Eating Carbs Actually Leads to Weight Loss and Health
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Author: Mark Hyman MD Carbohydrates are the single most important food you can
eat.
That statement probably goes against everything you've ever
heard, so let me explain.
If you don't believe me, take this little test. Think of a
carb!
If you're like most Americans, bread, pasta, soft drinks,
French fries, sugar, and similar foods probably flew into
your mind. Yes, these foods are carbs -- highly processed
and refined ones.
And if these are the kinds of carbs you consume on a
regular basis, let me warn you, (unless you regularly run
marathons), you're most likely either overweight or heading
down the road to weight gain.
You may like them, you may consider them "comfort foods,"
you may think that they couldn't be so bad since they are
so predominant in our current diet. But the biological
bottom line is that human beings have not evolved to
metabolize these types of carbohydrates.
They slow down your metabolism and contribute to every one
of the major diseases associated with aging including
diabetes, heart disease, dementia and cancer.
In most, cases they are also "empty" calorie foods-the
worst possible combination -- high caloric foods, low in
nutrients. They deprive you of vital nutrients as well as
burden your body with the task of digesting food molecules
that aren't giving you anything you need.
Eating them (especially in excess) is a prescription for
weight gain. But they're not the end of the carb story. If
you're like most people, you may not realize that the wide
world of carbs is actually much, much bigger than this
limited crowd of processed carbs.
In contrast, natural carbohydrates, which come to your
table just like Mother Nature made them, contain many
essential nutrients and specialized chemicals that turn up
your metabolism via newly discovered plant chemicals call
phytonutrients.
So you have a choice: use phytonutrients to spark your
metabolism into action, or drown your metabolism with
indigestible nutrient-poor carbs.
Our genetic nutritional template goes back 20,000 years.
Our ancestors foraged for wild food, like wild berries,
grasses, roots, and mushrooms to find life-giving
phytonutrients that all humans are designed by nature to
eat.
On a recent vacation I found myself in a sea of
phytonutrients in the wild islands of Southeast Alaska. I
was foraging along with the grizzly bears for bog
cranberries, blueberries, nagoonberries, raspberries, and
strawberries. These scrumptious berries, bursting with
phytonutrients, were smaller, richer in color and taste,
(and lower in sugar) than their domestic berry cousins.
Here's a tip: The greater variety and the deeper the color
of plant foods you eat, the higher their concentration of
phytonutrients. The key is to learn which
phytonutrient-dense foods can prevent disease and promote
weight loss.
Want phytonutrient power?
Here 's a small sample of the many superfoods that contain
these powerful phytonutrients: isoflavones in soy foods,
lignans in flax seeds, catechins in green tea, polyphenols
in cocoa (yes, chocolate!), glucosinolates in broccoli,
carnosol in rosemary, and resveratrol in red wine.
And there are hundreds more that can help you unlock the
secret to natural weight loss. All of these compounds --
and dozens more -- will help you fight disease and obesity.
These special compounds literally communicate with your
genes and turn on messages of health and weight loss. They
are key to the success people experience in losing weight
on a program I've developed during my 20-years practicing
medicine, called UltraMetabolism.
Before you reach for that Cinnabon, know that
phytonutrients only occur in whole, unrefined, unprocessed
plant foods. All vegetables (and many fruits) score high in
phytonutrients, while processed carbs, like bread and
pasta, have virtually none.
Here's a shorthand to distinguish between the metabolism
boosters and the processed carbs that will only weigh you
down:
Anything that has been packaged or put through a machine is
processed (like a potato chip). Anything that comes right
out of the earth is natural (like a plum).
Don't let all the terminology -- high fat, low-fat,
high-carb, low-carb, high glycemic index, low glycemic
index, complex carbs and simple carbs -- confuse you. The
key is eating whole, real, unprocessed, food found as close
to nature as possible. Now you know why your grandmother
always told you to eat your vegetables!
Folk wisdom passed down the generations showed how to give
the body what it needs. In the early twenty-first century,
that wisdom is being confirmed in the research of leading
edge scientists. So you can follow these recommendations I
offer with total confidence that the latest medical science
backs them up.
This new science reveals why you should never do what some
ill-advised diets suggest: cut out all carbs. Not a good
idea-because you also cut out all the phytonutrients (and
the fiber) that only comes from whole plant foods.
Along with their obesity fighting chemicals, vitamins, and
minerals to accelerate your metabolism, most whole
carbohydrates are filled with healthy plant fiber to slow
the absorption of sugar into your bloodstream.
And for super fast weight loss, you'll want to eat some
special "super" fiber foods which I use as my secret weapon
with many patients who have had difficulty losing weight.
Once you incorporate them into your diet, you'll feel full,
experience steady energy, and will never be tempted to
overeat.
Here's a guarantee: If you've been consuming highly
processed foods such as sodas, chips, and crackers, and you
decide to boost your intake of those powerful
phytonutrients that I've reviewed, you'll be taking the
first step towards re-programming your body for automatic
weight loss and health.
My dirty little secret as a doctor is that I never treat
anybody specifically to lose weight; I simply help them
become healthy using these and other techniques and the
weight automatically comes off.
So remember, eat your carbs, but make them the right carbs!
About the Author:
Mark Hyman, M.D. is a NY Times bestselling author,
lecturer, and practicing physician. Discover how you can
program your body to automatically lose weight and find out
what special super fiber can help by grabbing an exclusive
sneak preview of UltraMetabolism at
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