Topic 4- Carbohydrates- Part 3 - Wheat! Really? Even Whole Wheat?

Hi Everyone, The next carbohydrate topic is broken into two sub-topics. The first about Wheat and the new issues surrounding wheat and our health. The second sub-topic is linked to Wheat, and much more widely known to have an affect on our health, especially if we know we are allergic to it, gluten. So what's all this about Wheat? So what's the problem with Wheat? I thought Whole Wheat was healthy and beneficial to our health? How much should I eat? So don't eat Wheat, what contains Wheat? SO WHAT CAN I EAT?! Well, Wheat. Wheat is a grass and is one of the most widely grown crops in the entire world, 1 of the top 3 that includes Maize(corn) and Rice. It was first domesticated in the Middle East, Turkey/Syria/Jordan/Israel/Egypt/Ethiopia areas approximately 9000BC, give or take a year or two. Wheat now is grown on more of the worlds land than any other crop and is considered the most important staple food for humans. Wheat is so powerful a force in human history that it actually enabled the emergence of city-based societies at the start of "civilization" cause it was able to be cultivated on a large scale. It's no coincidence that today it is still a massively Government subsidized agricultural crop. How else are they going to provide relatively cheap nourishment to an ever increasing world population. So what's the problem with Wheat? Well the problem we have with Wheat is that evidence is showing that this hugely consumed food stuff maybe one of the biggest contributes to a lot of the chronic illness and disease that are plaguing our societies now.  The main proprietor of this is a doctor by the name of Dr. William Davis, and he details this in his book, 'wheat belly'. Dr. Davis theory is that modern wheat has been genetically altered, not so much through genetic engineering, but more through selective pollinating, selective planting, and this change to modern wheat, (which is 98% of the US wheat production), could be responsible for the rise in Celiac disease and gluten sensitivity today.  Dr. Davis also pinpoints compounds in wheat such as gliadin, amylopectin A and others that trigger hunger, spike blood sugar, behavioral disorders and chronic cell inflammation. Dr. Davis says he has watched thousands of patients effortlessly lose weight, relieve joint pain, eliminate their need for inhalers and improve their blood numbers, simply by removing wheat from their nutritional intake. The Gliadin protein found in wheat is the big problem because it is an appetite stimulator. This is what Dr. Davis had to say about it in a question and answer session: "Q. One of the most surprising statements in your book is that whole wheat products aren't that much better than white when it comes to blood sugar and certainly not when it comes to appetite stimulation, inflammation and other issues. So if we MUST eat bread, does it not really matter if we go for whole grain or not? A. This genetically altered form of wheat has been transformed into such a destructive "food" that any amount has the potential to trigger undesirable consequences. For instance, there's what I call the "I had one cookie and gained 30 pounds" effect. ... One day, you go to a dinner party and they're serving some delicious looking bruschetta hors d'oeuvres You say, "What the heck!"... Before you know it, the floodgates of appetite have been reopened by exposure to the gliadin protein of wheat, the component responsible for triggering appetite — and you promptly gain back 30 pounds. Others go wheat-free, then have a sandwich and suffer a food poisoning-like reaction: diarrhea, cramps, gas for 24 to 48 hours, while others experience asthma, joint pains, sinus congestion or emotional effects like anxiety or rage. This is not a benign grain that "only" causes increased appetite and weight gain, it is incredibly disruptive for health across a spectrum of conditions." Two more American clinicians, James Braly and Ron Hoggan, who have published a book, "Dangerous Grains". In this book they claim, "Gluten sensitivity (GS) is at the root of a proportion of cases of cancer, auto-immune disorders, neurological and psychiatric conditions and liver disease. The implication is that the heavily wheat-based western diet - bread, cereals, pastries, pasta - is actually making millions of people ill." They also claim that although most Gluten Sensitivity is thought just to be in the gastrointestinal tract, labeled mainly, "celiac disease", Braly and Haggan believe that the immune response that damages the gut in celiac disease can cause damaging problems almost everywhere and anywhere else in the body. A medical test for this is a test for anti-gliadin antibodies, which are formed when the body has an immune response to gliadin, found in wheat. Most people who test positive for anti-gliadin antibodies (AGA) often have no sign of gut damage associated with celiac disease.  Dr. Alessio Fasano from the University of Maryland, carried out research into this area. He estimates that "Worldwide, celiac disease out of the intestines (so in the rest of the body without gut damage) is 15times more frequent than gut celiac disease.  Braly estimates that 10-15% of the US population are producing anti-gliadin antibodies, putting them at a significantly higher risk of conditions as varied as psoriasis, multiple sclerosis, jaundice, IBSEN and eczema. What we have to remember, this all has a knock-on effect to the rest of our bodies. If our immune systems are stressed from these issues, then they are also weakened at fighting other allergens, viruses, bacterias and fungus'. Also, we can not effectively lose weight and get in great shape if we are not healthy, we HAVE to be HEALTHY to lose weight and keep it off in the long-term, for life.  Even if we are not healthy inside we can not be optimally strong and fit. For example, inflammation of the gut, (stomach, intestines and colon), from eating processed food, allergic food, too much meat in ratio to plants, not enough real whole food fiber, lack of probiotics etc deactivates the core and abdominal wall. This in turn destabilizes the musculoskeletal system, creating injury prone postures and abnormal spine and joint stress and mobility issues. Nutritional intake is so important for all aspects of the body's health, it has an affect on everything no matter how large or small it seems. So all of this kind of points to the problems of excessive wheat in our nutritional intakes and being one of the most widely grown crops in the world.  So you might ask, "Where is all this wheat. I don't eat so much bread, pasta and cereals," Well here are the top 20 providers of Wheat in the average nutritional intake: Baked Goods. Cakes, cookies, pastries or other baked goods all contain wheat. Pasta. Pasta, unless it states that it is made from rice or quinoa, is also made from wheat flour. Pizza. Pizza is also made from flour and unless it has a special label stating that it is gluten free, you can be sure that it contains wheat. This includes bread sticks and frozen pizzas, as well as frozen pizza dough. Breaded and Battered Foods. Foods such as fish sticks, fried chicken wings or any battered vegetables such as pepper, onions or zucchini will contain wheat from the bread or batter. Cereals. Most cereals are also made from wheat. Canned Soups. Most canned soups contain a wheat starch or wheat flour as a thickener. This includes soups in packets as well as the soups that you order at most restaurants. Vegetables. Frozen or canned vegetables prepared in a sauce, as well as creamed vegetables that contain stabilizers also contain wheat. Sauces. Most commercially prepared sauces, such as soy sauce, Worcestershire, teriyaki, and horseradish sauce, should be assumed to contain wheat unless otherwise stated. Dip and Gravy Mixes. These all contain wheat thickening agents. As a general rule most thickening agents such as starches contain wheat. Ground Spices. Curry powder, Cajun spices, pie spice, and Thai spices contain a wheat agent that prevents them from clumping.  Instant Drinks. Drinks like instant coffee, instant tea and cocoa powder all contain wheat, as well as powdered, malted and chocolate milk. Most malted drinks will contain wheat. Deserts. Ice cream, ice cream cones, sherbet, icings, meringues and puddings all contain wheat. Condiments. Ketchup, mayonnaise and mustard that are either ready made or in powder form all contain wheat. Salad Dressings. Many dressings contain wheat-enriched emulsifiers or stabilizers. Meats. Sausages, luncheon, and prepared meat patties contain wheat. Imitation and Synthetic Cheeses. Pasteurized cheese spreads, cottage cheese containing modified or wheat starches, blue cheese and veined cheeses like Roquefort contain wheat. Beer. It’s most commonly made from barley, but wheat is also widely used as an ingredient. Sweets. Licorice, chocolate, candy with cereal extract, and chewing gum all contain wheat. Breads. Breads, unless they have a label stating otherwise, will contain wheat. This includes freshly baked bread at your local bakery. Flour. Most flour is made directly from the wheat grain. This includes white, bread, bran or brown flour. Buckwheat flour may also contain a blend of wheat, so be sure to check the label.  I hope this was valuable information for you and helps you in your mission to become as healthy and fit as you desire to be. Remember, it's all about choice! Be Active, Eat Whole, Choose Health. Marlon Steele MSc BSc CSCS Pn-1 MarlonJDSteele@gmail.com 6145798703 Human Health: Fitness, Nutrition & Wellness

Topic 4 Part 2 - Carbohydrates and Insulin

Topic 4 Part 2

Carbohydrates & Insulin

So we’ve all heard, I think, of this substance within our bodies called Insulin.

Well what is it? What does it do? Why is it so important and vital? And how is it so linked to diet, nutrition and carbohydrates?

Insulin is a hormone produced in the Pancreas organ of our body’s. It is a key component to carbohydrate and fat metabolism in the human, and other mammals, body’s.

Basically Insulin causes cells in the Liver, muscle and fat to take-up glucose (sugar) for our blood to store it in these tissues. Only so much of this blood glucose (sugar) from the blood can be stored in the Liver and muscles, once these stores are full any extra blood glucose (sugar) is stored in the body’s fat cells. The body’s fat cells can store a seemingly limitless supply of this blood glucose (sugar).

If we remember from Part 1 of this topic, this storage mechanism was in the past, 300- to-thousands of years ago, a vital survival mechanism. The body would store this extra energy for times of drought and famine, times of travel for nomadic humans, in the abdomen of males for hunting and gathering, on the hips and thighs of women for pregnancy and baby feeding.

Now, especially in the super-calorie loaded American and Western diets, we still have this storage mechanism, but we very rarely have a sustained period of calorie restriction, famine or drought. Even if we do, we ship the calories in from elsewhere, so constantly our bodies are storing calories.

This is possibly a reason crash diets don’t work, this ancient mechanism for energy/calorie storage sees or identifies a crash diet as a famine or drought period, maybe for  week maybe for 3 months, how ever long the diet lasts, and sure you’d loose weight, just like our ancestors hundreds and thousands of years ago. But then soon as we go back to our usually/normal calorie, and often empty calorie (high calorie low nutrient foods) excess, we put this weight back on, Yo-yo dieting.

So what is Insulin’s role in this?

Well possibly our greatest survival hormone in times of past may actually turn out to be modern humans Achilles’ heel! In the past it enabled us to survive and thrive in times of drought and famine, now its causing rapid weight gain, leading to mobility issues, fitness issues, illness and disease – all leading to a huge stress on our survival.

But this isn’t Insulin’s fault; it’s just doing the job it’s evolved to do. The problem is our excess nutritional intakes, or truer, excess calorie intake with actually less nutritional content. And of this excess calorie intake, the biggest trouble maker is sugar, processed refined carbohydrates, and excess traditional carbohydrates.

Traditional carbohydrates, this include sugar, brown, white, cubed or granular, all the same, white refined flour (Wheat, rye, etc), white pasta, white noodles, white rice, white potatoes. And as noted in some earlier topics, whole might be better than refined, but its still excess energy and still raises blood sugar, whole flour (Wheat, Rye, etc) whole grain pasta, whole grain noodles, brown rice etc. They may digest slower than refined alternatives, but they still contain sugars once they are digested. So if the Liver stores of glucose (sugar) are full, and the muscle stores of glucose (sugar) are full, where is the body going to put these sugars that we are digesting? Yeah that’s right, fat cells.

So as we digest food, the sugars in that food, they are all broken down to sugars, enter into the Liver for processing, If the Liver needs some Glucose (sugar) cause its stores are low, it takes it, (The Liver actually prefers Fructose, which is the sugar from fruit), then excess is released into the blood circulating around the body.

The blood sugar needs to be kept within a certain range, (between about 3.6 and 5.8 mM (mmol/L, i.e., millimoles/liter), or 64.8 and 104.4 mg/dL (What are mg/dl and mmol/l? How to convert? Glucose? Cholesterol? Advameg, Inc.)).

As the Liver releases glucose (Sugar) into the blood and the levels in the blood go up above the desired range it becomes toxic, so the Pancreas sends out it clean-up team, Insulin. Insulin ‘picks-up’ this excess blood glucose (sugar) and tries to ‘give’ it to the muscles of the body, in the hopes that they can store it and get it out of the blood to prevent it from being toxic. But if the muscles have been dormant and inactive, not really using their stored energy, well they refuse this extra glucose (sugar). Now the body only has one option left, to ask the fat cells (adipose tissue) to store the excess blood glucose (sugar) before it has a serious toxic affect on the body (and besides this is good energy for the next drought and/or famine). So the fat cells come to the rescue and accept the glucose (sugar) and store is in the fat cell, making the fat cells bigger, increasing the excess weight of the body.

Blood sugars drop, insulin levels drop in the blood. BUT! During this panic of higher blood glucose the body panics and stores a bit too much blood glucose (sugar) and now blood sugar is low and now the fat cell don’t want to give it back!! I mean their energy is for emergencies only; they are waiting for a famine and drought. “Go eat some more energy while it’s readily available”, it tells the body!

Hello sugar/carbohydrate craving! The brain, the mind (powerful things), send us on a mission to eat and digest some glucose (sugar). So the whole process starts again!

This is one of the reasons we as humans, as mammals, are so attracted to sugar, carbohydrates and why insulin has such a vital role to play in our bodies, it’s a survival thing!

What’s the big problem then?

Well the first problem is weight; excess glucose combined with a more and more sedentary lifestyle means only one thing, weight gain, 1lb of body weight is equal to 3500 calories. So to be fair, most of us have more than enough energy sitting on our body’s in storage than we need to take in from nutrition, but we have to mobilise this energy. If we keep just taking in glucose through our diets why are out body’s going to mobilise the excess energy we are storing.

For example, if we are 200lbs in weight, at 40% body fat level, that’s 80lbs of body fat. Say a desirable, ‘healthy’ body fat % is 20%, and then this is 40lbs of excess body fat. 40lbs X 3500cals is equal to 140,000 stored calories. A good 1 hour athletic high intensity workout burns maximally 1000 calories, that’s at least 140 high intensity athletic workouts. Most people’s workouts will burn 400-600 calories an hour, that’s 280 workouts, 280 good hours of exercise/activity. At 5 hours a week that’s gonna take 56 weeks! And that’s just using the energy already stored on the body; never mind what we eat during those 56 weeks.

So what I’m saying here, or trying to highlight is just how important nutrition is! And preventing excess glucose storage in fat cells through what we eat. Vigorous exercise and activity is vital, it stimulates the body to adapt and change, get stronger, get fitter, build muscle which will need more energy to function. But also it uses this glucose stored in it to function, this means that Insulin can restock our muscles with excess blood glucose (sugar) instead of putting it in ‘long-term’ storage in the fat cells.

WHEN you eat is just as important as WHAT you eat.

So I’m not saying with this, never eat carbohydrates all together, what I’m doing is explaining what happens in the body with excess energy, especially carbohydrates and sugars. How what used to enable us to survive is now hindering us.

What is just as important as WHAT we eat is WHEN we eat. As I’ve often repeated, the key is to eat unprocessed, unrefined, ‘un-messed with’, non-genetically modified, non-chemically grown, non-artificially made/added, unpreserved, organically, grass raised free-range etc etc. this is the WHAT to eat for optimal Health, Fitness and Wellness.

So WHEN? Do we need to eat Carbohydrates or Sugar in our evening meal before we sleep, when our Liver and muscles are already probably full of their stores of glucose (Sugar)? Probably not, and even if they are low in their stores, let the body replace this with energy it already has in storage while you have a good 8 hours of sleep dreaming away.

The optimal time, and when I digest carbohydrates, and make sure I’ve optimal energy for the day is in the morning, usually about 30-60 minutes after I wake. This consists of whole, unprocessed organic Carbohydrates, usually Oats (Steel Cut) or on occasion a Whole grain sourdough slice or 2 with eggs (poached).

After this, its rare that I’ll take on more traditional carbohydrates, and I’m on my feet being active probably about 6 hours a day, that’s including an hour of vigorous exercise/activity. When I say traditional carbohydrate, I’m talking about the ones I listed earlier in this article. After the morning meal, I’ll eat, in an unprocessed whole form about 8-10 servings of fruit and vegetables throughout the day, weighted more onto vegetables. Fruit I’ll eat up to lunch time (as stated earlier, the Liver prefers the carbohydrates from fruit, fructose) and then pretty much stick to vegetables, mostly greens at night, Broccoli, Kale, Brussels, Cabbage, Bok-Choy,

Taking these fruit and vegetable carbohydrates in ensures that I digest plenty of awesome fibre that’s vital and crucial for digestive and positive gut bacteria health, and per calorie I digest a massive amount of vitamins, minerals and phytochemicals, all vital for optimal health, fitness and wellness.

So just to finalize this Topic on Carbohydrates and insulin I just what to finish with diabetes and the risk of diabetes.

There’re two types of diabetes, Type-1 and Type-2.

Type-1:

Can occur at any age but is mostly diagnosed in children, adolescents or young adults. In Type-1 diabetes the Pancreas produces little or no insulin and so when blood sugar becomes too high, there is no insulin to move the glucose (sugar) into the muscle or fat cells. The exact cause of Type-1 diabetes is unknown, but it is thought to be probably an autoimmune disorder and can be passed down through families.

Type-2:

This is the most common form of diabetes, and is the prolonged elevated levels of glucose (sugar) in the blood. Type-2 diabetes occurs when the muscle and fat cells stop ‘refuse’ to work with Insulin anymore, they stop listening to insulin and stop accepting blood glucose (sugar). This causes the blood glucose to remain high, Insulin resistance, hyperglycemia.

Type-2 diabetes usually, most often, occurs when we are over weight and are storing excess fat. When this occurs, the body can not use insulin in the correct way. The level of this threshold varies from person to person, just as alcohol threshold varies person to person, but just like alcohol if we kept drinking we WILL eventually become drunk, with excess weight and fat storage we WILL eventually become Type-2 diabetic.

 Often people with type-2 diabetes will show no symptoms at first, they may not have symptoms for a number of years, but early signs may include-

-          Bladder, kidney, skin or other infections that are more frequent and take time to heel

-          Fatigue

-          Hunger

-          Increased thirst

-          Increased urination

-          blurred vision

-          pain or numbness in feet and/or hands

-          erectile dysfunction

PubMed Health - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0002194/

Thank you all, I hope this is informative, helpful and makes sense!

Hope you are having a great weekend!

Be Active, Eat Whole, Choose Health!

Marlon

Marlon Steele

MSc BSc CSCS Pn-1

MarlonJDSteele@gmail.com

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