One reason we provide nutritional advice, besides a program of exercise, it that what you eat is as important, or even more important as working out when it comes to any fitness goal. You simply can’t out-exercise a bad diet. One of the things we find most people have a problem with is all the sugar in their diet. You might not realize just there’s sugar in almost everything you eat and it could be ruining your health. At 180 Fitness in Gloucester, ON, we help you eat healthier and kick the sugar habit.
Manufacturers hide the fact that sugar is a major ingredient in their product.
What do you do when you shop for healthy food? Often you read the labels to see what the top ingredients are. Manufacturers know that and often choose to use several types of sweeteners, so they show later in the ingredient list, making it look like it’s low sugar, even though when combined, it’s probably the top ingredient. Keeping you hooked on sugar isn’t necessarily part of their plan, but craving their product is. Sugar is addictive and can lead to a myriad of conditions that are varied You might find that chances of weaker eyesight, arthritis, gall stones and varicose veins are increased by eating more sugar.
You’ll crash your immune system when you eat a lot of sugar.
Some people take extra vitamin C when they feel like they’re coming down with a cold or the flu. It’s a good idea, since vitamin C boosts the immune system. However, when you have high amounts of glucose in your bloodstream, their structure is similar to that of vitamin C. Instead of grabbing up vitamin C to help, it grabs the glucose that leaves the phagocytes—white blood cells—powerless to fight. It can occur even with healthy foods that are high in sugar. For instance, drinking orange juice raises glucose levels in the blood to have the effect. Instead, eat the whole orange and the fiber slows the glucose and lets the cells work properly.
Sugar and diabetes go hand-in-hand and it starts with insulin resistance.
Sugar can cause insulin resistance, which occurs when there’s too much free glucose in the bloodstream. The body produces insulin to handle the extra. Insulin opens the cells, allowing the glucose to enter and provide nourishment. Over time, when there’s far too much sugar, the cells don’t respond, so the body produces far more insulin and the cells use the insulin less effectively. Eventually, the pancreas is put into a vicious circle of working overtime and pumping out insulin that isn’t used. Poor diet, lack of exercise, stress and sugar can cause it and it leads to type 2 diabetes.
- Heart disease can come from eating too much sugar. Excess sugar in the bloodstream raises blood pressure. If more than 25% of your calorie intake is from sugar, it causes the liver to dump fat into the bloodstream, another factor for heart disease.
- The American Heart Association’s guidelines for sugar for women is no more than 6 teaspoons of extra sugar daily, which doesn’t include natural sugar in fruit. For men, it’s 9 teaspoons of added sugar.
- Do you want to look your best longer? Cut out sugar, it causes premature aging. They combine with proteins in a process called glycation and creates AGEs— advanced glycation end products. Those cells attack collagen and elastin that keep your skin looking younger.
- At 180 Fitness, we even take you for a shopping trip to the grocery store. It helps to see how to pick the healthiest foods and maneuver through the jungle of misinformation on food packaging.