Revero Team
Tuesday, June 11, 2024
Why you want to eliminate sugar, seed oils, and grains from your diet
Sugar, seed oils, and grains are everywhere. Pick up any package of processed food, and you’re sure to find at least one, if not all three, of these items, listed in the ingredients. If we eat a standard Western diet, we’re getting an overload of sugar, seed oils, and grains27546-2/pdf), damaging our health.
Have you looked at the ingredient lists of the commonly eaten processed foods? Sugar is hiding there in disguise, even in those salty, savory foods like chips and lunch meats. Sugar is sneaky. When it comes to food ingredients, if something ends with “-ose,” like sucrose, dextrose, fructose, or maltose (just to name a few), it’s sugar.
The problem with sugar is it raises our blood sugar (glucose) levels and spikes our insulin. It’s a mistake to think that only people with diabetes must “watch” their sugars. When we consume sugar or carbohydrates, our body produces insulin to deal with it.
This is a normal process; insulin does its job to process the incoming sugar, deciding what to do with it, burning some for immediate energy, storing some in our cells for later, and bringing our blood sugar level back down.
When we constantly and consistently eat sugar, our body has to produce more and more insulin to handle the flood of glucose. Our blood sugar and insulin levels are kept high. Over time, this leads to insulin resistance, where our cells ignore the insulin signals, and insulin resistance leads to type 2 diabetes.
Additionally, the body needs to do something with all that excess sugar in the bloodstream. So, it converts the excess sugar into fat and stores it away. Eating multiple times a day—meals and snacks—keeps our blood sugar and insulin levels high, and our body doesn’t burn the fat it’s accumulated.
A carbohydrate based diet can disrupt the balance of the gut microbiome, which plays a crucial role in regulating the immune system. This happens through several mechanisms:
We’ve been told for decades that seed oils, also known as “vegetable oils,” are good for us. Seed oils are used in many processed foods, and store shelves are lined with a wide variety of processed seed oils:
The problem with seed oils is how much they can imbalance our omega-6 to omega-3 ratios. Our body needs omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids, and we have to get them from our food. But, whether used as a cooking oil or as a food ingredient, seed oils are extremely high in omega-6 fatty acids, particularly linoleic fatty acids.
Omega-6 fatty acids are very inflammatory. Linoleic acid has been implicated in causing atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, and when our body is in a consistent chronic state of inflammation, we risk developing bone and joint problems, inflammatory bowel disease, and even colon and rectal cancers.
Additionally, many seed oils are highly processed, which can result in the formation of harmful compounds like trans fats and oxidized lipids. These compounds can trigger inflammatory processes in the body.
Grains are carbohydrates, and it’s important to remember that all carbohydrates break down into glucose (sugar).
When we eat a bowl of cereal, a slice of bread, or “healthy” whole grains like oats, bulgur, or brown rice, once those grains hit our stomach, our body can’t tell the difference between them and refined sugar.
Just like sugar, grains raise our glucose levels and spike our insulin, two factors that can cause insulin resistance, type-2 diabetes, and weight gain.
Grains can also cause “leaky gut” or intestinal permeability. When the delicate lining of the intestines is exposed to plant toxins like gluten, those membranes become more permeable and can let molecules through that would have otherwise been blocked. When molecules leak out of the intestinal tract and into the bloodstream, they cause systemic inflammation.
Phytotoxins are chemicals produced by plants to protect themselves from competitors and predators. While not all phytotoxins are harmful to humans, some can have significant effects on health and cause inflammation.
Phytotoxins can irritate the gut lining, disrupt the normal functioning of cells, or trigger an immune response. This leads to inflammation as the body tries to protect itself from these foreign compounds.
The extent of inflammation depends on the type and amount of phytotoxins consumed, as well as an individual's sensitivity to these substances. Some common examples include solanine in nightshade vegetables such as tomatoes, oxalates in sweet potatoes, and lectins in legumes and grains.
Lectins can interact with the gut lining and disrupt the integrity of the gut barrier. For example, lectins found in wheat can bind to the gut lining, leading to inflammation and an increased risk of autoimmunity. Also, lectins and phytic acid found in soy can interfere with the absorption of minerals and other nutrients and cause inflammation.
In people with celiac disease, gluten triggers an immune response that attacks the small intestine and causes inflammation and malnutrition.
In non-celiac individuals, gluten can cause inflammation, resulting in symptoms like bloating, diarrhea, fatigue, and joint pain. This is called non-celiac gluten sensitivity.
Gluten may increase intestinal permeability, also known as "leaky gut," in some individuals. This allows larger molecules, including undigested food particles and bacteria, to enter the bloodstream, triggering an immune response and potentially leading to inflammation.
Also, gluten peptides may resemble certain proteins in the body, trigger an autoimmune reaction in some individuals, and lead to inflammation in various tissues.
But don’t we need carbohydrates for glucose? Yes and no. Yes, our body does need some glucose, but carbohydrates aren’t an essential nutrient, nor are they needed for glucose availability.
Essential nutrients are those that our body can’t produce on its own, and we need to get them from food sources. Our body can make all the glucose it needs when it needs it and in the correct amounts without carbohydrates. When the body needs glucose, the liver will convert some protein (amino acids) into glucose. This process is known as gluconeogenesis.
The best way to avoid most sugar, seed oils, and grains is to remove all processed foods from your diet. However, for optimal health, we need to go beyond this:
By avoiding the deadly trio of sugar, seed oils, and grains, your body will start to heal, and you’ll be on the road to optimal health.
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