The Harmful Effects of High Glycemic Load Diets
For many years now, many leading nutrition xperts?have been telling us to follow a low-fat diet and emphasize complex carbohydrates, such as breads, pasta, rice, and potatoes. In fact, those foods are the foundation of the current government dietary recommendations as laid out by the Food Pyramid.
For many years now, many leading nutrition xperts?have been telling us to follow a low-fat diet and emphasize complex carbohydrates, such as breads, pasta, rice, and potatoes. In fact, those foods are the foundation of the current government dietary recommendations as laid out by the Food Pyramid.
However, these recommendations have been largely responsible for the systematic fattening of our country. We eat less fat today than 30 years ago, yet we are much, much fatter as a nation.
Furthermore, diabetes rates have skyrocketed over the past couple of decades, and the incidence of heart disease has not decreased, despite the fact that fewer people smoke today than any time in the past 50 years (smoking is a risk factor for heart disease).
The obsession with cutting out fat from the diet has led to us consuming large amounts of processed, refined carbohydrate rich foods. Not all carbohydrate rich foods are unhealthy. However, the ones consumed most frequently by Americans most definitely are. How can you tell if a carbohydrate rich food is harmful or not? It used to be thought that complex carbohydrates, which come from starchy foods, are better than simple carbohydrates. However, the distinction between the two is meaningless. All carbohydrates we consume are broken down into glucose in our bodies. They get broken down at different rates, and this is what is important. For example, a potato, which is a complex carbohydrate, is broken down into glucose much faster than an apple, which contains simple carbohydrates. When a carbohydrate is broken down into glucose, that glucose enters our bloodstream. The body senses the rise in blood glucose, and our pancreas secretes the hormone insulin. Insulin has many functions. It helps the glucose from our cells enter the liver, muscle cells, and fat cells. It also initiates the production of insulin like growth factors (IGFs), which have anabolic properties, promoting growth in the body. Insulin also shuts down fat burning pathways and the pathways that use protein for energy (gluconeogenesis). It promotes fat storage, and induces the production of triglycerides (fat molecules in the blood). The faster the carbohydrate enters the bloodstream as glucose, the more insulin is required to deal with that glucose.
Herein lies the problem. Since insulin blocks fat burning, promotes fat storage, and increases production of triglycerides, which are a risk marker for heart disease, too much insulin leads to health problems. The speed at which a carbohydrate enters the blood stream as glucose is known as its glycemic index. Foods with no carbohydrates in them such as steak, eggs, fish, etc. don't induce much insulin secretion when consumed. Fruits, vegetables, nuts, and legumes for the most part have low glycemic indexes. That is, when you eat an orange or some almonds, it takes a long time for the carbohydrates in them to be broken down into glucose. On the other hand, most grains, sugars and tubers, including candy, bagels, breads, potatoes, rice, and of course all refined grains such as breakfast cereals, many baked goods, crackers, pretzels, and other white flour products have higher glycemic indexes. Many factors affect glycemic index, amongst them the actual form of carbohydrate found in the food, its fiber content, and its fat content, the latter two decreasing a food glycemic index.
Fiber is indigestible, and so prolongs the time it takes for the carbohydrate in the digestive tract to become digested. Fat slows down digestion, and therefore the carbohydrate takes a longer time to be broken down into glucose and enter the blood.The glycemic index isn't the only thing that counts. For example, if you ate a tiny piece of candy, although the sugar in that candy may be digested rapidly, there is very little sugar, so it would not induce much insulin secretion. On the other hand, some pastas have glycemic index values which are not too high.
However, because they contain a large amount of carbohydrates, even if those carbohydr
ates are digested more slowly, there are so many of them, that a large amount of insulin is required. Thus, we use what called the glycemic load, which is defined as the glycemic index of a food, multiplied by the amount of available carbohydrates per serving of that food. Several new studies have linked high carbohydrate diets, particularly those with high glycemic loads, to heart disease, as well as certain cancers, diabetes, and obesity. The foods with the highest glycemic loads are the starches such as pasta, rice, bagels, and potatoes. Of course, the highly refined versions of those foods (e.g. white flour products), as well as heavily sweetened food, carry an even greater glycemic load. Legumes have an average glycemic load, and most fruits, all vegetables, and all nuts have a very low glycemic load.
ates are digested more slowly, there are so many of them, that a large amount of insulin is required. Thus, we use what called the glycemic load, which is defined as the glycemic index of a food, multiplied by the amount of available carbohydrates per serving of that food. Several new studies have linked high carbohydrate diets, particularly those with high glycemic loads, to heart disease, as well as certain cancers, diabetes, and obesity. The foods with the highest glycemic loads are the starches such as pasta, rice, bagels, and potatoes. Of course, the highly refined versions of those foods (e.g. white flour products), as well as heavily sweetened food, carry an even greater glycemic load. Legumes have an average glycemic load, and most fruits, all vegetables, and all nuts have a very low glycemic load. However, some dried fruits, especially dates, figs, and raisins, have a quite high glycemic load. Bananas are also a bit on the high side. Dairy products for the most part have low glyemic loads. Replacing fat in the diet with carbohydrates, more specifically those carbohydrates with a high glycemic load, produces a number of harmful changes.
Although total cholesterol levels tend to fall, HDL (the so called good cholesterol) levels drop as well, and LDL (the so called bad cholesterol) levels shift to a larger proportion of small dense molecules, which are very prone to lead to clogged arteries. In fact, the cluster of high insulin levels, low HDL levels, high triglyceride levels, and a high proportion of small, dense LDL molecules puts a person at a very high risk for heart disease. High glucose levels by themselves also cause damage in the body.
Glucose is sticky in the blood, binding to many proteins and other molecules in the blood, leading in fact to premature aging. For example, glucose can bind to LDL molecules, rendering them unrecognizable and leading to the same sequence of events as the free radical damage to the LDL molecule described above As an aside, this might be one of the reasons that too much saturated fat is not a good idea for many Americans who follow a high processed food diet. The LDL levels can increase after increased intake of certain saturated fats, and the glucose levels produced from eating refined foods can glycate those excess LDL molecules.
These glycated molecules cannot be recognized by the LDL receptors and thus stay in circulation. Eventually, immune cells known as macrophages engulf these altered LDL molecules, along with their cholesterol cargo. The macrophages cannot rid themselves or break down the cholesterol and become what are known as foam cells, which lodge in the artery walls, clogging them. By contrast, eating a large amount of saturated fat in the absence of foods with high glycemic loads is probably innocuous.
Eating a high glycemic load diet may lead to diabetes as well. When the body is faced with chronically elevated levels of insulin, the insulin receptors in the body recognize the insulin less and less. The insulin can exert its main effect of taking the glucose out of the blood and into the cells, and so the pancreas has to kick out more and more insulin to get rid of the same amount of glucose.
A vicious cycle then ensues, and after several years, the pancreas cannot keep up with the ever larger demands for insulin, and thus the new fasting blood glucose levels become higher, and you have diabetes. The pancreas may also turn out after lengthy periods of producing such high amounts of insulin, which will also result in high glucose levels and diabetes. The complications of type 2 diabetes (the most common type of the disease), which is characterized by high insulin and blood glucose levels, include damage to most of the blood vessels and many of the nerves in the body, leading to heart disease, blindness, kidney disease, susceptibility to infections, limb pain, and amputations.
The bottom line is that the human body does not deal well with high levels of insulin and glucose. Of note, the human body has only one hormone, insulin, to lower glucose levels, but four hormones (glucagon, growth hormone, epinephrine, and norepinephrine) to raise blood glucose levels. This reinforces how unnatural high glycemic load diets are, and how unprepared our bodies are for dealing with chronically elevated levels of glucose.A high glycemic load diet may also lead to cancer.
Several studies have shown a strong link between starch consumption (which is roughly equivalent to glycemic load since most starchy food have high glycemic loads), and several different cancers, including colon cancer and breast cancer. The high levels of IGF formed may encourage the growth of tumors. In addition, high glucose and triglyceride levels in and of themselves provide nutrition for the tumors.As we have seen, following a typical Western diet with a high glycemic load can be very harmful to the body. In addition to the unhealthy effects of the high glycemic load itself, there are two additional ways in which a high processed carbohydrate diet harms your health. One is that most processed, packaged foods contain trans fatty acids, which lower your good cholesterol, raise your bad cholesterol, and induce calcification of the arteries.
Second, a Swedish research team recently discovered that carbohydrate rich, starchy foods, which are fried or baked, may contain dangerously high levels of a substance called acrylamide, which the U.S. government lists as a probable carcinogen. The highest levels were found in potato chips, but moderate to high levels were found in French fries, breakfast cereals, crackers, and breads as well. In conclusion, by following a hunter-gatherer type diet such as the TBK Diet, you will be consuming a low dietary glycemic load and thus protecting your body from many diseases.
CHOCOLATES!!
I guess everyone loves to eat chocolate. It tastes nice and looks nice too. So here's something bad about chocolates that you might want to know:
1. Calories
Chocolate packs a lot of calories. 100g contains: Milk chocolate 520 kcals, dark chocolate 510 kcals and white chocolate 529 kcals.
2) Glucose Swings
Sweetened chocolate contains lots of sugar, producing glucose swings which, as well as encouraging you to eat more, are increasingly
linked with the development of obesity and type 2 diabetes.
3. Mood Swings
Chocolate that contains a lot of sugar can also cause swings in levels of endorphins - brain chemicals that affect mood. This can, in turn, produce mood swings as well as carbohydrate cravings, one reason why women with pre-menstrual syndrome often crave chocolate before a period, when their endorphin levels are low.
4. Tooth decay
The fermentable sugar present in chocolate has the potential to trigger tooth decay.
But other than all these harmful effects, chocolates aren't that lousy actually. Here are some pros:
1. Antioxidant Protection
Chocolate contains large quantities of antioxidants - chemicals that help to neutralise some of the harmful chemical reactions occurring as part of our metabolism and during exposure to pollutants.
2. Feel Good
Eating chocolate makes you feel good. It increases brain levels of several chemicals, including mood-altering PEA (phenylethylamine, related to amphetamine), which produces a mild, confidence-instilling buzz. Chocolate also contains tryptophan - a chemical converted to serotonin in the brain to lift mood and increase euphoria - and theobromine, a stimulant that peps you up.
3. Caffeine
The amount of caffeine contained in chocolate is around 10 times less than that in the average serving of coffee, tea or cola drinks. In fact, low intakes of caffeine can be beneficial, as they improve fat metabolism, exercise endurance, increase alertness and decrease the perception of effort and fatigue.
The Harmful Effects of Soft DrinksThere is a growing concern in the medical and scientific communities about the harmful effects associated with carbonated soft drinks. Soft drinks have been around for over a hundred years, but many of their deleterious heath effects have not been studied or known. This paper will discuss the numerous harmful effects and the problems that are associated with soft drinks
The National Soft Drink Association says that the average American consumes over six hundred twelve-ounce servings per year. Children consume many more carbonated beverages than adults. The average young male between the ages of twelve and twenty-nine consumes over 160 gallons of soft drinks a year. Studies show that males of this age group are the largest consumers of soft drinks. Many of these males receive over ten percent of their total daily calories from soft drinks. One of the reasons for the emergence of so many soft drink related problems is the sheer number of carbonated beverages that are consumed.
Fifty years ago the average serving size for a soft drink was a six-ounce bottle. Today, soft drinks are sold in twenty ounce bottles and are consumed in much larger amounts courtesy of the large size of soda fountain drinks available at most stores and restaurants. This increase in consumption of soft drink is not a surprise because soft drink manufacturers have spent billions of dollars in advertising to attract more consumers and to increase consumption of their products. Scientifi
Battling Anorexia: The Story of Karen Carpenter
She was a great musician. A teenager turned accordion player turned flutist turned drummer turned singer. Karen Anne Carpenter was one of the all time great musical sensations of the 70s. On the stage she was glamorous and loved by the crowd. Thousands of people cheered her on as she performed classic song after song. She guest starred on TV shows, was on the front cover of many national magazines, and even toured the world. But amidst all this fame and fortune, she was dying. Karen Carpenter was suffering from an eating disorder not uncommon among the American population. Though disorder was not rare, it was rarely talked about. Most people at that time had never heard of the term Anorexia Nervosa. Sad but true, the death of Karen Carpenter in 1983 opened the eyes of the world to this life threatening disease.
The dieting began in 1967 when Karen's doctor put her on a water diet, bringing her weight down from 140 lbs to 120. When she had made it down to 115 lbs, people told her she looked good, but she could only reply that this was just the beginning of the weight loss, and that she wanted to lose still more. By the fall of 1975, Karen was down to 80 lbs. She was taking dozens of thyroid pills a day, and throwing up the little food that she ate. Karen's body was so weak that she was forced to lay down between shows, and the audience was gasping at her body as she walked on stage. It was this year in Las Vegas that Karen collapsed on stage while singing "Top of the World". It was a big scare to the audience and her family. After being rushed to the hospital, it was reported that Karen was 35 lbs underweight. It was this final collapse that made Karen Carpenter realize that she had a serious problem. She went to doctors and therapists, and eventually began to believe that she was well. However, in reality, her body was still suffering from the lack of food, the over dosages of laxatives, the lack of sleep, and the anxiety of being on the road. When she died in 1983, it was a shock to many people who believed that she had been cured.The emergency call came at 8:51 am on February 4, 1983. Karen Carpenter's mother found her naked and unconscious on the floor of a walk-in wardrobe closet in their home in Downey, California. She was rushed to the hospital where attempts were made to save her life, but within an hour, Karen Carpenter was dead. She died of a cardiac arrest caused by the strain that the anorexia had put on her heart. At the age of 32, she was 5'4", but weighed only 108 lbs.
Karen Carpenter was vibrant and energetic, they said. As Gil Friesen, the president of A&M Records described her, she was "...the girl next door, always up even when she was down". She had the common signs of anorexia. She was sweet, but kept her emotions inside. She was the kind of person who would take care of other people, but not herself. They called her a living skull, and a tormented and unhappy woman. She was psychotic about her weight, and self-conscious about her natural pear-shaped chubbiness. Karen Carpenter was a talented, ambitious young white female from a middle class home. She was the prime example of a victim of anorexia nervosa. by Adena Young.
Harmful Effects of Crash Dieting
Written by Jenna LoCastro on April 10, 2006
Every girl wants to look her best before a big event. Often, dropping a few pounds makes a big difference.
That’s why freshman Kate Glass decided to buy some diet pills before her senior prom last year.
According to an article by Mike Adams in News Target, a daily website that provides health information, Glass is just one of the 34 percent of young women who take diet pills in order to aid weight loss.
Many young people are beginning to pop diet pills in hopes of shedding pounds faster, rather than eating healthy and exercising.
Over the counter pills such as Green Tea, Phase 2, Stacker and Trimspa are among the most popular brands.
Although diet pills may be effective in weight loss, there are devastating side affects if not properly used or prescribed.
According to www.teenhealthfx.com,
a website that offers information on health, relationships and sexuality, diet pills can cause long-term and short-term side effects including heart problems, high blood pressure, increased risk of stroke, shakiness, malnutrition, and inability to concentrate.
Until recently, a drug called ephedra was also found in diet pills and energy enhancers.
According to the article, "Ephedra and Energy Drinks on College Campuses,” "Before being banned, ephedra was marketed largely to college athletes to increase strength, dynamic power, energy, endurance levels, alertness and perception," said researcher Daniel Ari Kapner of the Higher Education Center for Alcohol and Other Drug Prevention
Because this drug can induce insomnia, tremors, nerve damage, rapid or irregular heartbeat, high blood pressure and hypertension, The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) banned ephedra as an energy enhancer and diet aid in 2004, Kapner explained.
Even with all the health risks associated with diet pills, people seem to ignore the warnings.
"I think taking diet pills is the same deal as smoking cigarettes. If you’re going to smoke, you’re going to do it no matter what restrictions are placed on them," Glass said.
"If people are going to take diet pills, there’s not much that is going to stop them."
Others believe that people who take diet pills do not understand the consequences.
"I don’t think people realize they could do harm. Yet then again, that’s typical of people our age. They think ‘Oh, that won’t happen to me,’" sophomore Amber Atkinson said.
Dieters who take supplements have other motives such as sport restrictions.
Athletes whose sport demands strict weight regulations like gymnasts, ice skaters and wrestlers, sometimes use diet pills to help them cut weight faster.
Sophomore wrestler Kevin Keough takes a diet supplement called Metabolife, which helps him lose weight for wrestling.
Keough, who explained that other wrestlers also take diet pills, said that taking them helps to speed up his metabolism, enabling him to lose weight at a faster rate.
"I think they’re effective because I also exercise a lot when I’m taking them and that’s something you have to do if you want them to work," Keough said.
According to diet-blog.com, a website offering diet information, an age restriction was placed on the purchasing of diet pills in August of last year.
Over 274 supermarket chains have placed a voluntary ban on the sale of supplements to individuals under 18 years old.
"It’s good that they did this because anyone under 18 isn’t capable of making rational decisions," said Atkinson.
"They just want a quick solution without looking ahead to the future consequences. But some people under 18 may have tried everything possible and want to give it a try. It’s a hard choice to make."
Although the FDA and other government sources are trying to control the dangerous effects of diet pills, many people, especially young adults, continue to use them.
Atkinson said, "I think the only way to truly learn is to be affected by it [the harmful effect] or know someone who has been."
© 2003 The Carroll News, John Carroll University
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YO-YO DIETING
Yo-yo dieting, also known as weight cycling, is a repeated loss and gain of body weight due to excessive dieting.
The term "yo-yo dieting" was coined by Kelly D. Brownell, Ph.D., at Yale University, in reference to the cyclical up-down motion of a yo-yo. In this process, the dieter is initially successful in the pursuit of weight loss but is unsuccessful in maintaining the loss long-term and begins to gain the weight back. The dieter then seeks to lose the regained weight, and the cycle begins again.
The reasons for yo-yo dieting are varied but often include embarking upon a diet that was initially too extreme. At first the dieter may experience elation at the thought of loss and pride of their rejection of food. Over time, however, the limits imposed by such extreme diets cause depression or fatigue that make the diet impossible to sustain. The dieter reverts to their old eating habits, and begins to rapidly regain the weight.
This kind of diet is associated with extreme food deprivation as a substitute for good diet and exercise techniques. As a result, the dieter may experience loss of both muscle and body fat during the initial weight-loss phase. After completing the diet, the dieter is likely to experience the body's famine response, leading to rapid weight gain of only fat. This is a dangerous fat-cycle that changes the body's fat to muscle ratio, one of the more important factors in health.
According to The US National Task Force on the Prevention and Treatment of Obesity, "yo-yo dieting" carries psychological and health hazards.
Repeated cycles of loss and gain take a psychological toll. Many dieters perceive each unsuccessful attempt to keep weight off as a personal failure. The result, over time, is the erosion of self-esteem together with depression and even guilt.
People who repeatedly lose and regain weight are weakening their immune systems. Women who have tried losing weight more than five times will have about a third lower natural-killer-cell function. In contrast, women who maintain the same weight for five or more years have 40 percent greater natural-killer-cell activity as compared to those whose weight had remained stable for fewer than two years.
Some studies suggest that weight cycling may also increase the risk for certain health problems such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and gallbladder disease.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yo-yo_dieting
Anorexia kills 88-pound Brazilian model
Thursday, November 16, 2006
The Associated Press
The death of an anorexic model who weighed just 88 pounds has shocked fashion-conscious Brazil, where many young women dream of becoming the next Gisele Bundchen.
Ana Carolina Reston, 21, died Tuesday of generalized infection caused by anorexia nervosa, a disorder characterized by an abnormal fear of becoming obese, a distorted self-image, a persistent aversion to food and severe weight-loss, said officials at Sao Paulo's Servior Publico Hospital.
"Take care for your children because their loss is irreparable," Reston's mother Miriam told the O Globo newspaper."Nothing can make the pain go away. No money in the world is worth the life of your child."
Reston began her modelling career at the age of 13 after winning a local beauty contest in her hometown Jundiai, on the outskirts of Sao Paulo.
"Ever since she was a little girl, she dreamed of becoming a model. She would put on my shoes, dress and makeup and pose. At home she would eat, but I never knew what she did when she was travelling." said Ana Carolina's mother, Miriam Reston.
pictures of fellow anorexic models like Ana Carolina Reston :
I think that Ana Carolina Reston's death is very shocking. She had the waist size of a typical seven year old girl and she practically did not eat anything. Looking at pictures of anorexic models, i feel that it is very important for modelling agencies to teach them about proper, balanced foods and lifestyles. They should also offer medical support or more model's lives will be in danger.