It’s easy to spot the junky carbs, but trickier to spot the junk masquerading as health food. As we have already mentioned, some carbohydrate foods that are considered to be healthy, such as whole-wheat bagels, deserve a second look. Just because something is made with a whole grain, is it healthy? The short answer? No.
There are also some carbohydrate foods that definitely are not junk. We’re talking about fiber-rich, nutrient-packed fruits and vegetables—and as you know, fiber is an essential part of the Smart Fat Solution. Fruits and vegetables are healthy sources of fiber, but these two categories of plant foods, which are often lumped together as equally beneficial, can be quite different in terms of how they affect your body.
Let’s take a closer look at some carbs that cause confusion. Grains, the first category, especially deserve more scrutiny before they make it onto our plates.
“Whole” Grains and Half-Truths
As part of the war on heart disease (and by default, the war on Metabolic Syndrome), the Diet Dictators frequently point to one particular weapon of choice: healthy whole grains. This trend started decades ago when suddenly, it seemed, wheat bread began replacing white bread in kitchens across the United States. A brownish bagel with a little shower of oats on top was a “healthy” choice.
Cereal made with whole grains, even if those grains were coated with added sugar, was in the bowl every morning. (Unfortunately, it still is.) Big Food has now given us aisles and aisles of whole-grain
“alternatives” to bleached grains—just take a look at the typical supermarket’s collection of “whole-grain” tortilla chips and pretzels. Then, they tossed “multi“whole-grain” into the mix, which somehow seemed even healthier—at least if you could ignore the fact that 80 percent of multigrain foods are made mostly with white flour and have only a few whole grains sprinkled in. At the end of the day, are all these foods really any better than the same products made with white flour?
THE WHOLE (GRAIN) TRUTH AND NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH
Grains can be real troublemakers—especially wheat. You now know how grains, including whole grains, can set off blood sugar fluctuations and the metabolic problems associated with
them. There is also the issue of gluten (see Chapter 7 for more on gluten) for the 20 percent of the population who cannot tolerate gluten.
However, some grains are nutrient-dense foods that anyone can enjoy who doesn’t have a gluten issue or who is not affected by the blood sugar changes triggered by grains.
Steel-cut oats
Quinoa (it’s actually a seed, but it looks and cooks like a grain) Wild rice
Brown rice
Note that white rice does not make the cut; it converts quickly to sugar and doesn’t provide any nutrients. We also don’t include barley. Although it is a low-glycemic grain, it contains gluten, which is problematic for anyone avoiding gluten. Polenta is an increasingly popular food, but it’s made from corn, which is very high-glycemic.
One option for slowing down the sugar payload of grains is to combine them with other ingredients, including smart fat. For instance, instead of just plain quinoa or wild rice, make a salad or side dish by combining the grains with loads of fresh or sautéed vegetables, topped with some toasted walnuts and a bit of crumbled goat cheese. Have this as part of a meal that includes a serving of clean protein, and you’ll change how the grain affects your body, both inside and out.
Actually, no. They’re not.
Whole-grain flour contains more nutrients and fiber than white flour. But it has the same effect on your blood sugar: It elevates it very quickly. All grains were originally whole grains (so “made from whole grains” is kind of meaningless on a label). But once that grain is ground into flour, it behaves very much like white table sugar in your body.
If you’re still thinking that a whole-grain cracker has got to be a better choice than a regular one, just look closely at the ingredients list. It may have some variety of “whole” grain listed, but whether it’s a cracker, a slice of bread, a bagel, or pasta, it also contains some form of ground grains, or maybe “enriched” flour. That’s got to be good for you, right? After all—it’s enriched with vitamins!
Well, think for a minute. Why do food manufacturers have to enrich that bread in the first place?
Because when they ground the grain (organic or not) into flour, they removed anything that might have been good for you. In order to process the grain into shelf-stable flour for that loaf of bread, box of cereal, cracker, or dried pasta, they removed the germ (because it contains an oil that would go rancid) and the bran (there goes the fiber) and then pulverized the life out of the remaining endosperm
—essentially stripping this plant food of any nutritional value. Once ground and no longer whole, refined and totally ruined, grains become worthless (and harmful) white flour, empty calories not worth eating. The fact is that commercially manufactured “whole-grain” products generally contain some amount of plain old flour.
We’ve been told that eating whole grains is the way to go—they’re one of the pillars of low-fat, high-carb eating and are often held up as ideal sources of fiber. But here’s the truth: Unless you’re standing in an organic wheat field and eating the whole grains right off the stalk to get some fiber, you’re not eating 100 percent healthy whole grains. There are better, tastier, and more versatile ways to increase your fiber (and we tell you about them in the next chapter). Don’t buy the myth that you
need to rely on whole grains to get your fiber.
Remember that when grain is turned into flour—white or wheat—it acts like any refined carbohydrate in your body, causing that inflammatory spike in blood sugar. Whether you’re eating a whole-grain tortilla or a slice of white bread, the result is the same—it’s bad.
Fruits and Vegetables
Fruits and vegetables are both considered “good” carbohydrates and have been lumped together as equal partners for decades. But they can have somewhat different effects on the body, especially when processed.
A few years ago, the USDA replaced the once-vaunted “food guide pyramid” with a new graphic of a plate of food, showing half of it filled with fruits and vegetables (with vegetables, admittedly, taking up slightly more real estate, but not by much). The USDA’s 2010 dietary guidelines had suggested a general “five servings a day” of fruits and vegetables, once again making the two categories seem equal.
“Eat more! Fill half your plate with fruits and veggies!” was the official tagline for the “Fruit &
Veggies—More Matters” campaign that was kicked off in conjunction with the new “MyPlate”
graphic. (Note: This campaign was, and still is, underwritten in large part by grocery stores, produce growers and distributors, and other businesses that have a vested interest in upping produce sales—
and their involvement may also explain why fruit juice “counts” as a fruit in some literature.)
Now, you’ve probably known since you were a kid that these two categories of foods are different. Just ask yourself which you liked better: grapes or green beans. Chances are you liked grapes better—and for an understandable reason. They were sweeter.
Most vegetables have a negligible effect on blood sugar—some, like broccoli, actually have none. That’s why, from our point of view, they’re an unlimited food (the exceptions being superstarchy veggies like white potatoes, which quickly convert to sugar). Nonstarchy vegetables (and even a few starchy ones, like peas) are rich in fiber and nutrients, so enjoy.
Sweet-tasting fruits, however, generally have a much higher effect on blood sugar levels than vegetables because of their naturally occurring sugar content. There are also some significant calorie differences between a cup of kale and a cup of mango, if you’re concerned about calories. These are the reasons why we ask you to be mindful about your fruits and vegetables.
Here are some of our favorite low-sugar fruits:
Berries (strawberries, blackberries, blueberries, raspberries) Grapefruit
Apples Watermelon Cherries Pears Kiwi Peaches Cantaloupe Oranges
Some fruits, like dried fruits, ripe bananas, and papaya, have very concentrated levels of sugars, so we ask you to avoid them—as well as fruit juices—altogether. (For more on why we think it’s time to break the glass-of-juice-with-breakfast habit, see Chapter 7.) They’re okay for an occasional treat, but be aware that they can spike blood sugar like a piece of candy does—though of course they offer nutrients that candy doesn’t have. If you are trying to break out of insulin and leptin resistance, steer clear. Instead, opt for whole, raw fruits for more fiber and nutrients—and don’t forget to eat your veggies!
So what’s the final word on fruits and whole grains? We’re certainly not saying that you should never eat them. Most fruits, for example, in their whole, unprocessed state, are marvelous foods. But there is simply no getting around the fact that some forms of fruit (such as fruit juice and fruit
“leather”) and most grains behave in your body exactly like the high-carb foods that they are, sending your blood sugar levels up and triggering that metabolic waltz you know so well by now.
There is, however, a way out of the carb confusion, if you’re trying to tell the good from the bad.
The key to avoiding Metabolic Syndrome is choosing foods that don’t ruin your blood sugar levels.