GlycemicIndexFiberthenewprotein

Sometimes I don’t know whether to laugh or cry at the endless babble about the newest “secret sauce” of nutrition. Every day, something gets written as if there’s a brand-new controversy or revelation. Very few people seem to understand the game the processed food industry is playing. I was extremely surprised years ago while walking through Barcelona, Spain, to notice that almost no one was overweight. I didn’t see many people running around in tracksuits, and I didn’t notice an obsession with dieting. What I did notice was that people loved fresh, whole foods, and they liked to walk.

The essence of healthy eating is the glycemic index. Glycemic index refers to how much a certain food increases your blood sugar and insulin levels. When you eat an apple or an orange, the contents are released slowly during digestion. It takes time to eat, the bulk of the food leads to fullness, and together, physiology, time, and volume create satiety. Social meals with conversation and real food naturally lead to feeling satisfied. Even when we start with nutritious foods, throwing them into a blender with powders and other products of questionable nutritional value increases the glycemic index, raises blood sugar and insulin levels, and causes sugar to enter the bloodstream all at once. Once that happens, hunger returns sooner, and chronic stress on insulin-producing pancreatic cells can contribute to type 2 diabetes. Concentrated sugars are not kind to pancreatic health.

There is, of course, a caveat: people involved in prolonged or intense physical activity may need high-glycemic foods or fluids, along with electrolytes. What I find almost comical is how the latest nutrition buzzword, fiber, is now being aggressively marketed by the processed food industry. Perhaps the better solution is simply not removing fiber from food in the first place. Remember, you don’t need to buy a food processor; you already are one.

Our next topic will be inflammation and diet.