The Carbohydrate Wars Lesson 6: The Route to Better Health (Video)

In this final lesson, we’re going to cross the last patch of no-man’s land in the carbohydrates battle zone, hoping to arrive at a place where we feel safe and confident about our food choices. But in order to get there, it’s time to look into the faces of the groups that are at war.

One of the first salvos in the carbohydrate wars was fired back in 1863, by William Banting[1]. Banting was an interesting fellow, not a doctor but an undertaker, and a man who had a serious weight problem. He successfully addressed the problem with a diet prescribed by an ear specialist and was so pleased by that fact that he wrote a pamphlet on it. Interestingly, the diet Banting followed forbade only 6 foods: bread, milk, butter, beer, sugar and potatoes. Some modern advocates refer to this as a low carbohydrate diet, probably because of the restriction on bread, sugar, and potatoes, but given all of the foods containing carbohydrates that are not restricted that’s probably not an accurate name for it.

Jumping forward a little more than 100 years we find the Atkins diet, also designed for the purpose of weight loss, and definitely low-carb. Atkins advised eating plenty of fatty meat and fatty fish. But above-ground vegetables are entirely acceptable on the Atkins diet, even though they are largely carbohydrate,

Opposing the Atkins diet at around the same time was the Pritikin diet[2], a low-fat diet designed for weight loss, based on the theory that the way to lose fat is to avoid eating fat. Pritikin is in favor of all grains, starchy vegetables like potatoes and corn, fruits and vegetables, protein from plants like soybeans, and lean meats. Pritikin.com touts the diet as “The Healthiest Diet on Earth”.

The low-fat approach to healthy eating, which generally means higher carbs because you have to eat something, was embodied in the 1992 Food Pyramid published by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The base of the pyramid, as you can see, is composed entirely of high carbohydrate foods, and fats and sugar are relegated to the smallest space at the top, and appear to be equivalently bad for you. It’s worth noting that, due to the shape of a pyramid, that base of grains, bread, and pasta actually represents more than half of the total amount of food in the pyramid. And no differentiation is made regarding the degree to which the grains have been refined.

In the first lesson we referred to an epidemic of diabetes, pre-diabetes and other blood sugar management problems. The United States is also experiencing an epidemic of obesity. Both of those results are almost inevitable consequences if a large portion of the population follows the guidelines of the 1992 Food Pyramid.

A relatively new and popular version of the low carb diet is called the ketogenic diet, which seeks to drastically reduce intake of carbohydrates so that the body uses fat as its primary energy source.

So, what does all of this mean in terms of the foods you choose to buy and eat? Which of these diets are good for you, and which aren’t? The answer is that the most important decision you make regarding food isn’t which diet you choose, but rather minimizing the amount and degree of refined carbohydrates and processed and ultra-processed food you eat.

This recommendation is supported by forty years of research with all kinds of people, and in particular by the experience of the people on Earth who tend to live the longest, healthiest lives, who live in several regions scattered around the planet that are called the Blue Zones. People in different Blue Zones eat different foods, but their diets do have two things in common: They do not focus on relative amounts of fats, carbohydrates, and protein in their diets—and they eat foods that are as minimally processed, as whole and unrefined as possible. These diets, have over centuries been shown to foster good health and largely eliminate the chronic diseases of modern civilization.

As we promised at the beginning of this course, your route to better health with respect to carbohydrates is actually quite simple to follow. There are only two things you need to remember:

First, every diet that has been demonstrated to have a positive effect on weight and blood sugar has one common recommendation: highly processed foods, foods to which sugar in any form has been added, and foods with refined carbohydrates are all avoided.

Instead, you should look for real food, as minimally processed, whole, and unrefined as possible. In most supermarkets this means avoiding the middle aisles, since they are usually loaded with packaged, ultra-processed products that appear to be food.

Second, there’s no better way to determine the effect of food on your blood sugar than to measure your own blood sugar after you eat. You can use a glucometer or continuous glucose monitor to do that.

As you are choosing foods and monitoring your glucose, it’s important to keep your goals in mind: achieving and maintaining a healthy weight and controlling blood sugar are important goals, but the more serious threat to your health in the long run is insulin resistance, a prime factor in the development of diabetes, heart disease, Alzheimer’s, and obesity.

And if you’re one of almost 2/3rds of the US adult population that is in trouble or heading into trouble with blood sugar management, it is especially important to eat meals that don’t flood your blood with glucose.

We hope you’ve found this information about carbohydrates to be clear and helpful, and we would love to hear any comments you have about this course. Be well.