Car-bo-hy-drate.....Um, What??

This category, in my opinion, is the toughest category. I am not a registered dietitian, so what I have to say is simply from my experience and knowledge. And this particular category is SO controversial. Some people do great with starchy carbs, and some, like myself, just cannot handle it.

I have always been obsessed with collecting nutritional books. I have books that go back to the mid 1800's. It is so interesting how opinions and facts change through the years.

So, I will begin by going back to the Nutritional Almanac that explains the approximate nutrient composition of the body. It says approximately 2% of the human body is made up of carbohydrate. So most "healthy" diets say to eat less or no fats and mostly carbohydrates. In fact, the average food guide pyramid says that you should eat six to eleven servings of bread, cereal, rice, pasta's (starch) a day! Hmmmm....... Now if I consumed that much starch in a day, I would be obese! Most of these types of diets state that more carbohydrates reduce the risk of heart disease. But lately, these statements are being questioned. So here is my take on starch/carbohydrates.

MOST starches (including sugars, of course) are inflammatory foods. These foods, when consumed on a regular basis can lead to everything from Crohn's disease, to arthritis. They also are the primary culprit of candida, a fungus that almost everyone has in their system due to large intake of starch and sugars. It primarily grows in the intestines, but in an extreme condition it can get into the blood stream. So that is kind of the dirty side of starches.

There are high glycemic carbohydrates, to low glycemic carbohydrates. And you can buy books upon books that have entire lists, including processed popular foods. We all know the more processed the worse it is. But even whole grains like rice, are not only high glycemic, but inflammatory. Take "gluten free" bread. It is around 90 on the glycemic index. Who would have thought? Yet an ounce of frosted flakes is only 55. What I am trying to say is, the information is all over the place on the millions of different types of carbohydrates. So, I just stay away.

And corn....well....I can't even get into corn. Corn IS sugar. Corn is nummy yes, but corn is so distorted and I feel is quite dangerous.

The type of carbohydrate I will consume are vegetables, for regular intake. I mainly consume white sweet potato. Not only is it medium on the glycemic (around 54), it IS a vegetable, not a grain. When I try to consume ANY grains, it makes me sleepy and HUNGRY for more, like sugar. Turnips, are another vegetable I prefer. But that is about it for my carbohydrate consumption. I am experimenting with two types of carbohydrates, quinoa, and teff. They both come from the middle east and seem to have the same effect as the root vegetables. Still in the experiment mode.

I think that because food is so relevant in social settings, and the "foodie" craze is so overwhelming in this day and age, that people don't think about what damage the tasty goodies are doing to the body. What drives me CRAZY is my fitness peers, dying to get their hands on everything from ice cream to Oreo's after being on clean diets to compete. To me, that is not respecting the body.

Now I am no angel. I allow myself three or four times a year to eat dangerous foods, mainly high end cheese. But, when I eat starches, I make them myself. I know what I am putting in them, and I also know the consequences that occur for a few days after. And I always think if I feel this badly after a day or two eating these types of foods, what is going on in someone's body that eats these things on a regular basis?

See, I told you this would be a tough one. I have been sitting here for a few hours trying so hard to get into a topic I am so against, for I have been down the carbohydrate, no fat path. It almost destroyed me. Put the two together and it is a path of disaster.

I just will not get into the whole insulin, liver, pancreas digestion phase because that is an entire book. But to put it as lightly as I can, this is a wrap.........and I don't mean tortilla