Melissa 27 Days into the 30 Day Challenge. (No bread, pasta, rice, sugar or alcohol)
Mobility Day
Let’s take time to rest and recover those aching joints, or if you’ve missed a class this week it’s time to make it up today!
TOPIC of DISCUSSION
What happens to your body when.. you carb binge?
Here’s a great article from ‘Mark’s Daily Apple” about what happens to your body when you binge on carbs. A great read, especially for those who decided NOT to do the 30 day challenge, maybe after this you’ll join us for the next one đ
Another day, another co-workerâs birthday (and the obligatory cake in the break room).
Youâre into the Primal style of eating, so itâs easy to resist this stuff, right? You ignored the dirty looks when you turned down the second rotation of the jam filled and glazed Krispy Kreme donuts at the team meeting. You donât mind gnawing on the few anemic carrot sticks left at the annual holiday party. Dessert just isnât part of your vocabulary.
But would it hurt to indulge this once? It’s Christmas!? Well almost, it’s only 2 more weeks away! and the cake is dark chocolate, and itâs the end of the work day. Seriously, itâs not like youâll suddenly burst into flame and melt in a fiery, torturous death, leaving nothing but a smoldering spot on the carpet. Youâre disciplined. You can more than make up for this later. The worst that can happen is a sugar rush. Oh what the heck, gimme a slice. Yeah, sure, a little ice cream too.
So, what will happen? To your body, we mean. Once the plastic fork (with its spongy contents) hits your mouth. What goes on in there anyway?
First off, the good news. There is no permanent fate awaiting you for one slice of cake. Youâll leave work alive, generally a functional human being. Theyâll be no curse or pox on your house or even truly long-term risk elevation for that matter. Nonetheless, youâll likely regret your decision.
However, within a matter of 10 quick forkfuls of that delicious dark chocolate brownie cake, you have gone from eating small doses of quality carbs wisely spread throughout the day, to possibly 100 or more grams of pure sugar in one sitting! Some guilt should be setting in right about now… But thatâs not all thatâs happening.
The Domino Effect
Within a few minutes, your pancreas kicks into overdrive and sends out a flood of insulin to try to clean up all the excess glucose thatâs suddenly rushing through your bloodstream. Remember, while glucose is muscle fuel when itâs in the muscles, itâs toxic sludge when it stays in your bloodstream. Your body knows that and does everything it can to get it out of there. Perhaps you’ve got a headache, youâre feeling flushed, a little high, spastic, or nauseous depending on how much you ate, how big you are, what your normal carb load is, and how acutely you tend to âfeelâ the effects of sugar and other substances. Ironically, if you were insulin resistant, you might not even notice these sensations! The age old “I feel so much better when I have sugar, in my diet” If you’re feeling lethargic after 2 weeks of removing sugar and simple carbs from your diet, it is likely you are already insulin resistant!
When you eat a balance of Protein, Fats and Carbs your body remains in a state of balance!
A gush of insulin throws your body out of balance and creates a see-saw effect. If your glycogen stores have room, some of the sugar goes into muscles. If thereâs no more room, the excess goes into fat cells, where it is stored as fat. In reaction to this quasi-emergency that looks like another life-threatening stress, the body steps up its efforts to achieve homeostasis by releasing both epinephrine (adrenaline) and cortisol from your adrenals. Your heart is racing, your body temperature is increasing, maybe even to the point where youâre starting to feel uncomfortable, maybe even sweating. And weâre still likely within the first hour after you finished off that cake!
A bit more time passes. Burnout settling in yet? Thatâs called a sugar crash â Ever come back from lunch and within an hour or 2 later you feel like you need a nap? This is when all the glucose is gone from the bloodstream and you start to feel sluggish, off-kilter, like the internal circuits are all fried after sparking in a heap of now smoldering wires. Hmm. Maybe that spontaneous combustion image wasnât so far after all.
But thereâs moreâŚ. The havoc that sugar rush set off â the swing of glucose and insulin, the cortisol and adrenaline â theyâve sent your immune system into a tailspin. Research has shown that the function of immunity-related phagocytes is impaired for at least five hours after intake of simple sugars. Free radicals have their heyday as well within the first few hours after sugar increases oxidative stress on the body. Your blood even thickens as a response to the stressors.
Wait, you arenât out of the woods yet. You get home and try to sleep it off, but you toss and turn as your heart continues to beat faster than normal. Hmm. Little surprise there. The old hormonal system is confounding in its interconnectedness. You lay there cursing not just that cake but the entire cultural custom of birthday celebration. As the sun comes up and you roll out of bed, you think you should be done with this sugar business by now. Maybe. Maybe not. Unfortunately, a hefty dose of sugar can compromise the immune system for more than 24 hours. Groan. The images flash before you. The flu your colleague had earlier this week. The miserable cold (that incessant cough!) your boss has. Passing plans or reports around the meeting room. Shaking hands with the new clients who came by yesterday. Suddenly youâre seeing your week in a new (and dimmer) light. Your immune system might have handled it all quite easily before the sugar incidence/insult. Thatâs one birthday cake that keeps on giving!
As bad as this sounds, it could be worse. If you follow a clean living, following the 80/20 guide, making good choices Monday – Friday and then having the odd treat at the weekend, youâre generally a healthy person. Youâll still experience the downside effects when you have your cheats, and you may feel them more acutely than you did before. (This isnât a bad thing.) It actually makes you realise the stress your body is under to get rid of the ‘crap’. Nonetheless, after the dust settles, the worst thing you can end up with is maybe a cold you wouldnât have gotten otherwise. Your system will realign itself pretty readily. Within a couple of PB style days youâll be as good as new.
But if this is a normal day? Sigh. This presents a much bleaker picture. That see-saw of insulin and glucose? The process breaks down in your body until you develop insulin resistance. That rush of adrenaline and cortisol? That hormonal havoc over time fries your adrenal system. Your body is constantly in a state of âfight,â and inflammation becomes a constant state of affairs. Enough sugar over enough time (with the lack of exercise to boot), and youâve gotten yourself into quite a pickle. (Maybe a pickle wouldâve been a better snack choice.)
2 Week Challenge!
For the first week eat as normal and keep a food diary of what you eat, and how you feel before and afterwards. For the 2nd week cut out bread, rice, pasta, pastry, grains, sugar and alcohol from Monday-Friday and then allow yourself 1 cheat on Saturday and 1 cheat on Sunday, continue to record you food diary and how you are feeling!