I’ve been thinking about the fact that carbohydrate virtually never grows in nature without the fiber attached. Think about meadows, gardens, and orchards — all the vegetables, beans, fruit, and grains that grow in these places grow with their fiber matrix intact.

Why is flour that’s been stripped of its fiber and germ called “refined?” What’s refined about flour? If you look up “refined” in the dictionary you discover that to refine is to remove the course impurities. And that got me thinking.

Why would anyone want to imply that the oil-rich germ and fiber-rich bran are coarse impurities?

I think a lot about how words can be chosen to influence large populations to behave in ways that they otherwise might not. Consider, for example, the fact that yogurt without flavoring is labeled plain, and not pure. Why would yogurt manufacturers want to encourage consumers to purchase flavored yogurts in place of plain? Which raw material costs more — milk or corn syrup? And which kind of yogurt has more corn syrup?

A war of words is being waged under the radar to influence consumers’ purchasing and consumption behaviors to an extraordinary degree. I joke that there is a special name for the so-called nutrition information displayed on breakfast cereal and cracker boxes. It’s called advertising.

So if word selection is so important, and worth billions to the food processing industry, then I am simply leveling the playing field. At the very least it should be a fair fight, and how can it be when most people don’t even realize that it’s happening?

I offer you a better term for whole meal, whole grains, edamame, beets, dates, and all  other foods rich in carbohydrate and which have not been stripped of their fiber matrix. Instead of stripped carbohydrates, these are INTACT carbohydrates. Intact carbohydrates are what you find when you pick a tomato, or peaches, or green beans.  Or grains of wheat. Stripped carbohydrates don’t grow in the ground, or on a branch or a stalk. Stripped carbs are what you find in supermarkets, fast food restaurants, vending machines.

If stripped, or refined, carbs are the default setting of the Western diet, then the original version, the kind that hasn’t been tampered with, the kind that has grown that way for thousands of years, is going to require a special new descriptor. And that is why you find products labeled as “whole-grain flour.” As customer demand increases for food that grew the way nature intended, grocery stores are now filling with foods described as organic, grass-fed, pastured, free-range, and wild.  

Consider, for a moment, the fact that those none of these words were necessary 120 years ago.

Instead of using the term “refined” carbs, let’s call them what they are: stripped carbs. In contrast, whole grains, fruits, vegetables, and beans are INTACT carbohydrates. Intact carb requires no special descriptors; it is what it is. Intact carb is less likely to be found in a box. Intact carb is carb the way nature intended. Intact carbs are food. Intact carbs are found in abundance in the produce section, and they include potatoes, apples, oranges, lettuce, onions, peppers, kale, cauliflower, rhubarb, broccoli, and kohlrabi, not to mention whole-grain flour and brown rice.

In contrast, now consider food starch, modified food starch, white flour, high fructose corn syrup, sugar, enriched flour, fortified grain, white rice, and polished rice. Reconstituted products are not intact carbs; they’re stripped carbs. 

It’s not a coincidence that white flour looks exactly like corn starch and powdered sugar. We’ve removed all the nourishing parts, and all that’s left is a pile of white powder. It’s not that you can’t eat it. It’s just not food.