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The Power of your Metabolism

EXCESS SUGAR AND REFINED CARBOHYDRATES

The epidemics of weight and obesity problems are caused by various factors that lower the metabolism.  Perhaps the most evident of these factors is the excessive use of sugars and refined carbohydrates (bread, pasta, flour, rice, sweets, chocolates, candies, etc.).

I should clarify that carbohydrates are necessary foods.  However, there are different qualities of carbohydrates: natural carbohydrates and refined carbohydrates.  Natural carbohydrates are those that are in their natural state without having been industrially manipulated by humans.  Examples are vegetables and fruits. Refined carbohydrates are modern products created by the food industry that have gone through a variety of polishing, bleaching, grinding and refining.

Within the natural carbohydrates there are some carbohydrates that have a very sweet flavor. The sweet carbohydrates can come from “natural” sources but the fact that they are sweet indicates that they are very high in sugars like fructose that can turn into fat. Examples of very sweet carbohydrates can be fruits like bananas, mangoes, and raisins. There are fruits that aren’t excessively sweet like strawberries, apples and pears, which are acceptable as “natural” carbohydrates.

When carbohydrates are industrially processed they lose a good part of their nutritional value (vitamins and minerals) and they turn into foods that can easily make us fat.  For example, the most nutritious part of wheat is the germ, which is where the grain has all of its vitamins and minerals.  The germ is extracted from the wheat during the industrial process, and what we end up consuming is only the starch (simple sugar) of the wheat.  Manufacturers of vitamins buy wheat germ and extract from it part of the vitamins that they later sell us in their vitamin tablets and capsules. 

The industrial processes to refine carbohydrates (wheat, rice, corn) are rather harsh.  The food manufacturers have only one thing in mind: their profit.  Carbohydrates that are already refined are turned into wheat flour, corn meal, corn syrup, instant mashed potatoes, soy flour and other forms of refined carbohydrates.  These foods are so refined and their molecules are so small that the human body quickly turns them into glucose without much effort.  Bear in mind that anything that causes an increase of the body’s glucose will create an excess of body fat.

Notice that more than 85% of diabetics are overweight.  Diabetics are diabetic because their glucose levels are too high and since high levels of glucose force the creation of body fat, more than 85% of them are overweight.

When we eat a doughnut (wheat flour with sugar) the body quickly turns that doughnut into a large amount of glucose in our blood which sets the scene to gain weight. Those are the mechanics involved in the process of becoming overweight: lots of refined carbohydrates that turn into excess glucose that later become accumulated body fat with the help of the insulin hormone.

Nothing has contributed more to the rampant obesity epidemic than the excessive consumption of refined carbohydrates.  On the contrary, natural carbohydrates like vegetables are excellent foods and don’t decrease the metabolism nor contribute to obesity.  With the exception of corn and beets, practically all vegetables will help us lose weight and protect our metabolism.

Today, beets are used as the main source of refined white sugar.  Because of their high carbohydrate content, they are used to substitute for sugar cane, which used to be used to produce sugar many years ago.  On the other hand, few foods are more fattening than corn, for its high content of fructose sugar.  Notice that corn and its by-products are used to fatten up pigs, chickens and cattle.  Curiously enough, the principal sweetener of carbonated drinks and of many foods in the United States is corn syrup.

Existe una realidad económica detrás de todo esto.  Lo que más dinero le produce a los fabricantes de alimentos es precisamente los carbohidratos.  Las proteínas (carne, queso, huevos) son alimentos que producen poca ganancia. Observe que los fabricantes más grandes de alimentos son compañías como General Foods, Quaker Oats, Nabisco, Kellog’s y la compañía Nestlé. Observe que lo que producen y venden todas ellas son carbohidratos refinados: jugos en polvo con azúcar, galletitas, avena, sucaritas de maíz (“corn flakes”) dulces y chocolates. Los carbohidratos son la mayor fuente de ingresos de las industrias de alimentos.

There is an economic reality that exists behind all of this.  Manufacturers make the most money off of producing foods that are carbohydrates.  The protein foods (meat, cheese, eggs) are the foods that bring in the smallest profit.  Notice that the biggest food manufacturers are companies like General Foods, Quaker Oats, Nabisco, Kellog and Nestle.  Look at what they manufacture and sell, all of their products are refined carbohydrates:  powdered drinks with sugar, cookies, oatmeal, corn flakes, candies, and chocolates.  Refined carbohydrates are by far the biggest source of income for the food industry.   So that you have an idea, years ago I read an economic analysis about the corn flakes business of the Kellog Company. An economic analyst of agricultural products had calculated that a family size box of corn flakes that was sold in the supermarket at $1.89, by product net weight, was equivalent to only 11¢ in cost of corn.  When you took the amount of ounces of corn that a box of corn flakes contained as a base and you added the price that they paid the farmers for their corn, it was 11¢ in value.  Now, imagine yourself in a business in which you can convert 11¢ into $1.89 just by adding a cardboard box, sugar, and advertising.  That’s a great business!

For the same reason you seldom see television commercials that promote meat, cheese, or eggs which are proteins. Protein foods are not profitable enough to justify the big advertising budgets that refined carbohydrates command. This is also why most fast food restaurants offer some type of “make it bigger offers” where they give you an increased proportion of refined carbohydrates (sugary soft drinks, French fries, sweet desserts), never more of the meat which is a protein.

It’s not that the food manufacturers are bad people.  It’s that they are good business people! Refined carbohydrates are the big money makers; therefore, they are what all these companies promote. And at the same time, they are what promote the epidemic of weight and obesity problems that affects us. The driving force behind all of this is the money motivation.

The important and intelligent thing is not to get angry at the food marketers.  The important and intelligent thing to do is to acquire an awareness about the problem and its causes; the excess consumption of refined carbohydrates.  The idea is to protect ourselves and to also protect our loved ones, so that they don’t turn into victims of ignorance.  We all have the responsibility of knowing about this to protect the health of our loved ones.

sweetener: substance used to sweeten foods and drinks.