Most people have heard the correlation between sugar and fat. Looking at it from more of a personal level and how one’s individual body and their actual sugar levels present, the picture becomes a little clearer on how blood sugar levels can affect your weight.
So, when one thinks of sugar levels, one also needs to think about insulin. When you eat a meal, your blood sugar goes up, and your body increases the hormone insulin into your blood stream. Insulin is in simple terms a fat storage hormone.
So, you can easily assume that if insulin levels are high, the body is not required to burn fat as aggressively because the fat is being provided through the insulin and food.
This is where the discussion of diabetes is needed.
Diabetes is a group of diseases that result in too much sugar in the blood (high blood glucose).
- Type 2 Diabetes: A chronic condition that affects the way the body processes blood sugar
- Type 1 Diabetes: A chronic condition in which the pancreas produces little or no insulin
- Prediabetes: A condition in which blood sugar is high, but not high enough to be type 2 diabetes
- Gestational diabetes: A form of high blood sugar affecting pregnant women
A good analogy to think of when it comes to sugar levels and how you feel when sugar is high or low is a roller coaster. When the roller coaster begins, usually you begin an ascent which gives you and idea of how big the descent will be. This is how our insulin works.
Notice how you feel after you eat Thanksgiving dinner? A nap never sounded so good, right? This is because after stuffing your face for a few hours, your sugar levels start to drop after being skyrocketed. This is known in the health and fitness world as a “carb crash”. All you want to do is sleep because you feel exhausted, literally, from eating.
Many people try to associate diabetes with over weight people. Type 1 diabetes is based around the body (pancreas) producing an insufficient amount of insulin, so the body in return burns fat and even muscle at an accelerated rate. Many people who suffer from type 1 diabetes are not over weight at all and have to be very careful monitoring their insulin levels, making sure they are adequate, or they can have seizures from sugar levels being too low.
By keeping an eye on your sugar levels, you can have a good grasp on your body’s ability to burn fat and utilizing insulin in a healthy balance. Simple blood tests from your physician can identify any blood sugar issues including having any form of diabetes.
