Carbohydrates and Insulin - their importance with human function or dysfunction.

Carbohydrates are found in a range of foods—bread, milk, beans, popcorn, potatoes, pasta, cookies, soft drinks, wheat, even cherry pie, you name it, it's in most foods at some level! They also come in a range of forms, the most typical & abundant forms are sugars & starches. Also fibre but this article doesn't focus on dietary fibre.

Carbohydrates are body's primary resource of energy and most the world eat it with every single meal. When you eat carbohydrates, the enzyme amylase transforms them into glucose, also known as blood sugar! This is the primary energy that the body utilizes to power all cellular activity. The brain, heart, kidneys & muscles all require carbohydrates to function correctly.

Insulin and its importance
Insulin control

Beta cells make a very important hormone inside the pancreas, its called insulin. When the meal enters the digestive system, it stimulates the discharge of insulin from the beta cells. The merged effects of hormones from the intestinal tract and the rising blood sugar level maintain the release & formation of insulin. So to simplify every meal produces an insulin effect!

Insulin is incredibly important to every person regardless of your health conditions, so when insulin levels aren't balanced, you can experience low blood glucose episodes, (going hypo as its commonly known) gain much more weight than you should normally even though you're 'dieting' as much as you can & not lose one single pound of fatty tissue and also feel very tired & unable to be productive, lethargic anyone?


Effect of excess carbohydrates (generally sugar) and insulin on health
Eating excess carbohydrates regularly are very harmful and negative for human health. It can cause people gain fat, produce disease such as fatty liver disease and heart disease through constant inflammation and insulin resistance as well as will contribute to poor general health and you guessed it... decreased life expectancy!

Insulin resistance is a biological condition in which tissues fail to respond to the regular actions of the hormone insulin. The body generates insulin, but the tissues in the body become immune to insulin & are unable to utilize it as efficiently, resulting in hyperglycemia.  Again to simplify - you eat carbs all day long over a consistent period the above will eventually happen!! Beta cells in the pancreas then consequently increase their generation of insulin, further contributing to hyperinsulinemia, also known as pre-diabetes. This frequently remains undetected as side effects aren't pronounced & can contribute to a diagnosis of Diabetes Type 11 which if you have a quick google scan is a horrid condition.

The main side effect of taking excess of insulin over a long period of time is gaining weight. Chromium is crucial to blood sugar metabolism & as a diabetic you can be fairly sure that you're severely lacking in this nutrient. Calcium & Magnesium are also depleted by surplus insulin that can cause many difficulties, as they're important to over 200 biochemical procedures in your body, yes 200 not 2!!
Other very essential nutrients that excess insulin  causes you to be lacking in are Zinc, Vitamin E, Selenium, Vitamin C, B Complex vitamins, Vanadium, crucial fatty acids.

SO basically again for the average reader, if you eat cereal for breakfast, chips for lunch pasta for dinner and then have a couple packets of crisps whilst watching Telly in the evening you are likely massively suffering from a like of micro-nutrients in your diet.

Scare method over....

Insulin control is obtained through balancing protein & carbohydrates at each meal. Among the most important methods to maintain insulin levels is to eat less carbohydrates at any one meal. Though carbohydrate has a strong effect on stimulating insulin, protein could also stimulate its release.
You MUST have some protein at each meal. (Another article) Protein's primary hormonal role is to stimulate the release of glucagon that is a mobilization hormone. Glucagon also does a real great job on managing insulin output as it forces your body to release energy stored in fat mainly, boom check mate!!

Thus, if you really want to control your insulin, protein is what you require. By consuming mainly low density carbohydrates, including fruits & vegetables, you set up an organic control system which helps control the total volume of carbohydrates being eaten at any one meal. Always select low fat sources of protein including chicken, fish, turkey, low fat cottage cheese, Greek yogurt, lean red meat or even soybean based products.

I hope this wasn't too brain intensive but the facts are there, get to it troopers!! brodiept.com