I am looking for information on refined carbohydrates. What are they, exactly? I recently attended a weight-loss seminar and they said to try to stay away from refined carbohydrates. We were given a definition of how they become refined: canning, drying, cooking, processing. Is there really a difference? Any information would help.

Yes, there's a difference. Refined carbohydrates are those that have been messed with by our modern food-processing technology. That's significant for a bunch of reasons:

1. Foods contain the nutrients necessary for their own absorption (basically). Once refined (bleached, rolled, whatever), many of those nutrients are removed. So now, in order to absorb the nutrients, we must dip into our own nutritional body stores. If you don't have adequate stores you may get some form of illness.

2. A primary non-nutrient removed in processing is fiber. Fiber is essential to our diets because it regulates intestinal health and bowel movements and slows the release of sugar into the system.

3. Carbohydrates are either simple or complex. The complex carbs are starches. Simple carbs form sugar very quickly; complex carbs form sugar a little less quickly. Once the starches are processed, they form sugar even faster still, which is a stress on the pancreas.

Nutrient density is desirable in all forms of our foods, not just carbohydrates. It's just that carbs require insulin to be absorbed, which makes trouble for those wanting to lose weight -- since fat is formed, not burned, when insulin is high in the bloodstream. Refining those carbs makes insulin go even higher.

The only reason to refine foods is for shelf life, not YOUR life.

Good Health, A.N. Spreen, M.D.