Issue link: https://cp.revolio.com/i/1445832
www.AbbysHealthFood.com | # 49| Page 7 We all need a certain amount of carbohydrates, of course, but, through our addiction to grains, potatoes, sweets and other starchy and sugary foods, we are consuming far too many. The body's storage capacity for carbohydrates is quite limited, though, so here's what happens to all the excess: they are converted, via insulin, into fat and stored in the adipose, or fatty, tissue. Any meal or snack high in carbohydrates generates a rapid rise in blood glucose. To adjust for this rise, the pancreas secretes the hor- mone insulin into the bloodstream, which lowers the glucose. Insulin is, though, essentially a storage hormone, evolved over those millions of years of humans prior to the agricultural age, to store the excess calories from carbohydrates in the form of fat in case of famine. Insulin, stimulated by the excess carbohydrates in our overabundant consumption of grains, starches and sweets, is responsible for all those bulging stomachs and fat rolls in thighs and chins. Even worse, high insulin levels suppress two other important hor- mones -- glucagons and growth hormones -- that are responsible for burning fat and sugar and promoting muscle development, respec- tively. So, insulin from excess carbohydrates promotes fat, and then wards off the body's ability to lose that fat. Excess weight and obesity lead to heart disease and a wide variety of other diseases. But the ill effect of grains and sugars does not end there. They suppress the immune system, contributing to allergies, and they are responsible for a host of digestive disorders. They contribute to de- pression, and their excess consumption is, in fact, associated with many of the chronic diseases in our nation, such as cancer and diabetes. The bottom line is this: Americans need to reduce their intake of grains, including corn-based foods, and all sweets and potatoes, dramatically.