My Secret to Healthy Weight Loss, Part 2: Carbohydrates: a Love/Hate Relationship

 

I love warm, soft, doughy, loving, caring and delicious carbohydrates. They represent all that is comforting and satisfying. But warm, oven fresh dinner rolls, bagels, muffins, bread and flaky, croissants will love you back even more. They love you by giving you big, puffy, soft, rolls of extra fat tissue that undulate and cascade all over your body. In essence, Carbohydrates just want to give you a big hug. Quite literally. They hug your entire body with soft, squeezable, dimply flesh. How nice of them :)

Of course, I'm half joking. Obviously carbohydrates play a very important role in out bodies physiological processes as well as are essential to provide nutritional needs....but, there's a big BUT coming. (pun intended)

BUT... that all being said, there is a fine line between the carbohydrates your body requires and the carbohydrates that have been jam packed into every grocery item you buy these days.

If you look back thousands of years ago at what our ancestors ate you will see a very different diet than what you would commonly witness today. Back in those days the common food staples were meats, eggs, vegetables, fruit, fungi, roots and nuts. It completely excludes grains, dairy products, refined sugar, refined salt and processed oils. For purposes of this blog I'm going to focus on the 'grains' specifically.

Our distant ancestors did consume wheat in the latter years, but the grains they consumed are a far cry from what we are devouring at a rapid rate these days. Wheat has been severely, genetically modified and over processed in the last few hundred years.


In the last century our diet has evolved into a mass, over consumption of wheat.

　

 "Today’s wheat may be dangerous because it greatly elevates blood sugar levels, leading to insulin spikes that cause chronic inflammation and excess belly fat (visceral fat). By eating some form of wheat morning noon and night – which many of us do – you’re not only gaining weight, but are also becoming more susceptible to a whole range of inflammatory diseases and ailments including heart disease, diabetes, fatigue, acne, arthritis, IBS and even dementia."

"...modern wheat is also a highly addictive complex carbohydrate since it contains a special protein called gliatin, which has the same effect on brain receptors as opium. Gliatin stimulates the appetite, creating incessant hunger and cravings for more wheat products and refined carbs."

Dr. William Davis(cardiologist)

It's not just the obvious items like bread, muffins, bagels, etc. that you have to watch out for anymore. Wheat is literally in everything these days. If you look closely at food ingredients you can barely find an item at the grocery store that is actually free of wheat.


Here is list of food items, you may be surprised to find out, that contain wheat:

Canned soups, Vegetables (frozen or canned), Sauces, Dip and gravy mixes, instant drinks, deserts (ice cream, puddings, sorbet), Condiments, Salad Dressings, Meats (sausage, lunch meats), Cheese (processed cheese products, cheese spreads) and Sweets (licorice, chocolates, chewing gum).

Corn starch, rice starch and potato starch are another huge component of processed foods these days.. but I'll leave that for another time ;)

The key goal of this message is to help you to become more educated about the food you are putting in your body.

I'm not suggesting that anyone go 'cold turkey' and just give up all of these items immediately. But I'll share the advice that I give to myself, "Just try to eat LESS of it". I am a firm believer in taking baby steps to achieve goals. For myself, I long ago decided that I would not eat muffins or bagels anymore (except on rare occasions as a treat). Once that became easy I took it to another level. I then decided that I would limit myself to eat only two slices of bread a day. Then eventually that became easy. And so on and so forth. One small step at a time.

Here are some of my daily tricks:

*I make slightly, bigger salads at dinner

*I add more veggies to a sandwich or wrap

*when I make pasta dishes or rice dishes I load them up with vegetables

*for snacks I'll have an apple and yogurt, or one slice 
  of toast with peanut butter, or an egg with toast (keeping within my limit of 'two slices of bread a
  day')

*if I'm preparing a meal that has a wheat or carbohydrate component it only takes up 1/4 of my
  dinner plate... And 1/2 of the dinner plate is veggies or a salad.


The main idea is to fill up on the 'good stuff' so you're less hungry and less likely to consume the 'bad stuff'. Don't let yourself become over whelmed thinking you have to change Everything all at once. Look at it this way: make one, little, smart decision for yourself every day :) One step at a time.

Cheers,
Bootsy