Period 4 General PE Carb Crazy!

After looking at your last post it is pretty clear that many of your nutritional habits are slanted more towards the macronutrient of carbohydrates. Even more problematic is that many of us are relying on processed carbohydrates for our meals, especially in the morning. Processed carbohydrates are foods that have had all or most of their natural nutrients and fiber removed in order to make them easier to transport and store. Pretty much anything that can sit on a shelf in a bag or a box for a long time without going bad, is a processed carbohydrate.


Why are processed carbs so bad? It's a complicated process but stick with me and I will try to make it as simple as possible. When eaten, carbohydrates are broken down into sugars and circulated through the blood for the body to use as energy. Processed carbohydrates are already partially broken down so the body converts them to sugar very quickly. Too much sugar in the blood is a bad thing, so your body produces insulin in response to a rise in blood sugar. Insulin's job is to allow glucose to enter cells to be used as energy and to store excess glucose. This process is normal and effective when kept within normal ranges and provides the body with constant energy to perform your day's activities.

Constant consumption of processed carbohydrates causes rapid elevation of blood sugar levels followed by a rapid release of insulin to lower the blood sugar quickly. This sequence of unstable blood sugar levels leads to a condition called hypoglycemia or low blood sugar. In response to this your body craves food, especially quickly digested sugars and the process repeats itself creating this vicious cycle that can eventually lead to obesity and any number of metabolic diseases.

For this weeks blog I want you to do a little research and tell me what diseases have been associated with constantly elevated blood sugar levels.

I will not post your answers until Monday.