By Dov Oshri
Unless you're diabetic, chances are you haven't given a moment's thought to your blood sugar before now. So why should you care about it?
- You should care if you find yourself getting sluggish or tired at 3:00 pm every afternoon.
- You should care if you reach for biscuits, sweets, or coal top give you a shot of energy.
- You should care if you've ever found yourself hungry late at night and making a refrigerator raid.
- You should care if your earnest attempts to lose weight have met with little or no success.
- You should care if you've notices your vision or your memory slipping in recent years.
What exactly is blood sugar? And why is it so important to your health? Well, blood sugar is to your body what petrol is to your car. It's the fuel that makes it go. If your car ran out of petrol, it would sputter, cough, and come to a stop. If you ran out of blood sugar, you would soon go into a coma and die. Every cell in your body depends on blood sugar for the energy to stay alive and perform its function. Without a steady supply of blood sugar, your brain couldn't think, your heart couldn't b eat, your feet couldn't walk.
So, like petrol, blood sugar is a good thing. But you can have too much of a good thing. You wouldn't pour petrol all over your car, would you? But when your blood sugar gets high - and stays high - that's exactly what you are doing. You're pouring petrol over your body and all the vital organs inside. Then when you add a small additional problem as high blood pressure or high cholesterol, you're striking a match.
Your goal is to keep your "petrol tank" of blood sugar full, but not too full. And one of the key tools in this process is a hormone called insulin. Insulin is manufactured in your pancreas and it's job is to "inject" the blood sugar into your cells. Consider it your own personal fuel-injection system!
Whenever you eat - especially when you eat carbohydrate - the food is converted to blood sugar (glucose), and your pancreas cranks up its production of insulin. The insulin sends the blood sugar into your cells, and your cells use it for energy. When your blood sugar is high, your body hates to waste all that fuel. So whatever it can't use right away for energy, it stores as fat to be used later.
Have you wondered why you can still gain weight even when you hardly eat? You're late for work and the kids are late for school, so you don't have time for breakfast. Work is really busy, so the only lunch you have time for is a bagel and a diet soft drink. Your body is in starvation mode, and your blood sugar is very low.
But when dinnertime comes, it's a different story. Now you're ready for a feast of roast beef, mashed potatoes and gravy, sweet corn and bread rolls with butter. Your blood sugar soars, your insulin spikes, and here's what your body is thinking: "We've been starving all day, and finally we got a decent meal. But who knows when we'll eat again? We should store all this food as fat. That way, we'll have a source of energy if we go back to starvation tomorrow."
So on the next morning, you step on the scales and you've gained weight! You say to yourself, "But how could that happen? I only ate one meal yesterday!" How could it happen? It's your blood sugar, that's how! Are you starting to understand why balancing your blood sugar is so important?
Doctors are beginning to realize that keeping a close eye on your blood sugar isn't just for diabetics anymore. It's for everyone - man, woman who wants to be fit, healthy, and live to ripe old age.
Controlling your blood sugar is one of the most exciting new discoveries to hit the world of weight loss in at least 25 years. It's the only weight loss method ever invented that works not by depriving you of foods, but by urging you to eat those foods that naturally keep your blood sugar on an even keel.
As a result, your insulin rarely spikes... and your meals are less likely to get stored as fat. If your body needs more energy that it can get from your last meal, it borrows form your existing reserves of fat in your belly, butt, and thighs. You're rarely hungry. Your cravings for sweets and carb crunchies will disappear. You will lose weight. Gain more energy. Sharpen your memory. And protect yourself against life-threatening illnesses like heart disease, cancer, and diabetes.
Unless you're diabetic, chances are you haven't given a moment's thought to your blood sugar before now. So why should you care about it?
- You should care if you find yourself getting sluggish or tired at 3:00 pm every afternoon.
- You should care if you reach for biscuits, sweets, or coal top give you a shot of energy.
- You should care if you've ever found yourself hungry late at night and making a refrigerator raid.
- You should care if your earnest attempts to lose weight have met with little or no success.
- You should care if you've notices your vision or your memory slipping in recent years.
What exactly is blood sugar? And why is it so important to your health? Well, blood sugar is to your body what petrol is to your car. It's the fuel that makes it go. If your car ran out of petrol, it would sputter, cough, and come to a stop. If you ran out of blood sugar, you would soon go into a coma and die. Every cell in your body depends on blood sugar for the energy to stay alive and perform its function. Without a steady supply of blood sugar, your brain couldn't think, your heart couldn't b eat, your feet couldn't walk.
So, like petrol, blood sugar is a good thing. But you can have too much of a good thing. You wouldn't pour petrol all over your car, would you? But when your blood sugar gets high - and stays high - that's exactly what you are doing. You're pouring petrol over your body and all the vital organs inside. Then when you add a small additional problem as high blood pressure or high cholesterol, you're striking a match.
Your goal is to keep your "petrol tank" of blood sugar full, but not too full. And one of the key tools in this process is a hormone called insulin. Insulin is manufactured in your pancreas and it's job is to "inject" the blood sugar into your cells. Consider it your own personal fuel-injection system!
Whenever you eat - especially when you eat carbohydrate - the food is converted to blood sugar (glucose), and your pancreas cranks up its production of insulin. The insulin sends the blood sugar into your cells, and your cells use it for energy. When your blood sugar is high, your body hates to waste all that fuel. So whatever it can't use right away for energy, it stores as fat to be used later.
Have you wondered why you can still gain weight even when you hardly eat? You're late for work and the kids are late for school, so you don't have time for breakfast. Work is really busy, so the only lunch you have time for is a bagel and a diet soft drink. Your body is in starvation mode, and your blood sugar is very low.
But when dinnertime comes, it's a different story. Now you're ready for a feast of roast beef, mashed potatoes and gravy, sweet corn and bread rolls with butter. Your blood sugar soars, your insulin spikes, and here's what your body is thinking: "We've been starving all day, and finally we got a decent meal. But who knows when we'll eat again? We should store all this food as fat. That way, we'll have a source of energy if we go back to starvation tomorrow."
So on the next morning, you step on the scales and you've gained weight! You say to yourself, "But how could that happen? I only ate one meal yesterday!" How could it happen? It's your blood sugar, that's how! Are you starting to understand why balancing your blood sugar is so important?
Doctors are beginning to realize that keeping a close eye on your blood sugar isn't just for diabetics anymore. It's for everyone - man, woman who wants to be fit, healthy, and live to ripe old age.
Controlling your blood sugar is one of the most exciting new discoveries to hit the world of weight loss in at least 25 years. It's the only weight loss method ever invented that works not by depriving you of foods, but by urging you to eat those foods that naturally keep your blood sugar on an even keel.
As a result, your insulin rarely spikes... and your meals are less likely to get stored as fat. If your body needs more energy that it can get from your last meal, it borrows form your existing reserves of fat in your belly, butt, and thighs. You're rarely hungry. Your cravings for sweets and carb crunchies will disappear. You will lose weight. Gain more energy. Sharpen your memory. And protect yourself against life-threatening illnesses like heart disease, cancer, and diabetes.
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