The Low Down On
“Low Carbs”
I went to
the Hy Vee store in our
town just to check out the special “low carb” items
they advertised. Surprised at what I found, I spoke to one of the managers and
said, “This “low carb” business is the biggest fraud
that has been perpetrated on the public for a long time. Do they actually fall
for it?” He laughed and said, “They sure do, and then they grab a Mountain Dew
on the way out!” (One regular Mountain Dew contains 46 grams, about 11
teaspoons full of pure carbohydrate in the form of some kind of refined sugar.)
Throughout the store there were the “Low Carb” Diet foods brilliantly displayed. Among them there
were many foods that never had significant amounts of carbohydrate in them in
the first place - meats, cheese, eggs even spreads. But it was the items
especially made for the Atkins diet that disturbed me most.
For example,
there was an “Atkins Baking Mix", 20 oz. $10.99, about 10 times the cost
of regular cake mixes. 1 oz serving was said to have 3 grams “Net Carbs”, but
the FDA required legal label said there were actually 6 grams carbohydrate
there. You see, they had substituted soy flour for wheat flour. Soy flour has
almost exactly the same amount of carbohydrate as protein, but a note on the
package explains that polydextrose is not counted
because it is “minimally
absorbed and has a negligible effect on blood sugar”. Polydextrose
is starch, and starch is made up of many sugar molecules just waiting to be
released by digestion and absorbed totally.
What
does the low carb fad (craze) mean?
Principally, it means that there are a lot of
people out there anxious to empty your pockets! None of them would consider
themselves “conspiring men”. They just want to capture their share of the
windfall that has come to Dr. Atkins and company by taking advantage of the
inordinate love of meats, so much a part of the American culture! It’s the
direct result of the large scale acceptance of the Atkins’ Diet that
deceptively promises rapid weight loss with improved, continued health by the
consumption of large amounts of meat proteins with their accompanying fats.
Since carbohydrates are the only other basic food there is, it naturally
follows that carbohydrates must then be restricted. To make that happen, the
populace must be made to believe that “carbs” are
harmful and responsible for their obesity!
It is
significant that Atkins knew that to restrict carbohydrates meant restricting a
wide variety of nutrients necessary for life and health. For that reason, on
his diet, supplements were an integral part of the diet from the start.
Now we are hearing huge amounts of supplements being advertised specifically to
provide those nutrients missing or in short supply because of the “low carb” diet! Lots of people are getting into the act!
“Conspiring men”? Maybe not really. They may have just
fallen for the big lie created by the Father of Lies to distract even the
elect, if possible, from following the way of the Lord! The sad part of it is
that there is no way those supplements can provide the missing nutrients
most basic to life and continued good health.
Where does the Word of Wisdom come into the
picture?
1. D&C
86:2b - “Yea, flesh also, of beasts and of fowls of the air, I, the Lord, hath
ordained for the use of man, with thanksgiving. Nevertheless, they are
to be used sparingly; and it is pleasing unto me that they should not
be used only in times of winter, or of cold, or of famine.” “..., it is not given that one man should
possess that which is above another; wherefore the world lieth in sin; and woe
be unto that man that
sheddeth blood or that wasteth flesh and hath no need.” (Doctrine
and Covenants 49:3 e & f.)
How can any
Saint justify ignoring the Word of God to choose the word of a man who has made
untold millions by recommending exactly the opposite of what God says is good?
God says, “Eat it sparingly”. Atkins says, “Gorge yourselves!”*
Peter and the Apostles with him thought, “We ought to obey God rather than men”
and were blessed for it. (Acts
*Gorge is
defined, “To satisfy fully or to repletion”.
2. D&C
86:2a &3a. All wholesome herbs, and all fruits are
each ordained in its own season, for “the constitution, nature and use of
man”. That means that they are created with substances that are essential
for the building up and maintenance of healthy bodies. God made them in
beautiful shapes and colors with a wide variety of flavors, textures, and
fragrances, all characteristics designed to entice us to use them to satisfy
our nature - the way He made us. And if we expect to claim His promises, He
expects us to use them with prudence and thanksgiving.
3. D&C
86:2c &3a &b. All grain is good for the food of man, as are all the
products of plants whether in the ground or above it (tubers, roots, nuts - foods
that provide carbohydrates for energy to sustain our bodies.) But the grains
are ordained to be the staff of life for both mankind and for beasts of
the field, fowls of the air, other named creatures, with wheat especially
designed to meet the needs of the human family.
It is
interesting to note that these three classes of foods that God designated as
necessary for the building and maintenance of our bodies and as desirable as
the major support for the activity of those bodies are the very ones that the
Atkins diet at first forbids and then strenuously restricts. Fats provide two
and one fourth times as much energy per gram as carbohydrates but are not
accompanied by the plethora of vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients,
no one knows how many, required to make that energy safely useable.
Carbohydrates are the foods that provide the energy necessary for the body to
survive, combined with the nutrients that make it useable with safety.
The “Low Carb” diet deprives the participant of the very foods God
said were essential, and substitutes the ones God said to use sparingly. In an
effort to compensate for the deficiency, expensive supplements are offered. But
to date there is no supplement that can provide them all. For one reason, we
simply do not yet know them all. For another, if we put all that we do know in
pills, the pills would be far too voluminous to swallow! And, perhaps more
importantly, we do know that efforts made to provide one phytonutrient,
beta carotene, as a supplement resulted in promoting cancer rather than
promoting health. We don’t know how many others of these known phytochemicals would have the same or other deleterious
effects.
Note that fruits, vegetables and grains
combine each of the three major foods groups, carbohydrates, protein and fats.
When these foods are eaten, there is always carbohydrate available to assist in
the use of the fat. Meats omit the
carbohydrate group completely except for a minute amount of glycogen stored in
the muscles for immediate use. Incidentally, fruit, vegetable and grain fats
provide essential fatty acids and are far less saturated than animal
fats.
Percentage
of Calories Carbohydrate, Protein, and Fat
Food Calories
Carbohydrate Protein Fat
Almonds 15% 14% 71%
Berries 80% 7% 13%
Broccoli 58% 35% 7%
Soybeans
(dry) 31% 32% 37%
Pork,
Trimmed 0 57%
43%
Beef,
Trimmed 0 63% 37%
Chicken,
trimmed 0 80% 20%
What are
Carbohydrates, now popularly called “Carbs”?
Carbohydrates
are chemical arrangements of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen that form sugars. They
are generally classified as simple or complex. The simple carbohydrates are
molecules made up of one or two simple sugars. If only one is free in the food,
it is a monosaccharide. If two simple sugars are linked together, they are
disaccharides. If there are many simple sugars linked together, they are
polysaccharides and are called complex carbohydrates. Starches and fibers are
complex carbohydrates.
Glucose and
fructose are the two most common naturally occurring monosaccharides.
They occur in honey and in sucrose, the disaccharide we know as white, turbinado, “raw” or brown sugar, in approximately equal
proportions. Glucose is linked with galactose to form
lactose in milk. Glucose is linked with more glucose to form maltose in grains.
All of these sugars are found in fruits,
vegetables, whole grains, honey, and syrups, except for lactose which is found
only in milk where it assists the body to absorb calcium, a principal nutrient
of that food. When they are linked together in starches they are technically
known as polydextroses. Even the unusual sugars (saccharides) now being sold by opportunists as “glyconuritionals” for huge amounts of money, and with
outlandish promises implied, are present in abundance in the hemicelluloses
(fibers) of fruits, vegetables and whole grains.
What Do Carbohydrates Do?
Glucose, also
called dextrose, is the monosaccharide on which human life depends. This
sugar is the principal fuel on which the body lives and moves. It is the only
source of energy for the brain except
in conditions of starvation when the body is approaching death. Then ketones
can be called upon to partially, but only partially, supply the need. In fact
every cell, including the brain, depends on glucose for energy with
which to perform its normal function in the human body.
Glucose can
go directly into the blood stream and be used for energy by every cell in the
body. All of the disaccharides, every polysaccharide and even the simple
fructose must be reformulated by the liver and transformed into glucose, or a substance closely
related to it, before it is useful for energy. These processes, as well as the
utilization of glucose itself, require a whole plethora of nutrients that are
available only in an unrefined and varied diet including generous amounts of
fruits, vegetables and whole grains.
Fats cannot
be used safely without carbohydrates. Fats require carbohydrates to
metabolize them. In biochemistry we say the fats have to burn in the
carbohydrate flame. If there are insufficient stores of essential carbohydrate,
the body has to go about creating its own glucose from the protein or fat that
is available.
If the body
has to resort to the use of proteins for energy, it has to tear up the protein
molecule, reform the carbon, hydrogen and oxygen into glucose and resort to
some major activities to dispose of the nitrogen fraction that is left over.
Because of the large amount of urine needed to dispose of the refuse, kidneys
are put under stress, calcium is flushed from the body
increasing the possibility for nervous disorders, defective teeth and bones,
osteoporosis, etc., etc. The fact that large amounts of urine are required to
eliminate the waste products of the body’s efforts to supply it’s
need for glucose is one good reason, especially for hard working or athletic
persons, to be especially careful not to overeat on protein during hot weather.
Such demand for urine increases the danger of dehydration, especially when one
is sweating profusely. Remember, the Lord suggested that the use of flesh of
beasts and fowls be limited to certain times and circumstances.
If fat is
the nutrient that must be transformed into glucose, it is possible but
dangerous. It is possible because every fat molecule is made up of a glycerol
“backbone” with fatty acids attached. Glycerol is made of carbon, hydrogen and
oxygen, the elements that make up glucose. In order to free the glycerol
“backbone” with which to make essential glucose, those fatty acids have to be
stripped away. Their presence in the blood makes the blood acidic. Acidic blood
promotes the development of urea that produces uric acid crystals that cause
the excruciating pain of gout. Ketones are formed, and the body becomes toxic.
Ketones can reduce the appetite. That’s one of
the ways in which large amounts of fats promote weight loss - by using ketones
to reduce hunger. The early Atkins diet required adherents to obtain the ketone measurers used by diabetics to monitor ketones.
Diabetics measure ketones in order to avoid them. Atkins promoted their
development as an aid to weight loss. But ketones can also foul the breath,
deplete the body of potassium and sodium, the two electrolytes that are the
body’s defense against over acidity, and can, in severe circumstances, bring
about coma and death. Ketosis during pregnancy can cause brain damage and
irreversible mental retardation to unborn infants. It is also a factor in extracting calcium
from the bones and washing it from the body. Ketosis occurs in starvation,
uncontrolled diabetes mellitus and during excessively high protein - fat diets.
How does one tell “good” from “bad” carbohydrates?
There are no “Good” or “Bad”
carbohydrates. They are all just carbohydrates, a combination of carbon,
hydrogen and oxygen put together as God designed them to provide energy for the
bodies of His creatures. Carbohydrates become “Good” or “Bad” only in the way
we use or misuse them. As Nephi said, each one has the potential for being
“Good” for us and an equal potential for being “Bad” for us. As the Book of
Mormon instructs us, 2 Nephi 1:83 - “Wherefore, all things must needs be a
compound in one.”
If we use “carbs” “with prudence and thanksgiving,” as fruits,
vegetables and whole grains, with reasonable amounts of simpler forms added for
pleasure, they are good for us. If we use them as refined foods, stripped of
the essential nutrients required to use them, the results can be bad for
us. If we use then in the form of white wheat flour, degermed
corn meal, semolina (refined durum), pearl barley, polished white rice, bolted
rye, etc., they are deprived of their ability to provide good nutrition. If
they are combined with large amounts of meats, fats and sweets and used in
excess of our energy needs, the results can be very bad for us. For a
long time, now, this has been the practice of far too many Americans, and the
results have become apparent in obesity, diabetes, heart disease, kidney
malfunction, even some cancers.
One change
that would be helpful is to use the grains whole, a change that is now being
urged internationally by those recommending food policy. Those fluffy,
melt-in-your-mouth foods made of refined grains, to which the populace has been
so long accustomed, just taste so good that we eat one right after the other
without being aware of the Calories they hold or their need for the missing
nutrients. Besides that, most people are not aware that a slice of white bread
has more Calories than an equal weight of whole wheat bread, that a cake made
of white cake flour has more Calories per slice than a slice of whole wheat
cake of equal weight. Made of whole grains, these foods may not be so fluffy
nor melt in the mouth so easily, but they do make one aware that they have
eaten food. Fruits and vegetables with skins on have much the same effect on
improving the diet.
What Are “Net Carbs”? “Low Carb” Foods?
“Net Carbs”
is a fictitious designation that has no real definition in science or in
commerce. “Net Carbs” are generally determined first by pretending that the
fiber in the food is not utilized. It’s carbohydrates
are, therefore, subtracted from the number of carbohydrates supplied by the
food. Next, part of the sugar is removed and replaced with sweet (sugar)
alcohols. You are not told that the Calories of the alcohols added may be as
many as or more than the Calories of the sugar they replaced. Now they are
alcohol Calories, not carbohydrate Calories and so, although not counted as
carbohydrates they must still be counted in the Calorie count required on the
official label required by the Food and Drug Administration. In fact, since the
alcohol is going to be metabolized into a form utilized by the body as
carbohydrate, the real carbohydrate count must also be on the official label.
Consider Keebler “Chips DeLuxe”
"Net
Carbs" Versus Real Carbs
Per Container Per
Serving
“Net” Actual Sugar Total
Item Weight Cost Carbs Carbs
Alcohols Calories
Regular 16.0 oz* $3.39 10 g 0 g 70
“Carb Sensible” 5.6 oz** 3.59
4 g 9
g 3
g 70
*Regular Chips DeLuxe 30 Cookies
(Cost 11.3 cents/cookie)
** “Carb Sensible” Chips DeLuxe - 10
Cookies (Cost 35.9 cents/cookie)
Note: (1).
There are 4 grams “Net Carbs” advertised in the “Carbs Sensible” Chips DeLuxe. There are 9 grams actual
carbohydrate there.
(2). There is only 1 gram less
actual carbohydrate in a “Carb Sensible” cookie.
3 grams sugar alcohol replace it!
(3). There are the
same number of Calories in each cookie.
(4). Cost per cookie is more than
tripled in the “low Carb” version.
General Mills Momentum
The label on the General Mills “Momentum” is likewise revealing.
With an advertised 3 “Net Carbs”, one is purchasing 17 actual carbohydrates!
Fortunately, General Mills is honest enough to explain “net carbs” and to warn diabetics not to mistake the
“net carbs” for the real!
Per Container Each Bar
“Net” Actual Sugar Total
Item Weight Cost Carbs Carbs
Alcohols Calories
Momentum 5.6 oz $2.00
3 g 17 g 12 g 150
Information on Momentum label: Net Carbs
calculated by subtracting dietary Fiber and sugar alcohol from total
carbohydrates:
Dietary Fiber 2 g Total Carbohydrate 17 g
Sugar Alcohols 12
g Deduct 14 g
Deduct 14 g “Net Carbs “ 3
g
“For People with diabetes: Total carbohydrate content should be
counted when calculating carbohydrate intake. Net carbs
not intended for diabetes control.”
Low Carb Dairy Products
“Low Carb” dairy products are especially
interesting because of the way in which the nutritive values are affected. To remove the sugar that is naturally in the milk, they “Ultra
filter” the milk. Unfortunately, the process removes calcium and other
nutrients along with the sugar. In the absence of the natural sugar, much of
the flavor is adversely affected; so additional fat is incorporated to provide
flavor. Note that Blue Bunny’s “Carb Freedom” yogurt
has more Calories than the light yogurt with which it is compared.
Blue Bunny Yogurt: “Light” Vs. “Carb Freedom”
Item Cal- Carbs Fat
ories
cium sium
A B1 B2 B12
Light
Yogurt 80 14 g
0 20 % 270 15%
4 20%
15%
Carb Freedom 90 5 g
3 20% **
95 _ _ _ _
Note: **Calcium seems
the same at 20 %. Label may be in error.
Calcium loss in Blue Bunny Ice Cream substantial. Note
the drastic decline in potassium and vitamins (_) means no data available or less
than 2% RDI.
Blue Bunny Butter Pecan Ice Cream
Butter Pecan No sugar added reduced fat ice
cream
Vs. Butter Pecan Carb
Freedom
Item Cal- Carbs Fat
4 oz. Ice
cream 130
16 6g
10% 140 6% 4% 8% 6
4 oz. Carb Free 110
11* 8g 4%
65 4% 2% 4% 2
* Advertised 3 “Net Carbs”.
Actual 11 carbs!
**B2 is Riboflavin. Dairy a major source. Down by half!
Calcium. Dairy a major source. Down 60%.
B12. Essential
to life. Only found in animal foods. Down by 2/3.
Protein down
by half.
Note: The “low carb” ice cream has a dramatically reduced amount of
calcium, potassium, and vitamins A, B1, B2 and B12.
Note: Actual sugar content is
down by only one half teaspoon/serving.
What are Sweet
(sugar) alcohols?
Sorbitol, xylitol, mannitol,
maltitol, isomalt, and lactitol are sugar alcohols. They have about half as many
Calories as sucrose, but all but xtlitol and malitol are only about half as sweet, so more is needed to achieve
the same level of sweetness. Generally, Calories do not vary greatly from those
products sweetened by sugar. They do not cause tooth decay and so are often
used in sugarless gums. They enter the digestive system slowly and so may help
diabetics when used in moderation. They do not make a person drunk as ethyl
alcohol does, but they are laxative in nature and can cause bloating, gas and
diarrhea.
What is the Glycemic
Index? Is it a valid tool for weight control?
For Diabetics?
The glycemic index is the measure of the effect on the blood
glucose level of eating a single carbohydrate food when compared to a reference
carbohydrate as white bread or pure glucose. It’s a measure of the marvelous
provision of an all wise Creator for preventing the “dumping” of glucose into
the blood stream every time we eat. Glucose that is free in our food - honey
and some fruit juices provide it in that fashion - can enter the blood stream
immediately upon being swallowed, and it will unless inhibited by fiber,
fat or other nutrients. Other sugars require digestion and
reformulation. If the glucose is not free until the food is at least partially
digested, it will take some time for the glucose to be available to provide
energy. That also means the glucose will be provided gradually as each molecule
of sugar gives up its glucose and makes it available over a period of time.
This is true whether
the glucose is provided by the food as eaten or created by the digestive
system. The process provides a flow of energy over periods of time so one is
not required to be eating continually.
Starches are
complex carbohydrates. They are a series of sugars linked together by chemical
bonds that are broken by enzymes the Lord provided in our digestive juices for
that purpose. They are the storage form of carbohydrates in plant foods such as
grains, beans, corn, potatoes, carrots and other fruits and vegetables. The
Word of Wisdom speaks of them. All grain is “ordained .... to
be the staff of life” for man and for beasts. All grains are “Good for the food
of man, as also the fruit of the vine (pumpkins, squash, melons, grapes), that
which yieldeth fruit whether in the ground or above
the ground (potatoes, carrots, turnips, breadfruit, rutabaga, parsnips, you
name them). Starches should generally prolong the time required for the glucose
to be available, but other factors also enter in.
While it
sounds simple, the glycemic index is very complex and
difficult to use in a practical manner. The index is based on individual foods.
We generally eat meals. The effect is very different. Take potatoes, for example. Mashed white potatoes
eaten alone are near the top of the glycemic index.
They raise the blood sugar level very rapidly. Leave the potatoes in chunks,
however, and the index is lowered. Eat the skin with the potato, and the index
is still lower. Put some meat, fish or cheese with the potatoes, whatever their
form, and the index goes still farther down into a range commensurate with
other foods considered to have a low glycemic index.
Or turn the potato into a crisp, fried, low-nutrient high-fat chip and the fat
impedes the entrance of the glucose into the blood stream.
Glycemic load is ignored by the index but is more
significant in the diet of a diabetic or the obese than the index. The load
(amount of glucose available) is a significant factor in determining the rapidity
of rise in blood glucose. For example, watermelon, raisins and carrots are all
listed high on the glycemic index along with instant
white rice, mashed potatoes and white bread. The amount of carbohydrate in a
serving of cooked, mashed potato, however, is almost three times as much as in
an equally large serving of carrots or watermelon. Surprisingly, in tests, the
presence of plain sugar in a meal has no influence on the index of that meal if
the carbohydrate load is kept constant.
The Instant
white rice, pretzels, rice cakes, most breakfast cereals, crackers, and breads,
made of white flour that are at the high end of the index are all refined
foods, missing the fiber with which they were created. Unrefined foods as beans lentils and whole
grains are generally low on the list. The presence of fiber, including
that of peels of fruits and vegetables, increases the time it takes for the
glucose to enter the blood.
Those who
believe we should depend on the glycemic index to
guide us in our food choices postulate that rapid release of sugar brings
concomitant rise in insulin poured into the blood, rapid storage of that sugar
and hence a rapid return to hunger. Studies have not confirmed that to
necessarily be the way things are. For example, lentils which are low on the glycemic index, cause more insulin to be released into the
blood than white potatoes which are high on the list. Factors other than
glucose regulate the secretion of insulin. The insulin’s purpose is to
assist glucose to enter the cells where it is needed. The process continues over
time and is not designed to leave one quickly hungry. Only if there is excess
glucose present that is not needed in the cells does the insulin resort to
placing it in fat cells for storage.
Some enthusiasts have written potatoes off as
high glycemic index foods that should not be
consumed. Potatoes can be, not only a
cheap source of energy in the form of complex carbohydrates, but also a low sodium, fairly good source of vitamin C and the source
of significant amounts of B vitamins, iron, potassium, copper, and several
other minerals, especially if we eat them with their skins. If we just eat
peeled white potatoes or those that have been made into a chip, the
contribution of nutrients may not be terribly significant. But we can control
the glycemic index by choosing to eat them with their
skins on and with other foods. The Lord said they were good for us. Rightly
used, they are.
The glycemic index for fruit varies with the ripeness of the
fruit. The riper the fruit is, the higher it is on the index. That is no reason
for us to start eating green apples. Just choose a small apple and eat it with
the skin on. Adding vinegar to a meal can reduce the index, indicating the
probability that the custom of using vinegar in our salad dressings and
condiments may be a good idea.
It is always wisdom to avoid, or at least limit your
consumption, of highly refined foods as white bread, cakes, rice, breakfast
cereals, crackers, pretzels, etc. In fact, of the foods that may be a factor in
causing obesity and diabetes, the problem is generally not so much that the glycemic index is high as the fact that people like them so
much that they eat far more of them than is needed for energy for life
processes. Dr. Xavier Pi-Sunyer, a well known expert
on diabetes, declares that portion size has much more to do with both diabetes
and obesity than glycemic index. The problem is
generally not that the glycemic index is high but
that the glycemic load is too great. These refined
foods just taste so good, that many people overload the blood stream with
glucose beyond that needed for energy use or energy storage, and it has to go
someplace. It is stored as fat.
Finally
The bottom
line is, choose foods rich in fiber and unrefined complex carbohydrates, and
eat them with prudence and thanksgiving. God said He ordained herbs (portions
of the plants that do not grow woody in the process of growth), and fruits for
our constitution, nature and use. He provided the grains to be the staff of life,
the energy on which life can proceed joyously, and all the other fruits and
vegetables to supplement these basic uses and give us variety and joy. Each of
these foods contains a significant amount of simple and complex carbohydrates.
Whether they are good for us or bad for us depends on whether we use them whole
or refined and with or without prudence and thanksgiving. If we use them as
they are designed to be used, they furnish us abundant energy with a myriad of
vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients required to
keep us healthy. (See Doctrine and Covenants 59:4-5 for God’s view.)
Addendum: “Energy Drinks” are beverages supposed to provide energy, often without the carbohydrates offered in generally marketed soft drinks. They are proliferating on the market as regular soft drinks begin to wane in popularity. They are very high priced, low in the nutrition they falsely promise to provide. By implication they are supposed to replace electrolytes lost in sweat of exercise, but rarely keep their promise. They often contain substances dangerous, especially to the children who are targeted as customers. Because of their nature, they are treated in a separate article.