Beginning in the 1970s, dieticians started urging us to eat less fat because a diet high in saturated fats and cholesterol increase our risk of cardiovascular disease. And so we turned to carbs. But experts are now realizing that the pendulum has swung too far in the other direction, and some people generally assume all fats are bad and all carbs are good. So it’s really important to distinguish between healthy fats and bad fats, healthy carbs and bad carbs.
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Dr. Frank B. Hu of the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health gave these guidelines to The New York Times:
- Saturated fat, found in fatty animal foods like meats and dairy products, raises blood levels of cholesterol and is not healthy.
- While olive oil, canola, avocado and nut oils, is monounsaturated, and has as many calories as meat and dairy fat, they do not raise serum cholesterol or foster fat-clogging deposits in blood vessels and are beneficial for cardiovascular health and body weight.
- Refined carbohydrates, like white bread and white rice, are rapidly digested and absorbed, raising blood levels of glucose and prompting the secretion of insulin to process it. When consumed in excess of the body’s need for immediate and stored energy, refined carbs and sugars can result in insulin resistance and contribute to fatty liver disease.
- Potatoes, the nation’s most popular vegetable, act like sugars and refined carbohydrates. They have what is called a high glycemic index, the ability to raise blood glucose rapidly.
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- High-glycemic foods like baked Russet potatoes (111), white baguette (95), cornflakes (93), white rice (89), pretzels (83), instant oatmeal (83), rice cakes (82), Gatorade (78) and French fries (75) induce higher blood glucose levels than ordinary white bread and are best consumed infrequently and in small quantities.
- At the other end of the glycemic spectrum, oatmeal (55), pasta (46 for spaghetti, 32 for fettuccine), apples (39), carrots (35), skim milk (32), black beans (30), lentils (29), prunes (29), barley (28), chickpeas (10), grapefruit (25), peanuts (7) and hummus (6) have a smaller effect on blood glucose, and green vegetables like broccoli have too little an effect to be measured.
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Curated article from:
NY Times
