2024 Author: Jasmine Walkman | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 08:29
Most diets make you believe that carbohydrates are the enemy when trying to maintain a healthy weight. But geneticists say crackers may hold the key to how much of this food group we can eat.
Everyone's body breaks down food a little differently. That explains why one person's healthy lifestyle can wreak havoc on another, says Dr. Sharon Moalem, a doctor and neurogeneticist. In his new book, called DNA Restart, he explains how to adjust your diet according to your individual genetic makeup, including how to use crackers to calculate how many carbohydrates the digestive system processes.
He explained to Mail Online that people fall into three categories of carbohydrate intake: full, moderate or limited. Use a simple unsalted cracker to perform the test. If you have a gluten intolerance, use a piece of peeled raw potato that is the size of a 10 stotinki coin.
Bite off the cracker and turn on the timer when you start chewing (make sure the piece is soaked with enough saliva). Note the time when the cracker starts to acquire a sweet taste instead of the usual one. If you chew for 30 seconds without the taste changing, note this. Take the test twice more, add the times and divide by three to calculate the average time.
Those who feel the sweetness in the period between 0 and 14 seconds fall into the category of full consumption. They are recommended to eat 250 grams of carbohydrates per day (based on the recommended intake of 2000 calories per day). The result between 15 and 30 seconds shows a moderate category and means to take 175 grams of carbohydrates per day. Those lasting more than 30 seconds fall into the category of limited and can take 125 grams per day.
Dr. Moalem's book is based on the idea that the genes we inherit from our parents determine our optimal diet. In some people, the enzyme amylase, produced in the pancreas and salivary glands to digest carbohydrates, is more effective than in others. People whose ancestors ate more starch, such as grains, may have more copies of the AMY1 gene and will be able to handle carbohydrates more easily than people whose ancestors ate more meat.
In general, the diet of the average person should contain no more than 30 percent carbohydrates. Dr. Moalem's theory contradicts the carbohydrate reduction recommendations of many well-known diets such as Atkins, South Beach and Ducan.
Nutritionist Sian Porter says that carbohydrates are a large group and people should know that not everyone is the same. In our diet, the type is important, not just their quantity. We need to reduce the amount of sugar in our diet and eat foods that contain starchy carbohydrates. There is strong evidence that the fiber contained in whole-grain versions of starchy carbohydrates, for example, is good for health.
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