Carbs or Fats?

This is a hotly debated subject. Fats have been perceived as enemy number one for quite some time, and yet, recent studies showing a correlation between consuming fat-free products and obesity have begun to raise serious doubts on the virtues of a low-fat high-carb diet (this includes whole grains, organic or not). Dr. David Pearmutter MD a neurologist has done extensive research on the effects of various foods groups such as carbs and fats on brain health and by extension the rest of the body. His findings has led him to effectively turn the nutrition pyramid on its head when considering what is the healthy diet for the humans brain. In his book Grain Brain Dr. Mutter and co-author Kristin Loberg point out that the high we so often feel after eating a heavy carb meal (both complex and simple carbs) is not a figment of our imaginations. It has been known for more than 40 years that when gluten (found in most grains/carbs) is broken down in the stomach they turn into polypeptides which are able to go through the blood-brain barrier and party with the morphine receptors, which as the name implies, are the receptors responsible for providing pleasure from opiate drugs such as oxycodone and heroine. The effect is so similar, in fact, that opiate-blocking drugs like naltrexone actually block the effects of these polypeptides dubbed by Dr. Christine Davis as exorphins to distinguish them from the natural painkiller endorphins we produce. Just as with Heroine, when the effects are blocked or we abstain from these exophin-producing foods, there are withdrawal symptoms. This becomes concerning when you consider how ever present sugars in the foods we consume. When fat was taken out of foods, due to fear of raising cholesterol, the flavor loss was compensated with added sugar. The consequence of that was that the consumption of sugar for the average american went from 2 pounds a year a hundred years ago, to 152 pounds today; that’s almost 43 teaspoons a day and that’s just sugar and it’s cousins glucose, corn syrup, sucrose etc. that doesn’t include the complex carbs we eat that our bodies then turns into sugar like the bread, pasta, rice and potatoes. The rise in type 2 diabetes is one indication of the result of our sugar addiction, but just because you haven’t been diagnosed with diabetes or have nice even blood sugar level doesn't mean that your body is not being stressed out. In order to maintain your blood-sugar levels doesn't mean that everything is fine. The pancreas produces insulin to transfer glucose in the blood into the cells, the more glucose (sugar) in your blood the more insulin your pancreas produces, this in turn makes the cells become less sensitive to the insulin, like an addict that requires higher and higher doses the cells require more and more insulin to absorb the glucose until at some point the pancreas can no longer produce enough insulin to maintain the blood sugar and hello Diabetes; It is Dr. Pearmutter’s premise that by flipping the pyramid on it’s head and consuming more fats and fewer carbs we can reverse this trend and make the cells more sensitive to insulin. He argues that fat (healthy fats) are the brain and body's preferred fuel, and if we return to that model of nutrition not just will we resolve the diabetes trend but a whole host of neurological problems, including depression. Would you give up the flavored syrup in your latte and replace the fat-free milk it with half and half? Your brain surely would!