The following list of reasons to cut your carbs is adapted from The Carnitine Miracle, by Robert Crayhon, M.A. (Crayhon 1998).

1. High-carbohydrate diets lower HDL cholesterol and, more important, raise triglycerides — an independent risk for heart attack.

2. You are much more likely to have a heart attack following a high-carbohydrate meal than a high-fat meal.

Not So Sweet After All

3. Carbohydrates raise your level of insulin, which makes you fat and increases your risk for metabolic disorder, diabetes, and worse.

4. A high intake of carbohydrates and sweetened beverages is associated with an increased risk of breast cancer (Witte et al. 1997).

Carbs & Heart Disease

5. Carbohydrates eaten in excess raise levels of plasminogen activator inhibitor-1, which increases the risk of heart attacks and strokes.

6. Eating too many carbohydrates makes LDL particles smaller and denser, generating lipoprotein(a), which in turn raises the risk of heart and artery disease. No statin drug can modify or reduce your production of lipoprotein(a); only diet can through reduction of insulin-provoking carbohydrates.

7. Eating a lot of starches and sugars raises the levels of triglycerides and blood fats following a meal, creating a condition called postprandial lipemia, which is another risk factor for heart disease.

Excess Carbs Lead to Increased Risk of Disease

8. Eating a lot of starches and sugars can increase the likelihood of yeast overgrowth, toxic bowel, and an impaired ability of the liver to remove toxic materials from the body, all of which increase the risk of disease.

9. Pregnant women who eat diets high in carbohydrates form a smaller placenta (Godfrey et al. 1996). This has ominous implications. The formation of the placenta dictates how well the mother will be able to transfer nutrients to the fetus.

10. A diet high in grains like wheat or legumes, which contain mostly starch, will contain phytates that reduce the absorption of valuable nutrients such as calcium, iron, and zinc. Such a diet will also increase your exposure to highly allergenic compounds such as gluten, which is found primarily in wheat, rye, and barley, potentially even leading to autoimmune diseases.

11. Excessive intake of carbohydrates, especially sugar, will weaken immune function. Too many carbohydrates also increases the damage that stress can do to the body (Holman 1996).

This article is excerpted with permission from the book:

Primal Body, Primal Mind: Beyond the Paleo Diet for Total Health and a Longer Life
by Nora T. Gedgaudas.

Reprinted with permission of the publisher, Healing Arts Press, an imprint of Inner Traditions Inc. ©2011. www.InnerTraditions.com

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