This week, I'd like to look a little more closely at Corner #2—Low-Glycemic Response.

One hundred years ago, the average sugar intake in the United States was estimated to be approximately five pounds per year per person. Sugar was a delicacy.   Today, the average sugar intake is estimated to be more than 150 pounds per year.   In only 10 days we match the annual sugar intake of our recent ancestors!   It is critical that we get off of the blood sugar and insulin roller coaster if we want to be and feel healthy.

The extremely high sugar content in the modern American diet directly correlates with the rise in degenerative diseases, such as diabetes, heart disease, and obesity. In fact, the blood sugar roller coaster is the beginning of virtually all of the diseases we typically associate with aging. A high-glycemic (or high sugar) biochemical response is created by eating sugar or by eating foods that rapidly convert to sugar in the bloodstream. The glycemic index (GI) classifies foods according to how much they raise blood glucose following ingestion of an amount of food that contains 50 grams of carbohydrates. For optimal health, it's best to consume a diet where most of your foods have a glycemic index of less than 45.

Long term unstable blood sugar and insulin levels can lead to fatigue, brain fog, hypoglycemia, unhealthy cravings, panic attacks and eventually diabetes.   We all know someone who fits this profile—a friend, a family member, a co-worker, perhaps even the face we see in the mirror each morning! This is a person who is primarily sedentary; who doesn't exercise; who consumes too much sugar, alcohol and/or caffeine; and who eats larger portions of foods and foods with a high glycemic index.

In a recent article Ron Rosedale, M.D. scorns the traditional method of treating diabetes, where diabetics are told to eat multiple meals a day that turn into sugar and even sugar itself, as long as they take enough insulin to lower their blood sugar. Rosedale notes that the importance of limiting sugar intake, as well as foods that turn into sugar, has been almost entirely ignored by the medical establishment. He comments: “a strategic diet that emphasizes good fats and avoids sugar spikes coupled with targeted supplements can enhance insulin sensitivity.”   This is the essence of the Four Corners dietary program!

Get control of your insulin
Have you ever walked into a room where a strongly scented candle was burning? At first the smell is quite evident and strong. But after time, because of over-exposure, you lose your sensitivity and can barely notice the scent at all anymore. The same thing happens with insulin resistance. It is caused by over-exposure to insulin in the first place. When you eat a donut, for example, the pancreas metabolizes the existing amount of sugar in the bloodstream. However, because more insulin is released than is actually needed, the extra insulin goes on to create an uncomfortable hypoglycemic or low blood sugar level. Your body's cells have become desensitized to insulin because you're eating foods that cause continuous excessive secretion. If you eat enough of these foods, in time your body will lose its capacity, as Rosedale says, to “properly ‘smell' the insulin.”