Many thanks to my friends Michelle Davidson and Joel Nichols for welcoming me every other Thursday morning to discuss what we can do each day to be proactive, healthy,  and happy!   I am so grateful for the opportunity to share!

This week we talked about “Good” vs “Bad” Carb choices and why they really do matter to our waistlines and health!

We only had time to discuss a portion of what I wanted to say about carbs. Here’s what wasn’t on the show…

WHAT ARE CARBS?

Carbohydrates, or carbs, are one of three macronutrients that provide the body with energy. The other two are protein and fat.   Carbohydrates job is to provide energy for the cells and body.

• Sugars: Individual sugar molecules or short chains of sugar molecules. These include glucose, fructose, galactose and sucrose.
• Starches: Longer chains of carbohydrate molecules that need to be broken down in the digestive system.
• Fiber: Carbohydrates that the body cannot digest.

 

 Not all Carbs are Created Equal

• Complex carbs: Carb-containing foods that are in their whole, unprocessed form. Foods in this category include fruits, vegetables and legumes.
• Simple carbs: Sugars and starches that have been refined and stripped of their natural fiber and nutrients.

 

Health benefits of Complex Carbs

Complex Carbs Are Less Likely to Cause Blood Sugar Spikes. Fiber-rich, complex carbs take much longer to break down than simple carbs. This helps keep blood sugar levels steady, as sugar reaches the bloodstream gradually. Because complex carbs are digested more slowly, they provide sustained energy and help you feel fuller longer.

Simple carbs are digested very quickly, which causes a spike in your blood sugar. The blood sugar spike stimulates your pancreas to release a large dose of insulin, which often leads to a blood sugar “crash,” leaving you hungry and craving more sugar.

Complex Carbs May Reduce Your Risk of Some Chronic Diseases

Consuming complex carbs may help lower your risk of chronic diseases, such as diabetes and heart disease. They tend to be high in dietary fiber, vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and plant compounds. All of these components play a role in disease prevention.

Furthermore, studies have found that eating whole foods high in dietary fiber may lower “bad” LDL cholesterol and blood sugar levels, as well as help raise “good” HDL cholesterol.

Complex Carbs Promote a Healthier Digestive System

There are billions of “good” bacteria lining your intestines. They’re known as your gut microbiota. They play a role in managing several digestive disorders and have been linked to various other aspects of health.

Soluble fibers found in complex carbs feed the beneficial bacteria and increase their presence in your gut. They also help the bacteria produce nutrients, such as short-chain fatty acids, which are beneficial for digestive health.

Complex Carbs May Reduce Inflammation

Inflammation is the body’s natural response to infection or injury. However, long-term inflammation can increase the risk of several chronic diseases. While sugary foods and refined flours promote inflammation, complex carbs help reduce inflammation.

Single-ingredient whole grains, fruits, vegetables and legumes contain fiber and plant compounds that have anti-inflammatory properties.

Simple Carbs Can Be Detrimental to Your Health

Simple carbs like refined grains and added sugars are horrible for your body.

• • They contribute to overeating: Simple carbs break down quickly and cause a blood sugar roller coaster. Studies have found that these blood sugar spikes and crashes contribute to cravings, hunger and overeating.
  • High triglyceride levels: Large amounts of refined carbs can lead to elevated triglyceride levels, which increase the risk of heart disease and type 2 diabetes.
  • Increased heart disease risk: Sugar and refined grains increase heart disease risk. A study found those who ate the most refined grains were 2–3 times more likely to develop heart disease than those who ate the least.
  • Increased risk of type 2 diabetes: Excessive consumption of simple carbs can cause your cells to become resistant to insulin, which greatly increases your risk of type 2 diabetes.
  • Sugar is addictive for some people: Similarly to recreational drugs, sugar causes the brain to release dopamine. For people that are prone to addiction, sugar can be highly addictive.
  • Increased chance of becoming obese: Simple carbs harm the hormones that regulate appetite, making them likely to contribute to obesity.

 

As a card carrying carb lover myself, I have learned to respect the immense power of my food choices not only on how I look, but more importantly how I feel and function.  Eat carbs because they are good for you!  But choose wisely because some are much better than others!

You’ve heard it over and over: Sugar is bad for you.

The more you have of it, the more you crave it.   More than likely, the images that this statement conjures up include ice cream cones, candy bars and powdered donuts.  But sugar is far more deceptive than to just find it’s way into your favorite sweet treat.

The problem is sugar is hidden in many foods you would not think included it!  Here’s a recap of the show I did with Michelle Davidson and Joel Nichols about hidden sugars and their adverse effect on our health and well being.

 

Here’s more information about the adverse effects of sugar that wasn’t on the show.

The Truth: The adverse affects of sugar on the body run much deeper and dangerous than addiction and fat accumulation.  While every individual is unique—meaning that the reason for your cravings may have to do with biological factors that are different for every person–what happens with sugar in the body follows a pretty basic formula:

When the body is constantly struggling to get this balance right, the demand for insulin release is TOO MUCH which ultimately results in our blood sugar dropping below normal levels. This is called hypoglycemia, aka…a sugar crash. We then consume more and the process starts again.

So you get it.  The damaging affects of sugar begin with things like food cravings, food addictions, sugar crashes, depressed mood, fatigue, and irritability.

What exactly happens with that extra sugar?? It doesn’t just go away. It gets stored as fat. Storing fat isn’t just about your pants getting tight.

 

Here is what you may not know:

Sugar is made up of glucose and fructose.  Glucose is cool because every cell in your body can metabolize it for energy.  Fructose is unique because only the liver can break it down.  There’s a whole lot more fructose hidden in the foods we eat than there is glucose.  This one organ is doing all the work to metabolize the overabundance of fructose in the diet!  It’s also the organ responsible for turning that unused sugar into fat deposits in your body.

WHAT’S BAD ABOUT THE FAT??  Excessive sugar causes the liver to make fat AND becomes insulin resistant!  Then the danger escalates. Insulin is a hormone and if it’s not getting used, it gets turned to FAT too!  Eventually, the pancreas stops releasing insulin because it can’t keep up with the demand either.

THEN WHAT??  Basically the body is in a state of crisis or chronic inflammation.  The GOOD NEWS IS…what you eat has more power than just busting your sugar cravings and halting this vicious environment of inflammation.  What you eat truly HARMS YOU OR it HEALS YOU.

Those processed foods and too much sugar created a toxic environment in your body. So you signed up for T School and started the process of deoxing from sugar.  Just taking sugar away isn’t the only factor involved in reversing the toxicity.  It’s what you add in!

Food is your anti-inflammatory!  Did you know that every food has a pH value?

This is a special scale created to measure how acidic or alkaline a fluid or substance is. It ranges from 0 (most acidic) to 14 (most alkaline) with 7 being neutral. The more alkaline a food is, the more detoxing it is. Alkaline foods feed and regenerate the body instead of deplete it. In addition, they are packed with live nutrients that help detoxify the body.  You need both alkalizing and acidic foods.

It’s no surprise that the most highly acidic foods are sugar and refined, processed foods.  When you do a detox from sugar, you are consuming foods that are highly alkalinic.  The overly acidic environment is thus counteracted.

Here’s an awesome chart that shows what foods are alkaline or acidic!  Click here to print your copy!

Not surprising, most fruits, vegetables and nuts are alkalizing!  Some foods ARE really surprising!  Did you know a lemon is actually highly alkalinic INSIDE the body?

Your body was meant to maintain a pH level between 7.35-7.45, so with every bite of food, you literally change the chemical make-up of your body!  This will change depending on what foods/drinks you take in. Foods either maintain health(higher alkaline intake) or produce disease (higher acidic intake).

Wanna actually see your pH level?  Test your pee! It will show the pH level in your body! This level will change depending on what foods/drinks you take in.

To test, you  can actually buy Litmus strips at your local pharmacy or here.  You simply dip a strip in a sample of your urine! The best times to check is your first and second urine of the day.  Anything over 7.0 is alkaline. Anything under 7.0 is acidic. You should fall somewhere between 7.35 – 7.45 on the pH scale which is slightly alkaline. Yes, I’ve tried it and it works!

The best choice to maintain that healthy balance is to choose to eat real food!  Eating food in it’s most natural form means it isn’t pre-packaged or processed, so prepping for a meal takes a little more time and planning.  Some tips to get you started:

1. Start with small changes.  Use a real food shopping list that you can simply check off the items you are going to buy for the week, like this one. Choose one day a week to prep food. Keep the prep simple like grilling chicken and chopping a few vegetables to add in salads and soup.
2. Learn a few simple recipes.    Fewer ingredients and less cooking time is the way to go.  If it takes over 30 minutes, save it for a special weekend meal! One pot meals, hearty salads and grilling fish and chicken are great examples.
3. Don’t get stuck in a food rut! You don’t have to eat the exact same thing at every meal. Try different herb seasonings or salad dressings, or add different vegetables to your favorite meals.
4. Use what is convenient! If you don’t have time to chop vegetables, buy the pre-cut. Buy frozen vegetables instead of fresh when you’ve got less time for prep.  Trader Joe’s frozen riced cauliflower is a great example.  You can use it in so many ways, but don’t have to do the cutting. Take advantage of pre-made meals that fall in line with your clean eating plan, like Caleb’s Evolve Paleo Chef!
5. Balance Your Meal!  The easiest way to ensure you are getting a good balance of the nutrients your body needs is to aim for one protein and two colors of vegetable with each meal!

 

 

 

 

Is the term Macro-nutrients new to you?

Well, have no fear!  It may sound like a fancy new diet, but it’s actually the nutrients we eat every day. 

“Macro” means large. Macro-nutrients are the nutrients that provide calories (energy) that the body needs in large amounts for growth, metabolism and many other body functions.

There are 3 macro-nutrients: Carbohydrates, Protein and Fat.

The amount of calories, or energy, that each one provides varies.  Carbohydrates provide 4 calories per gram, Protein provides 4 calories per gram and Fat provides 9 calories per gram.  The only other substance that provides calories is Alcohol at 7 calories per gram.  Sorry folks, it’s not considered a macro-nutrient because we don’t need it for survival; according to some witty, stress-free, amazing dancer with perfectly normal relatives.  However, let’s be real here and sort out our troubled relationship with these essential nutrients (and that supposed non-essential one).

 

Carbs vs. Fat

Seriously, why do we keep pitting these two against each other?!?  Is it because we are scared that fat will make us fat? Is it the immediate gratification that packaged carbohydrates with their “low fat” promise provide? Probably.  Guess what? Fats and Carbs are not your enemy. The real devil is in the details, so let’s take a look at the details…

• • HIGH QUALITY FATS  play a key role in your brain development and health.  60% of your brain is composed of fat. 60% PEOPLE!  It  is necessary (are you catching on to its importance here?) for brain function, heart health, regulation of hormones, absorption of Vitamins A,D,E and K, decreasing inflammation throughout the body, growing muscle and even burning fat!

 

• • LOW QUALITY FATS play the opposite role. Basically what constitutes this category are man-made fats (think hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated oils) and refined seed oils. Think margarine, canola oil, safflower oil and sunflower oil. They aren’t just used to make french fries.  You’ll find them in nearly every crispy, crunchy packaged food on the market.

 

Then what fats should we eat?

Fats in their most real form. Some of the best sources are avocado, coconut oil, almond butter, wild caught fish, raw almonds and walnuts, ghee, and organic, cold-pressed olive and nut oils.

The truth is, these high quality fats are so nutrient dense that it doesn’t take much to fill you up! Even better is that they metabolize slowly, keeping you full longer.

Now let’s look at carbohydrates.

• HIGH QUALITY CARBS are complex carbohydrates. They are the most nutrient dense foods you can eat as they are loaded up with vitamins, minerals, fiber and antioxidants that protect you from sickness and chronic disease. Just like the high quality fats, they take longer for the body to digest, keeping you full longer. The best complex carbs are organic, color rich vegetables and fruits such as berries, oranges, spinach, carrots beets, and cauliflower.

 

• LOW QUALITY CARBS are simple carbohydrates: Breads, pastas, cereals, sweet snacks, soda and alcohol and good ‘ol sugar.   Also known as instant gratification.   We all know this, but the pull of these carbohydrates is so strong, isn’t it?  This is because their simple chemical structure enables them to so quickly be utilized for energy by the body, leading to a faster rise in blood sugar. Then comes an increased demand for insulin leading to all the stuff we hate: weight gain, low energy, digestive disruption, bloating and inflammatory disease.  So much for that instant gratification. Obviously, refined sugar is by far the most nutrient void of them all and avoiding it is easier said than done!

“So, for real…. How do you expect me to avoid eating sugar?  It’s everywhere!

 

It’s a no-brainer as to why you want to avoid sugar and it’s plague of problems.  There are as many ways to avoid it as there are products containing it.  Let’s narrow it down to a some easy strategies to avoid sugar:

1. 1. Crowd it out!  Don’t think, “I’m avoiding… or I have to take away…”. Instead, crowd your plate with vibrant, nutrient-rich greens mixed in with your eggs, toss a handful into your smoothie, and blend plenty into your sauces and soups. Crowd your salad with colorful vegetables, half an avocado and some nuts or seeds tossed on top for extra protein.  All those nutrient rich extras won’t leave room for sugar later. Why? Because your blood sugar levels will be running so steady, you won’t have that crazy 3 pm sugar crash.

 

1. 1. Eat Real, Be Real.  As real as sugar is with it’s sweet talkin’ taste, it’s promised satisfaction is fake. The food market doesn’t make it any easier as almost 75% of all packaged foods contain some form of sugar. That’s a lot of label reading. Pick food in it’s most natural form and you know exactly what you are eating and what you are not.

 

1. 1. Be Intentional.  Why are YOU avoiding sugar? Why did you join T School? Why do you want to be healthier?  Don’t just think about what you want. Know WHY you want it. Write it out and read it out loud every day.  It’s not that you can’t ever enjoy sugar, but deciding when to allow it and how it plays into your goals is essential to your health goals!

 

So, back to alcohol, you know, that NON ESSENTIAL for survival thing…

While alcohol does provide energy at 7 calories per gram, there’s plenty of debate about whether it’s truly useful for bodily functions.  But we’re not debating here.  We can all testify to it’s anxiety reducing, confidence boosting, dance producing effects. We also know it’s negative health consequences and after effects of getting smashed.

Again, what’s your intention?  One drink a day for women and 1-2 drinks a day for men is a typical recommendation. But, what works best for you? Does that align with your goals or is it more of a slippery slope? Are you actually enjoying yourself or avoiding your true self?

 

 

Clarifying your intentions is powerful!

We can talk about macro-nutrients and plans and recommendations but the reality is we all get to choose the foods we put into our bodies. the way we move and the priorities we make important.  Until we decide how to live from our deepest desires, all the information, education and suggestions are just words.

We all define our lives by our choices and our job as your T School coaches is to inspire you to live your lives according to the story you want to create with your life.

If you need help aligning your nutritional plan with your health and life goals, we are here for you.

Ask for more specific help from your accountability partner or one of our health coaches.  This is what community is all about- improving the lives of all through the shared vision of all.  And all of us want to live fully, healthfully and without regrets.

Thank you for joining us on this journey.