Cancer and Carbohydrates?

Many years ago one of my clients brought me an article that discussed how carbohydrate intake is related to cancer.  This article peaked my interest and since that time I have followed research linking carbohydrates to incidence of cancer.

Research over the last few years has consistently linked high insulin levels to development of certain types of cancers and cancer reoccurrence.  A high glycemic carbohydrate diet can increase production of insulin, which in turn can increase cell growth of tumors in the body.  When insulin levels are high, tumor cells can get the food they need to divide and multiply.

What about pancreatic cancer?

A group of researchers examined the records of 89,000 women participating in the Nurses’ Health study in 2002.  They found that women of normal weight who ate large amounts of refined starches, such as white bread and potatoes, slightly increased their risk of pancreatic cancer. Women who were overweight, did not get a lot of exercise, and ate a lot of starchy foods were 2.5 times more likely to develop pancreatic cancer than if they ate other types of healthy carbohydrates.

One of the co-authors of the study, Charles S. Fuchs, discussed how replacing starchy foods that increase insulin levels with healthy carbohydrates from fruits and vegetables can improve your health by not only lowering risk of cancer, but diabetes and cardiovascular disease as well.

What does this study show us?  Although cancer does exist for multiple reasons one possible cause is consuming refined starchy carbs. Continually eating these types of foods makes the pancreas work harder to produce more insulin.  Besides increasing storage of fat, increased levels of insulin can stimulate tumors to grow.

Take home message?  Eat your carbohydrates from whole real foods – fruits, vegetables, nuts/seeds, and avocados.  If you eat starches, eat limited amounts and stick to brown or wild rice, quinoa, buckwheat and other truly whole grains. 

Healthy Carbohydates in the Womb

Since it is Mother’s Day how does a Mother’s diet affect the genetics of what happens in the womb?  Is it really all that significant?  Recent research shows processed foods can do more harm than once realized.

Processed refined carbohydrates are those that are altered from their original form.  Most things you buy in a package fit the definition of a processed carbohydrate – chips, crackers, cookies you buy in the grocery store.

These are “foods” manufacturers alter to make a profit.   Companies add sweeteners, additives, and other ingredients to allow the high markup.

Almost all processed foods come with a price of added sugars, trans fat and other things your body would rather avoid.  These foods are not healthy for anyone, especially not pregnant women.

Recent studies show the blood triglyceride level (fat in the blood) of a pregnant woman is closely tied to the birth weight and body fat of the infant.  Infants born to women with high triglyceride levels have double the body fat of a normal infant.

Even more alarming is high maternal cholesterol and triglyceride levels are associated with a greater risk of fatty streak formation in infant’s arteries, and a high risk of heart disease during childhood.

Eating a balanced diet of healthy protein and fats and unprocessed carbohydrates can keep your cholesterol and triglyceride levels.

Healthy carbohydrate-containing foods are those that are in their natural forms – fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, avocado, yams, etc.

What better Mother’s Day gift to give to yourself and your future child than the gift of health?

Finding your Recipe for Weight Loss

How do we lose weight?  This magic question seems to elude and allure us to weight loss programs and gimmicks.   Water cooler conversations focus on the person who lost weight – how they did it, what are they eating, how long did it take?

I’ve thought about and wrestled with both the question and answer to weight loss since I was a little girl, which is the reason I became a dietitian.  I was a little round as young as second grade and always wanting the second ding-dong or ho-ho after school (who knew what a trans fat was in the 70’s?).  Why was I was always hungrier and bigger than my skinny friends - was it just that I needed to eat less calories or exercise a bit more?

Both the Los Angeles and New York Times have written about restaurant calorie counts, begging the question whether counting calories is the answer.  Health writer Jeannie Stein from the LA Times wrote several informative articles last week, one which asked “Does menu labeling really alter Habits?” 

New York Times article “In the Obesity Epidemic, What’s One Cookie?” discussed Michelle Obama’s strategy of “small changes add up,” in which one eats either 100 calories less or burns 100 calories more.

Is that enough? The challenge of weight loss is unique in that we are genetically diverse as human beings with different metabolisms and lifestyles.  And our food supply and large restaurant portions does not play to our advantage.

It might be time to stop looking for a simple answer and come up with a solution tailor made to your needs.  Ask yourself:

1.  Where do I store my weight?  If you have a lot of belly fat you may be eating too many carbohydrates (processed and starchy) and need more lean protein and good fats to keep your appetite under control.

2.  Instead of focusing on calories, think about how much food your body requires to be NO LONGER HUNGRY versus full.  Studies show when we shift into mindful eating it actually starts re-wiring our brains to be satisfied with less food.

3.  Exercise and activity are not really an “option” if health and weight loss are your goals.  Make exercise like brushing your teeth every day– something you do to keep all the systems in your body – including your metabolism- working at full capacity.

Think about what will work for you and focus on the REWARDS of what you want rather than the limitations.  That is how I found my answer.  Although I needed to look like my job, my driving force was to feel comfortable and healthy in my body.  Finding the path and answer to your water cooler question becomes the recipe for weight loss. Your recipe is the key to prevention and not prescription.