Sugar’s even worse for us than we thought…

December 8, 2016 Ashley 0 Comments

Feel a li’l bit like this after too many holiday cranberry bliss bars?

“I’ll work it off later…”

If you’ve read anything on this site, you’ve probably already learned that refined, white sugar is weight loss’s anathema. This delectable enemy sends your blood sugar and insulin levels askew, making you store more fat, and making it tough to chuck the unwanted pounds later. What’s worse? It makes you you tired and craving more of the same when that glucose peak and plummet transpires. Yes. You may have already heard that before. And that’s bad enough. But, that, we can at least convince ourselves is something we can eventually work off. That we can deal with. But this double whammy of bad I just learned recently, we can’t:

See, the problem is – table sugar’s not easy to metabolize. So, in order for us to break down, our bodies have gotta draw out the stuff that helps us metabolize it. And where does it get those catalysts from? Sure, sometimes is the nutrients consumed in whatever other food we’ve had. That’s fine. But sometimes (and this is a dreadful bit of info I’m just learning), our body itself will strip those micronutrient catalysts from its own tissues. B vitamins. Calcium. Phosphorus. Iron. The sugar simply makes us rip away at what we’ve eaten so healthily to accrue – like some demanding, delicious, parasitic intruder. And, without all of those things (which we absolutely need), we can kiss legit fitness goodbye.

(Don’t even bother eating that healthy green whatever-that-is…
Not if you’re just gonna chase it with a nutrient nicking, sugary mocha latte.)

Because without all those things, what starts happening is that we feel tired, crave bad foods, and are too lethargic for our cardio routine. (And that’s actually amplified, when you consider the fact that the disturbed blood sugar levels are already inducing a degree of that.) Just like the white man landing on Plymouth rock and stealing all the resources, white sugar lands in our stomachs, rapes the land-tissue, and pilfers all the minerals. The result? We’re missing the reserves to burn off any calories. We can’t build any of that fat burning muscle. And, what’s worse, we’re gonna be miserable – trying to function in our day to day lives.

So, what’s the fix for a sugar fix hankering?

For one, withdrawing from the drug itself is the first step. Once you have less of it, you’ll crave less of it. Second, is beating it to the punch; if you’re starting the day with whole grains and fruit that helps fill you up and satiate your sugary proclivities in a natural, weight loss promoting way, you can avoid that blinding desire for white sugar later. Dates, apples, and baked yams are also great for preventing you jonesin’ for scones drizzled in icing later. And, third, if the craving still makes its way through this foolproof food barrier, there are still some sweet options that serve as excellent subs. (Banana ice cream, for one, is a favorite among many.) Likewise, if you’re into having a bit of culinary fun, try whipping up your own dessert – using barley malt, maple syrup, or rice syrup as sweeteners lieu of the refined stuff.

See, Audrey’s making that face ’cause they didn’t use sugar-subs back then.

And she knew she wasn’t gonna eat any of whatever’s in that oven… Sad for her. But if modern day you uses the sugar shoo-ins, you can enjoy dessert time – guilt free. And you won’t hafta Hep-burn off as much later. That said, I get that it’s tough to give it up. Especially when so many of our favorite foods (and drinks; let’s don’t forget Starbucks) harbor this fugitive fattening powder. And – that – the fattening aspect was bad enough to know. But knowing that this nutritional imposter monster is nicking minerals from my own tissues? Ripping me off? Literally? That I can’t stand for. None of us should. Because, ultimately, we end up losing our nutrient and mineral arsenal that we need to fuel legit health and weight loss.

And that’s likely why many of us can’t even survive fifteen minutes of cardio alone.

Much less the extra fifteen minutes (on top of an authentic workout) it’d take to “just burn it off” later.