Carbohydrates - Part 3
Carb FAQs
I have insulin resistance and my blood sugar spikes when I eat carbs. Can I fix that?
Yes! Okay, legally, I’m not allowed to say that. So, here’s the deal, you can bring your blood sugar and A1c back into a healthy range.
First, you need to keep in mind that your body is overreacting to carbohydrates right now. So, fibre and nutrient-density (basically, whole food forms of carbs) are your best friend. Also, add some protein or healthy fats to your carbs as it slows down digestion even more.
For some people, reducing grains for a few months can be helpful. A sign that this might be necessary is if you get a blood sugar crash after eating steel cut oats.
Next, you want to restore the nutrient deficiencies that have been building over decades of eating refined carbs. Here are the important ones:
Chromium – 200 – 400mcg per day. This is the most important one because it helps your body use insulin better. It fixes any broken insulin receptors that are keeping your blood sugar high. Here’s a longer explanation (LINK)
B50 complex – 1 – 2 capsules per day. Your body needs B vitamins to make those important enzymes to digest carbs.
Magnesium – 400 – 700mg per day. Your body has been stealing magnesium from your tissues to digest refined carbs. Restoring your magnesium levels will give you better energy, better sleep, and reduce sugar cravings :)
Listen to your body anytime you have a blood sugar crash (shaky, irritable, etc) and make note of what you had eaten earlier.
Continue eating this way until you’re noticing less of a high and then low when you eat something sweet (or grains if you’re overreacting to grains). Sometimes this can take a few months to change, or longer depending on how insulin resistant you’ve become.
I’ve done this myself, life is much nicer with more balanced blood sugar ❤️
What are net carbs? And should I be paying attention to them?
The low carb movement, especially keto, brought with it a new concept – net carbs. This is a “dieting hack” to allow more carbs into one’s diet while keeping the math in check (and stay in ketosis if you’re following keto). This was invented by the food industry specifically to make their manufactured foods more low-carb friendly.
The idea behind it is this – most fibre is indigestible but counts as grams of carbs on the label. The low-carb movement teaches followers to subtract the fibre from the carb gram count to calculate the “net carbs”, a.k.a. the grams of carbs you’ll actually digest and extract energy and nutrients from.
But…is this accurate? Maybe? Since it’s a term that’s been made up by food manufacturers, who are out to make a buck, it’s hard to say how much truth there is in it. Today it’s easier to sell a product with screaming “only 2grams net carbs!” on the front of the label…while there are actually 30 grams of total carbs in the product.
Truthfully, I don’t believe in counting any macronutrients, because it disconnects you from the balance your body is looking for. But, if following a low-carb diet, then it’s something you might want to consider...but take it with a grain of salt.
Carbs make me SUPER bloated!!!! What do I do?
It sounds like you’ve got some gut bacteria that’s munching on the fibre from your food and they’re burping up gas. Check out the Gut Bacteria Rebalance masterclass and/or the SIBO masterclass for help with that.
Got any other carb questions, send them to me and I’ll add them to the FAQ! (you’ll stay anonymous :)