DILEMA

MiaBellaFaith

Soooooo, what happens if I have calories left to eat, but I'm already OVER other stuff?!!!!!!

WEIRD:noway:

MiaBellaFaith

Soooooo, what happens if I have calories left to eat, but I'm already OVER other stuff?!!!!!!

WEIRD:noway:

shorerider

such as what other stuff?

Ang8178

Haha, IDK??? I guess as long as you're doing good on calories, fat and carbs, that's what matters most right?

MiaBellaFaith

Like I'm over in the sugar department

raincloud

If the sugar is "natural" I don't count it like from fruits and whatnot.

MiaBellaFaith

WELLLLLLLLL it's not. It's like smart ones ice cream sugar.... overage. :sad:

shorerider

Oh yeah, sugar--unless you're diabetic or you've been tanking up on candy, ice cream, etc. then don't worry about it. Most people go over on sugar, especially if you eat a lot of fruit. There's a big difference between "natural" sugar though and processed junk sugar.

MiaBellaFaith

yeah..... aaah.... mine's all junk sugar. pathetic... i know.

meggy88

I'm the same way, I am good on Calories but I am over on carbs...it freaks me out. haha

shorerider

yeah..... aaah.... mine's all junk sugar. pathetic... i know.

then that's a problem. You've got to train yourself to stay away from that stuff. Sugar is converted by the body into FAT.

Check out this article---

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Look at how many grams of sugar are in what you're eating (on the nutritional label). Now divide that number by 4. That's how many teaspoons of pure sugar you're consuming. Kinda scary, huh? Sugar makes you fat and fat-free food isn't really free of fat. I've said it before in multiple articles, but occasionally, I've had someone lean over my desk and say "How in the heck does sugar make you fat if there's no fat in it?". This article will answer that puzzler, and provide you with some helpful suggestions to achieve not only weight loss success, but improved body health.

First, let's make some qualifications. Sugar isn't inherently evil. Your body uses
sugar to survive, and burns sugar to provide you with the energy necessary for life.
Many truly healthy foods are actually broken down to sugar in the body - through
the conversion of long and complex sugars called polysaccharides into short and
simple sugars called monosaccharides, such as glucose. In additions to the
breakdown products of fat and protein, glucose is a great energy source for your
body.

However, there are two ways that sugar can sabotage your body and cause fat
storage. Excess glucose is the first problem, and it involves a very simple concept.
Anytime you have filled your body with more fuel than it actually needs (and this is
very easy to do when eating foods with high sugar content), your liver's sugar
storage capacity is exceeded. When the liver is maximally full, the excess sugar is
converted by the liver into fatty acids (that's right - fat!) and returned to the
bloodstream, where is taken throughout your body and stored (that's right - as fat!)
wherever you tend to store adipose fat cells, including, but not limited to, the
popular regions of the stomach, hips, butt, and breasts.

As an unfortunate bonus, once these regions are full of adipose tissue, the fatty
acids begin to spill over into your organs, like the heart, liver, and kidneys. This
reduces organ ability, raises blood pressure, decreases metabolism, and weakens
the immune system.

Not good!

Excess insulin is the second problem. Insulin is a major hormone in the body, and is
released in high levels anytime you ingest what would be considered a "simple"
carbohydrate, which would include, but not be limited to: fruit juice, white bread,
most "wheat" bread (basically white bread with a little extra fiber), white rice, baked
white potato, bagels, croissants, pretzels, graham crackers, vanilla wafers, waffles,
corn chips, cornflakes, cake, jelly beans, sugary drinks, Gatorade, beer, and
anything that has high fructose corn syrup on the nutritional label.

Two actions occur when the insulin levels are spiked. First, the body's fat burning
process is shut down so that the sugar that has just been ingested can be
immediately used for energy. Then, insulin takes all that sugar and puts it into your
muscles. Well, not quite! Actually, most of us, except those random Ironman
triathletes and 8000-calories-per-day exercisers, walk around with fairly full energy
stores in the muscles. As soon as the muscles energy stores are full, the excess
sugars are converted to fat and, just like the fatty acids released from the liver,
stored as adipose tissue on our waistline.

But that's not all. After the blood sugar has been reduced by going into the muscles
or being converted to fat in the liver, the feedback mechanism that tells the body to
stop producing insulin is slightly delayed, so blood sugar levels fall even lower,
below normal measurements. This causes 1) an immediate increase in appetite,
which is usually remedied by eating more food; 2) the production of a stress
hormone called cortisol. Cortisol triggers the release of stored sugar from the liver
to bring blood sugar levels back up, which, combined with the meal you eat from
your appetite increase, begins the entire "fat storage, metabolic decrease" process
over again.

This process of destabilizing blood sugar levels and sending your body on a roller
coaster ride can occur throughout an entire day, week, or month. The excessive
cortisol that accumulates in the body eventually distresses your hormonal system
and results in other problems, including a further decrease in metabolism, obesity,
depression, allergies, immune weakness, chronic fatigue syndrome and other
serious side effects.

So what kind of carbohydrates can you eat to avoid de-stabilizing blood sugar
levels, constantly sabotaging your weight loss, and spending hundreds of thousands
of dollars in health care as you get older? Here is a list of carbohydrates do not
trigger such a strong insulin response and instead provide long-term, stabilized
energy: apples, oranges, pears, plums, grapes, bananas (not overly ripened),
grapefruit, oatmeal, brown rice, whole wheat spaghetti and egg fettuccine, whole-
wheat pasta, bran cereal, barley, bulgur, basmati, Kashi and other whole grains,
beans, peas (especially chick and black-eyed), lentils, whole corn, sweet potatoes,
yams, milk, yogurt (preferably low-fat or fat-free) and soy. Stay away from
processed and packaged foods as much as possible, because they are highly likely
to include artificial sweeteners (which basically have a similar effect as sugar), as
well as simple and refined sugars. Keep your eye out for ingredients that include
sucrose, maltose, dextrose, fructose, galactose, glucose, arabinose, ribose, xylose,
deoxyribose, lactose, and other fake names for sugars. Even "healthy" juice and
many health food products will need to be avoided if they contain high levels of
sugar.

MiaBellaFaith

ugh. then WHAT do I do, to get my sweet tooth fix? Because I am SERIOUSLY a sugar addict. i HAVE to have it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

shorerider

Well, no you don't "have" to have it--trust me. I'm a diabetic and you'd be surprised how you really don't "have to have sugar." It's a matter of deciding what you want more--sugar or health? Sugar or weight loss?

MiaBellaFaith

i hate answers like that. i will have to suck it up i guess. because i'm willing to bet if i just cut out all of the sugar i've been feasting on, i'd naturally lose weight that way.
i eat sugar like it's going out of style multiplied by 90

shorerider

Personally, I feel that sugar (processed kind) is about the worst thing you can put in your body--just bad for you. Even if you just cut out the obvious sources of it, that'd be a big step. It's near impossible to avoid it completely, as so much of our food has it in it now. But, switch over to fruit and naturally sweet things, but even that has to be in moderation. All things in moderation.

psyknife

Usually, if I happen to be right on or over in carbs but have calories left... that's when I grab for the turkey jerky OR I scrambled some egg whites up.

If it's fat you need more of... try eating a couple olives, or having a couple tablespoons of hummus with cucumber slices... of course, there's lots of other options, those are just some that I enjoy.

smsmithart

im a total sugar addict too...i would love to just give it up

charliesgold

I'm a sugar fiend too but i've found that I am able to moderate my sugar intake by planning ahead. I still have that smart ones ice cream bar but after i've made it through the day with a good breakfast, filling lunch (no candy following like it usually would for me), and balanced dinner. I find that saving my sweet treat until after dinner i'm less likely to binge like I used to do on sugary treats! I find that fruit is helpful but sometimes it doesn't get my sweet tooth and I end up stuffing candy in my mouth as well. We all know we shouldn't eat refined sugars but when you like your sugar like I (and you from the sounds of it) do there comes a point where you allow yourself that treat at the end of the day because you enjoy it. Try your hand at postponing the goodies until after dinner, it's a challenge but you can do it, and when you get your treats just try to ration yourself ie: one serving of Ben and Jerry's not a whole container :laugh:

Oh also, when i get a sweet craving after lunch I try warm drinks, for some reason they help me forget that sweet craving

ceedee22ed

Wow, thats a really good article. It really made it clear for me. I have been eating sugar because my sugar drops but did not really know how to identify it in foods (other than the word sugar, hehehe)

Well, some people may hate me for this comment but I actually have doctors orders to keep candy on hand as my sugar tends to drop like a rock at times...especially if I rush into the office (like I normally do) jump breakfast (like I normally do) and remember that Im starving when the room starts to spin...which is normally around 10am (after pleasing around 20 customers)...Im a travel agent...I cant tell them no, they're on vacations and I will not be the one to ruin it!

However, my under active thyroid and probably too much sugar (eating too much when Im ready to pass out) has probably helped pad me up through the years. I really am glad I found this page.

I have recommended this page to a ton of friends so far and I think the factor that has helped me most to stick to the diet is having a place to compare calorie levels vs. what im going to have to do to burn them off. Since I am basically an office rat knowing Im going to have to do more exercise later really helps me put down the doughnuts and rethink that next soda.