Did the Energy Vampire secretly follow the
Easter Bunny from house to house this past Easter?
Hands up if Easter Sunday found you sprawled
on the couch, in “comfy pants,” wondering which youngster you could convince to
bring you another chocolate egg.
Let’s face it - even the most conscientious
eater cannot help but be tempted by the family smorgasbord of turkey, stuffing,
ham, corn, mashed potatoes, yams, cake, pie and all the other delicious dishes
that traditionally grace the holiday table.
I roll my eyes at those articles that suggest eating a small, healthy
meal before hitting the party so that one doesn’t overindulge. That doesn’t stop me – I WANT to eat all
those yummy things. I WANT to overindulge
on butter and sugar. It’s not like I eat
that way every day, so why shouldn’t I?
Sitting in a sugary-fat induced stupor, I
picked up Patrick Holford’s The New
Optimum Nutrition Bible. (Truthfully, I stretched out my foot to nudge it
closer on the coffee table so I didn’t have to actually get up and get
it). I’d been meaning to leaf through
this new book. As I started looking
through it, I remembered that I’ve read another of his books…and when I was
following his eating advice, I was feeling the best that I ever had in my life.
Basically, food = energy. The body requires a myriad of carbohydrates,
protein, vitamins, minerals and enzymes to work most efficiently. The easiest way for the body to get the fuel
it needs is to use carbohydrates.
Complex
carbohydrates -> become
glucose -> glucose is energy à body
uses energy
Too much carbohydrates -> too much glucose -> spike
in energy à energy crashes
The body is a wonderful system, capable of
maintaining the balance that is required for health. We eat, blood sugar raises to an appropriate
level and the right amount of insulin is released to transport the glucose to
our cells to keep everything running smoothly.
When blood sugar levels drop, we feel hungry so we eat to recharge this
energy exchange.
Then we go and screw it up.
I won’t feel guilty for one night of
overindulgence. But what about regularly
overindulging? I think I eat healthily
80% of the time, as I’m sure most of us do.
Thinking more deeply about it: Are we really eating the way we
should? Or have we been messing with our
systems so much that we don’t even realize how we are affecting the delicate
balance of energy transfer? Food, and
eating, has such an emotional component to it that it’s hard to confront the
issue with ourselves.
There are numerous different theories out
there saying how one should eat – the Canada Food Guide, Vegan,
Hunter-Gatherer, Raw Food and even Noodletarian just to name a few. Why are there so many theories? Well, because people want to be healthy. Everyone is different, so there is likely no
one way of eating that is the one correct way.
Let’s just look at one aspect of nutrition;
that food is energy. Too much food,
especially too much sugar, will cause our blood sugar levels to spike. The excess glucose is basically converted
into fat and our blood sugar levels then plummet, causing fatigue and a whole
host of other yucky feelings. The
solution is to eat again, probably something our brains are telling us to eat
to quickly get those glucose levels back up or to use a stimulant…mmm…a mocha
is perfect combination of the two, no?
NO.
This self-perpetuating cycle is hard to break but a simple search into
the negative effects brings up all sorts of scary things, such as pre-diabetes,
heart disease and Alzheimers. It makes
sense: eating well keeps us healthy so the reverse must be true. We’ve all heard “eat more whole grains,
vegetables and legumes” and “eat less white bread and refined sugar.” Seriously, this one simple change would have
a profound effect on a person’s daily energy and overall health.
Not so reluctantly I will get rid of that
crème egg staring at me from the kitchen counter.
“Perhaps the biggest tragedy of our lives
is that freedom is possible, yet we can pass our years trapped in the same old
patterns.”
- Tara Brach
