fruit), fructose has become a major constituent of the modern diet. It is also a massive talking point in the carbohydrate debate. Fructose is not essential for any physiological function, and yet we eat so much of it! Processed fructose, like that found in HFCS and sugar, is used in so many different foods that it’s difficult to avoid. It can be found in fruit juices, soda, ketchup, honey-mustard sauce, barbeque sauce, salad dressing, bread, candy bars, and even nutrition bars. Next time you’re in the grocery store, look closely at the ingredients of the food you’re about to purchase. You may be surprised at the large variety of foods that contain added fructose.

Fructose, as you’ll recall, is a simple carbohydrate, meaning that it’s made up of only one sugar unit. Glucose, too, is a single-unit simple carbohydrate. But unlike glucose, fructose cannot be immediately stored or used as energy in your body. Fructose also doesn’t trigger insulin release. You may think this is a good thing—and in the right circumstances, it can be—but don’t be fooled. Fructose has its own little bag of tricks that cause damage to your body when fructose is consumed in large amounts.

Before your body can use fructose, it needs to break it down into other usable nutrients. After you’ve eaten fructose, it travels directly to your liver to be processed. During the processing, certain substances are produced as byproducts—byproducts that may prove toxic if you consume fructose day in, day out, and in large quantities. They can lead to high blood pressure and weight gain, and they also increase your risk of heart disease.

Not only that, but some of the fructose you eat is converted directly to fat, which is then stored in your liver. This can add up over time if fructose is regularly consumed in excess. Eventually it can lead to fatty liver disease, cirrhosis (scarring) of the liver, and possibly even liver cancer.

Unnatural Availability

A few hundred years ago, fruits were the only source of natural fructose in the diet. Fructose didn’t have much of an impact on our ancestors’ health because fruits were available only seasonally. Today, through the ingenuity of food manufacturing science, nearly all food products contain fructose in some form. Additionally, selective breeding has allowed bigger, sweeter fruits to be produced. We’re no longer eating these foods seasonally—now we eat them daily, and sometimes several times a day. See the chart below to get an idea of how much sugar consumption has increased over time.

How much fructose can you consume before it starts to injure your health? Moderate amounts of fructose, around 40 g per day (that’s the equivalent of 3 cups of apple juice), have been shown to produce a dangerous type of LDL called small, dense LDL particles. This type of LDL has been linked to the development of atherosclerosis, or hardening of the arteries. Atherosclerosis is a massive contributor to heart and blood vessel disease. Most people consume more than 40 g of fructose each day. The average person in America and Europe consumes about 100-150 g of sugar per day. If you do the math, that comes out to about 50-75 g of fructose. About half of the population consumes in excess of those figures.

It’s probably also not a coincidence that the rise in soda consumption has paralleled the surge in obesity. Fructose-sweetened drinks, like soda, have now become the beverage of choice for most people, especially children. Kids drink, on average, about 24 oz of soda a day (that’s around 40 g of fructose in itself). Over time, the typical serving size of soda has increased. The original size of a soda bottle was 8 oz. Today a single serving size is 20 oz—often the smallest size many stores carry. That’s about 65 g of sugar, and approximately 35 g of it is fructose!

Researchers are finding that consuming fructose can encourage us to eat more. That’s because eating foods that are high in fructose doesn’t make you feel full: Consuming fructose, unlike the consumption of other foods, doesn’t stimulate the release of leptin. Leptin is the hormone that signals satiety—the feeling that you are full and no longer hungry. Not only does fructose prevent the stimulation of leptin, it also fails to suppress ghrelin, another hormone that tells your brain you’re hungry. So if you drink a large, fructose-sweetened soda before you eat a meal, your brain will think you’re hungrier than you really are. Very likely, you’ll overeat.

We’re unknowingly eating and drinking more fructose than we ever have before. What does this mean for our health in the long term? High fructose consumption has been implicated as a possible contributor to many metabolic diseases, including fatty liver disease, central weight gain, increased triglyceride levels, and insulin resistance.

Identifying Fructose on Nutrition Labels

As we’ve noted, just about every processed food has at least some fructose. It can come in the form of sucrose or as HFCS. Be aware that brown sugar, invert sugar, raw sugar, cane juice, corn syrup, rice syrup, and agave nectar all contain glucose and fructose. The only differences lie in how they are processed and how they are labeled.

Artificial sweeteners, including aspartame, sucralose, and saccharin, as well as the naturally sweet compounds in stevia, do not contain glucose or fructose. We don’t, however, encourage you to replace sugar and HFCS with artificial sweeteners. The jury is still out on the safety of long-term use of these products, and many studies suggest that artificial sweeteners may be harmful to you as well. Given that all of the health effects of their prolonged use aren’t yet known, it would be best if you gradually cut them out of your diet.

If you’ve cut out highly processed foods from your diet completely, then you’ve greatly decreased your fructose intake and have taken a significant step toward improving your health. That leaves just one source of fructose in your diet: fruits.

What About Fruit?

When you think about how unhealthy overconsumption of fructose is for your body, you may assume that fruits should also be avoided. Fruits are, after all, a common source of fructose in your diet. You’ll be glad to hear that this is not the case!

The fructose found naturally in fruits is not dangerous for your health—as long as you don’t eat fruits in excess. As you have learned, fructose, when consumed in excess of 40 g every day over a long period of time, can be a health hazard. That’s why we emphasize eating fruits in moderation. Fruits are, after all, natural sources of vitamins, antioxidants, and—most importantly—fiber. Fruits’ water and fiber content slows the absorption of both glucose and fructose in your body, allowing your pancreas and liver enough time to process the two sugars gradually.

When you do eat fruit, it’s best to make it part of a meal. Eating fruits in combination with other fiber-rich, whole foods will slow the influx of both glucose and fructose into your bloodstream. Avoid dried fruits, as the sugar is more concentrated in them than in fresh fruits. Most water has been removed from dried fruits, making them smaller, but they still contain the same amount of sugar as they did before they were dried. Because they’re smaller, you’re likely to eat more of them in one sitting. One cup of raisins does not equal one cup of grapes!

What about fruit juice? Although it’s frequently touted as being healthy, fruit juice is the worst form of all. Your body’s response to liquid carbs is similar to its response to solid carbs, but the glucose spike and subsequent insulin spike are much quicker and more intense. When you eat solid good carbohydrates, the high fiber content slows down the process of digestion in your stomach and intestines, and sugars are released slowly into your bloodstream. In comparison, liquid carbs are almost always free of fiber and pass into your bloodstream quickly. Even 100% real fruit juice lacks the natural fiber that slows the absorption of fructose and glucose into your bloodstream. This results in a massive influx of fructose into your liver as well as a massive influx of glucose into your blood.

This brings us to another carb-containing liquid: alcohol.

Most of us are familiar with the effects of alcohol: feelings of mild euphoria, sociability, talkativeness, increased confidence, and diminished judgment and control. Alcohol is usually created by the fermentation of high-carb fruits and vegetables, such as grapes and potatoes, or grains, for instance rye and wheat. During the fermentation process, yeasts eat up some of the carbohydrates, producing ethanol—the form of alcohol found in alcoholic beverages. Pure ethanol is not a carbohydrate, although it does contain calories.

But not all sugars are consumed by yeasts during fermentation. Whatever sugars are left over contribute to the carbohydrate content of the beverage. Carb content therefore varies from one beverage to another. Hard liquor, such as vodka and rum, does not contain carbohydrates. Wine has some carbs, and beer has more.

When you undertake this diet change, it’s best if you cut out all alcohol initially to help with your weight loss. Drinking alcohol will make it harder for you to lose weight. After an alcoholic drink has been consumed, the ethanol is converted to acetic acid in the liver, The body favors acetic acid as an energy source and will burn it in preference to any other sources of energy, whether consumed or stored—including fat and glucose.

If you really must drink alcohol, however, we recommend a 4-oz glass of red wine with a meal. Do note that red wine does contain some carbs, but by drinking the wine with food, you’ll help slow the absorption of the sugars. If you can’t tolerate red wine, white wine may be substituted. While some studies have shown that a glass of red wine per day helps with weight loss for some people, if you can’t stop with just one glass, quitting completely may be the better strategy—at least until the desired amount of weight is lost.

Even though some spirits contain zero carbs, including vodka, gin, or whiskey, we don’t suggest that you start drinking those with your meals, and you should beware of drinking them in excess. Drinking too much alcohol over a long period of time can lead to fatty liver disease and, eventually, cirrhosis of the liver. Overconsumption of alcohol can also cause you to acquire excess belly fat, insulin resistance, and metabolic syndrome.

Do any of the above conditions sound familiar? The same happens when you consume too much fructose. The end products of digesting alcohol and fructose are identical, creating the same cascade of damaging effects in your body. Both overconsumption of alcohol and overconsumption of fructose can easily overload the liver. You should moderate both your alcohol and your fructose intake.

Beer should be out for good. It is highly processed and also contains a lot of carbs.

After you’ve achieved your desired weight loss, remember to drink in moderation. That means one drink per day for women and one to two drinks per day for men. Red wine is ideal, and it should be consumed while eating a meal.

Sugar alcohols get their name from their unique chemical structure, which resembles that of both sugar and alcohol. They are, however, neither sugar nor alcohol—but they are carbohydrates! Sugar alcohols are sweet to the taste and are used as alternative sweeteners in many products labeled as sugar-free. You may find them in chocolate and candy, chewing gum, toothpaste, ice cream, and many other products.

Because sugar alcohols can’t be fully digested by your body, they are absorbed more slowly and less efficiently. For this reason they have less of an impact on your blood sugar and insulin levels. That makes desserts sweetened with sugar alcohols appealing to diabetics and to people undertaking a low-carb diet. This doesn’t mean that they have no effect on your blood sugar, however. Some diabetics report spikes in their blood sugar level after consuming too much sugar alcohol. Be aware that sugar alcohols can also have a laxative effect when consumed in excess.

The most common sugar alcohols include xylitol, maltitol, erythritol, mannitol, sorbital, and glycerin.

Sugar prompts the release of dopamine in the brain, and the resulting feelings of well-being are undeniable (albeit short-lived). But can you be addicted to sugar?

Researchers at Princeton University wanted to find out more about sugar's addictive properties. They designed a study similar to those used to gauge the effects of illicit drugs on the human brain. When lab rats were given a sugary solution, the brain chemical dopamine was released into the nucleus accumbens in the brain, the part of the brain that lies at the root of drug addiction. The same thing happens when a person takes heroin. When sugar is withdrawn from the diet of an individual who has been consuming large amounts, it triggers a chain of biochemical events very similar to those of opiate withdrawal.

Breaking the Addiction

Cutting back on sweet desserts and sugary drinks is a good start. Know where sugar hides and scan nutrition labels for ingredients ending in the suffix “ose,” such as glucose, sucrose, fructose, maltose, and dextrose. They are all sugars. Try sugar substitutes if you absolutely need something sweet. If possible use natural substitutes such as sugar alcohols or stevia. There’s a great deal of debate about whether calorie-free artificial sweeteners have negative side effects, and it does appear that they may interfere with your body’s normal metabolism. Use artificial sweeteners in moderation, with the aim of eventually cutting them out completely.

At this point, you have a sound working knowledge of the different types of carbohydrates available to you. You can better select your carbohydrates to avoid eating or drinking highly processed products that could overload your body with unwanted sugars.

But what if you’ve been carefully monitoring and limiting your carbohydrate intake, and you’re still not getting the results that you want? It may be that you’re unusually sensitive to carbohydrate intake.

People have different responses to carbohydrates. Some people are not very sensitive to carbohydrates: They’re carb hyposensitive. These individuals can eat large amounts of carbohydrates, yet not gain weight. People who are carb hyposensitive process sugar in the blood very efficiently. Their bodies readily burn glucose as fuel rather than store it as fat.

Other people are very sensitive to carbohydrates: They’re carb hypersensitive. They quickly gain weight if they eat carbs; eating even a small amount of carbohydrates can cause them to pile on the pounds.

If you’re already obese or gain weight easily, it’s likely that you’re hypersensitive to carbs. Obese people are likely to be very sensitive to carbohydrates and likely secrete high levels of insulin after eating them. Many obese people are also insulin resistant to some degree. Insulin resistance increases blood insulin levels, because more insulin is needed to force insulin-resistant cells to admit glucose.

High insulin levels can be a real hindrance to weight loss because insulin causes fat to be stored in fat tissue. Not only that, insulin also prevents the stored fat from being released and used for energy, in effect locking it up. For some people, being overweight and even slightly insulin resistant makes it difficult for them to lose weight if they ingest even a small amount of carbohydrates.

Certain people with diseases or genetic disorders may also find that they are hypersensitive to carbs. Diseases of the pancreas, such as type 1 diabetes, pancreatitis, and pancreatic cancer can affect the ability of the pancreas to produce insulin. Other diseases and genetic syndromes can affect the ability to metabolize sugar as well, including hyperthyroidism, Cushing syndrome, acromegaly, Down syndrome, Klinefelter syndrome, and Turner syndrome. Disorders of the pancreas are not common, but it’s worth noting that they do exist and may affect sensitivity to carbohydrates.

Most people fall somewhere in-between these two extremes. People who have a normal sensitivity to carbs tend to be young to middle-aged, fairly active individuals who are able to maintain a steady weight. Some people maintain a normal sensitivity to carbohydrates until they reach a certain age or stage of life—often puberty, pregnancy, middle-age, or menopause. This is partly due to natural hormonal changes.

Are You Carb Sensitive?

Carb sensitive individuals are on a continuum. Some will benefit from only a small decrease in carbohydrates, while others will need a larger reduction to experience improvement.

IMAGE: Those who can consume large amounts of carbs without gaining weight are considered less sensitive to carbs, or carb hyposensitive (a). The majority of the population has normal sensitivity to carbs (b). Those who tend to gain weight when even small amounts of carbs are consumed are considered sensitive to carbs, or carb hypersensitive. People may be sensitive to carbs because of age (c), because of obesity (d), or because of genetics and disease (e).

There is no definitive way to determine whether you are carb sensitive or not, but reading the above information will give you an idea as to whether you might be. If you think you may be carb sensitive, and you’ve already cut back on carbs, but you still aren’t losing weight (or you’re putting on pounds), then you need to revisit your diet. Could it be the fruit that you’re eating, or the wine that you drink with your meal? Are you eating more processed foods than whole foods?

Try eliminating extra carbs from your diet until you start getting the results you want. Some people find that cutting out carbs completely for a period of time works for them. It might sound drastic, and it’s not for everyone, but a very-low-carb or ketogenic diet can work wonders. Your body will switch over to burning fat for fuel, instead of relying on carbs. Eliminating carbs will also allow you to slowly add small amounts of carbs back into your diet, which can help you determine your body’s threshold for carbs. You will find that customizing your diet to suit your body’s needs will not only help speed up your weight loss, but also increase your energy levels and sharpen your mental processes.

Now You Know

You’ve learned that more than half of the American public is consuming an excess of carbohydrates, sometimes 300-400 g more per day than is ideal for maintaining a healthy weight. To add insult to injury, most of the excess carbs being consumed are highly processed and lead to large insulin spikes, which put your body into fat-storage mode. Much of the processed food on the market has been laced with a manmade sweetener, HFCS, that’s dangerous for your health if eaten in large quantities. The chemical structure of HFCS and that of sucrose (table sugar) are very similar. Within that structure lies a potentially dangerous carbohydrate: fructose. You need to avoid both fructose and sucrose if you want to lose weight (or maintain a healthy weight) and stave off health disorders.

You now know the difference between good and bad carbs and how to identify them. If you’re in a situation where you have no choice but to buy processed foods, you’ve learned how to spot the hidden sugars. When it comes to consuming fruits and alcohol, moderation is key: Too much of either can lead to fatty liver disease. Finally, you can now tweak your carbohydrate consumption to fit the individual needs of your body and your personal goals, knowing that every individual reacts to carbohydrates very differently.

Knowledge is power! You’re now prepared to make informed decisions about your diet and your health.