Welcome to Part Two of a Four Part Series. In Part one, we discussed the side effects of sodium; in Part two we’ll look at Carbohydrates and Proteins.
We’ve all heard drinking water is the key to fat loss- and in this article, this is no exception. The more water you take in, the more water your body will eliminate - ridding along with it, fat and toxins. Water is extremely important to our over-all health, and in keeping our weight stable.
We also need to limit our fat intake down to as little as possible. Even if we make sure we do not take in any additional fat in our diet, like in oils, mayonnaise and butter, we’ll still get adequate amounts of fat in foods like chicken and fish- proteins. Even Olive Oil, though a healthier oil for us, is still considered a fat and will store in your cells as fat.
Most foods can be broken into two categories: Proteins and Carbohydrates- as even greens break down into sugar once inside our body. There are of course the Simple Carbohydrates: simple sugars, as in sweets, table sugar and sweet fruits. They make our body release a high dose of insulin at once. Insulin is a hormone in our body that works to stabilize our blood sugar. A high spike of insulin can cause weight-loss to slow or even stall.
Complex Carbohydrates also breaks down into sugar, but they break down slower. The slower carbs break down, the more you can limit the rapid release of insulin. When insulin is slowly released, it will give your body more time to turn the sugar into energy. Complex Carbohydrates include foods such as potatoes, yams, rice and oatmeal. Less beneficial complex carbs include pasta, beans, and corn.
When your body releases high amounts of insulin in your blood, it causes a chemical reaction that tells your body to store the calories, instead of burning them. It tells your body that another meal might be sometime before coming, so your body works to store the calories to keep your body from starving, and to keep your brain functioning normally.
Another reason our body will store calories is when we go on fad diets- skipping meals, or using diet drink mixes in place of food. When we don’t eat, our body goes into survival mode, storing up the food so our body can keep functioning. When we don’t eat regularly, it tells our brain that food is in short supply; our brain then sends the signal to our body to store the food in our cells, instead of turning the calories into energy.
In Part three we’ll continue to learn about how carbohydrates work in your system.
Tracey Criswell Wilson is an author on http://www.Writing.Com/
which is a site for Writers. Many of Tracey’s writings can be found on this interactive site.