Do you know the six biggest myths about sugar?
Do you have a balanced relationship with sugar, do you forsake sugar, or have you completely given up navigating the sugar jungle because it does not work anyway? So read on here and let’s puncture 6 myths about sugar that prevent your cells’ good teamwork. But remember that the myths can only be punctured provided you eat vegetable-rich main meals with good protein and essential fats. And remember that the refined carbohydrates are converted into sugar as soon as they meet your digestive system!
MYTH 1: Stable blood sugar requires frequent meals
Many people think that you should preferably eat small snacks throughout the day to maintain a stable blood sugar. From a biological point of view, this is a dimensional misunderstanding. The body is the world champion at keeping your blood sugar stable – if you allow it. If you eat primarily solid main meals (with lots of vegetables, protein and essential fats), the meal’s carbohydrates are stored efficiently in muscles and liver. If there are many hours before the next meal, the muscle storage supply the muscles with energy, and the liver supplies the rest of the body with energy. For normal, healthy and fit people, it is therefore only necessary to eat between the solid main meals if you are extremely physically active.
If you have type 1 diabetes, you must treat snacks differently – but you know all about it!
MYTH 2: High blood sugar provides more energy and better performance
It is true that your body itself slightly raises your blood sugar level when you are very physically active. It is also true that filled glycogen stores in muscles and liver ahead of demanding physical tasks is good, but it is a direct misconception that one should perform better with a towering blood sugar. While your blood sugar is high, you are actually stressing most of your cells. High blood sugar is never an advantage!
MYTH 3: Exercise is only healthy because we burn extra calories when we exercise
Wrong. There are also many other strong reasons why physical activity is extremely healthy for all of us – whether you are fat, thin or of average weight. When we move, we maintain the circulation and we train our muscles in efficient storage of sugar. When sugar is stored efficiently, excess sugar disappears from the bloodstream in a flash. The muscle’s ability to efficiently store sugar lasts well beyond the actual training period. Exercise thus has a very stabilizing effect on blood sugar and is thus the top scorer in health promotion! Therefore, it is also a big misconception that you do not need to exercise if you are not overweight.
Yes, we burn a little more calories by running for an hour (about 666 kcal) than by walking for an hour (about 222 kcal). At the same time, we burn more by walking than by sitting still on the sofa (approx. 75 kcal / hour). Of course, it’s good to burn extra calories if you like to consume a little too much, but the other gains are far stronger!
MYTH 4: Sugar cravings are a symptom of poor self-control
Another misunderstanding! Feeling sugar cravings is rather a sign that you are in synergy with your primordial physiology! We are simply made to crave sugar as soon as we get sugar. Sugar wants sugar! If we avoid sugar for a period of time, the sugar craving often disappears. At the same time, a sugar-free period increases your body’s ability to store sugar.
MYTH 5: Sugar is hardly fattening
Too good to be true too! Sugar is far more than empty calories when it comes to being overweight. A short-term rise in blood sugar affects the level of a number of hormones. One of these hormones orders your cells to stop burning fat – and this order can last for hours. So every time you have had short-term high blood sugar, it can take a long time before you burn fat again. If you eat ‘something that turns into lots of sugar’ several times a day, it may be impossible for you to burn fat – unless loud counter-orders come through hard physical training. But what ‘turns into lots of sugar’ and can you get high blood sugar without eating sugar?
MYTH 6: I’m dying when I ‘go sugar cold’
No you are not – and your body does not need that energy or chocolate bar. If you feel that you have gone sugar-cold between main meals without being extremely physically active – try grabbing a ‘pulse snack’ instead of a ‘sugar snack’. A heart rate snack can be, for example, 10-20 angel jumps or 5 – 10 burpies. Feel how your energy level rises and notice how long it lasts! Here you help your body make the perfect amount of sugar for you by burning fat!
For the vast majority, the feeling of ‘going sugar-cold’ is a sign that the body is starting to burn more fat after the organism has processed a carbohydrate-rich meal. It is also the explanation why you can suddenly forget that you were hungry. Suddenly the body delivers the energy you need from the storage. REMEMBER again that a good effect of heart rate snacks requires solid main meals!
If you have type 1 diabetes, you have to behave differently if you ‘go sugar cold’ – but you know it all yourself!
Now you have read the 6 sugar myths. Myths that arise because their ‘truth’ applies in some situations but not in others. And to equip ourselves to always move safely in the sugar landscape, a compass of nuanced knowledge can be useful. With that particular compass, it is you who decides when you prioritize your health, when you prioritize pure pleasure – and when you combine health and pleasure.
Curious to understand the interplay between sugar and your body better?
Then read my book, The truth about sugar.
‘The truth about sugar’ is the first educational book about sugars biology in the human body. It is written for all adults with a genuine interest in health and in sugars fascinating journey in the human body.