Ups and Downs of Insulin

Get a Grip on Insulin's Ups and Downs


One of the endocrine system's most important hormones is insulin, which plays a critical role in how your body uses food. When you eat, your digestive system breaks food down into glucose, and the glucose circulates in your bloodstream (where it's often referred to as blood sugar). In response to the rise in glucose after a meal, the pancreas releases surges of insulin, whose job is to clean the glucose from the blood. Insulin directs some of the glucose to the body's cells, which use it for energy. Some of the glucose is diverted to the liver, where it's converted into glycogen (stored glucose) for later use by the muscles. Insulin then helps turn any leftover glucose into fatty acids and stores them in fat cells, where they can be tapped later for fuel.

Problems arise when your body starts creating too much insulin, which can happen for several reasons. One of the most common is that you ate too many highly processed, refined carbs, such as white bread or pasta. Such carbs increase blood sugar dramatically, requiring a rush of insulin to clear the blood. If your blood sugar surge is really dramatic (as it would be if you ate those refined carbs on an empty stomach), insulin overreacts and works twice as hard to clean the sugar from the blood. This overefficient removal of sugar means that your blood sugar concentration drops, with the result that you feel hungry again and crave (and probably eat) more carbs. That's the postsugar "crash and binge" cycle, the root of sugar addiction. In addition, when your muscles are still fueled from your last snack, the insulin converts those extra calories into fat. And as long as large amounts of insulin remain in the bloodstream, your body won't have a chance to tap into your fat stores for fuel — so you won't burn any fat, either.

This cycle can eventually lead to insulin resistance, a condition in which your body produces insulin but the cells become insensitive to it — as a result, the insulin can't do its job to lower the glucose concentration in the blood. Insulin resistance is a precursor of type 2 diabetes and is common among overweight people. Elevated levels of glucose in your blood is a surefire sign of it.

There is hope for preventing the problem. The key is to maintain low levels of insulin by eating whole foods, pairing carbs with protein, and avoiding highly processed carbs. When your insulin-release mechanism works the right way, it helps keep your weight in check. When it's not working, you're in trouble. If you can take control of your insulin's ups and downs, you'll be primed to lose weight and restore your body's hormone power!

Muscle Helps, Too!

Every pound of muscle burns three times more calories than does a pound of fat. Muscles scoop up blood sugar and enhance your body's insulin sensitivity — the more muscle you have, the more cells are available to absorb glucose, and you won't have to produce as much insulin after meals. Your muscle cells will be more efficient at using glucose for fuel, so your body won't have to store as much food as fat.

Eggs

One Incredible Food


Remember all those television commercials in the 90's for the incredible, edible egg? Well, it turns out to be a worthy title! Not only are eggs a fantastic source of lean protein and heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids, but they contain some pretty important nutrients. L-arginine, an amino acid found in eggs, are critical to the body's production of protein and the release of growth hormone. Another amino acid found in eggs, leucine, also helps the body produce growth hormone as well as regulate blood sugar levels. With all the amazing things going on inside that delicate shell, eggs are a nearly perfect food. Pair it with a glass of fresh-squeezed orange juice and you'll get the one thing that's missing — vitamin C.

PMS?

Five Tips for Taming PMS
Here's a statement I don't think too many women will disagree with: Premenstrual syndrome, or PMS, is a little slice of hell on earth. In the five to seven days before their periods, up to 75 percent of women experience at least one ailment in the constellation of symptoms that PMS can cause — from the stereotypical cramps and moodiness to insomnia, fatigue, and nausea. One in 20 women experience premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD), a serious and often disabling condition that can cause persistent depression, marked anger or irritability, and severe aches and pains.
The good news is that there are ways to tame PMS naturally. Try these five tips:
Exercise! You may not want to, but get in your workout anyway. The endorphin rush will help relieve cramps and raise your levels of serotonin, a mood-lifting neurotransmitter.
Get some R&R. Adequate sleep and less stress will put you in a better hormonal position to handle the physiological imbalance that PMS brings.
Cut out most alcohol, caffeine, and salt. Alcohol can exacerbate feelings of depression, so steer clear. Reducing caffeine may minimize breast tenderness and irritability, and cutting salt can reduce bloat.
Minimize simple sugars. Ideally, you're doing this all the time, but it's especially important before your period. Simple sugars may increase inflammation, making cramps worse. Eating regular meals and snacks with fiber and protein will help keep your blood sugar stable, which is a lot better for those raw nerves than blood-sugar swings.
Consider supplements. Calcium may reduce symptoms of PMS, so shoot for at least 1,200 mg a day. Magnesium is also helpful, as are B complex vitamins. To reduce the inflammation of cramps and breast tenderness, try a primrose-oil supplement; it's a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory that may work in ways similar to ibuprofen.

Is It a Thyroid Problem?

If you have chronic PMS, you might consider asking your doctor for a blood test to rule out any issues with your thyroid. Thyroid disorders and PMS share many of the same symptoms, including fatigue, sluggishness, and depression. Thyroid disorders are known to cause problems from menstrual irregularities to weight gain, so if you find out you have a thyroid disorder, treating it may kill two (or more) birds with one stone.

Easter Update

Alright folks, tommorow is easter Sunday, and this whole weekend is the "holiday weekend."  Do not fall into the trap that the purpose of this weekend is a celebration of various kinds of food and drink.  For every "event" you go to, have a plan on how you will eat or drink.  Do not decide to eat or drink based on only your tastebuds.  Always think it through first. 

If you do mess up, forgive yourself quickly and get started again immediately.  In restarting, always set up a regimine to follow, and pre-plan, pre-plan, pre-plan!

More on Afterburn

So what is interval training?  It is short intervals of time during your exercise that you really turn up the intensity.  For example, if you are running on a treadmill, and your speed is 5mph (or 5.0), you might jack it up to 7mph for 1 minute intervals.  So 1 minute of high intensity and 3 minutes of a normal pace (5.0).  If you ran for 40 minutes total that would be 10 intervals of 1 minute each. 

If you just ran for 40 minutes at 5.0, that would still be good but you would not get the afterburn effect of interval training (see yesterdays post).

More on EPOC

Alright - you now have the idea about EPOC or "after-burn."  So which form of exercise causes the longest period of "after-burn?"  Straight cardio gives you about 2-6 hours of afterburn.  Studies show that interval training gives you an after-burn of 12-38 hours!  Interval training is a great way to improve cardio-respiratory fitness, and a great way to drop body fat and weight quicker.  Tune in tommorow and I will explain what interval training is.  In the meantime, remember that failure to plan is planning to fail.  Prepare for tommorow's eating today. Never go into any day without a concrete battle plan.  If you do this, you will lose weight faster, and save more money on food.

EPOC

What is EPOC?  It stands for "excess post-exercise oxygen consumption."  In a sedentary state your body conumes a baseline amount of oxygen - or cells consume oxygen at a certain rate.  This is essentially your metabolic rate.  After exercise, your cells consume oxygen at a higher rate than this baseline rate for a certain number of hours.  This is the EPOC.  Maybe a better way to put it is "afterburn."  Some forms of exercise like circuit training cause a very long afterburn.  Some other forms like straight cardio cause a much shorter afterburn.

I am often asked, "when is the best time of day to exercise?"  My answer is morning and evening - yes, that's right, twice daily.  When you look at individuals who exercise for 1 hour in the morning versus individuals who exercise 30 minuites in the morning and evening, the latter group loses more weight.  Why?  The answer is the EPOC.  The latter group creates 2 afterburn periods in a 24 hour period.  The total time of their afterburn is greater than the once daily exercisers. 

This is something to think about this spring as you plan for bathing suit season.  The days are longer - it is getting dark later.  Think it over.  Might be worth your effort.

Right Carbs?

Are You Eating the Right Carbs?


Humans simply cannot function without carbs. Carbs give us energy; without them, we couldn't think, walk, dance, drive, or do anything. We need them to live. That said, some carb sources — such as whole grains, vegetables, fruits, and beans — are healthy and nourishing. Others — such as refined grains and added sugars — are pure evil. It's important to know the difference between good carbs and bad carbs so you can get the nutrients you need while keeping your blood sugar levels stable.

One tool that some dieters use to evaluate the quality of carbs is the glycemic index (GI), which ranks foods according to how quickly their carbohydrates break down and release glucose into your blood. Foods with a low GI value are deemed "good," while those with a high GI value are "bad." The problem with the GI is that it paints only part of the picture; it doesn't take into account the amount of carbs you'd actually eat.

The carrot is a perfect illustration of how the GI can give a good food a bad name. The form of carbohydrate in a carrot turns into blood sugar very quickly, giving carrots a high GI value. But if you step back to get a fuller picture, you see that the total quantity of carbs in a typical serving of carrots is low, so their effect on your blood sugar isn't that dramatic.

A better way to judge a food's carb content is to look at its glycemic load (GL), a measurement that takes into account both its glycemic index value and serving size. Good carbs — the ones that have a GL value of 10 or below — take a long time to digest, creating less of a need for immediate insulin release in the bloodstream and thus helping stabilize your blood sugar level. These foods, which include leafy green vegetables, some types of beans, many whole fruits, and nuts, also contain important vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients that are essential for good health. These are the kinds of carbs that our bodies are designed to consume. Remember, though, that carbs are just one component of a healthy diet, and that balance is key. My advice is to include some fat, protein, and carbs in each meal.

Glycemic Load Isn't Perfect

Becoming familiar with the GL values of common foods will help you identify and avoid the carbs that cause rapid blood sugar elevation and trigger cravings. You should not base your diet solely on GL, however. Some foods with a low GL score are high in fat and calories. The fat in these foods slows your body's absorption of carbs, which gives the the foods the low GL scores, but the foods themselves aren't good for your waistline in large amounts. Always keep your daily caloric allowance in mind and stick to it.

Negative Thoughts

Fixing the Negative Self-Talk
Is your inner voice a trash-talker? If you've tried and failed to reach your fitness goals in the past, negative thoughts might have held you back. Want to succeed this time? Get your journal. It's time to get some of those thoughts out of your head and onto paper. Ask yourself the following questions:
Do you have a negative self-image?
Do you constantly say things like "I'm fat" or "I'm ugly"? Do you pick yourself apart and beat yourself up when you look in the mirror?
Do you lack self-confidence?
Do you doubt your ability to achieve your goals, weight related or otherwise? Do you dwell on your perceived limits or fears? Do you doubt your ability to accomplish the things you want to accomplish?
Do you feel powerless?
Do you feel as if you have no control over your life, or do you rely on excuses like "I'm genetically predisposed to being overweight"?
Do you label yourself in self-deprecating ways?
Do you think and talk about your failure to lose weight as a foregone conclusion? Do you refer to yourself mockingly (or not!) as a stereotype — the happy/funny fat person in the room? Is your e-mail address "fatso@blank.com"?
Now think about your responses to these questions. How would you describe their tone? Are they affirming and constructive, or downbeat and destructive? If you want to turn your thinking around, ask yourself one more question:
How is this negativity serving you? Answering this question will help you understand why you have been perpetuating these destructive thoughts and behaviors so that you can cut them out at the root. Is what you say about yourself really the truth? Or is it a defense mechanism? And if so, against what? Are you just making complicated excuses? How does this kind of negativity help you achieve your goals?
Here's the last step: Go back and answer the above questions again, and force yourself to use only positive terms. It can be hard to let go of negative thought patterns. Often, they're the result of years of self-loathing and your internalizing of the negative opinions and judgments of others, but you can do it. Remember, knowledge is power. The next time one of these negative thoughts crops up, you'll have the awareness to cut it down.

Having Fans Never Hurts

Once you turn your negatives into positives, you might just become your own biggest fan! But having a network of people who genuinely want to see you happy and successful is also essential. The key is to find people who are supportive without being asked. Whether it's your mom, your kids, or your best friend, an encouraging and steady presence in your life can bring strength and courage when you need it most.

Calm Hunger Pangs

5 Ways to Calm Hunger Pangs
Do you start getting hunger pangs at 11:50 a.m. in anticipation of lunch? We've all been there. The cause is the hormone ghrelin; released when the stomach is empty, it sets off a chain reaction in the body to make you hungry. In general, you want to keep levels of ghrelin low during the day so you can keep hunger in check. Apart from an empty stomach, there are several factors that can raise ghrelin levels, including drinking alcohol, eating too few calories, and eating greasy, fatty foods. Here are some strategies that will help you manage these triggers and keep your ghrelin levels from rising:
Have a substantial breakfast. One study showed that people who ate a higher-calorie breakfast produced 33 percent less ghrelin throughout the day and felt satisfied for a longer period of time. Try a whole-wheat English muffin with organic peanut butter, a cup of strawberries, and some low-fat yogurt.
Choose complex carbs and get more fiber. Insulin and ghrelin go hand in hand. When insulin goes up after you eat, ghrelin goes down. If you eat the wrong kind of carbohydrates — refined carbs such as white bread and pasta — your blood sugar rises dramatically. In response, your body releases a surge of insulin to clear that sugar from the bloodstream. The insulin does its job very efficiently, and the resulting low blood sugar causes hunger sooner. These constant blood sugar ups and downs can wreak havoc on your metabolism, so it's best to eat complex carbs and fiber, which delay the release of sugar into the bloodstream so that insulin levels are kept stable and you feel full longer.
Eat on a schedule. Research has found that ghrelin levels rise and fall at your usual mealtimes, so eating on a schedule prevents spikes in ghrelin. If you're running errands and are away from the kitchen at one of your typical mealtimes, carry a small bag of almonds or other nuts with you — you can eat a little something to keep your stomach satisfied until you can get home and have a real meal.
Emphasize high-volume, low-calorie foods. Levels of ghrelin remain high until food stretches the walls of your stomach, making you feel full. High-volume, low-calorie foods, such as salads and soups, reduce ghrelin levels long before you've overeaten. All green veggies and any foods with a high water content count as high-volume, low-calorie foods.
Eat protein. Protein-rich foods can also suppress ghrelin levels — they help create a long-lasting feeling of fullness. Try adding whey protein to a low-calorie smoothie. (If you're sensitive to gluten, just be sure to check the ingredients list; some whey protein products contain gluten.) One study found that whey brought about a prolonged suppression of ghrelin.

Sit Down and Eat!

Turn it off and put it down! When you're watching television or reading, it's hard to gauge how much you are eating or how full you are. Get old school at mealtimes — set the table, sit down, and enjoy!

Don't Be Fooled

Decoding Label Lingo
You've seen the fine print at the bottom of contracts and applications, but have you ever actually read it? While it might seem insignificant, it can contain all sorts of loopholes. The same goes for food labels, and you should think of them as the "fine print" on your dinner.
It's a crummy fact of life, but many things don't come as advertised. Packaged foods are no exception. Don't be fooled by the glaring orange "Healthy" sticker on the front of a package of food. Turn the item over and look for these common food-label traps:
"Sugar-free" — Many people assume this means "carb-free," but it does not. Compare the total carbohydrate content of a sugar-free food with that of the standard product. If there is a big difference, the sugar-free version might be worth buying IF it is made with a nontoxic sweetener like stevia or xylitol. If there is little or no difference in the carb content, choose the option with the most natural ingredients.
"No sugar added" — This simply means that sugar wasn't added during processing or packaging. That doesn't mean the food is sugar-free. Check the label carefully because the food may still be high in sugar and carbs.
"Fat-free" — Fat-free foods can be higher in carbs than the full-fat versions and can contain almost as many calories. Fat-free cookies are a perfect example. Repeat after me: Fat-free foods are not necessarily a better choice.
Read your labels carefully, and remember this rule of thumb: The shorter the list of ingredients, the more natural the food is likely to be.

Stress

Stress and Hormones


Stress can actually contribute to your risk of metabolic syndrome by increasing your body fat. When you're under stress, your body produces the hormone cortisol, which encourages the body to pack on fat, particularly around the abdomen. Manage your stress levels by cutting back on your responsibilities where you can, learning relaxation techniques and healthy ways to blow off steam, and making time for yourself to unwind. Getting at least seven hours of sleep a night will also go a long way toward relieving stress.

Sugar

Hidden Sources of Sugar


Let's get something straight — I want you to stay far, far away from high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS). Seriously, this stuff really puts the "junk" in junk food! It's the most abundant source of calories in a lot of foods out there and it's terrible for you because it boosts your fat-storing hormones. Look at your labels and you'll find HFCS in so many foods that line the shelves in our grocery stores. But just because high-fructose corn syrup is evil doesn't necessarily mean halos are hovering over other sugars. There's more sweet stuff out there that you need to avoid!

We still have far too much of the noncorn variety of sugar in our diets, and it's definitely not doing anything good for our health or our waistlines. The average American eats more than 30 teaspoons of sugar a day — that's more than 114 pounds of sugar a year!

While sugar is everywhere, you must do your best to eat it in extreme moderation. The World Health Organization recommends no more than 12 to 15 teaspoons a day, or 48 to 60 grams. I prefer that you keep the amount as low as possible. Check your food labels — anything with "sugar" should obviously be avoided. However, sugar has many aliases. I'll give you a hint: Anything that ends in "-ose" is a sugar. See what I mean in the list below, and beware of these sweeteners in the foods you eat!

Dextrose

Evaporated cane juice

Fructose

Fruit juice concentrates

Galactose

Glucose

Honey

Invert corn syrup

Lactose

Malt

Maltose

Malt syrup

Maple syrup

Molasses

Rice syrup

Sucrose 

Sugar in Fruit

Want to avoid wild blood sugar spikes? Eat whole fruits instead of fruit juices. Not only will they help your blood sugar stay in check, you'll also get beneficial fiber from the whole fruits as well. Just be aware that some fruits are high in sugar — even though they're nutritious and relatively low in calories. Some of the highest-sugar fruits are mangoes, pineapples, and bananas. I'm not saying to avoid these. (Trust me, you'd have to eat more fruit than you can imagine for it to be deemed unhealthy.) However, if you've been diagnosed with prediabetes or diabetes, it's time to limit your intake. If you want to eat fruits with less sugar, go for berries, tomatoes, and oranges.

Setting Goals

Setting Goals


You can't achieve success if you're not moving toward something. Think about your ultimate long-term goal, and then break it down into less overwhelming mini-goals. Then find some incentives to help you stay the course. What kinds of goals am I talking about? The ambitious and attainable ones.

First: Think long and hard about what you want. Make sure your goals are actually things you want to achieve, not what society dictates or what your family or friends want for you. Ultimately your life is yours and you must live it for yourself. I know you might be thinking that's selfish, but so what? Sometimes being a little selfish is a good thing, especially if it enables you to take care of yourself.

Second: Remember, goals are not inflexible roadblocks meant to make you feel badly about yourself. If you don't accomplish a goal exactly on schedule, so what? You can't predict what life is going to throw your way — but you CAN choose the way you react to situations that come up. That is where your power lies. If you fall off the wagon, just get back on — no ifs, ands, or buts about it.

Third: We all have to be realistic when we set our goals. I'm 6 feet 2 inches, and I have a stocky build. I am never going to be a thin-frame, no matter how hard I work. I also want to make a difference in the world, but something tells me I probably don't stand a good chance of running for president. Instead, I set goals that are realistic and productive. I am 6 feet 2 and stocky, but I am going to be the most fit 6-feet-2 man I can. I might not be president, but I can teach people how to be healthier and happier through fitness.

Make sense? The bottom line is that goals provide direction. They help bring a focus to our lives so that we can live our dreams — no matter how big or how small they may be.

Envision the Future

Having a vision of the future affects your behavior now. The key is to let your daily actions be governed by your game plan for a new you. Keep that game plan in the forefront of your mind when thinking and writing about that future, so you can let it become real. There's no deadline. Just commit to the process and take it day by day.