How Many Carbohydrates are Too Much?
So what should we reduce our carbohydrate intake to? The average American diet consists of 50-60% of calories from carbohydrates, and many highly processed carbohydrates at that. Scientific studies suggest that most individuals can become extremely healthy if they reduce their carbohydrate intake to approximately 25% of their total daily caloric intake.
In other words, simply cut the amount of carbohydrates you are consuming in half. I ask my patients to first start by reducing the larger amounts of carbohydrates from their diets; the frequent servings of potatoes, rice and pasta and eliminating the sugar drinks from their diet. After a week or 2, I have them count the grams of carbohydrates in their daily diets for a few days. They quickly begin to realize the massive volume of carbohydrates they were consuming on a regular basis.
How about breakfast? How often do you either skip breakfast or have a grain based item such as cereal, oatmeal or a bagel for breakfast? Simply try to have a high protein item such as eggs and bacon, a protein drink or a left over piece of chicken or steak from the night before for breakfast more often.
Remember, reducing your carbohydrate intake of 25% of your total caloric intake has a dramatic improvement in the diseases arising from Insulin Resistance. Your triglyceride and HDL cholesterol levels improve, your blood pressure will be greatly reduced and your blood sugar levels will normalize as your body’s response to insulin to improve.
This level of carbohydrate reduction has been calculated to have 6-10 times the power of improving the risk of cardiovascular disease than do the common statin medications that are commonly used to lower a persons LDL cholesterol levels.
