Keys To Supportive Eating, Part 3In part one of "Keys To Supportive Eating" I introduced the concept of eating to support your metabolism and in part two I went on to explain the role of fats in your nutrition and that fat is not the bad guy that many make it out to be. If you haven't read parts one and two of "Keys To Supportive Eating" click this link Now, on to part 3 of "Keys To Supportive Eating
Many people looking to lose weight start eating low fat biscuits, cakes and ice cream in the belief that this will help the lose weight. This is a mistake as often the number one ingredient in these foods is sugar. Fat in foods usually adds flavour so when the manufacturers reduce the fat content of their products they add extra sugar so that the flavour isn’t lost. Yes its true that fat contains more than twice the amount of calories as sugar but sugar is often the number one reason people fail to lose weight! Sugar actually inhibits fat loss. Here’s how:
When you eat a simple sugar, be that from biscuits, sweets or soft drinks all that sugar gets absorbed into the blood stream at once. This leads to a state of elevated or high blood sugar.
The body doesn’t like this so the pancreas increases its production of a hormone called insulin. Insulin is a storage hormone which transports the excess sugar out of the bloodstream and into the muscles and liver for storage.
The pancreas will produce too much insulin which will in turn cause a low blood sugar state, hence the energy slumps you get and the cravings for more sugary foods.
Now since the muscles and liver only have limited storage space once they are full any excess blood sugar which is not burned off will be shuttled to the fat cells for storage!
The pancreas also produces a hormone called glucagon. As the pancreas increases its production of insulin (from eating simple sugars) it decreases its production of glucagon.
Why is this relevant to someone trying to lose fat? Glucagon helps to release fat so that it can be burned in the muscles as fuel. So when you eat simple sugars you cannot produce glucagon and your fat is locked in unable to be burned.
Now if we go back to part one where I introduced you to the concept of eating to support your metabolism you will know that you should be eating a meal containing a protein, a starchy carb and a fibrous carb every 3 to 3 and a half hours. Ideally these meals will be free from simple sugars.
By eating in this manner you will avoid the energy highs and lows and keep your insulin levels in check enabling glucagon to release fat to b burned in the muscles.
In part four, I will go into more detail about carbohydrates other than simple sugars.
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