This is not the cure all to weighing less, but substantially decreasing your sugar definitely will curb your appetite and help keep you steady all day long! But do you know how sugar affects you? We all know that a sugary breakfast or a sugary snack will certainly lead to a ‘crash’ later. . .but do you know why? Here’s the science behind eating a low sugar diet.
I had for breakfast this morning a piece of whole wheat toast, yogurt and an apple. Right now as we speak, my digestive tract is busy doing what it does so well. It is breaking down the carbohydrates in my meal into glucose which is a simple sugar. My blood is then carrying that simple sugar to the cells that need it throughout my body. My pancreas is happily producing insulin to take the sugar out of my blood and my energy levels are good (well actually a I’m a little jittery as I drank too much coffee this morning) and I am going about my day.
Snack time at our house is at 10am. Let’s say that I get hungry and decide to eat the coffee cake I made this morning. Just like with my breakfast, my body starts to break down the carbs that I ate into simple sugar but WHOA! Since I ate too much sugar, my digestive system is in overdrive. All the pancreas can think about is making sure it produces enough insulin to get that sugar out of my blood stream. And so it does. . .it produces so much insulin that it takes out all the sugar in my blood stream leading me to a very lethargic. . .crash. Rather than a slow and steady process, this is a quick one hour process of very high blood sugar to very low blood sugar.
We’ve all been there. That crash that comes in the early afternoon after we’ve eaten lunch. And we all know the results. What happens when you’re tired and lethargic in the afternoon? You crave something sweet. Your body knows exactly what it needs to do to bring that blood sugar back up. It needs more sugar and it lets your brain know it.
Stopping this cycle of cravings is key to weight loss. Try to get rid of most of the refined sugar in your diet and eat mostly fruits, vegetables and whole grains for a few days. Eat every 3 hours. . .basically 3 moderate meals and 2 snacks. See if your energy level doesn’t experience new heights. Eating this way should stop cravings in their