The South Beach Diet Supercharged: Faster Weight Loss and Better Health for Life Read Online Free

until the last decade that we realized that high-fiber good carbs are also great sources of literally thousands of micronutrients known as phytochemicals, including the antioxidants that are essential for preventing disease and simply keeping us healthy.
    When it comes to fiber, it’s important to know that there are two types—soluble and insoluble—and both will help you achieve your weight loss goals. Soluble fiber is found mainly in vegetables, fruits, legumes, barley, oats, and oat bran. It slows down digestion, so food stays in your stomach longer, making you feel satisfied longer. Insoluble fiber is found mainly in wheat, especially in wheat bran and other whole grains. It speeds up the movement of food through your intestines, thereby helping to prevent constipation.
    Unfortunately, as I noted in the last chapter, fiber is often removed from grains during processing to produce a smoother texture and to extend the shelf life of breads and other baked goods. Without fiber, processed grains become essentially chains of glucose (sugar) molecules known as starches, which are devoid of nutrients. These starches are rapidly digested and converted into the simple sugars that can cause a sudden spike in blood sugar. In fact, a piece of white bread will raise your blood sugar faster than a teaspoon of table sugar will. That’s why highly processed baked goods and sugary low-fiber cereals are among the worst carbs you can eat.
    Let’s say you typically start your day with a bowl of sweetened cereal or a Danish pastry. Your breakfast is largely free of fiber and nutrients and is converted into simple sugars very quickly. When your blood sugar rises, your pancreas (a small, flat organ that lies behind your stomach) responds by producing insulin, the hormone that facilitates the movement of blood sugar and fat from the bloodstream into your cells. This is a crucial step that ensures that the energy you consume in the form of food gets into your body’s tissues, where it is burned, stored, or incorporated into hormones in order to keep you functioning and healthy. But when you consume a meal of nearly pure starch or sugar, your pancreas has to produce more insulin than it normally does. Once that additional insulin kicks in, your blood sugar falls abruptly. While you may feel satisfied and energized for a while, relatively soon after your meal, when the sugar is cleared from your bloodstream, your sugar high rapidly becomes a sugar low. And as your blood sugar drops, you feel tired, cranky, and hungry again.
    It’s due to these exaggerated swings in blood sugar that many Americans are walking around much of the time in search of another sugary or starchy snack—a quick fix—to relieve their food cravings. Over time, this cycle will disrupt your metabolism, making you susceptible to a condition called prediabetes, or metabolic syndrome. (I will tell you more about prediabetes in later chapters.) Already some 40 percent of US adults ages 40 to 70 are affected by this condition, which, if left untreated, can cause an increase in heart attacks and strokes and eventually lead to full-blown diabetes.
    Choose the Good Fats

    More than a decade ago, when I first began suggesting to my heart patients that they should eat more good fats, it was tantamount to committing medical heresy. Today, nutrition experts unanimously agree that good fats are important. This is great news, especially for people who have suffered on very low-fat diets that left them feeling unsatisfied. In fact, diets that severely limit fat have proven very difficult to stay on. We need good fats because they’re essential for building cell membranes; for nerve, heart, and brain health (fats compose 60 percent of the brain); and for nearly all of the body’s basic functions. In addition, fats slow the digestion of carbohydrates and make food taste better, helping you feel satisfied. However, you do have to be careful about which fats you consume. Just as all