Because of genetics, body fat percentage, exercise habits and the amount of protein and fat consumed, the optimal amount of carbs can vary considerably from person to person. While an extremely active underweight male might require 80 grams of carbs at a meal, a sedentary overweight female may only need 15 grams. What doesn’t vary, however, is what happens when a person consumes an excessive amount of carbs.
Insulin Is Secreted--Twice
After the excessive carbs are broken down by the digestive system into glucose, a simple form of sugar, they are released into the bloodstream increasing the level of blood sugar. In response, the pancreas stops secreting glucagon, the hormone needed for body fat to be burned as energy, and releases insulin, the hormone that transports glucose to the cells to provide energy and stabilize blood sugar. But this initial secretion of insulin is based on carb levels of prior meals--not the present overload--so blood sugar remains elevated. As a result, a second secretion of insulin occurs and more glucose gets transported to the cells to be stored as a reserve energy called glycogen.
Many of the Carbs Turn to Fat
The cells have a relatively limited storage capacity, about 400 grams for a 150-pound man, and the reserves only get totally depleted from intense and protracted physical activity--the equivalent of two hours of running at a racing pace--so most of the second round of glucose is not accepted. When this occurs, the insulin then transports the glucose to the liver where it’s most likely turned into a fatty acid, triglycerides, to be housed in the fat stores, which have unlimited storage capacity. Consequently, body fat is added with a fair chance for more. The second secretion of insulin usually lowers blood sugar to such a degree that it creates hypoglycemia and a false hunger that causes more eating.
Insulin Resistance Can Develop
Regularly eating excessive carbs produces a problem besides weight gain. Because the cells are continually bombarded with the sugar that carbs become, they develop a resistance to the transporter of it, insulin. When this occurs, even fewer carbs get stored in the cells as energy and even more get transported to the liver to be transformed into triglycerides and stored as body fat. Yet blood sugar still gets lowered by the second secretion of insulin with every excessive carbs meal, so many people caught in this cycle feel hungrier and hungrier as they get fatter and fatter.
CHAOS Can Occur
Eating excessive carbs continually creates a cluster of symptoms now best known as metabolic syndrome and sometimes called syndrome X or insulin-resistance syndrome. Besides the previously mentioned increase in body fat and resistance to insulin, the cluster includes high cholesterol levels, high blood pressure, high uric acid levels and blood-clotting problems. If left unchecked, metabolic syndrome increases the odds of CHAOS, an acronym used by doctor Cheryle R. Hart and dietitian Mary Kay Grossman in “The Insulin-Resistance Diet” to list the serious health problems that can result from long-term excessive carb consumption: coronary heart disease, hypertension, adult-onset diabetes, obesity and stroke.
Insulin Is Secreted--Twice
After the excessive carbs are broken down by the digestive system into glucose, a simple form of sugar, they are released into the bloodstream increasing the level of blood sugar. In response, the pancreas stops secreting glucagon, the hormone needed for body fat to be burned as energy, and releases insulin, the hormone that transports glucose to the cells to provide energy and stabilize blood sugar. But this initial secretion of insulin is based on carb levels of prior meals--not the present overload--so blood sugar remains elevated. As a result, a second secretion of insulin occurs and more glucose gets transported to the cells to be stored as a reserve energy called glycogen.
Many of the Carbs Turn to Fat
The cells have a relatively limited storage capacity, about 400 grams for a 150-pound man, and the reserves only get totally depleted from intense and protracted physical activity--the equivalent of two hours of running at a racing pace--so most of the second round of glucose is not accepted. When this occurs, the insulin then transports the glucose to the liver where it’s most likely turned into a fatty acid, triglycerides, to be housed in the fat stores, which have unlimited storage capacity. Consequently, body fat is added with a fair chance for more. The second secretion of insulin usually lowers blood sugar to such a degree that it creates hypoglycemia and a false hunger that causes more eating.
Insulin Resistance Can Develop
Regularly eating excessive carbs produces a problem besides weight gain. Because the cells are continually bombarded with the sugar that carbs become, they develop a resistance to the transporter of it, insulin. When this occurs, even fewer carbs get stored in the cells as energy and even more get transported to the liver to be transformed into triglycerides and stored as body fat. Yet blood sugar still gets lowered by the second secretion of insulin with every excessive carbs meal, so many people caught in this cycle feel hungrier and hungrier as they get fatter and fatter.
CHAOS Can Occur
Eating excessive carbs continually creates a cluster of symptoms now best known as metabolic syndrome and sometimes called syndrome X or insulin-resistance syndrome. Besides the previously mentioned increase in body fat and resistance to insulin, the cluster includes high cholesterol levels, high blood pressure, high uric acid levels and blood-clotting problems. If left unchecked, metabolic syndrome increases the odds of CHAOS, an acronym used by doctor Cheryle R. Hart and dietitian Mary Kay Grossman in “The Insulin-Resistance Diet” to list the serious health problems that can result from long-term excessive carb consumption: coronary heart disease, hypertension, adult-onset diabetes, obesity and stroke.