The foods you love are killing you
No one will argue that processed foods and other junk are actually healthy.
But advertising's another story -- and unfortunately, the message from medicine is being drowned out by the one coming from the advertisers. The message from them is to go ahead and eat up, because a little junk, even high-glycemic index foods food never hurt anyone.
Well, it's time to put that myth to bed for good. A little junk food by itself can do plenty of damage on its own. But most people can't stop at a little -- and the more you eat, the more damage it will do.
And now, new research confirms what's already all too obvious: The average amount of junk people eat these days is more than enough to dramatically boost the risk of diabetes.
The study focused on high-glycemic index -- in general, carbs, especially the sugars and refined carbohydrates found in junk food, processed foods, and convenience foods.
These high-glycemic index cause your blood sugar levels to spike, forcing your pancreas to pump out insulin. Eat them too often, and your pancreas will eventually break down from exhaustion -- and you end up with type-2 diabetes.
All it takes is 100 grams of sugar (or the equivalent) a day--per 2,000 calories of diet--to increase your risk of diabetes by 45 percent, according to data on 125,000 people from 24 studies published over the past 15 years.
That may sound like a lot of sugar and sugar equivalent. It is a lot -- but it's well below what most people eat, because the study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition finds that average consumption of sugar and sugar equivalents is 139 grams a day.
So forget the message from the advertisers.
While it might be tempting to give in to the convenience and even the taste of high-glycemic index, there shouldn't be anything tempting about a lifetime of meds and insulin injections -- a lifetime ultimately cut short by heart disease.
The time to make changes is now -- before it's too late. And the best place to start is with the Mediterranean diet.