Dr Xand van Tulleken set out to explore carbohydrates, and their role in our increasing rates of type 2 diabetes, obesity, bowel cancer and fertility problems. The Truth About Carbs was a fun, accessible documentary complete with animations, demonstrative props and a visual experiment in which he asked people to measure out the sugar cubes found in foods from a bagel to a muffin. Shock: there are 19 in a seemingly innocent baked potato.
Dividing them simply into three types of carbohydrate: beige (starchy), white (sugary) and green (healthy fibre), van Tulleken clearly got his message across about the importance of healthy, resistant starch in the diet.
After hearing the terrifying diabetes-related conditions he listed – blindness, ulcers, heart attacks, strokes, limb loss… oh, and death (“It’s pretty hard to overstate how dangerous type 2 diabetes is,” said the upbeat, amiable doctor) – you certainly wanted to follow GP David Unwin’s low-carb lifestyle advice. With tips such as substituting celeriac for carb-heavy roast potatoes, or bulgar wheat for rice, we saw the results of a group of overweight patients who had all lost weight, with some on their way to reversing their diabetes.
