Joe Graedon, M.S. and Teresa Graedon, Ph.D.
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 These clinical investigators also had success reversing a 6-year decline in kidney function in one diabetic patient by changing his diet from the usual prudent low-fat, high-carbohydrate diet to a regimen with no potatoes, bread, pasta, rice, or cereal. This 60-year-old man lost weight and stabilized his blood glucose, the progression of his diabetic eye disease was halted, and his kidney function was dramatically improved.212
Chocolate and Insulin Resistance
People with insulin resistance may even benefit from eating a bit of dark chocolate once in a while. |
| There is next to no research linking a high-carbohydrate diet to urinary tract infections or eczema. On the other hand, reducing the amount of sugar, starch, and refined carbohydrates seems like a simple enough experiment. If it works for some people with such hard-to-treat conditions, it might be worth the trouble. Thanks for sharing your interesting story.
• • •
This approach has not been well studied, to say the least. German researchers have investigated a sugar-free diet in 29 patients. |
| Many cardiologists were shocked to learn, however, that those following a high-protein, low-carbohydrate regimen ended up with a better score on heart disease risk factors than those following an Ornish-type low-fat, high-carbohydrate diet. That is because the higher-fat diets raised good HDL cholesterol more than the Ornish approach.
The final nail in the coffin of dietary dogma should have been driven by the Women's Health Initiative. This long-term research project cost more than $700 million and will likely never be repeated. |
Phyllis A. Balch, CNC
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 A high-carbohydrate diet increases the need for thiamine. Alcoholics are among those most often deficient in thiamine because the alcohol inhibits its storage. This is sometimes manifested as a disorder known as Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome, which is characterized by memory problems, abnormal movements, confusion, drowsiness, and other symptoms.
Vitamin B2 (Riboflavin)
Riboflavin is necessary for red blood cell formation, antibody production, cell respiration, and growth. It alleviates eye fatigue and is important in the prevention and treatment of cataracts. |
James F. Balch, M.D. and Mark Stengler, N.D.
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 Take the low-protein, high-carbohydrate diet that in the early 1990s was universally espoused as healthful: People filled up their plates with so much pasta, bread and fat-free sweets that they actually ended up eating more calories—and of course, gaining more weight. Other strategies, such as appetite suppressants, and extreme diets, do indeed help people lose weight in the short term. But they're also too dangerous to use for long, so at some point those people have to return to a lifestyle that is healthful. |
Jonny Bowden, M.A., C.N.S.
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 So if you have a choice of gritting your teeth and staying on a 1,200-calorie, low-fat, high-carbohydrate diet that leaves you hungry and craving sweets all the time or of going on a diet with the same number of calories that allows you to eat rich, satisfying, natural foods and doesn't leave you hungry all the time, which would you pick?
Exactly. That's why the short answer to this myth is "Who cares?" Even if it were true that low-carb diets work only because they are low-calorie, who gives a rat's tail? |
Gabriel Cousens, M.D.
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 One study report showed that within six hours of insulin administration, the DNA of animals was induced to create a level of production that was observable in previously fasted mice put on a low-fat, high-carbohydrate diet.17 In another study, polyunsaturated fats of the n-3 and n-6 families were found to suppress hepatic mRNA levels of several lipogenic genes.18 These polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) work on the level of gene production. |
Jonny Bowden, M.A., C.N.S.
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| And just like our poor pancreas eventually can "burn out" from the constant demand put on it to produce enough insulin to deal with a chronically high-carbohydrate diet, so can our poor adrenals eventually reach a similarly exhausted state. This is what Schwarzbein and others call adrenal burnout. It is hardly uncommon.
So if we're interested only in weight loss, why should we care about our adrenals?
Well, first off, the adrenal hormone Cortisol, like all hormones in the body, sends a message. Several, actually. One is to break down muscle for fuel. |
| So on a high-carbohydrate diet, you've got all this sugar coming into your system—because all carbs eventually break down into sugar—and your liver can basically do one of three things with it:
1. Pass it right through and send it into the bloodstream.
2. Transform it into glycogen and store it (in the liver or the muscles).
3. Use it to make triglycerides.
Remember, as far as your body is concerned, the most important thing is to prevent blood sugar from getting too high. |
| This is how a high-carbohydrate diet raises both triglycerides and cholesterol.
Which Is Worse, Sugar or Fat? No Contest!
Why, you may ask, does the liver feel this compelling need to get rid of the excess sugar, anyway? Why doesn't it just give it a pass and let it go into the bloodstream as is? Why create all this work for itself? Why bother to turn it into triglycerides in the first place?
That's a very good question, and the answer is central to understanding the health effects of a lower-carbohydrate diet: sugar is far more damaging to the body than fat. |
Mike Adams
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 The Eskimos who ate only fat and protein never had any cancer in their population until a high-carbohydrate diet was introduced. Why don't we ever hear of cancer of the heart? Probably because the heart uses almost all fat for energy, thus cancer does not have a chance to develop in those cells.
Theories on why refined carbohydrates lead to cancer
There are other theories that help explain refined carbohydrate consumption leads to cancers of the digestive system. |
Jonny Bowden, M.A., C.N.S.
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| How a high-carbohydrate diet Raises Both Cholesterol and Triglycerides
Let's follow the nutrients you eat on their journey through the body. When you eat food—any food—it mixes with acids and enzymes from the stomach, pancreas, and liver that break it down into smaller molecules. The nutrients are then absorbed through the intestinal walls, while the indigestible parts of the food pass through the digestive system as waste. Proteins break down into amino acids, carbohydrates into glucose, and fats into fatty acids. |
Alan R. Gaby, M.D., Jonathan V. Wright, M.D., Forrest Batz, Pharm.D. Rick Chester, RPh., N.D., DipLAc. George Constantine, R.Ph., Ph.D. Linnea D. Thompson, Pharm.D., N.D.
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 Emphasizing grains, starchy vegetables, fruits, low-fat dairy products, and carbohydrate-replacement beverages, along with reducing intake of fatty foods, results in a relatively high-carbohydrate diet.
Carbohydrate beverages should be consumed during endurance training or competition (30 to 70 grams of carbohydrate per hour) to help prevent carbohydrate depletion that might otherwise occur near the end of the exercise period. |
Gabriel Cousens, M.D.
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| Eating a high-carbohydrate diet is definitely accompanied by an increase in circulating insulin levels. It appears that increased insulin levels increase the transcriptional rate that produces fatty-acid synthase and activates other lipogenic genes.1516 Insulin is a powerful effecter on gene expression. Insulin treatment results in a rapid increase of fatty-acid synthase, mRNA, and gene transcription. |
Phyllis A. Balch, CNC
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| A high-carbohydrate diet can help if heartburn is a problem.
Q See also heartburn/gastroesophageal reflux disease (gerd) in Part Two.
HEMORRHOIDS
Hemorrhoids are common during pregnancy. A number of factors contribute to the development of hemorrhoids, including constipation and the pressure exerted by the uterus as the fetus gains in size and weight.
Recommendations
01 Increase your intake of roughage. Eat plenty of raw vegetables, fruits, dried fruits, bran, and whole-grain breads. These fiber-rich foods help to soften stools and make elimination easier. |
John A. McDougall
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 McDougall þThe liver detoxifies internally produced and externally derived substances and is sometimes injured in the process. þA high-carbohydrate diet, low in fat and protein, is the preferred fuel for the liver.
Alcohol is the most common toxin injuring the liver.
* Fatty infiltration of the liver is a serious condition caused by the rich Western diet.
The liver has an astonishing capacity to recover—after the removal of injurious substances like alcohol and fat. |
| In addition, a high-carbohydrate diet limits the intake of proteins, which the liver must process.
Dietary protein can cause a person with liver failure to suffer further complications of his or her illness. During liver failure, protein degradation products become toxic to the body. When amino acids and other protein-breakdown products accumulate, encephalopathy (mental dysfunction) and hepatic coma often result. Vegetable protein is more easily tolerated than protein from animal sources by a person with impaired liver function. |
| When people raised on a plant-based, high-carbohydrate diet begin consuming less carbohydrate and more fat and protein, like their Western counterparts, they gain weight and become sicker." The Bortons sat in rapt attention.
"Similar changes in health are seen within nations like Japan, as the people become wealthy from industrialization and begin to eat more rich American foods. Along with weight gain, their cholesterol levels rise, and then heart disease, diabetes, and arthritis become an expected part of everyday life—just like in the United States. |
Neal D. Barnard and Bryanna Clark Grogan
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 So, if people in Asia or Africa who eat lots of carbohydrates have very little diabetes, and if the disease becomes more and more common as carbohydrates are excluded from the diet, researchers have had to conclude that a high-carbohydrate diet is not the cause of the disease. In fact, the culprit seems to be lurking in our Western diets.
The inescapable fact is that the problem is not carbohydrates (that is, sugar and starch). The problem is in how the body processes them. |
Michael T. Murray
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 The same is true for people with impaired glucose tolerance (prediabetes) even if they eat a high-carbohydrate diet.16 Simply replacing products made with potatoes and white flour with whole-grain, minimally refined products can have dramatic impact on improving blood sugar levels and is associated with a lower risk for both diabetes and cardiovascular disease. One of the key reasons may be that whole-grain foods are rich in magnesium, while this vital nutrient has been stripped away in refined flour. |
Arthur Agatston, M.D.
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 I began counseling my patients on the low-fat, high-carbohydrate diet advocated by the American Heart Association, but the results fell far below my expectations. Often, there was an initial modest improvement in total cholesterol with mild weight loss. This invariably was followed by a return of cholesterol to its previous level or higher, along with a return of the lost weight. This scenario was not only my experience but also that of my colleagues. |
| Back in the mid-'90s I was but one of many cardiologists who had grown disillusioned with the low-fat, high-carbohydrate diet that the American Heart Association recommended to help us eat properly and maintain healthy weight. None of the low-fat regimens of that era seemed to work reliably, especially over the long haul. My concern was not with my patients' appearance: I wanted to find a diet that would help prevent or reverse the myriad of heart and vascular problems that stem from obesity.
I never found such a diet. Instead, I developed one myself. |
The Life Extension Editorial Staff
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 After two years, there was a reduction in breast mass, leading the authors to conclude that "a low-fat high-carbohydrate diet reduced the area of mammographic density, a radiographic feature of the breast that is a risk factor for breast cancer." The authors suggested that longer follow-up of a larger number of subjects is required to determine if these effects are associated with changes in the risk for breast cancer (Boyd et al. 1997).
A study conducted at Harvard University followed more than 300,000 women (Huang et al. 1999). |
| Subjects receiving a high-protein diet (44% protein, 35% carbohydrate, and 21% fat) showed a substantially less 5-alpha-reduction of testosterone and an enhanced cytochrome P-450 hydroxylation of estradiol, both therapeutic goals. A high-carbohydrate diet (10% protein, 70% carbohydrate, and 20% fat) had the opposite effect (Kappas et al. 1983).
Foods high in iodine should be eliminated, and milk consumption (due to high hormone content) should be limited. Trans-fatty acids and high-fat foods should also be eliminated. |
Ray Strand, M.D.
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 You will tend to have some withdrawal from a high-carbohydrate diet. But once you become consistent with this diet you will feel much better, with a marked increase in energy.
Most people find it relatively easy to stay with eating this way because it is simply a health diet and can easily become part of your lifestyle. Be creative using these principles and enjoy your food. Please refer to the Resource Section at the end of this book for references on eating a healthy diet. |
Andrew L. Stoll
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 In his most recent research, Storlien (now at the University of Wollon-gong in Australia) assigned fifty-five patients with non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus to either a fat-modified diet (high in monounsaturated fat and omega-3 s and low in omega-6) or a high-carbohydrate diet. After one year, Storlien found, insulin sensitivity was significantly higher in people on the high omega-3 diet than those on the high-carbohydrate diet.
According to Storlien, the low omega-6 to omega-3 ratio was also key to modulating obesity in those he studied as well. |
Bruce Fife and Jon J. Kabara
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 Doctors have been able to help patients control diabetes by putting them on a low-fat, high-carbohydrate diet. The diet restricts total fat intake to 30 percent or less of calories. Complex carbohydrates such as whole grains and vegetables comprise 50 to 60 percent of calories. Simple carbohydrates such as refined flour and sugar are to be avoided. The reason for this is because simple carbohydrates can put undue strain on the pancreas and quickly raise blood sugar to dangerous levels. The reason for reducing fat as well as sweets is to promote weight loss. |
Arthur Agatston, M.D.
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| Fats versus Carbs: The Debate
How has America done since the low-fat, high-carbohydrate diet recommendations? We've gotten fatter and fatter. In addition, adult-onset diabetes, a sure sign of unhealthy blood chemistry, has become widespread. What went wrong? First, it was thought that the new low-fat American diet would mimic the low-fat, high-carb regimen of countries like China and Japan, which had very low heart attack rates. But the U.S. food industry stepped in to provide us with low-fat foods that tasted good. |
The Life Extension Editorial Staff
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| This experiment showed that avocado extract suppressed appetite in rats fed a high-carbohydrate diet. The significance of this finding is that many individuals become overweight because of uncontrolled carbohydrate craving. Case history reports show that overweight humans who consume avocado extract develop an aversion to high-glycemic (sugary) foods. Some scientists believe that overconsumption of high-glycemic foods is a cause of body fat accumulation. Therefore, avocado extract shows potential as an anti-obesity agent via this mechanism alone (Langhans et al. 1983). |
Earl L. Mindell, RPh, PhD with Virginia Hopkins, MA
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| The high-carbohydrate diet traditionally recommended by the American Diabetes Association is proving not to be the answer for many diabetics. If you are a Type 2 diabetic who is overweight and insulin resistant, it may be important for you to cut way back on carbohydrates. When you do eat them, stick to complex carbohydrates with plenty of fiber such as whole grains, vegetables, and legumes. |
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