Tag Archives: blood sugar

Gluten Sensitivity – Part 2

Posted on September 30, 2019 by CFWLS

Wheat flour-why are you everywhere?!! There are a couple of good books that I mentioned in the article. One is “Wheat Belly” by Dr. William Davis. Also a good book is “Grain Brain” by Dr. David Perlmutter.

A quote from Dr. William Davis: “The world’s most popular grain is also the world’s most destructive ingredient.” A quote from Dr. David Perlmutter: “gluten is our generation’s tobacco-addicting and potentially causing long term problems.” I think there’s some real truth to both of those statements.

Wheat has fed the world. It’s been around for a while. The proliferation of wheat products parallels the expansion of our waists. What truly raises blood sugar the most?? White sugar? Snickers bar? Banana? Whole wheat bread? The answer is whole wheat bread. It raises blood sugar more than anything else out there. Wheat is the dominant source of gluten. It’s found in everything (cosmetics, shampoo, and more). Wheat constitutes about 20% of all calories consumed worldwide. How many aisles in the grocery store are actually dedicated to wheat/grain products at the grocery store? There’s the bread aisle, baking aisle, snack aisle, cereal aisle, pastry aisle.. Wheat is almost everything. You have to “let go” of a few myths: Low fat, high carb diet is good. And, cholesterol is bad.

Wheat was first cultivated @330 BC and was Einkorn wheat. Wheat has dramatically changed over the past 50 years. It’s been over 2000 plus years now. Hybridized and crossbred to make it resistant to disease and drought is one reason it has changed. It means we can grow a lot more wheat. But it also means an increase in yield (10X from 50 years ago). It’s a good thing we can feed people. The problem is that modern wheat has been so modified that today’s strain could not survive in the wild without the fertilization/pest control. Unfortunately with all this modification it really hasn’t been tested that much to see if it’s actually safe. It’s just assumed that the new strains are going to be safe. But there are a lot of assumptions out there that don’t prove to be correct. So we don’t know if it’s true or not. We just assume these hybrids of wheat really are safe. Wheat gluten has undergone significant structural change with the hybridization. It’s a different thing now than when it was 2000 years ago.

I s wheat addictive? Obviously a lot of drugs are addictive. Exogenous drugs can supercharge or hijack the CNS. Examples of these drugs are: cocaine, tobacco, and heroin. The endogenous opiod-like products are endorphins. Endorphins give us some of those “highs” (exercise highs). There are other exogenous opiod-like peptides that are found in wheat (gluten exorphins and gliadorphins-prominent part of the wheat). So there is some kind of “feel good” property when we first eat these things. It’s more than just a blood sugar rush. There are other things that are actually occurring. Can they actually make you crave “another hit?” Certain people may be more susceptible just as people who are more susceptible to alcohol or heroine.

Wheat/carbs lead to increase blood sugar swings which then increases insulin levels. Insulin is the hormone that turns on fat storage, especially in the abdominal area. Wheat also increases inflammatory markers. When inflammatory markers go up we also tend to gain weight in the abdominal area. Also, it reduces the production of Adiponectin (heart protective and aids in weight loss). If we reduce adiponectin, we’re going to have a harder time losing weight.

People with celiac disease have to avoid all aspects of gluten. It is a major problem. Antibodies to wheat gliadin are found in the blood. It causes inflammation of the intestinal tract. Gluten also affects Irritable Bowel Syndrome and Gastroesophageal reflux disease. Reflux is probably one of the biggest problems that I see that wheat can cause. Get rid of the grains. Gluten can cause bloating, cramping, gas, constipation ,diarrhea and more.

Wheat can increase blood sugar easier than most everything else. Diabetes was unseen in the hunter/gatherer societies until the introduction of cultivating wheat/grain. Wheat consumption parallels diabetes and obesity. The average weight consumption is about 133 pounds a year.

Does wheat make you age faster?? Wheat, carbs, and fructose all increase Advanced Glycation End-products (AGE). It causes stiff arteries, increases cataracts and slows neuronal connections (dementia). So….wheat free is (potentially) anti-aging!

LDL is often referred to as “bad cholesterol.” Actually only parts of LDL are bad. Diet influences this. Carbs/wheat will increase VLDL and triglyceride formation, and subsequently increase small LDL’s. Gluten can potentially make heart disease worse. Insulin turns on lipogenesis in the liver, therefore increasing production of small LDL and triglycerides.

AGE (advanced glycation end-products) causes the loss of skin elasticity (wrinkles). Wheat can cause acne. Foods that increase blood sugar and insulin will also increase acne. Wheat definitely causes dermatitis herpetiformis (uncomfortable and unsightly patches on the skin). Wheat can also cause mouth ulcers, acanthosis nigricans (darkening of the skin), psoriasis, pyoderma gangrenosum (hair problems) and hair loss.

Thomas Edison said, “The chief function of the body is to carry the brain around.” There’s a lot of truth to that statement. Dr. David Perlmutter said, “The origin of brain diseases is in many cases predominately dietary. Although several factors play into the genesis and progression of brain disorders, to a large extent numerous neurological afflictions often reflect the mistake of consuming too many carbs and too few healthy fats.” Our ancestors didn’t have sugar and wheat as available to them. Their diet consisted of 5% carbs, 20% protein, and 75% fat. The USDA diet is 60% carbs, 20% protein, and 20% fat. That’s a lot different. The problems with our health have evolved very quickly over the last 40 years with this recommended diet. Maybe we need to re-think this. Almost all degenerative conditions are associated with inflammation and the biggest instigators of inflammation are carbohydrate and often gluten (both increase production of cytokines). The assault on the brain is much harder to recognize until it’s too late. It’s also harder to measure. The real question is, “What if we are all sensitive to gluten from the perspective of the brain:” (Dr. David Perlmutter). If we got rid of gluten would we have a lot less brain disorders?

I already talked about the exorphins which are temporary. But inflammation affects everything including the brain. The following can be affected by wheat: worsening ataxia, peripheral neuropathy, worsening migraines, brain fog, and mood swings.

The bottom line is wheat is everywhere and it’s probably not helping you. What do you do? Going gluten free doesn’t mean eating gluten free! Many things that are labeled gluten free are just substituting one starch for another. Eating gluten free is not a bad idea but it doesn’t mean you need to eat the foods that are labeled as gluten free. Remember the “core” of your eating plan: hydration (water is best), good protein sources, and colorful vegetable and salad. The best foods have no labels on them. There is no such thing as carbohydrate or wheat deficiency!

You can get those books just about anywhere. Wheat Belly is by Dr. William Davis and Grain Brain is by Dr. David Perlmutter.

Ditch the Sweet Stuff

Posted on July 18, 2016 by Dawn Olson

What’s Hiding in Your Pantry? Go ahead – open the door. It’s in there and you won’t have to look too far. Take the first package you see and turn it around. Find the nutrition label and look about two-thirds of the way down the list. What do you see? Total Carbohydrates – eeeek! Sugar is hiding in places that you would least expect and may be the prime culprit in your battle of the bulge.

Carbohydrates tend to be mostly empty calories and leave us wanting for more almost as soon as we’ve finished whatever was in the package. These sugars cause an excess blood sugar surge and trigger an insulin release in your body. Insulin, also being a fat-storage hormone, promptly sends these calories packing – right where you don’t want them – around the mid-section (aka Belly Fat!)

Cutting back on carbohydrates may help you do more than just lose weight. Studies show that there are dozens of additional health benefits when eliminating extra sugar from your diet. Here are 10 of our favorites!

1. It lowers your chance of diabetes

Just 2 sodas a day increase your chance of becoming one of the millions with Type 2 diabetes by 26%. Steady sugar intake can result in insulin resistance. Easy decision – drink water!

2. It reduces your risk of certain cancers

Research suggests that risk of certain cancers, such as pancreatic cancer, can be attributed to excess sugar intake. Why take chances?

3. It may lower your blood pressure

Excess weight has long been considered the major factor in hypertension. New studies indicate that sugary foods can also increase blood pressure. When the heart and arteries are taxed over long periods of time, damage can occur in the whole circulatory system. This can lead to heart disease, heart attacks, stroke, kidney damage, artery disease and other coronary conditions.

4. It promotes healthy skin

Added sugar can leave the skin looking dull and wrinkled. Sugar in your bloodstream attaches to proteins, a process called glycation, that results in damage to your collagen and elastin. It may also leave your skin more prone to sun damage.

5. It improves brain function

Sugar can eat away at your brain cells much like it does your tooth enamel! Research shows a correlation between impaired cognitive function and excessive sugar intake. It has also shown to reduce the proteins that are necessary for memory and responsiveness.

6. It decreases your bad cholesterol

Consuming too many carbohydrates may lead to lower levels of HDL (good cholesterol) and higher levels of LDL (bad cholesterol) as well as higher triglycerides (blood fats). Clogged arteries can lead to heart disease!

7. It may help you avoid fatty liver disease

Fatty liver disease is very common in this country and is directly related to the excess sugar in the American diet. High blood sugar results in excess insulin in the system that drives fat into the liver cells. This disease can increase your risk of diabetes, heart attacks and even cancer.

8. It makes for easy breathing

Those that partake in a high carbohydrate diet may be more likely to suffer from asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). COPD is the third leading cause of death in the country!

9. You’ll have more energy

Carbohydrates give you energy – right? Wrong! Excess sugar actually decreases the activity in our orexin cells. These cells help keep us awake and lift our metabolism – that could explain the need for a nap after a carb-filled lunch.

10. You’ll have more $$ to spend on the fun things in life!

We recently talked with a surgical patient who had added up the cost of all the sodas and junk food he had been buying compared to what he was now spending on good food. Even we were amazed! You can save hundreds of dollars each month – and spend it on something to celebrate your healthy life!

Weight Loss Surgery Success – Carbohydrate Sensitivity and Insulin Resistance

Posted on November 26, 2014 by CFWLS

Podcast (weight-loss-surgery-success): Play in new window | Download (Duration: 19:13 — 13.2MB)

Looking for a Little More Energy?

Posted on November 10, 2014 by CFWLS

I love Fall! The crispness of the air and leaves crunching under my feet makes me feel invigorated! Even so, we are headed into a very busy time of year and many of you may feel like you don’t have enough energy to tackle what lies ahead for the day. Let’s take a look at possible causes.

There are a number of reasons why you might be lacking energy such as lack of quality sleep (especially if you suffer from sleep apnea), lack of fitness (it seems as if exercise may cause fatigue but actually, the opposite is true), or eating the wrong types of foods or the wrong “ratio” of macronutrients. This final reason is what I am going to focus on here.

Primary macronutrients are the only energy sources that help maintain and repair your body. There are three primary ones briefly summarized below:

Carbohydrates are the body’s most efficient source of fuel. Whether simple or complex, they are all broken down into sugars – called glucose. When your muscles and organs have used all the glucose it needs, your body then stores this sugar as body fat.

Proteins break down into amino acids which are used to build and repair your body’s tissue. Animal proteins (meats, fish, poultry, dairy and eggs) are complete proteins while plant proteins (beans, rice, vegetables, nuts) are considered incomplete. The exception to this is soy protein. You cannot live without protein!

Fats also provide energy but not as readily as carbohydrates. Food fats are essential for the proper functioning of your body. They provide essential fatty acids that your body cannot make. They are found in meats, fish, poultry and dairy products.

So in a very simple explanation, you may get quicker energy from carbohydrates but once broken down into sugar (rather quickly), your blood sugar increases and your pancreas begins to produce the hormone insulin. Insulin then causes your blood sugar to go down (often causing transient hypoglycemia depending upon the amount and type of carbohydrate ingested) and can result in feelings of fatigue, hunger, nausea and other negative symptoms. You may then eat to combat these symptoms and begin this cycle all over again. By the way, another side effect of insulin is fat storage.

I mentioned you might lack energy because of the wrong “ratio” of nutrients. As the simplest explanation (even works for my kids), you should try to eat foods that have at least double the amount of protein than the amount of carbohydrate (2:1 ratio of protein:carbohydrate) to combat these swings in your blood sugar and excessive insulin production. Keep your blood sugar stable and those negative symptoms usually improve (and you have more energy as a result). Of course, there is more to it than that but that’s why I created My Weight Loss Academy™ and Weight Management University™!

The Hormone You Need to Understand for Weight Loss – Insulin

Posted on April 07, 2014 by CFWLS

Insulin is a hormone made by the pancreas and helps keep your blood sugars in a normal range. The higher your blood sugars go, the more insulin is released to help bring your sugar level back down. The fasting insulin tells you how much insulin it takes to keep your blood sugar at the fasting level. That is insulin’s main job. It tries to keep blood sugars in a normal range. It does this by facilitating the transfer of sugar molecules out of your blood stream and into your cells. Subsequently, the blood sugar comes down. But this also means that the sugar content in the cells goes up. Your cells then need to “do something” with those sugar molecules. The cells generally only have two choices of what to do with the sugar: use it immediately for energy or store it for later. Most of your cells cannot store sugar as sugar. They must convert it to fat (which it can do very efficiently). So if the cell does not need the sugar molecules for energy immediately, it stores them – as fat. So…insulin is a fat storage hormone. Insulin also does some other things which are potentially detrimental to our health: increases cholesterol and triglycerides, increases blood pressure, and increases water retention.

The “drive through version” (reviewed in much more detail during your Weight Management University™ program) is that anything you can do that will bring insulin levels down will help your overall health. When insulin levels come down and stay low, you mobilize fat…not store it. And…isn’t that the point of a weight loss plan? So the real question you have then is – How do you stay in “fat burning mode” NOT “fat storing mode”?

Fortunately, insulin is one of the few hormones which you have some control over. Insulin only goes up when blood sugars go up – in order to bring blood sugars back down. So the way to bring insulin levels down is to keep your blood sugars as low in the normal range as possible. The lower you keep your blood sugars, the lower your insulin levels stay.

So what keeps blood sugars low? The simple version – avoiding carbohydrates (especially simple, refined carbohydrates) is what keeps blood sugars low. All carbohydrates are eventually converted to sugar molecules. So any carbohydrate can potentially increase your blood sugar. The bottom line to all of this is that it takes a low carbohydrate diet to bring insulin levels down. If you aren’t sure how to make that work with your lifestyle, let us know – it’s one of our specialties.

Thanks to Dr. Clark...