| Carbohydrates are the single most important food you | | | | hundreds more that can help you unlock the secret to |
| can eat.That statement probably goes against | | | | natural weight loss. All of these compounds -- and |
| everything you've ever heard, so let me explain.If you | | | | dozens more -- will help you fight disease and obesity. |
| don't believe me, take this little test. Think of a carb!If | | | | These special compounds literally communicate with |
| you're like most Americans, bread, pasta, soft drinks, | | | | your genes and turn on messages of health and |
| French fries, sugar, and similar foods probably flew into | | | | weight loss. They are key to the success people |
| your mind. Yes, these foods are carbs -- highly | | | | experience in losing weight on a program I've |
| processed and refined ones.And if these are the kinds | | | | developed during my 20-years practicing medicine, |
| of carbs you consume on a regular basis, let me warn | | | | called UltraMetabolism.Before you reach for that |
| you, (unless you regularly run marathons), you're most | | | | Cinnabon, know that phytonutrients only occur in whole, |
| likely either overweight or heading down the road to | | | | unrefined, unprocessed plant foods. All vegetables (and |
| weight gain.You may like them, you may consider | | | | many fruits) score high in phytonutrients, while |
| them "comfort foods," you may think that they couldn't | | | | processed carbs, like bread and pasta, have virtually |
| be so bad since they are so predominant in our | | | | none.Here's a shorthand to distinguish between the |
| current diet. But the biological bottom line is that human | | | | metabolism boosters and the processed carbs that will |
| beings have not evolved to metabolize these types of | | | | only weigh you down:Anything that has been |
| carbohydrates.They slow down your metabolism and | | | | packaged or put through a machine is processed (like |
| contribute to every one of the major diseases | | | | a potato chip). Anything that comes right out of the |
| associated with aging including diabetes, heart disease, | | | | earth is natural (like a plum).Don't let all the terminology |
| dementia and cancer.In most, cases they are also | | | | -- high fat, low-fat, high-carb, low-carb, high glycemic |
| "empty" calorie foods-the worst possible combination | | | | index, low glycemic index, complex carbs and simple |
| -- high caloric foods, low in nutrients. They deprive you | | | | carbs -- confuse you. The key is eating whole, real, |
| of vital nutrients as well as burden your body with the | | | | unprocessed, food found as close to nature as |
| task of digesting food molecules that aren't giving you | | | | possible. Now you know why your grandmother |
| anything you need.Eating them (especially in excess) is | | | | always told you to eat your vegetables!Folk wisdom |
| a prescription for weight gain. But they're not the end | | | | passed down the generations showed how to give |
| of the carb story. If you're like most people, you may | | | | the body what it needs. In the early twenty-first |
| not realize that the wide world of carbs is actually | | | | century, that wisdom is being confirmed in the |
| much, much bigger than this limited crowd of | | | | research of leading edge scientists. So you can follow |
| processed carbs.In contrast, natural carbohydrates, | | | | these recommendations I offer with total confidence |
| which come to your table just like Mother Nature | | | | that the latest medical science backs them up.This |
| made them, contain many essential nutrients and | | | | new science reveals why you should never do what |
| specialized chemicals that turn up your metabolism via | | | | some ill-advised diets suggest: cut out all carbs. Not a |
| newly discovered plant chemicals call phytonutrients.So | | | | good idea-because you also cut out all the |
| you have a choice: use phytonutrients to spark your | | | | phytonutrients (and the fiber) that only comes from |
| metabolism into action, or drown your metabolism with | | | | whole plant foods.Along with their obesity fighting |
| indigestible nutrient-poor carbs.Our genetic nutritional | | | | chemicals, vitamins, and minerals to accelerate your |
| template goes back 20,000 years. Our ancestors | | | | metabolism, most whole carbohydrates are filled with |
| foraged for wild food, like wild berries, grasses, roots, | | | | healthy plant fiber to slow the absorption of sugar into |
| and mushrooms to find life-giving phytonutrients that all | | | | your bloodstream.And for super fast weight loss, you'll |
| humans are designed by nature to eat.On a recent | | | | want to eat some special "super" fiber foods which I |
| vacation I found myself in a sea of phytonutrients in | | | | use as my secret weapon with many patients who |
| the wild islands of Southeast Alaska. I was foraging | | | | have had difficulty losing weight. Once you incorporate |
| along with the grizzly bears for bog cranberries, | | | | them into your diet, you'll feel full, experience steady |
| blueberries, nagoonberries, raspberries, and | | | | energy, and will never be tempted to overeat.Here's a |
| strawberries. These scrumptious berries, bursting with | | | | guarantee: If you've been consuming highly processed |
| phytonutrients, were smaller, richer in color and taste, | | | | foods such as sodas, chips, and crackers, and you |
| (and lower in sugar) than their domestic berry | | | | decide to boost your intake of those powerful |
| cousins.Here's a tip: The greater variety and the | | | | phytonutrients that I've reviewed, you'll be taking the |
| deeper the color of plant foods you eat, the higher | | | | first step towards re-programming your body for |
| their concentration of phytonutrients. The key is to | | | | automatic weight loss and health.My dirty little secret |
| learn which phytonutrient-dense foods can prevent | | | | as a doctor is that I never treat anybody specifically to |
| disease and promote weight loss.Want phytonutrient | | | | lose weight; I simply help them become healthy using |
| power?Here 's a small sample of the many | | | | these and other techniques and the weight |
| superfoods that contain these powerful phytonutrients: | | | | automatically comes off.So remember, eat your carbs, |
| isoflavones in soy foods, lignans in flax seeds, | | | | but make them the right carbs!Copyright 2006 Mark |
| catechins in green tea, polyphenols in cocoa (yes, | | | | Hyman MDMark Hyman, M.D. is a NY Times bestselling |
| chocolate!), glucosinolates in broccoli, carnosol in | | | | author, lecturer, and practicing physician. |
| rosemary, and resveratrol in red wine.And there are | | | | |