If you want your body to function properly, you must keep your blood sugar levels stable. If you want to feel energized throughout the day and keep your hunger under control, then keeping your blood sugar levels stable is absolutely vital.
What is blood sugar? Blood sugar is glucose — the simple form of sugar — that circulates in your bloodstream.
Why is glucose in your blood? All cells in your body need energy, and they get it from the glucose in your blood.
Where does blood sugar go? Your blood transports blood sugar to all the cells in your body. Some of the blood sugar is utilized immediately to supply energy quickly. Some is converted into glycogen and stored in the liver and muscle cells as stand-by energy sources. Finally, unutilized glucose is converted into fat and stored in adipose tissue as energy reserves for rainy days.
Where does blood sugar come from? Blood sugar comes from the foods you eat. These are broken down in the upper intestine and absorbed, partly as glucose. Then the glucose enters your bloodstream directly, raising your blood sugar level.
Will my blood sugar levels drop to zero? If there was not enough glucose in your blood, you would be in trouble. Your brain can use the energy from glucose only, and it would not survive without glucose. Fortunately, your body has a self-protecting mechanism: as blood sugar is consumed by your body cells, your liver replenishes it by making more of it. Your blood sugar level is thus held constant. This process of keeping your blood sugar level in equilibrium is necessary for life.
How does my liver know how much glucose to produce? Your liver needs to know what your current blood sugar level is, how much insulin is available, and how much other hormones and nutrients are in your blood. These factors influence and coordinate your liver’s glucose production.
Since a stable blood sugar level is so important, how do I achieve it? Many factors affect your blood sugar levels, such as your stress, exercise, and some medications. But the most influencing factor is your diet — that, fortunately, is one which you have most control over.
If you eat carbohydrates, proteins and fats in the right combinations and ratios, you can achieve stable blood sugar levels, optimal fat burning, and healthy cholesterol levels. You will also experience consistently high energy levels and remain physically, mentally and emotionally healthy.
Some foods release glucose quickly into your bloodstream, causing your blood sugar levels to rise rapidly. These foods are said to have a high glycemic index (”G.I.”). Conversely, foods classified as having a low glycemic index release glucose slowly into your bloodstream, and thus allow your blood sugar levels to remain more stable and steady.
When you eat a lot of high G.I. food and your blood sugar levels rise rapidly, your body will release a high level of insulin (a hormone) to lower your blood sugar levels. The insulin quickly converts the excess blood sugar to glycogen (stored energy) and deposits it into liver and muscle cells. When the glycogen stores in the liver and muscle cells are full, the remaining blood sugar is stored in the fat cells as…fat! Therefore, you see, eating the wrong foods that cause your blood sugar levels to rise rapidly may cause you to grow fat!
The high levels of insulin — triggered by the high levels of your blood sugar — depletes your blood sugar quickly to lower-than-normal levels, crashing that burst of energy you felt. This may in turn make you feel hungry soon after eating and crave for more food, and thus may increase the chances of putting on more weight.
By contrast, low G.I. foods release glucose into your bloodstream slowly, and so this does not cause a spike or rapid rise in your blood sugar levels, and therefore an over-response of insulin will not be triggered. This allows your blood sugar levels to remain stable for a longer period of time because the slow release of insulin can regulate blood sugar levels more accurately. And as you may have guessed, less blood sugar is converted to fat — lowering the chances of putting on weight quickly — since your blood sugar levels are stable and steady. Also, your energy levels stay up longer and you don’t feel hungry too soon as in the case of eating high G.I. foods
Now that you understand how your blood sugar levels can ruin your weight loss plans, you should learn to eat the right foods, in the right combinations and ratios, to ensure stable blood sugar levels. The Dummy Proof Diet Plan tells you exactly how to do this correctly. You can get more details here:
http://ourbestdiet.com/diet4stablebloodsugar
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