Refined carbohydates: the new tobacco?

This week The International Diabetes Federation (IDF)  released new data showing that a staggering 285 million people worldwide have diabetes. Diabetes now affects seven percent of the world's adult population. The regions with the highest rates are North America, where 10.2 % of the adult population have diabetes. See the summary in Science Daily. Surprised? Perhaps we shouldn't be. Annual refined sugar consumption has risen from 20 pounds per person per year in 1850 to 160 pounds per person in 1996. This and other disturbing facts of modern dietary perversion are detailed in the book Primal Mind - Primal Body by Nora Gedgaudas.  This is a solid Paleo book that tells us a good deal about how our nutritional practices have gone completely off the rails. Gedgaudas does a great job of showing the immense contrast between our ancestral ways and the absurd diet of the modern world. In a nutshell, she's an anti-refined-carb crusader, but she has plenty to offer across the nutritional spectrum. By the time you finish this book, you'll find it nearly impossible to eat a refined sugar product and you'll avoid the center aisles of the supermarket like the plague.

Note: Gedgaudas advocates the use of nutritional supplements, a controversial practice among natural health practitioners. Her case is simple however. For those who have been metabolically crippled by chronic consumption of refined sugars and trans-fats (this includes most modern people) supplementation offers a way back to homeostasis and health. This is definitely worth a look.