How does Sugar cause Weight Gain?
Your friend Sugar comes around and wants you to take her with you everywhere. She wants you addicted to her. She wants you to want her all the time. What does she give you? Sugar impacts your weight.
First is in How We Process Glucose
We discussed how sugar is processed. Sugar gets broken into glucose and fructose. Your body uses insulin to add glucose to cells that need it like muscle and brain cells.
Next, it takes the extra and makes it into glycogen and stores it in fat cells for use later. For us ladies, this is the fat on our butt, thighs, and lower abdomen. Why does it go there? Because when you were in hunter-gatherer times it was good to have a little extra around for winter.
Second is How we Process Fructose
The next thing your body does to help for winter is use fructose. Those beautiful berries and apples were around to harvest and eat before winter as well. Why did they taste so good? So you can get them packed on and not even know you ate them. Sugar is empty calories that had a purpose to get you ready for winter.
There is a reason for this addiction to fructose and for it to be processed so quickly in the body. Fruit wasn’t around all the time like it is now. It was around before winter came and we used to add a little fat to keep us warm and help us survive winter.
The problem now is that we produce these fruits in whatever climate during the year they grow and funnel them into areas that are in winter with no fruit. We still consume and add additional weight instead of using the weight we gained in the fall for use during the winter.
Third is Our Current Culture of Over Consumption
The next way that we are gaining weight is from overconsumption. Thinks would be all well and good if we didn’t continue to eat sugars all the time. This overconsumption just continues to add more weight on and confuses our bodies that are expecting winter.
As the sugar continues to flood our bloodstream then our pancreas starts to produce insulin lots of it quickly to keep up with the demand in blood sugar. It starts to create subpar insulin that doesn’t fit the lock on the cells that it should be putting glucose into. It can impact other hormones as well like leptin that should be telling us we are full and satisfied. Because the sugar is absorbed so quickly there is no Leptin signal and we continue to eat.
Fourth Insulin Resistance, Diabetes, & Inflammation
So the pancreas pumps out more insulin that is subpar and that leads to insulin resistance. Then your body thinks it is not getting fuel into the cells causing diabetes. Then the liver being over-taxed by the excess fructose starts throwing toxins in the fat so it can keep processing and then adds fat to the organs including itself causing inflammation and dysfunction.
This all leads to a Fat Making Machine
So in essence the body becomes a fat-making machine with not a break in sight. No matter what you do or what restrictions you try the weight will keep piling on because your body needs a break. At the same time since your body isn’t getting the glucose into the cells, it asks you for more. More what? More food, more sugar, more insulin all resulting in more fat.
How do You Get Out of Fat Making Machine Mode
Sorry but often the only way is to give your organs a break and kick your Friend Sugar to the curb for a while. I’m not saying kick Sugar out forever. It is often easier if you take a reset so you start with a clean slate and allow your liver and pancreas to catch up.
If you are interested in getting a reset from sugar then make sure you join me in May to Kick Sugar Cravings to the Curb.
