Glucophobia: The Novel

13. April 2010 William Davis (25)
Just kidding: No novel here. However, there is indeed a story to tell that should scare the pants off you.

If you haven't yet gathered that carbohydrates are a macronutrient nightmare, let me recount the list:


Carbohydrates increase small LDL particles
Or, in the cholesterol-speak most people understand, "carbohydrates increase cholesterol." It's counterintuitive, but carbohydrates increase LDL substantially, far more than any fat.


Carbohydrates increase blood sugar
Eggs don't increase blood sugar, nor do chicken, raw almonds, onions or green peppers. But a bowl of oatmeal will send your blood sugar skywards.


Carbohydrates make you fat
Carbohydrates, whether in the form of wheat flour in your whole wheat bread, sucrose in your ice cream, fructose in your "organic Agave nectar," or high-fructose corn syrup in your dill pickles. They all provoke de novo lipogenesis, or fat formation. They also stimulate insulin, the hormone of fat storage.


Carbohydrates cause glycation
High blood sugar, like the kind that develops after a bowl of oatmeal, triggers glycation, or modification of proteins by glucose (blood sugar). This is how cataracts, kidney disease, and atherosclerotic plaque develop. Small LDL is 8-fold more glycation prone than large LDL, providing a carbohydrate double-whammy.


Your glucose meter remains the single best tool to gauge the quality of your diet. Many people have horror stories of the shocking experiences they've had when they finally get around to checking their postprandial glucose.
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Comments (25) -

  • Ladyred56

    4/13/2010 12:44:29 PM |

    Dr. Davis,
    I am so glad to see your writings here. I have worked in long term care for over 19 years as a nurse but also spent 2 years as a dietary manager. It is disheartening to see the way we are feeding our patients with high carbohydrate diets. A low carb diet is hardly ever talked about and the best you can reasonably manage is a controlled carbohydrate diet which simply means we are still giving them oatmeal or other cereals, wheat bread, which is not whole wheat etc.
    and why....... because the government demands that we follow the nutrient scheme set out by the USDA. I had to make menus during my training. What a joke! I felt like a traitor with almost every mean I served because I knew I was damaging my patients with the food I was giving them.

  • Kitty

    4/13/2010 12:55:55 PM |

    Onions cause my blood sugar to spike. Took me a long while to accept that. Not everyone reacts the same to foods.

  • PJNOIR

    4/13/2010 2:06:40 PM |

    Oatmeal- which I don't eat but did have a half bowl last week just for a change and had very low BG numbers for a week or so, keep my sugars HIGH all day and through the night which is when my metabolism really kicks. Never again. A butterfinger doesn't do that.

  • Matt Stone

    4/13/2010 2:09:44 PM |

    I think I'm getting it. Carbohydrates are bad because they turn into glucose, and even worse because they turn to fat in the liver. Cool, now if I could just eat a fat and carbohdyrate-free diet...

    “It is of interest that diets high in fibre-rich cereals and tuberous vegetables tend to result in an improvement in basal blood glucoses.”
    -Denis Burkitt

  • PJNOIR

    4/13/2010 2:11:14 PM |

    You don't need to post this but I it is crazy that google dumps this:

          High Fructose Corn Syrup
          What Does Scientific Research   Really Say About HFCS?
          www.SweetSurprise.com/

    on your site.  ouch I know you have no control but google should allow a little

  • Lou

    4/13/2010 2:58:20 PM |

    Matt Stone,

    Very misleading about Birkett. He spent a lot of time in Africa where he's responsible for curing Birkett's lymphoma. You're trying to compare orange to apple. That doesn't work. In Africa, people probably got a lot of sun which kept their vitamin D level at optimal level. We have a major problem with deficiency in USA. What else... I find it hard to believe that people in Africa consumed high amount of UNREFINED carbohydrates. They probably even fermented grains which modern processing doesn't. I've read that people there drink cow's blood although I'm not sure which part of Africa does this. They spent a lot of time outside staying active.

    I've seen your works. You tend to stick to old information and not latest studies. There's a clinical study where they compared Paleolithic diet to American Heart Association's high carb, low fat diet. Paleo diet did MUCH better when it comes to improving lipid numbers and essentially curing diabetes (if they haven't progressed too far).

  • Nigel Kinbrum

    4/13/2010 5:23:56 PM |

    Just being picky, but insulin is more the hormone of fat non-burning than fat storage.

  • tom

    4/13/2010 8:45:38 PM |

    Can someone help me understand  please?
    I took Dr. Davis's advic and bought a meter (TrueTrack).
    my base, fasting, level from my last lab was 101, LDL 161.
    I made a 1 hour reading after a breakfast of 1/3  cup of oatmeal, 1/3 cup of uncooked oat bran, walnuts, 1-1/2 cups blueberries & strawberries, 2/3 cup of low fat yougurt, and 1 ts cinnamon.
    My 1-hour reading was 117.

    I did the same
    check after a dinner of 2 fried eggs and two pork chops.  reading was 114.

    Am I doing something wrong?  I would have expected my post-breakfast meal to be much higher.

    Thank you for any suggestions.
    Tom

  • Dr. William Davis

    4/13/2010 9:32:09 PM |

    Hi, Tom--

    I think that it just means that you are not very insulin resistant. Not perfect, but not bad at all, and you are able to tolerance some carbohydrates.

    That's why I love individual postprandial blood checks so much: Everybody is so different.

  • tom

    4/14/2010 12:11:12 AM |

    Dr. Davis,
    Thank you for your comment on my post.
    I intend to continue with the postprandial testing until I've verified my response to fifferent foods.  Purchasing the meter and using it is a great recommendation.
    Now, time to try a thick crust pizza and a Starbucks double latte with a snickers bar for desert!

  • Rick

    4/14/2010 12:45:33 AM |

    why is it that only when I went to a vegan diet, inclusive of steel cut oats and plenty of legumes, whole grains, greens and fruit, did my fasting glucose finally settle into the 80's rather than over 100 when I was eating a higher fat low carb (less than 100 grams per day) diet??

  • Dr. John Mitchell

    4/14/2010 2:34:42 AM |

    "I'll give you a pair of nickels for you paradigms"
    Dr. JM

    It's very difficult to get people to believe how carbohydrates can be deleterious to the human body. Facts can never compete with beliefs...

    Over millions of years of evolution, humans have adapted and evolved to a low carbohydrate, famine induced state of homeostasis. We (4.4M yrs) have existed in that environment until very recently. And only recently have we developed carbo-induced degenerative diseases.

    The current research, studies, and human biochemistry support this view...NEJM, Lancet, AJCN, etc...

    So, (Matt Stone) Dr. Burkitt's research was very limited at best...only observational studies of a selected population....not one that can apply to the American public today.

  • Alfredo E.

    4/14/2010 3:01:54 PM |

    Dr Davis. I have been following your advice and bought a meter but I am lost here.

    My fasting glucose readings are in the 100-110 every morning. Even at 4 am is 100. I follow a diet low in carbs.

    All my post prandial readings are in the 90-120.

    I am a 5 10", 200 lbs,exercise 30 minutes everyday, 25%fat.

    How can I lower my fasting glucose?

    Thanks

  • Onschedule

    4/14/2010 8:00:37 PM |

    @Tom,

    I'd suggest taking multiple readings, especially with a TrueTrack. I follow the instructions for calibration carefully, yet still often get wildly varied readings. For example, yesterday, three tests taken within five minutes yielded: 120, 106, 91. Sometimes the groupings are much tighter. I've spoken with others using TrueTrack and have received similar feedback.

    Whenever you get a reading that doesn't seem right, test again. It's hard on the fingers, but may offer some useful insight...

    You'll find Dr. D's recommendations for meters elsewhere in his blog. I'll be picking up a different brand next time I see a rebate.

  • Lori Miller

    4/15/2010 3:15:42 AM |

    Add another chapter to the novel: in susceptible people, excess carbs cause acid reflux. Carbs, unlike protein and fat, can lead to gas, which pushes stomach acid into the esophagus. Curing acid reflux is as simple as cutting down on carbs--I've done it.

  • Peter

    4/15/2010 9:05:09 AM |

    Since in traditional societies where people ate lots of rice, or corn, squash and beans people tended not to get obese or diabetic, I have to suspect there's something about wheat and sugar rather than carbs in general that's bad for us.

  • signs of high blood sugar

    4/15/2010 11:42:26 AM |

    It is very important to maintain blood sugar levels. High Blood sugar can be very dangerous and unhealthy. High blood sugar in medical terms is known as hyperglycemia. Having high blood sugar can cause many diseases of heart, kidney etc. There are many signs of high blood sugar such as excessive urination, excessive thirst, weight loss, tiredness etc. Right exercise and diet helps in maintaining blood sugar levels.

  • tom

    4/15/2010 2:25:33 PM |

    To ONSCHEDULE,

    Thank you for you suggestion.  I did follow the instructions about the calibration.

    I'm thinking now of doing a test at 30", 60", 90", and 2 hours to see how the readings change.

    Sincerely,
    Tom

  • billye

    4/16/2010 2:01:10 AM |

    Hi Dr. Davis,

    Great great valuable post as usual, and right on point.

    Billy E

  • billye

    4/16/2010 2:32:29 AM |

    To all the great within commenter's,

    I enjoyed all of your comments.  I just read a newly published amazing study in Science Daily (Mar. 29, 2010)which gave me an AH HA! moment.  I just had to write a post about it and share it with you.  It is entitled "Eating low fat and high carbohydrate causes compulsive eating and shares addictive biochemical mechanisms with cocaine, and heroin abuse".  This post can be found at nephropal.com.

    Billy E

  • Denny Barnes

    4/16/2010 7:00:42 AM |

    I think fructose deserves a special mention when talking about the evils of high carb eating.  Our blood glucose does not spike after we eat fructose.  Our meters do not even budge.  They are glucometers not fructometers.  Ironically, fructose is far more damaging to the human body than glucose. Fructose creates ten times a many advanced glycation end-products (AGEs) as glucose.  I call fructose the stealth carb ... deadly and not easily detected.

  • pjnoir

    4/17/2010 10:15:07 PM |

    Whenever I see Matt Stone post somewhere, I figure it is time to move on. He still has no concept that many people can not process Carbs due to diabetes and other metabolic condidtions and that eating them does not self correct the problem.

  • H

    4/28/2010 1:59:12 AM |

    Can someone comment on lentils.  Do they spike your blood sugar?

  • EOMONROE

    5/5/2010 2:28:31 PM |

    hey, i am really enjoying your blog, have read some about this in the past, and have had an easy time loosing weight when i cut out wheats and sugars, but i am curious about asians, rice and sugar is a staple in asian diets, japanese and chinese come to mind, yet when i think of japanese i think of healthy society, what are your thoughts on this? have studies been done, do their simply appear healthy while on the inside there cholestoral numbers are way off,
    thanks
    ian

  • Anonymous

    10/20/2010 2:28:23 PM |

    Onions and raw almonds spike my blood sugar. Green peppers also have sugar and I believe they'd spike my blood sugar as well. I wonder if it's ok to eat oatmeal if my BG only goes to 120. However, I remain in the pre-diabetic state and never seem to recover, just like with fruit. I can't fast because I'm currently unable to gain weight. Oats do stabilize blood sugar, perhaps I'll just eat a small amount with fat and see how that works.

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Heart scan gone wrong

Heart scan gone wrong

6. February 2010 William Davis (9)
Those of you reading the Heart Scan Blog, I hope, have come to appreciate the power in measuring atherosclerotic plaque, the stuff of coronary artery disease, and not relying on indirect potential "risk factors," especially the fictitious LDL cholesterol.

However, like all things, even a great thing like heart scans can be misused. Here's a story of how a heart scan should NOT be used, submitted by a reader.


Dr. Davis,

First of all, let me start out by commending you on all of the work you are doing with your website, blogs, etc. You are truly a breath of fresh air at a time when conventional medicine is no longer making any sense. In the last 3 years or so, I have spent a lot of time using the internet to try and find answers . . . and just about every time, when I find things that make "sense," it coincides which the recommendations you provide. Thank You!!

I am 56 years old, and roughly 5 years ago I bought your book, Track Your Plaque, primarily because I had asked my then Internal Medicine physician about why we weren't more "proactive" about determining the state of our cardiovascular health...since the means to do so existed (scans). He was trying to get me to go on a statin because my cholesterol #'s were a little high and at the time I smoked. Other than that, I was in perfectly good health with no side effects or issues. The following year at my annual physical, we again discussed this and he gave me a few options and I ended up having a calcium score done, which showed some blockage, but again, I never had any pains, sweats, or any other symptoms whatsoever, and I am a very active former athlete. This is when I bought your book to try and set a course of plan that wouldn't just include pharmaceuticals.

At the same time, my father was in his last months of life dealing with prostate cancer and the multiple radiation and chemo treatments, so I was making many trips from my home to be with him . . . a 4 hour drive, and very disruptive to family, as I still have 3 kids at home. At what I thought was going to be my last visit with him, I stopped at the cemetery he had planned on being buried to confirm details and such and then started home.

As I was driving, a symptom hit me which I was unfamiliar with (pretty sure it was an anxiety attack now) and I stopped at a friend's house in Chicago, as I didn't want this to be a heart attack while I was driving. This is when I began thinking about the heart scan and the blockage, and ended up driving back later that night and went right to the ER....not because I had any chest pains, but thought it best to be checked out because I did not want to go before my dad did. I ended up staying the night. In the morning the cardiologist PA [physician's assistant] came in with a copy of my calcium scoring and said it was best to have a heart cath...which I was in total agreement with since it would definitively tell me the current condition of my coronary vessels. As I was getting ready to be wheeled into the cath lab, they approached me with a form that would allow them to treat (stent). This is where I became very uncomfortable, in that I had never even met the cardiologist . . . and I didn't like this. No one ever had asked if I was experiencing pains or anything else . . . but I buckled and signed the form.

Before you knew it, I was awake watching my heart being cathed and the cardiologist angry because they did not have all the right sizes of stents, so he had to use a couple extra and I ended up w/5 total . . . and my life changed forever! In looking back, I can't necessarily argue the need for intervention, but in hindsight, it would have been nice to have tried an alternative method of reversing my plaque, especially since I had never experienced any symptoms and didn't appear to be in any imminent danger.

Upon release from the hospital I was put on a cocktail of drugs that typically follow and I then began to search and research. No one talked to me about lifestyle changes other that smoking....but nothing on diet or other means of cholesterol control, etc....in fact, when I had to pick out my meals in the hospital, they wouldn't let me have cheese....but the rice crispy treat was fine....how stupid! They originally told me the Plavix had to last 6 months....and then 12....and then 2 years....I stayed on it for 1-1/2 years and it was the only thing other than a baby aspirin. I went to another cardiologist out of town and he wanted me back on 5 or 6 medications and said that now I had the stents....I would have to be on these for life.....and he was the expert that talked at several main conferences.....my last trip to him.

Now, fast forward to about 6 months ago: I was participating in a father-son soccer scrimmage and was playing goalie. It was wet out and I couldn't catch very well. So being the competitive person I am, I resorted to using my chest on several of the saves and also took a direct blow to my eye ( I wear glasses) and the eye started swelling up pretty good. We then finished and went inside to have pizza and everyone was concerned about my eye. About 30 minutes later I excused myself as i felt some pretty significant sweats and subsequently a pretty severe pain directly in the middle of my chest....I was having a heart attack! Called 911 and went to hospital (2-1/2 years since original stents) and my local cardiologist removed the blockage that was at the anterior portion of my 1st stent causing the blockage. The huge disappointment to me is that I had taken many steps to improve my overall health. But now that I have foreign bodies in my vessels, the chance of further clotting is something that i will most likely always have to live with.

BU, Michigan



This is an example of how heart scans should NOT be used. They should NEVER be used to justify a procedure, no matter how high the score or where the plaque is located. The "need" for procedures is determined by symptoms (BU's symptoms were hardly representative of heart disease), blood findings, EKG, stress testing, and perhaps CT coronary angiography. "Need" for procedures can never be justified simply on the basis of the presence of plaque by a heart scan calcium score.

Unnecessary procedures like the one BU underwent are not entirely benign, as his experience at the soccer game demonstrated.

Heart scans are truly helpful things. But, like many good things, they are subject to misuse in the hands of the uncaring or greedy.
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Comments (9) -

  • jcj - mich

    2/6/2010 6:22:47 PM |

    My father had hardening of the arteries when he was 56 years old. My doctor put me on statins when I turned 50 because of high numbers . I am on a low-carb diet now and I have lost about 10 lbs ( I am only alitte over weight ).  My thought is, shouldn't the doctor consider taking my off the statins for a while to see if my numbers will be fine now ?  I am afraid of having the same problem as my father .

  • pmpctek

    2/6/2010 7:06:32 PM |

    This is an example of how heart scans should NOT be used. They should NEVER be used to justify a procedure, no matter how high the score or where the plaque is located. - Dr. Davis

    This is exactly the reason why my primary care physician says a heart scan is pointless, because the diagnoses of high coronary calcium leads to no accepted procedure/treatment protocol (other than a statin prescription) and may lead to nothing more than anxiety for the patient.  

    If only the AMA/AHA/ACC made Dr. Davis' book, website, and blog mandatory reading.

  • osusana

    2/7/2010 6:06:42 AM |

    Can the K2 vitamin promote clotting and lead to a thrombus?

  • Anonymous

    2/7/2010 5:17:00 PM |

    Reading this blog was eerie for me, as I suffered a similar experience.  I am 56.  2 1/2 years ago an unscrupulous cardiologist put 5 stents in my arteries after a nuclear stress test revealed some impaired blood flow. Subsequent reviews by other cardiologists showed that my arteries were not sufficiently blocked to justify placement of the stents.  I will now likely be on Plavix for the rest of my life but, even more importantly, have an increased risk of future problems because of these stents.  Although I was somewhat knowledgeable about prevention at the time, as a Trackyourplaque member, I did not suspect that there were cardiologists out there in established clinics who were so interested in making money at the risk of others' health.  Dr. Davis' program has helped me gain confidence that I will overcome this.

  • Nigel Kinbrum

    2/8/2010 12:18:45 AM |

    @osusana
    Vitamin K deficiency results in slow/no clotting. Vitamin K sufficiency results in normal clotting.
    Nige.

  • Selena

    2/8/2010 2:09:32 AM |

    I'm wondering if you're against all types of wheat. I found this:

    http://www.quakeroats.com/products/more-products-from-quaker/content/cereals/unprocessed-bran.aspx

    For 35 calories, it has 11g of carbohydrates, 8 of which is fiber...It also has very impressive mineral composition. What do you think?

  • Anonymous

    2/8/2010 2:24:20 PM |

    "No one talked to me about lifestyle changes other that smoking....but nothing on diet or other means of cholesterol control, etc."

    I find it so hard to believe that this person has absolutely no idea about basic food nutrition. With public libraries everywhere, and the internet it is easy to access food nutrition information. Please do not blame doctors for your ignorance about nutrition.

  • garval

    3/1/2010 8:07:24 PM |

    I would appreciate your help with the following: can coronary artery stenosis of between 70-80% be reduced by non invasive means for instance, by a combination of a healthy diet, exercise and medication or is it bypass surgery the only course of action?

  • buy jeans

    11/3/2010 3:04:09 PM |

    This is an example of how heart scans should NOT be used. They should NEVER be used to justify a procedure, no matter how high the score or where the plaque is located. The "need" for procedures is determined by symptoms (BU's symptoms were hardly representative of heart disease), blood findings, EKG, stress testing, and perhaps CT coronary angiography. "Need" for procedures can never be justified simply on the basis of the presence of plaque by a heart scan calcium score.

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