Three big lies about carbohydrate

Lie number one is  – fat is bad, so carbohydrate obviously is good. Lie number two – you need carbohydrate. And lie number three – type 2 diabetes just happens, carbohydrate is not the reason for it.

Big Fat Lie

Lie number one, fat is bad. The main reason we consume carbohydrate like it’s going out of style is because in 1977 they came up with this thing called the diet-heart hypothesis. It says that fat causes cholesterol to go up, and then the cholesterol is like grease down a drain, it plugs your arteries up.

Since you can’t eat fat – especially saturated fat – you need to change your diet. You shouldn’t replace the fat with protein – that’s too much protein and could cause health problems.  So really, all you have to replace that fat is carbohydrate.

The heart diet hypothesis says you need to eat a low fat, high carbohydrate moderate protein diet.

Here’s the challenge with that. The science doesn’t prove the diet-heart hypothesis. After 40 years, this idea remains a theory. As a matter of fact, the science is actually indicating that if you consume a large amount of saturated fat, it doesn’t really raise your LDL, the bad cholesterol level very much, if at all.

There are plenty of examples of people who defy this theory entirely. The Inuit, the Masai. Or even the Tokelauans in the South Pacific. They eat tons of coconut, and we’ve just heard recently that coconut oil is pure poison. (but then that statement is based on the diet-heart-unproven hypothesis.) But the Tokelauans eat tons of coconut, have almost no heart disease, and normal cholesterol.

Gotta Have It

Second thing you need to know about carbohydrate, is you don’t need it. We’re told we have to have carbohydrate. Your cells need it, and your brain doesn’t run without sugar. Except your body can make its own sugar (just ask a parent of a type 1 diabetic kid – like yours truly.) When your body needs glucose, it can make it through a process called gluconeogenesis.

Besides that, your brain runs really well (perhaps even better) on fat (well, ketone bodies derived from fat). Once it makes the shift, your body can burn fat like nobody’s business. It’s built to do that.

And here’s another thing to think about. There are essential fats – essential fatty acids, essential proteins – essential amino acids, but have you ever heard of essential sugars? There are no essential carbohydrates at all. You don’t need actually any carbs. Your body is designed to manage quite well without any carbohydrate. Weird huh?

Carbs don’t cause diabetes

The third lie about carbohydrate is that diabetes just happens.

“You have type two diabetes? Well, it just happens, it’s genetic, and now it’s the way your life is. Obviously it’s just the way your metabolism works, nothing you can do about it. Here,  just take this drug and get used to the fact that you’re a type two diabetic.” This sends you down the path of disease, diabetic neuropathy, and medication for life.

Here’s the weird thing, since 1977 when we came up with the diet-heart hypothesis and our diet the prevalence of type two diabetes is skyrocketing. We started eating way more carbohydrate and way less fat, and we started getting sicker.

They’re expecting that by 2050, one in three to one in five Americans will be type two diabetic. So a third of the population having disease – that’s not by some strange coincidence.

So what do you do?

Let’s sum up. Fat, is not so bad. You do not need carbohydrate.

And diabetes is not happening by accident. If you are diabetic, or pre-diabetic you are carbohydrate intolerant.  Your body doesn’t deal with carbs very well. If you were lactose intolerant what would you stop eating? Lactose. If you’re carbohydrate intolerant, what do need to stop eating, or at least severely limit? Carbohydrate.

Already suffering from signs of diabetic neuropathy? Time to get serious about stopping the damage, naturally dealing with the symptoms, and getting your healing and diet on track.

As a matter of fact, there are people that are doing a really good job of stopping and reversing diabetes. One of the first things that they have to do is completely ignore the “Diabetic” guidelines.

Question: What’s the one carbohydrate that you think you wouldn’t be able to live without? Chocolate? Bread? Cupcakes? What is your biggest carb addiction? Tell me in the comments below!