Blood Sugar Irregularities
February 26th, 2008 Posted in Nutrition ArticlesQuestion:
I don’t feel like I eat a lot, why am I not losing weight?
I eat very healthy, why am I not losing weight?
There are several healthy diets and hundreds of healthy foods out there, but just because they are “healthy” or you know some skinny people who follow these diets (raw food, vegetarian, calorie restriction, high protein, food combining, etc.) does not mean that they promote or encourage weight loss/fat loss and are right for every body. A diet that promotes fat loss is one that provides the proper amount of calories for YOU, based on your age, sex, weight/lean tissue and activity level. It should be balanced and contain some form of protein, carbs and fat at every meal and these meals should be made up of REAL WHOLE FOOD. A meal plan or diet such as the above encourages fat loss by keeping your blood sugar and insulin levels steady and regular, by supporting the growth of lean tissue, and by supplying an abundance of fibrous watery vegetables and fruit which help to cleanse and nourish your body while removing excess waste. The protein and fat in the meal will slow down the digestion of and therefore lower the glycemic index of the carbs at that meal, the protein will also stimulate the release of glucagon, a hormone that helps to burn fat as opposed to insulin which tells the body to store sugar as fat. Many years of eating refined carbs have made us sensitive to them. It is crucial to our health that our blood glucose level does not get too high or low, our body uses insulin and glucagon to make sure of this. After years and years of your pancreas repeatedly pumping out insulin to control high blood glucose levels the cells in your body stop responding to insulin(insulin resistance) forcing your pancreas to work harder and secrete more(hyperinsulinemia). This is called insulin resistance. Most people that are overweight or struggling to lose weight have this to some degree. Your pancreas cannot keep up with this demand and will eventually burn out, producing inadequate amounts of insulin to bring your blood sugar down to a normal healthy range. So your blood sugar levels remain high. This is adult onset diabetes or Type II diabetes. Hormones work together with one another. Control your hormones, control your weight. Do this by eating meals and snacks frequently and consistently that contain protein, carbs and fat from real food and by doing high intensity circuit training(steelcitycrossfit). If you are not eating enough cals, or you are eating too many cals, your body will store them. If you are sensitive to carbs, even if they are healthy your body will store them, unless properly combined with protein and fat. Come to Phoenix Fitness or Steelcitycrossfit to see a sample of the meal plan we use and to see the results of our latest weight loss challenge using this meal plan.