One thing I have to say is that I am confused about some things. There are a lot of diet fads out there today and its gotten to the point where I just don't know what's good! What are the things that are really going to be beneficial to my health?
All the diets and workout trends...there's so much noise in the nutrition and fitness space that I just don't know what to do anymore. With that, I am not so sure that there are many of us at all that know what to do anymore!
What's the deal with carbs? Is it more healthy just not to eat them at all? Or, what's the proper level of moderation?
How about gluten free? That one seems to be the big trend as of late. If I'm not a person with celiac disease, is Gluten free the way to be? What are the drawbacks?
Having all these questions about nutrition, I decided to reach out to a close friend of mine, Bruce Bloom, who runs the Bloom Metabolic Institute in White Plains, NY. I consider him a trusted source on all things nutrition. Below is what we discussed. Hopefully it sheds some light for you just as much as it did for me.
-Brandon
Brandon Steiner: Carbs- do we need to cut down or cut out? What are good carbs and bad carbs?
Bruce Bloom: Carbs are carbs, what makes them good or bad is the form they are found in and the ability of the body to process them. We all have different bodies and our bodies are in various states of development. For example during infancy it's probably a good idea to have a relatively high carb diet as carb's stimulate growth and feed very active growing cells. An older person does not have very active growing cells and the cells that are active and growing are generally cancer cells so it's a bad idea.
In most foods-veggies, fruits, grains, legumes-carbs are not concentrated, refined and simplified, so most of us can eat them in varying amounts without much stress to the body. Concentrated, refined or simplified carbs are potentially dangerous except under certain conditions. It's also dependent on level of activity, stress levels, sleep, etc.
BS: Gluten-free: what does it mean?
BB: Gluten is a protein found in certain grains. It is a difficult protein to digest and left undigested it can really piss off an immune system for certain people. Depending on where your immune system decides to attack the undigested protein, gluten, determines the challenges to the body. If it attacks it on the surface of your digestive tract it can damage the lining leading to Celiac disease. But it can also get thru the lining and damage internal organs. A thyroid is, for unknown reasons, very susceptible. If you have the ability to digest it effectively then it is of no consequence. The problem is we don't know who can and who can't so a good strategy is to go gluten free. It's not like anyone has died from a gluten deficiency so eliminating it is not going to deprive you of something you can only get from the grains it's associated with.
BS: Thank you, Bruce!
