Ok-- so we all know that sugar is bad for you, but no one listens because it's just so gawddamn good! AND WE CRAVE IT! So if we crave it, it's good for us, right? We should listen to our bodies, right?
eh....
So here is the science behind sugar that I was taught this weekend:
Go google Hyperinsulinema Disease. Basically, it's the symptom of Type 2 diabeties. Fascinating read. If we broke down the word it's as follows:
Hyper = too much
Insulin = the insulin hormone (will explain in #2)
Ema = in the blood.
Insulin is a hormone that yells at cells to "HEY GUYS!!! STORE STUFF!!! OMG! PANIC! STORE! BE A FUCKING HOARDER! STORE EVERYTHING!!!!!! DO NOT LET GO!!!!"
Now, Insulin is necessary for us to live. We need to be able to store fat in our cells so we can burn it off later (later being when we are NOT eating and we need to, you know, do stuff.)
What we don't need is too much floating around in our blood stream. Too much makes our pancreas work over-time. (I'll talk about diabetes in a min).
Insulin is created from carbs. Carbs are things like bread, processed sugar, some veggies and fruits, starches, you know-- all the stuff we love greatly.
Type 1 Diabetes is where you don't produce ANY insulin. This is usually by birth or a sickness or something.
Type 2 Diabetes is where you don't produce ENOUGH insulin. The irony is that it's caused by having too much in the body where the insulin receptors in the pancreas are totally destroyed. You develop diabeties because of your diet. (i.e. you aren't born with it).
Fun fact: 92% of Diabetes cases are Type 2 in the USA.
Another fun fact: the 2 health problems with children in the USA are obesity and type 2 diabetes. (hmmm. weird!)
Sugar triggers the same parts in your brain that cocaine and heroin does. (you know- that "feel amazing" feeling? same place.)
80% of your body's health is based on what you eat. My old roommate Steph can speak for this. She switched her diet to just organic and lost crazy amounts of weight! Basically, if you watch what you eat and don't eat sugar, you will probably drop weight like there's no tomorrow. (I've said this before).
Interesting fact: Cancer feeds off sugar. But I just googled it more and found this. so-- whatever. I still think cancer can be prevented. (remember: 80% of your health is fixed by what your intake is.)
Protein releases a hormone called Glucagon. This hormone goes "HEY BODY!!! GO!!! GO GO GO GO GO!!! FIRE OFF THINGS!!! GO! DO THINGS! BE ACTIVE! GO GO GO!"
your body stores fat. *points at my butt and boobs and flabby stomach* (this should be fucking obvious for everyone with 2 brain cells).
Your body burns fat AFTER it burns protein and carbs. I'm bad at math--but basically, if you limit your carbs (which tells the body to store) then you will have more "GO GO GO!" hormone and your body will burn all the fat.
huh...
weird.
science!
NYC got the message. They put a ban on selling pop/soda more than 16oz. Bloomberg is fucking smrt. I hope this gets picked up by EVERYONE EVERYWHERE! (sadly, this is a pipe dream that probably won't happen in my life-time.)
---------------------------------------
So.... what do you eat?
"eat real foods. Meat, veggies, nuts and seeds, some fruits, little starch, and no sugar."
Make this your mantra.
I challenge everyone to stop eating sugar for a month. The first 3-4 days will be FUCKING HELL! THEY WILL BE AWFUL!
BUT!
You will stop craving sugary things. You will feel better. You won't need coffee. You won't need an alarm clock. You will start dropping weight. Oh... and you won't have that "starving" feeling that you get right before meal time.
Try it. Just for 30 days. I challenge you. If you do, I'll give you the recipe for my paleo popsicles. |