Understanding Carbohydrates For Diabetics

Since what you do and don't put in your body is such a critical component in being able balance your blood sugar without drugs, we urge you to read this section thoroughly.

If you've already been diagnosed as Diabetic or you're pre-diabetic, chances are, you've been told to eliminate or reduce your intake of carbohydrates. While this advice is partly true, there's much more to be considered.

The question that you should be asking instead is, "Which carbohydrates are actually good for me, and which are not?"

Some people advocate low carb diets to help lower blood sugar levels. There's no question a low carb diet has helped Diabetics lower their blood sugar, but what's the long term affect on your health using this approach?

If you have, in fact, reduced your intake of carbohydrates, do you also find yourself getting fatigued much easier, or just not having the energy you once enjoyed? If you have, there's a very logical reason for this...

We strongly encourage you to read this section of our resources site as many times as it takes for it to make "good health sense" to you. It can be that important in helping you take control in your fight against Diabetes.

Carbohydrates & Energy

When functioning at an optimum level, our body creates its own energy from the foods we eat.

Carbohydrates are the human body's primary source of energy, providing 4 calories of energy per gram. When carbohydrates are broken down by the body, a simple sugar called glucose is produced. Glucose is critical to help maintain tissue protein, metabolize fat, and fuel (energize) the central nervous system.

Glucose is absorbed into the bloodstream through the intestinal wall. Some of this glucose goes straight to work in our brain cells and red blood cells, while the rest makes its way to the liver and muscles, where it is stored as glycogen, and to our fat cells, where it is stored as free fatty acids.

Glycogen is one of the body's auxiliary energy sources, tapped and converted back into glucose when we need more energy. Stored free fatty acids also serve as a backup source of energy, but our body cannot access them as long as insulin is still present in the body (In short, that's why we get fat).

*It's important to remember that the pancreas only produces insulin when when our blood sugar levels are high, typically after we've just eaten or drank something.

Fructose and galactose found in fruits, other sugars resulting from the breakdown of carbohydrates, go straight to the liver, where they are converted into glucose.

    Important: Many people also mistakenly believe that all fructose is the same, and consequently, it is a healthier sugar - especially since it is used in many so-called "natural" foods. While there is a small amount of fructose naturally present in fruit, the fructose that is added to many commercially prepared foods is nearly as refined as plain white sugar. Translation? It's bad for you!

    Most of the fructose you'll encounter is in the form of high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS), which has nearly eclipsed refined white sugar as the most consumed sweetener in the United States. It is added to thousands of products, from cola to cookies and even to canned vegetables. HFCS is a highly refined sweetener that is virtually identical, chemically speaking, to refined white sugar. During digestion, sugar breaks down into equal parts of glucose and fructose; HFCS contains 55% fructose and 45% glucose.

Starches and sugars are the major carbohydrates.

This is very important: Naturally occurring 'simple' sugars are found in fruits and many vegetables. They're also found in milk products, honey, maple sugar, and raw sugar cane. Foods that contain naturally occurring starches and naturally occurring sugars are referred to as complex carbohydrates, because their molecular complexity requires our bodies to break them down into a simpler form (simple sugars) to obtain the much-needed fuel for energy, glucose.

Our bodies digest and absorb complex carbohydrates at a slower rate which helps maintain the healthful levels of glucose already in the blood. In other words, complex carbs in general, help to keep our blood sugar level stable. They're 'good carbs.'

Simple sugars that are refined from naturally occurring sugars and added to processed foods (90% of the foods Americans buy today are processed foods), require little digestion, and are quickly absorbed by the body, triggering an unhealthy chain of events.

These type of simple-refined or processed carbohydrates are referred to as "bad" carbs. Refined, unhealthy sugars include: White granular sugar, table sugar, or powdered sugar (to name a few) that you purchase at the supermarket. However, many experts and nutritionists agree that all simple sugars are not bad for us. You'll soon understand why.

*It is important to note, there are some simple sugar foods that are healthy for you because the sugar occurs naturally in fruits and vegetables, and thus, contain vitamins, fiber, and other important nutrients. Conversely, there are some complex carbohydrate foods - like those found in some white bread and white rice - that have been refined or processed (the ones that have been altered in a food laboratory), and they are not as healthy as foods with naturally occurring complex carbs like brown rice, wheat or whole-grain bread, and oatmeal.

When you look for healthy complex carbohydrate food choices to put into your body, and to help your body produce its own energy and maintain a stable blood sugar level, seek out two subgroups of carbohydrates… starchy carbohydrates and fibrous carbohydrates.

Starchy complex carbohydrates include food choices such as brown rice, baked and sweet potatoes, oatmeal, whole grain pastas and other whole grain foods.

Fibrous carbohydrates include asparagus, broccoli, cauliflower, onions, mushrooms, spinach, and peppers... and can also be found in most varieties of dark green leafy vegetables.

One more very important nugget of carbohydrate information to remember:  Do your best to seek out the complex carbohydrates that have not been processed in a food factory.

When shopping at the supermarket, stay away from foods that include the following words in their ingredients: bleached, enriched, processed, or refined. These processed and altered foods are void of critical nutrient value, and will do very little to fuel and energize your body. More importantly, the carbohydrates in most of these foods are typically a part of the problem in causing your blood sugar to rise.

The body's rapid absorption of simple, refined sugars (not the naturally occurring simple sugars) elevate the levels of glucose in the blood, which triggers the release of the hormone insulin. Insulin controls the body's rising glucose levels, but at a price:

Glucose levels may fall so low within one to two hours after eating foods high in refined sugars that the body responds by releasing chemicals known as anti-insulin hormones. This surge in chemicals, such as what happens in the aftermath of eating a candy bar, can leave a person feeling irritable and nervous, often followed by a feeling of tiredness or fatigue, and of course, a rise in your blood sugar level.

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More on Carbs

In general, bad carbs are refined, processed carbohydrate foods that have had all or most of their natural nutrients and fiber removed during their production, in order to make them easier to transport and more 'consumer friendly.'

Most baked goods, white breads & pastas (except whole grain), snack foods, candies, and soft drinks fit into this category. Bleached, enriched wheat flour and white sugar - along with an array of artificial flavorings, colorings, and preservatives - are the most common ingredients used to make 'bad carb' foods.

Bad carbs are harmful mainly because the human body is not designed or able to process them very well. Our hormonal and digestive systems developed over the course of many many years. Yet, only in the past 100 years or so have humans had access to these highly-processed carbohydrates in abundance. Our bodies simply didn't have time to adapt and evolve to handle the rapid changes in food processing.

    Interestingly, the rapid changes in food processing over the past 100 years seem to have a direct correlation to the rapid rise in Type 2 Diabetes and Pre-Diabetes in America, during this same time period.

    In 2005, the World Health Organization released a report indicating that processed foods were to blame for the sharp rise in obesity and chronic disease seen around the world. Of course, Diabetes is a significant contributor to the chronic diseases mentioned in this report.

Due to this evolution in "progress and profit," most of the processed carbs we eat wreak havoc on our natural hormone levels. Insulin production especially, is 'thrown out of wack' as the body attempts to process the huge amounts of starches and simple sugars contained in a typical 'bad carb'-based meal. This leads to dramatic fluctuations in blood glucose levels - a big reason why you often feel lethargic after eating these unhealthy meals.

Also, it's important to realize that most processed carb foods provide only 'empty' calories - calories with little or no nutritional value. Eat enough of these empty calories, and your body will quickly turn them into extra body fat, as anyone with a weight problem already knows all to well.

The regular consumption of large amounts of high-refined sugar, low-fiber, nutritionally-poor 'bad carbs' eventually leads to a much higher risk of obesity, diabetes, cancer, heart disease, and more. It's pretty clear that the abundance of processed carbs and unhealthy trans-fats found in so many foods is a major cause - if not the biggest cause - of many of our modern chronic health problems, including Type 2 Diabetes and Pre-diabetes.

Here's an simple rule of thumb that we recommend to our personal customers:

The first thing you have to do, to take control of your Diabetic condition is, stop taxing your body with bad foods and liquids. Think of it this way: It would be much more difficult to put out a fire, if someone else were continuing to light it every time you thought you had it under control. That's what we do to our blood sugar levels when we continue to consume bad foods and liquids, no matter what positive therapies we use to help control our blood sugar level without drugs.

In general, stay away from foods that have the following words on their label: Processed, preserved, enriched, bleached, or refined. These foods and liquids include bad carbohydrates, plain and simple... The kind that are not good for your blood sugar level.

Reduce or eliminate drinking carbonated sodas and liquids that include synthetic vitamins and minerals. The easiest way to tell if a liquid includes synthetic vitamins and minerals, and thus is devoid of any real nutrition value, is to look at the label and see if the vitamins and minerals in this product are listed in percentages (%) or mg (milligrams) on the label. If they are, that usually means they were added to the liquid in a synthetic form. In other words, they were not a naturally occurring part of the fruit or vegetable used to make the liquid.

Fast Absorption vs. Slow Absorption Carbohydrates

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