Low-Carb Living

Lesson 5: Syndrome X

Heart Disease and Diabetes

Heart Disease. Several aspects of our modern diet contribute to heart disease. High-glycemic carbohydrates increase your blood triglycerides and small-dense LDL cholesterol and decrease your good HDL cholesterol. Small-dense LDL cholesterol is the type that can block arteries. Cutting high-glycemic carbs from your diet automatically lowers small-dense LDL cholesterol as your blood sugar and insulin levels normalize. Following the paleo diet further improves insulin sensitivity. High fiber paleo foods slow the passage of carbs through your intestines, and so slow blood sugar rises and improve insulin sensitivity. Omega 3 fats cause a rapid drop in blood triglycerides and improve insulin metabolism.

Saturated fats, too many poly-unsaturated omega 6 fats, and trans-fatty acids, which our modern diet is high in, raise blood cholesterol levels and contribute to heart disease, cancer, and diabetes. These are the fats in domestic meats, dairy products, vegetable oils, margarine, and nearly all processed foods. Our pre-agricultural ancestors consumed low amounts of saturated fats from wild game and high levels of healthful, cholesterol-lowering mono-unsaturated fats and omega 3 poly-unsaturated fats which established the proper ratio of fats in their diets.

Besides bad fats, high levels of an amino acid called homocysteine in our blood contributes to heart disease. Low dietary intakes of three B vitamins–B6, B12, and folate–contribute to high levels of homocysteine. These vitamins are either missing, low, or poorly absorbed from whole grains, so a diet high in whole grains will displace rich sources of B vitamins such as lean meats, fruits, and vegetables. Again, eating the foods nature intended provides us all we need nutritionally so we don’t have to worry about the ill effects of unnatural foods.

Diabetes. This disease (Type 2), in which our bodies are no longer able to adequately process blood sugar with insulin, is caused by our consumption of large amounts of high-glycemic carbohydrate foods such as grains and sugars. Refined sugars compound the problem because they promote insulin resistance. Sucrose is the scientific name for table sugar. When you digest sucrose, it is broken down into high-glycemic glucose and low-glycemic fructose. Fructose is responsible for causing insulin resistance. For this reason, the modern sweetner, high-fructose corn syrup, is an especially bad addition to the human diet.

Our modern diet is also implicated in the development of juvenile (Type 1) diabetes. Although a cause has not been officially established by the medical community, there are several suspects. The high-carbohydrate diet of a pregnant mother is the first suspect. Then the early introduction of complex proteins in a baby’s diet from sources such as cow’s milk-based infant formula and grain-based infant cereals. Then there’s early weaning from breastmilk if it was given at all. Breastmilk, unlike its artificial competitor, is living milk. It contains white blood cells which contribute to the development of the baby’s immune system. Juvenile diabetes is an autoimmune disorder, a disease which occurs as a result of a malfunction of the immune system.

  1  2  3  4  5