Keep Your Life Simple and Your Carbohydrates Complex

Keep Your Life Simple and Your Carbohydrates Complex

This is, indeed, a good rule to live by. But the reverse seems to be the case for
many women, whose lives are overcomplex and whose foods are overrefined.
Refined or simple carbohydrates include bakery products, pastas, and sugarcontaining
foods. Unrefined or complex carbohydrates are found in fresh
vegetables, fruits, whole cereal grains, legumes, and nuts. Unrefined carbohydrates
provide generous amounts of fiber, both soluble (in water) and insoluble. Fiber
slows the rate at which glucose from foods is released into the blood and speeds the
elimination of the indigestible food and bacterial waste.

Where Fat Fits

Fats, like protein and carbs, belong in every meal. Choose fats that are mostly
monounsaturated, such as those in olives and avocados; healthy saturated fats like
coconut oil; or the omega-3 unsaturated fatty acids found in cold-water fish,
flaxseeds, and walnuts. Remember that it is not the quantity but the quality of fat that
determines its value in the diet. An excess of cooked or processed fats and oils—
such as factory-raised animal fats, dairy, and margarine—interferes with the
burning of glucose and increases insulin resistance. The essential fatty acids found
in fish, seeds, and nuts, on the other hand, and the monounsaturated fatty acids
(MUFAs) found in olives, avocados, and their oils tend to slow glucose absorption
and balance insulin production, improving insulin sensitivity. Eating a sufficient
amount of high-quality dietary fats will also help you feel more satisfied after a
meal, which reduces the temptation to snack on refined carbs.

Micronutrients and Phytonutrients

The previous advice focuses on the macronutrient balances that are most likely
to stabilize blood sugar. But for macronutrients to be effective, adequate
micronutrients and phytonutrients are needed to produce the necessary enzymes and
hormones for everything to work together.

One way to start is by choosing local, organic food. Organic food has been
shown to be significantly higher in trace mineral nutrition by a factor of two to ten
times when compared to the conventionally grown products generally available in
supermarkets (Grinder-Pedersen et al. 2003). If you eat a high proportion of
conventional foods from the supermarket and experience the signs and symptoms of
dysglycemia, it’s likely that you are missing essential vitamins and minerals to
support the proper synthesis of insulin and glucagon—most notably chromium,
magnesium, and zinc. Likewise, a conventional standard American diet lacks the
substances that make cell membranes more sensitive, rather than more resistant, to
insulin. To counter this problem, we recommend consuming plenty of essential fatty
acids of the omega-3 variety found in flaxseeds, fish, and algae, as well as vitamin
E, coenzyme Q10, and lipoic acid.

We have seen people who eat very well and regularly take culinary and
medicinal herbs manage this dysglycemic process without multivitamins and
minerals because their food is rich in these factors. But we have not seen people
who take a variety of well-chosen vitamins, minerals, and herbs succeed in
stabilizing blood-sugar levels if their diets include regular infusions of fast foods,
sugar, and stimulants like coffee.