What's the difference between refined carbohydrates and slow sugars?

The difference between refined carbohydrates and slow sugars is that they break down at different speeds in the body, which causes different reactions. Watch nutrition specialist Peter Attia, MD, explain why slow sugars are a better choice.

Transcript

00:00

Vegetables are carbohydrates, but, of course, they're very high in fiber. And the speed with which they enter your body

00:06

is much less than, say, a piece of bread made from refined flour.

00:25

Sugars are carbohydrates, and basically all carbohydrates break down at different speeds in the body

00:32

usually as a function of how complex they are. If you consider the difference between a glass of orange juice

00:41

and an orange, it's everything. See, the orange juice it immediately gets into your bloodstream. It immediately spikes your insulin level.

00:48

It immediately causes that cascade of hunger and things like that whereas the orange, it comes with water.

00:54

It comes with fiber. It's going to be more complex and therefore more evenly distributed.

01:01

Same thing goes with, for example, vegetables. Vegetables are carbohydrates, but, of course, they're

01:07

very high in fiber. And the speed with which they enter your body is much less than say a piece of bread

01:14

made from refined flour where the moment it hits your digestive system, it kicks off this cascade of high glucose, high insulin followed

01:22

by low glucose, hunger pangs, and all these other things. [AUDIO LOGO]