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Originally Posted by Rose of Cairo  Tayrak, allowing myself to have sugar and cut down gradually doesn't work at all. Eating a little bit of sugar for me is like smoking one cigarette. There's just no way I can stop  When I eat sugar I have to eat more and more of it or I will have serious headache, sweating and cravings. Of course I can choose not to eat some, but I'll crave it so much that I'm not able to function normally.
I guess that's something with the brain chemistry, and also with blood glucose. When you eat sugar, your blood glucose raises a lot if you're sensitive to it, and then it falls very quickly, and you feel awful till you eat sugar again.
That's why I have doubts about your theory too, Ilya. I don't think it's about calories. The sugar craving is because of this quickly falling of blood glucose plus brain chemistry plus psychological dependency, not to get some calories.
At least that's what my experience says. When I don't eat sugar for a few days (and no white flour either, nothing with high GI), I don't need to eat so much at all. My body is not in starvation mode then, and I'm not hungry, it's just not craving too much food any more, as there is no sugar to mess with my blood glucose.
That's me, dunno... |
You are right, its a combo of massive calorie intake with no nutrition, combined with massive insulin surge, leaving you energy depleted. Insulin is really usefull, necessary, anabolic, but can also cause a lot of problems if mismanaged, hence the present diabetes epidemic. Fat storage becomes an issue as well.
If rapid energy replacement is an issue, along with maximum muscle size, the insulin surge can be manipulated after workouts, to shunt more nutrients (protein, creatine, etc) into muscle cells. However it is then advisable to eat a slow digesting protein, fat and carb meal shortly after, to stabilise blood sugar.
Thats why things like porridge, with flax, maybe with protein if you like, are so good early in the day, they stabilise blood sugar for hours, helping stave off cravings. Meat and eggs is deluxe for the same reason, but I don't eat them for moral reasons. It should be remembered that whey protein creates an insulin response, but it can be slowed down by adding oils, omega 3 is ideal... hemp seed or flax... fish. Otherwise, casein protein creates stable blood sugar.
You are also in a state in the mornings when the tendency is to push food into cells, not store it as fat, so you can eat a big, filling breakfast of the right type, which should help you to not feel like binging on sugar for quite a while. Or little snacks of nuts are filling, and stabilise blood sugar. Fruit juice is a hoax, a massive, disguised sugar bomb. Green drinks are better, especially if you chuck some amino acids in.
The mental conditioning thing is a whole subject on its own though.