This week’s blog will wrap up the rest of my thoughts on nutrition, mainly focusing on the role of sugar and fat in the diet. First, let me explain what the big deal is about sugar—how it affects the body and why the better you control your intake, the more successful you will be in maintaining your ideal body composition.
Sugar, technically known as glucose, is used in the body for energy, specifically for thinking and moving. This is why when you have too much you have a spike in energy, but if you have too little, you cannot think straight and it is hard to do any major activities. So, glucose is very important to the body, but it must be taken in moderation. Not only this, it is also best if the levels in the bloodstream are able to me maintained without too much variation. When you eat a candy bar, however, your blood sugar hits the roof, giving you that spike in energy, but this has negative effects too. Besides leading to an eventual crash, your body will also produce a hormone called insulin. When insulin is produced it tells the cells to open up and accept the glucose from the blood, helping to stabilize the blood sugar, while also increasing the sugar available in the cells to use as energy. All good stuff so far, but problems arise when there is consistently too much sugar. One thing that can happen is that the cells become so overwhelmed with sugar that they begin to reject the insulin and will no longer take in the glucose. This is what happens in the case of Type II Diabetes. This has a whole set of negative implications of its own so we can leave it at that. The other things that happens, that is more important in terms of fat loss, is that when insulin is being produced, another hormone, glucagon, is not. Glucagon, while mostly responsible for releasing glucose from the liver into the bloodstream when blood sugar levels are low, is also responsible for releasing something else: fatty acids. When glucagon is produced, is tells the fat cells to release the stored fatty acids into the blood to be used as energy. This is an important concept that many people do not realize. Sugar does not make you fat, but it sure does keep it once you have it.
On that note, I would also like to say that low fat diets are not the way to go. For one, fat is a very important nutrient that the body needs, and should make up almost 30% of your daily calories. What you have to realize, however, is that there are different kinds of fat. Trans fats are the worst, meaning that at all costs stay away from hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated vegetable oils. These, along with saturated fat (animal fat & tropical oils) are responsible for high levels of bad cholesterol, while decreasing your good cholesterol. Polyunsaturated fats are tricky because there are two main types: omega-6 and omega-3. Omega-6s are found in your corn oil and vegetable oil, and while they are not as bad as saturated, they are not known to be particularly beneficial. Omega-3s on the other hand, found in fish oil and flax, are considered to be very healthy. These, along with monounsaturated fats (olive oil, peanut oil) should make up the majority of the fat in your diet. So instead of picking up the low fat butter, why not use olive oil for cooking next time. Low fat products are rarely as nutritious (or delicious for that matter!) so why not just find the healthy alternative. Also, eating fat is not what makes you fat. Eating too much is what makes you fat. When you over-consume, the body stores the excess calories as fat to be used for fuel later. When you have a diet that is high in fat, however, it is easier to over consume because fat has over twice as many calories per gram as protein or carbohydrates. So in the end it is more important to eat the right amount of healthy fat, rather than stuffing yourself full of low-fat foods. Many times, you just end up eating more when you know it’s low-fat.
Food can be complicated and stressful, but if you change the way you look at food, it can become quite easy. Natural is probably the easiest rule to follow. If it is of the earth, then you’re probably safe. If it is of man, then there has probably been sugar added, oil hydrogenated, or additives stuck in there to prolong its shelf life. Hopefully the guide I provided last week will also help to get you thinking about the variety of food out there that can be cooked up into any number of delicious meals while also providing the nutrients that your body needs. Diet is about daily choices and planning ahead. It’s about recognizing what a healthy life can provide and committing to living that life. There will always be times that the healthiest choices are not available, but if you eat right 80% of the time, you’ll be way ahead of the game. Good luck and happy eating!
-Colin
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