carbs

The jury on carbs is no longer out

It's breakfast time. Should you go with a bowl of whole-grain cereal with skim milk... or a plate of bacon and eggs?

The question of which is "worse" for you -- carbs or fats -- is a battle that's been raging for decades.

Many in the mainstream will tell you that fat -- especially the "saturated" kind found in animal products like bacon, eggs, and full-fat dairy -- will clog your arteries and cause you to keel over before your time.

But if you're a regular eTips reader, you already know that carbs -- even the so-called "good" ones found in whole grains -- can spike your blood sugar, pack on the pounds, and make you vulnerable to depression, heart disease, and neurodegenerative diseases.

It's enough to make you want to skip breakfast entirely.

But according to a new study, you can choose the bacon and eggs over the cereal with renewed confidence -- because a diet high in CARBS is more likely to send you to an early grave than a diet high in FATS!

In the study published in The Lancet, one of the most respected medical journals out there, the dietary habits of about 135,000 people from 18 different countries around the world were tracked for around seven years.

It turned out that those who ate the MOST carbs -- totaling more than 60 percent of their daily calories -- had a 28 percent greater chance of dying from any cause than those who ate the LEAST.

On the flip side, those who had a high fat intake -- about a third of their daily calories -- had a 23 percent LOWER risk of early death than those who ate less fat.

Not only that, but they also had an 18 percent lower risk of stroke than those who ate more carbs.

That may be because essential fats are crucial for continuing brain development... tamping down inflammation... and even preventing blood clots from forming.

Now, that doesn't mean you've got the green light to eat ALL fats -- especially not the trans fats found in processed foods, which can make your cholesterol go haywire.
But saturated fat from animal products isn't the killer the mainstream makes it out to be.

The study found NO evidence that the World Health Organization's current recommendation to keep saturated fat below 10 percent of your calories is beneficial. In fact, the data showed that anything below 7 percent of calories from saturated fat may even be HARMFUL!

These results come as no surprise to me, as I've been telling you about the benefits of low-carb diets for years -- especially my favorite version, the Paleo (a.k.a. "caveman") diet. It cuts out grains, refined carbs, and processed foods and focuses instead on satisfying meat, fish, dairy, fruits, vegetables, nuts, and seeds.

You'll get plenty of healthy saturated and unsaturated fats, and the carbs you get from nutrient-dense fruits and veggies are the only ones you'll need.

Eat to live... don't live to eat carbs!

Q: When you say"no carbs," do you mean ALL carbs? What about good carbs?

GR: If you've been reading my eTips for a while now, you know that I'm a fan of the Paleo Diet -- which focuses on animal (and fish) proteins and lots of vegetables with beans, nuts, legumes, healthy oils, and some fruit.

It eliminates processed / packaged foods (basically everything in the center aisles of your grocery store) as well as refined sugars and carbs.

Many of my patients sneer at me when I suggest they change their diets in ANY way. After all, people -- especially people of a certain age -- don't much like change.

But when the change involves giving up carbs... well, you'd think I'd just taken away for their reason for living.

I certainly hope you're living for more than the dinner bread basket!

But still, for many of my patients, cutting out carbs sounds like a punishment -- when, in fact, it's actually a GIFT!

Those soft and warm rolls, doughs, and pretzels not only increase insulin, but they can also lead to weight gain... as well as a higher risk for heart disease, circulatory problems, and neurodegenerative diseases.

Feeling a little foggy in the head? It might be the carbs. (There's a reason why Alzheimer's is also known as "Type 3 diabetes" -- and you can bet a lot of it has to do with how many carbohydrates are in the diets of those afflicted.)

Some folks think that anything that says "whole grain" must be good for you, but even whole grain breads, cereals, pastas, etc. can have a pretty high glycemic index.

And any type of grain -- even "whole" -- can disrupt your gut flora (including creating some not-so-pleasant fungal and yeasty problems).

I can't tell you how many of my patients' "mystery symptoms" all but disappear once they've gone Paleo and cut the carbs out.

Now, getting off carbs might make you feel not-so-good at first, because they feed the "bad guys" in your gut -- and when you deprive, for instance, yeast of their "food," they become quite unhappy and can actually cause cravings for sugar and starches.

I find the key is to pair your daily probiotic with prebiotics -- dietary fibers and oligosaccharides that are technically a type of carbohydrate! They feed the GOOD bacteria in your intestine, allowing THEM to multiply and be healthy and shifting your gut's balance between good versus evil in the right direction.

Prebiotics are available in supplement form, which is an easy way to make sure you're getting enough of them. But prebiotic-rich foods like dandelion greens, garlic, leeks, and onions are also a delicious addition to mealtime.

And if you find yourself DYING for a starchy fix, feel free to feast on a little sweet potato.

Have a question for me? Drop me a line at askdrrothfeld@nutritionandhealing.com and I might answer yours next.