No, really, sugar is quite sexy.
Let me explain. When we feel stressed out by life, or because of issues affecting our biochemistry that also trigger stress, we don’t feel sexy. If we are running from a bear, hiding from our boss, dealing with screaming kids, or improperly fueling our bodies, it’s difficult to suddenly find ourselves turned on and feeling sexy. Our brains and bodies are not wired to make babies when we feel threatened and unsafe.
Take feeling cold for example. Some of us just always feel cold, even when no one else does. Hard to get in the mood for getting naked and frisky when you’re shivering, right? Well, cold causes stress. And quite interestingly, regular old sugar reduces that stress response while also helping to increase body temperature![1] Chocolate covered strawberries, anyone?
But this doesn’t just apply to feeling cold. You see, everything your body does requires glucose, the most basic form of sugar, to be available and absorbable to the cells.
And I do mean everything!
From vegging out on the couch, to sleep, to digestion, writing your gratitude list, figuring out what’s for dinner, and of course, getting it on.
This means, if we have chosen to address body fat or just general health by avoiding sugar, we’ve created the conditions of scarcity that increase stress hormones. Most people by now are aware of stress hormones like cortisol and how they contribute to belly fat. When the body doesn’t feel safe, it’s going to emphasize “survival” over fitness. Body fat is slow burning, meaning slow metabolism, and not enough energy to get you out of that brain fog.
This is a great example of bad science, to cherry pick research done on insects like worms that can basically shut down metabolic functions when they’re starved or frozen, to try and suggest that humans should also starve themselves to live longer. Starving, frozen people do not feel sexy!
But sugar does help us feel sexy. In fact, even babies feel less pain and are less colicky when given some sugar water, because it reduces stress hormones and increases metabolic strength to improve digestion that was making them gassy! That doesn’t change as we get older, unless we’ve been doing things to ruin our body’s response to sugar, and therefore create conditions that are not suited to consuming sugar. But clearly, those conditions are not sexy, from obesity, diabetes, or other blood sugar problems, to even what I experienced which is “skinny fat,” and could not build muscle and gain weight because of my fear of sugar!
Still not convinced?
Here’s one of many similar studies where they replaced starches with a high-glucose diet (that means lots of sugar) and found that it dramatically increased “anti-obesity” hormones, and yes, reduced body fat in obese mice.[2] It did so by increasing their metabolic rate about 20%. Think that might help someone who’s always cold feel a little warmer?
Definitely.
Because low metabolism means more body fat, less warmth, weaker digestion (i.e. bloated and gassy), poor immune function, chronic inflammation and pain, and definitely not feeling sexy!
Of course, this doesn’t mean you should head to the candy store right now and just go nuts. There’s work to do to fix the damage caused by dieting, fasting, nutritional problems like insulin resistance caused by eating polyunsaturated fats, or any number of combinations of the many ways we can find ourselves with suppressed metabolism. The point is, sugar didn’t cause these problems. Sugar is sexy. And we need sugar to live.
Yes, I know there’s people out there losing tons of weight on low-carb and keto diets. You now understand that the body has ways of coping with these conditions, which are a stress-state. We can definitely starve ourselves into being skinny, but we lose just as much muscle as fat, and when we are out of fat there’s nothing left to burn but muscle. Have you ever noticed how angry people get when they’re doing keto? Why do you think they purposely starve dogs before a dog fight? It turns on the survival hormones that make people viciously attack any perceived threat. Definitely not sexy.
Sure, we can deprive our bodies of sugar, forcing it to rely on stress hormones to allow our bodies to manufacture sugar, or ketones, to fuel the cells. This is a biological adaptation that allows us to survive long periods of starvation. But that’s like saying “wow our fire sprinkler system is so great, let’s set the building on fire just so we can use them!”
No, thank you.
I’d like to reduce stress in my life, and some of it I can’t control. Since I can reduce stress with sugar, and it increases my metabolism, not only can I finally increase my weight from 135lbs to almost 150 for the first time in my life, I can do it by building muscle with only 10-20 minutes of exercise a day! Which leaves me with plenty of energy for everything else that could otherwise overwhelm me with stress if I didn’t have the energy.
More muscle = less fat = more energy = feeling sexy.
Sure I didn’t have much fat to burn except my little stubborn belly, but I was “skinny fat.” So, whether you’re in my situation, and have kept the weight off but struggle with all the other metabolic problems and brain fog, or food intolerances and hypersensitivity, or can’t figure out how to lose the fat once and for all, we are in the same boat.
And now you have a solution that can be adapted to your specific needs. Just take a look at what some of my other clients have said and schedule your free call to find out how you can do the same!