Understanding Carbs to Stay Healthy
Barbara Morris

Low carb diets are popular. How good are they? How healthy are they? It all depends on what you know about the difference between different types of carbohydrates.

Common table sugar represents 20 to 25 percent of the daily caloric intake of Americans who live on the typical All American processed food diet. In the early 1800s average sugar consumption was about 12 pounds per person a year. In 1997, it was 152 pounds per person. Is that too much? You bet it is. Its making us old before we need to be.

Do we need carbohydrates? No, we dont. They are non-essential to the human diet. We do need water, fat, and protein. It is possible to survive for long periods without carbohydrates providing fat and protein needs are met. Fat and protein are broken down to make building blocks of carbohydrates as food and energy. This is something the carb-rich processed foods industry doesnt tell us.

Regardless of what is known about carbohydrate needs, we continue to consume massive quantities of carbohydrates. Therefore, its important to know which carbs are better than others. Its simple: All carbs are broken down into sugar in the body. The key is the rate and the amount that determines the level of sugar in the blood.

Complex carbs such as green leafy veggies, brown rice, potato, whole grain products, and fruits break down slowly. The result is a gradual rise and fall in blood sugar. It is generally understood that most complex carbs are good for you.

Refined, simple carbs such as cake, ice cream, cookies, breakfast bars, so-called cereals, and refined grains break down quickly in the body. This causes rapid elevation of blood sugar levels. These are not good for your health.

It should be understood that while refined carbs should be avoided because they are harmful, some complex carbs such as potatoes are not good because of their relatively fast breakdown.

How do you determine which carbs are really good, and what to avoid? Simple. Become familiar with something called the Glycemic Index of foods. When you look at a glycemic index for foods, bear in mind that the lower the rating, or number, the slower the digestion and absorption process and the better it is for your health.

As useful as the glycemic index is, you will need to learn which foods are good for you.. For example, a cup of low fat ice cream has a glycemic index of 50, which is lower than the glycemic index of a baked potato. Thats because the glycemic index rating of a refined sugar product is lower than that of a starchy food! So, learn to discern the difference between refined sugars and everything else. Just assume that if its made in a factory, its suspect!

Here are some glycemic index numbers for some popular food choices:
Baked Potato: 85; Cheerios: 74; Fanta soft drink: 68; Cheese pizza: 60; Banana: 54; Sweet potato: 54, Low fat ice cream: 50; Carrots: 49; Grapefruit juice: 48; All-bran: 42; Spaghetti: 41; Apple: 38; M&Ms (peanut): 32; Peanuts: 15; Yogurt, lot fat, artificially sweetened:14.

You can see from the above how misleading, yet useful the glycemic index can be.

The bottom is this: Do your homework. Dont rely on advertising or uninformed advice of well meaning friends to give you guidance about healthy eating. Making educated choices about what you put into your body puts you in the drivers seat and allows you to be in charge of how healthy you are, and how quickly or slowly you age.

About the Author

Barbara Morris, R.Ph., is a 76-year-old working pharmacist and recognized expert on unique anti-aging strategies. Author of Put Old on Hold, her message is for Boomers who want to feel and function as a healthy 40 or 50 year old for 25 or more years. She calls it Liberation Living a process she has discovered that bypasses infirmities and indignities of traditional old age. http://www.PutOldonHold.com

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Bad cholesterol nestles stubbornly in the body. This common fact causes great amount of effort to afflicted ones. If only cholesterol can be passed out or rinsed easily with water, then the fear accompanying its effects will not be gruesome to prepare about. The sad thing about bad cholesterol is its presence in the minute-diameter of the veins, where the life-giving flow of blood must not be trafficked even for a second.

Don’t take it wrong. The presence of good cholesterol is an important ingredient in our vital processes. It is the bad cholesterol, which has to be prevented from clogging the arteries. Usually it takes years of careless consumption of high cholesterol foods to find out one day it is too late to eliminate the disadvantage.

Cholesterol and weight gain go together, the main reason why obese or simple overweight people are prone to having high cholesterol levels. The main factors affecting the levels are some drugs, hereditary traits and food diet. This is the reason why there are normally weighing individuals who get surprised knowing their levels are high.

Usually there is less information about preventing cholesterol from rising and the only time they learn is when they get assessed clinically. It means one cannot simply trust personal diagnosis in claiming safety on future dilemmas with cholesterol.

Keeping a healthy lifestyle is a must in preventing health troubles in the first place. While this is commonly said everywhere, the most practical precaution to be watched over is the food consumption. Avoid fats.

In the meantime, there are food groups that are helpful in lowering cholesterol levels. It means foods with antioxidants help prevent the accumulation of bad cholesterol.

Here are some of these helpful foods to consider:

OATMEAL and other FIBERS – Oatmeal is a nutritious fiber with the reputation for its capability to reduce cholesterol. This benefit became an important issue based on expert’s studies sometime in 1980’s until 1989. This eventually lost popularity and became another issue again in 1997 after the Food and Drug Administration declared how it can prevent heart disease if regularly taken with the practice of good diet low in fat. Other than oatmeal, fibers of the same kind such as bran, wheat, brewer’s yeast, breads, rice, beans, legumes and other cereals help boost and improve the level of good cholesterol.

VEGETABLES AND FRUITS – vitamin rich and full of anti-oxidants, fruits and vegetables rank highest in the food pyramid group. Human beings are required to eat more of this than any other kinds of edible foods, especially processed ones. These have cleansing properties and do not contain a single fat, particularly citrus fruits rich in vitamin C. Cucumber, rich in vitamin E, is one of the best anti-oxidants good for fighting free-radical elements causing different kinds of disease and discomforts in the body.

FISH – tuna and other fish with white meat are good choices for healthy diet. Fish is low in saturated fat.

SELECTED LEAN MEATS – chicken and turkey without the skin, liver, extra lean beef. Without the fat, these protein rich foods are important part of low cholesterol diet.

YOGURT – very good in the regulating the acids in the stomach which is a good way to balance the digestion of food. Yogurt is healthy in regulating cholesterol levels because of this quality, while at the same time it is low in fat.

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There are many rapid weight loss diets that can help you lose ten pounds fast and contrary to popular belief, some of them might actually be good for you. We all know that having a lot of excess body fat is bad for your health. It can lead to cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure, and diabetes, just to name a few. Losing weight and getting in better physical shape just makes sense and if you want a little ‘leg up’ to get you started a really good way to do that is with a total body cleanse.

You’ve probably heard about cleansing, this is just when you go on a mostly, or all, liquid diet for up to a week. During that time you can flush out all of the nasty toxins that are keeping your body functioning to it’s full potential. There are many such diets around today and one of the most popular is called the master cleanse (it’s also called the lemonade diet and the maple syrup diet because of it’s ingredients).

This is an example of a great way to lose ten pounds fast that will not only jump start your weight loss efforts it will also help you clear out the toxins in your system. You can lose up to ten pounds in just a week, or at least that’s what many people have been able to do. There are a few things to keep in mind though. For one thing, most of the weight you lose will be water weight and when you return to normal eating habits you will put some of it back on. You shouldn’t put it all back on but a few pounds is common.

Another thing to keep in mind is that after you cleanse you should change your eating habits. What is the point of flushing toxins out of your system if you’re just going to go back to drinking and smoking and filling yourself back up with toxins?

You’re also going to want to prepare for your diet. Going without solid food for a week isn’t as easy as it may sound. It will be challenging and if you don’t prepare yourself for it, you are likely to fail. In order to make it a little easier on yourself, take a few days before your cleanse and start cutting back on your caloric intake. Doing this will make it easier for you to ingest fewer calories while you are cleansing.

After your cleanse is done, don’t think you can just go back out and eat whatever you did before. There are two reasons for that. For one thing, if you go from an all liquid diet and rush back into a solid food diet you’ll make yourself sick. You need to ease back into consuming solid foods after the cleanse.

The second reason is what we discussed above, why go through doing a cleanse just to eat like crap and put all the toxins and fat right back into your body? Using a cleanse is one of the best ways to lose ten pounds fast.

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You have an important engagement coming up fast and now you are wondering, “How do I lose 10 pounds in a week?” The best way I know of and can tell you about is cleansing.

You have probably heard about cleansing. It is a mostly liquid diet you go on for up to a week. There are many cleansing regimens around these days and all range in price and effectiveness. One of the most popular is called the Master Cleanse. Master Cleanse contains lemonade and maple syrup to assist your body in flushing out the toxins that prevent your body from operating at it’s fullest potential.

Master Cleanse an example of a great product that will not only jump start your weight loss efforts but it will also clear out the toxins in your system. This may be the answer to your question of how do I lose 10 pounds in a week. Many people have been able to do this with ease. There are a few things to keep in mind though. For one, most of the weight you lose will be water weight and when you return to normal eating habits you will put some of it back on. You shouldn’t put it all back on but a few pounds is common.

So, if you only have a few pounds to lose then by all means try the Master cleanse or one of the many others available so you can get into that dress for the wedding.
Remember though, if you do start one of these cleanses and there are a lot of restrictions and you may need to take a supplement to get the vitamins and minerals you need.

You are going to want to prepare for your cleanse. Going without solid food for a week isn’t as easy as it may sound. It will be challenging and if you don’t prepare yourself for it, you will probably fail. Failure is not why your are doing the cleanse to begin with. In order to make things easier on yourself, take a few days before your cleanse and start cutting back on your solid food intake and drinking more water. Doing this will make it easier for you to get through the cleansing process.

After your week of cleansing is complete, you need to ease back into consuming solid foods. There are two reasons for that. For one thing, if you go from an all liquid diet and rush back into a solid food diet you’ll make yourself sick.

The second reason is what we talked about before, why would you go through doing a cleanse just to go back to eating all the junk you did before and put all those toxins and fat right back into your body? Using a cleanse is one of the best ways to answer the question, “How do I lose 10 pounds in one week?” It is very good for your mid-section and for getting rid of all the toxins that have been holding you back.

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