Sweet Success!

One of the things that happen after we consume the wrong foods is a ‘sugar high’, and then the crash and burn. This is not just mental; some of this is actually related to the insulin your pancreas is secreting and how your body is handling that sugar you just ate. There are all kinds of sugars in our food sources: glucose, sucrose, fructose, etc. It comes down to Insulin Sensitivity and Insulin Resistance. Sugars and insulin resistance can really muck up your body’s performance. Some folks use the Glycemic Index to get them to a more even keel regarding their sugar intake and their body’s reaction to the food they are eating.

You will hear people who are into the SouthBeach Diet talk about the Glycemic Index. Many CrossFit’rs are finding that they feel much better after kicking the majority of added sugar and sugar substitutes out of their Food Plan and upping their Veggies. What is the Glycemic Index anyway? It is a measurement of food that numerically describes how much or little the food you are about to eat is going to mess with your blood sugar.

Classification of various foods
Low GI - are generally the best choice
most fruits and vegetables (except potatoes and watermelon), grainy breads, pasta, legumes/pulses, milk, yoghurt, products extremely low in carbohydrates (some cheeses, nuts), fructose
Medium GI
whole wheat products, basmati rice, sweet potato, table sugar
High GI - should be generally avoided
corn flakes, rice krispies, baked potatoes, watermelon, croissants, white bread, extruded breakfast cereals, most white rices (e.g. jasmine)
(from Wikipedia)

Why do you care? Great question! I assume you CrossFit so that you will not suck at life. I actually hope you have more specific goals, but most of us generally want to be well and do well. Maintaining a level blood sugar is an outstanding foundation for your body’s performance! Maintaining a level blood sugar is also paramount in maintaining health weight, or dropping some lbs. If you are looking for more outcome from your workout or if you are trying to see less of you on the scales, maintaining a healthy and steady blood glucose and insulin levels by minimizing blood sugar spikes is an excellent place to start hitting your goals.

Here is a post by my nutritional crush that sums up my approach to sugars. Here is an interesting webpage that goes on to discuss the value of controlling blood sugar, and describing some faults with a fully focused GI approach to building your Food Plan. Your Food Plan is yours, you will have to click the links, do some reading, digest the material, and determine what meets your needs best. Enjoy!

If you are attempting to implement a GI Food Plan, the overall idea is to keep the Glycemic Index low. Others would say it is best to just decrease the amount of sugars you eat. If you do this, you can help regulate your blood sugars and decrease insulin resistance. This can improve overall body function and increase your work capacity. Woot! No matter if you eat the Snicker’s Bar after each workout, or if you save them for Treat from time to time, we all eat carbohydrates on a regular basis and we eat sugars too. Just make sure that the food you are eating is not sending your glucose around the block and back.

Posts that are coming up:
The importance of rest and sleep, Peanuts, Food Labels, and the things about Diet Soda that should scare it out of your hands. What else do you want to read about?