miércoles, 24 de noviembre de 2010

Nutrition II: More on Carbohydrates

Hi everyone!

I hope you are having a good day!

I am starting to tell you that I am started the Ultraman's  training  with his right foot. I had a good feelings, I started to sleep earlier and I managed to wake up at six in the morning without having problems with fatigue during the day, which is very important because it allows me to perform well in developing my thesis. The magic is in learning how to harmonize our daily rhythm with the practice of physical activity without letting it to affects us negatively. For that we just need a good programming, we do not need special conditions either physical or economic. It's much simpler than it may seems. I'll write some "tips" that can help them in that regard.

I am glad to see how the last article has generated new questions and discussion. Is that the main idea of this space, with that we will all learn!

Today I will continue on the same line. I'll talk about some problems and misconceptions that will help us to study later the third food strategy which will help us solve problems inherent to the two already mentioned.

The presentation today will begin by recalling that simple sugars should not be confused with refined sugars. Both teaspoon sugar cane and fresh fruits contain simple sugars, but the latter also contains significant amounts of water (75% of weight in case of a banana), micronutrients (vitamins and minerals), fiber, protein and fat. As a consequence is clear that although both are simple sugars, is not expected to have the same effect on our body. In what follows I will explain this in more detail.

There is the mistaken notion that eating fruit causes problems with blood sugar, this is the basis for most of the warnings to stay away from fruit, especially sweets fruits.

Of course, blood sugar leads to outbreaks of Candida, chronic fatigue, hyper-and hypoglycemia, diabetes, and a number of other conditions and diseases, including cancer. In fact the excess of sugar is bad for our health, but you can not get too much sugar from the consumption of fresh fruit. Eating fruits is not the cause of the problems of blood sugar, the process is much more complex.

Maybe this sounds a bit counter-intuitive. Almost like saying that osteoporosis is not a problem of calcium. However, our calcium intake alone does not cause brittle bones, as well as fruit sugar alone does not cause an excess of sugar in the blood.

Eating a diet of fruit, including generous amounts of fresh sweet fruit, do not create an excess of blood sugar, at least when you're not eating a diet high in fat. In this case, the fruit sugar, moves easily, quickly enters our cells and therefore "out" quickly from our bloodstream.

There are indicators developed to quantify the effect of food on blood sugar levels, we will study a little these indicators.

The glycemic index ranks carbohydrates based on how fast they break down during digestion and therefore the speed with which these sugars enter in the bloodstream. In other words, it indicates the rate at which carbohydrates turn into sugar in the blood. The problem with this indicator is that it does not gives us information about the amount of carbohydrates found in a portion of any food. Both pieces of information are essential to understand the effect of food on blood sugar. A simple example is to consider glucose. This type of simple sugar has a high glycemic index (99). However it would be strange to think that if we consume 0.001 g of glucose, the sugar in our blood will increase significantly.

That's where the concept of glycemic load comes into play. Whereas this indicator in conjunction with the glycemic index, we can predict more accurately the degree to which a food raises blood sugar. This is because, by definition, the glycemic index measures the quality of carbohydrate but not quantity. The glycemic load is calculated by multiplying the glycemic index of a food by the amount of available carbohydrate per serving (grams of carbohydrates minus fiber), dividing the result by 100. In this case, the fruits, which are mostly water, has a low glycemic load despite having a high glycemic index. For example, the banana glycemic index is 52 (remember that glucose is 99). But because the water represents 75% of the weight of a banana, its glycemic load is only (in case of a medium banana)

52 x 24 (grams of carbohydrates) / 100 = 12.
(99 in the case of glucose)

In general, all fruits have a low glycemic load. In this regard I must say it is better to eat fresh fruit, this because the drying and dehydration remove water to the fruit and naturally increases the glycemic load, these processes rise sugars to levels that the body is not designed to handle. It is important to eat whole fruit, since fruit fiber keeps the rate of absorption of sugar in its natural level. In all cases and whole, fresh, ripe, raw foods is the best way to proceed.

We can say that the speed at which sugar enters the blood is not really the most important factor. When fruits are eaten whole with their fiber intact, as part of a diet low in fat, sugar, in effect, enters the bloodstream relatively quickly. But these conditions also allow you to leave just as quickly, making them the ideal food, providing the perfect fuel for our body.

The American Diabetes Association published the following: "... the use of added fructose as a sweetener is not recommended, however, no reason to recommend that people with diabetes avoid naturally occurring fructose in fruits, vegetables and other foods."

Then it is natural to ask why we have misconceptions in this point. The real culprit of rising blood sugar is fat.

The mechanism that causes uncontrolled blood sugar is very easy to understand. To do this we need to understand the path that sugar follows into our body.

To be used as fuel for our cells, the sugar we eat follow a journey that can be separated into three stages through the body:

• Stage 1: The sugars begin to explore the digestive tract when eaten.

• Stage 2: They pass through the intestinal wall into the bloodstream.

• Step 3: Then go smoothly and easily from the bloodstream into our cells. This occurs quickly, often within minutes.

When we eat a diet high in fat, sugar is trapped in stage 2, and the body work overtime, sometimes to the point of exhaustion and illness, in an effort to move sugar from our bloodstream. While this happens, sugar accumulates in the blood, and this accumulation is sustained, which wreaks havoc on the body as Candida, fatigue, diabetes, etc.

What happens in the presence of fat that causes sugar to accumulate in our blood stream?

The process has to do with an organ called the pancreas. Under the direction of the brain, the pancreas is responsible for producing a hormone called insulin. One of the functions of insulin is to join the molecules of sugar in the blood and then find a receiver of insulin in the blood vessel wall. Insulin can carry the sugar molecule through the membrane of blood vessels to the interstitial fluid (the fluid between cells) and escort sugar into the cells themselves.

In the body, fat provides many functions needed of insulation, including the conservation of body heat, preventing too much water from escaping through the skin, and protection of nerve fibers. But too much fat in the bloodstream creates some negative effects of isolation. When we eat too much fatty foods, it creates a thin layer of fat in the blood vessel wall, i.e. at sites where the receptors for insulin and sugar molecules. These fats can stay a full day or more in blood, and during this time inhibiting normal metabolic activity, and prevent these different structures interact to each other.

That is why too much fat in the blood prevents the movement of sugar in the bloodstream. This results in an overall increase in blood sugar. This product, sugars continue to travel through the digestive tract (stage 2), but can not be delivered to the cells (step 3).

Of course there is scientific evidence that supports these claims, both to help us understand why the diets commented yesterday may generate increases in the level of insulin.

• A quarter pound of beef raises insulin levels in diabetics as much as a quarter pound of sugar. (Diabetes Care 7)

• Cheese and beef insulin levels rise to levels higher than the "dreaded" carbohydrate foods like pasta. Journal of Clinical Nutrition 50 (1997): 1264)

• A single hamburger beef, three cheese slices increased insulin levels more than two cups of cooked pasta. Journal of Clinical Nutrition 50 (1997): 1264)

With all this seems normal, to consider that the disorder of blood sugar is actually a disorder of fat in the blood!

To respond accurately to one of yours questions, I would say that our body weight is influenced considerably by our fat percentage and the amount of fluid that is retained in our cells. Both processes are a direct consequence of the amount of fat and protein in our diet and not the amount of carbohydrates that we consume, this of course, as long as we consume the right amount of calories related to our level of activity. In fact, a diet rich in fresh fruits, will naturally lead us to lower our body fat percentage and at the same time to release much of the water that is retained in our cells.

I hope that today's delivery has been of interest to you. Soon we will discuss the function, effect and optimal amounts of fat and protein in our diet, which reaffirm the confirmed today.

Thank you very much for all your attention. Tomorrow I will have the day of the intensity in the stadium and strength training in swimming. A fun day which will start early in the morning!

Take care and enjoy your training,  at 282 days of the challenge,

Schobi

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