How do bad carbs affect my health?

You can eat large amounts of “bad carbs” without feeling full. Fiber fills you up before you consume too many calories. Removing fiber allows you to consume virtually unlimited amounts of calories without causing you to feel full.

When you eat a lot of “bad carbs,” they are absorbed quickly, causing your blood sugar to rise too rapidly. When your blood sugar gets too high, your pancreas secretes insulin to bring it back down. However, it may go down below where it started, causing low blood sugar (hypoglycemia). By analogy, when you pull a pendulum to one side and let it go, it doesn’t stop at the midpoint; it continues an equal distance to the other side.

When your blood sugar gets too low, you feel lethargic and a little crabby. There’s a good temporary fix for those bad feelings - more bad carbs! This creates a craving for more “bad carbs” to raise your blood sugar, and a vicious cycle is created.

When your body secretes too much insulin, it accelerates the conversion of calories into triglycerides, which is how your body stores fat. Thus, when you eat a lot of “bad carbs,” you consume an excessive number of calories that don’t fill you up, and you’re more likely to convert these extra calories to body fat. Insulin may also cause your body to produce more of an enzyme called lipoprotein lipase, which increases the uptake of fat into cells, leading to weight gain.

When your body secretes too much insulin, it may lead to insulin resistance and even diabetes. Insulin binds to what are called insulin receptors on your cells. When your body makes repeated surges of insulin in response to too many “bad carbs,” the receptors become less sensitive - a little like Aesop’s fable of the boy who cried wolf - as if the insulin receptors were saying, “Oh, not more insulin again, just ignore it.” Like a heroin addict who requires more and more of the drug to get the same feeling, insulin resistance causes your body to make more and more insulin just to maintain the same effect on your blood sugar. Over time, this may lead to type 2 diabetes. Too much insulin also enhances the growth and proliferation of arterial smooth muscle cells, promoting atherosclerosis and clogging your arteries.

Find out more about this book: The Spectrum: A Scientifically Proven Program to Feel Better, Live Longer,...

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