According to a group of Israeli researchers published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology led by Dr. Michael Schechter of Tel Aviv University's Sackler School of Medicine, when people eat refined carbs in the morning as opposed to fiber rich foods or nothing at all, their arteries became less flexible for roughly two hours after eating. Arteries which are more rigid are prone to succumb to high blood pressure and atherosclerosis, otherwise known as arterial disease, which is the typical cause of heart attack and stroke and especially prevalent in the obese. Atherosclerosis refers to the plaque build up that occurs when high blood pressure and cholesterol damage the inner most lining of the arteries.
Research has further identified fiber in particular as a great replacement for refined carbs because fiber has the ability to both reduce insulin resistance and reduce damage to the artery's inner most lining helping to prevent high blood pressure.
This should give you a little more motivation to skip the Corn Flakes, Lucky Charms, donuts, or any other form of highly refined carbohydrates and switch over to whole grain cereals and foods with fiber and protein… unrefined carbs are alright too. Nobody’s going to stop you from having an apple for breakfast. After all, an apple’s going to give you your unrefined carb load as well as antioxidants and fiber. Maybe this is why they say, “an apple a day keeps the doctor away”.
Source
Journal of the American College of Cardiology, March 2009
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