Are you Carb Intolerant?
Many know what lactose intolerance is – sensitivity to lactose when one avoids milk and dairy products – but did you know you might be carbohydrate intolerant and not even know it?
When one is lactose intolerant and drinks milk they can experience uncomfortable symptoms of gas, bloating and gastrointestinal upset.
If carbohydrate intolerant immediate symptoms can be diffuse such as bloating, gas, reflux, etc. but more importantly are the long-term symptoms.
What exactly is carbohydrate intolerance?
Simply put – it is your body’s inability to metabolize carbohydrate normally. When one consumes more carb than their body can tolerate two distinct things happen:
- The pancreas secretes an overabundance of insulin known as hyperinsulinemia, which makes your body very efficient at storing fat
- The liver happily takes in all the extra carbohydrate your bloodstream cannot utilize and turns it into fat stores
AND an insulin resistant body is not only very good at storing fat but increasing inflammation which can lead to a host of other medical issues such as diabetes, heart disease, cancer and inflammatory disease states like arthritis.
Many times those with carbohydrate intolerance think these symptoms are normal since they are always running in the background. They start to think as fatigue, weight gain and loss of get up and go as normal.
I recently watched a brilliant video on carbohydrate intolerance by researcher Jeff Volek. He’s written some complicated books on insulin resistance and carbohydrate metabolism, which are mainly for scientists, but if you can spare an hour I guarantee this video is worth the time to gain knowledge in how insulin resistance can affect every part of your health and well-being and how to nutritionally deal with it.
Dr. Volek states that your blood stream can only dissolve 8 grams of carb at a time – that is equal to 1/2 a slice of bread. Imagine how eating 2 slices of bread, a bowl of pasta and a dessert in one restaurant sitting affects your metabolism? Insulin resistance is not about overeating – it’s about an intolerance to a certain amount of carbohydrates depending on your genetics.
Dr. Volek’s video clearly outlines how our metabolism historically used fat for fuel throughout evolution except for the last 4-5 decades at which time we switched over to carbohydrates as our major energy source. This change correlates with the increasing incidence of insulin resistance, pre-diabetes, diabetes, which are underlying mechanisms in 82% of the people who present to the emergency room with cardiovascular emergencies.
Since carbohydrates regulate your metabolism consuming more than your body can handle sets the tone for every system in your body.
Although we live in a Carbivore society where carbohydrates are easy, available and tasty maybe it’s time to rethink our diet balance as we evolved to eat much less carbohydrate than current data shows.
Next week: Strategizing Diet Therapy for Carb Intolerance
