How can too much sweet and starchy food affect your health?

Too much Sweet Food can cause Insulin Resistance

Last time you will recall that I talked about sweet foods and their addictive quality. Yes you can actually become a sweet food addict. You can become so used to the pleasurable effects of eating and drinking sweet things that anything that isn’t very sweet can seem like a disappointment.

So, why should an over reliance on sweet and starchy food be a concern to you?

One of the major health concerns in becoming overly reliant on sweet and starch based food along with sugar leaden beverages is the risk of becoming insulin resistant.

Some of the key features of Insulin Resistance Syndrome include weight gain, elevated blood pressure, elevated cholesterol level, a heightened state of inflammation in the body, an increased tendency for blood to clot, food cravings, mood swings, type 2 diabetes and the onset of heart disease.

Before a person is diagnosed with type 2 diabetes or heart disease this syndrome has been at work in their body, gradually moving through several stages from mild to severe.

What is Insulin Resistance Syndrome?

Your pancreas is an organ in your body that is responsible for producing the hormone insulin. Your pancreas releases insulin into your blood stream in response to the sugar and starch in the foods and beverages that you consume.

As your blood sugar level increases, your pancreas responds by producing enough insulin to transport that blood sugar from the blood stream into your muscle and brain cells where it is used for fuel.

If your diet is healthy and Balanced, your pancreas will do it’s job quite happily. However, your pancreas can become exhausted if it has been requested to overproduce insulin in response to your blood sugar level over and over again, year in and year out.

An exhausted pancreas will refuse to produce enough or indeed any insulin at all. This ‘exhausted pancreas state’ is known as type 2 diabetes. This condition has very serious health consequences and although it is manageable, it is not reversible.

If you eat lots of rice, pasta, white potatoes and legumes then you are eating starch. These foods are all good for you but make sure they are part of a balanced diet, and that they actually agree with you.

White Rice is High in Starch

We are not all genetically identical so don’t be surprised if you can’t eat the same foods as your friends can with out certain consequences such as putting on weight for example.

If you don’t put sugar in your coffee any more but you eat lots of starch based foods in an unbalanced way then you can still end up knocking on the door of insulin resistance. You not only need to address the amount of sugar in your diet but starch as well.

Enjoy your carbohydrates, your sweet and starchy foods but always keep your diet in a balanced perspective. The consequences of not doing so can lead to unnecessary disease and a lifetime of reliance on expensive health care procedures, pharmaceutical drugs and a reduced lifespan.

Next time I’ll discuss the role of carbohydrates in weight gain.

Until then, I wish you all the best in vibrant health!

Andrew

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