You may not think of yourself as a cannibal, however, if you don’t feed your body what it needs, you will “cannibalize” yourself / break down and consume your own protein tissues (unfortunately, you will not deplete your body fat stores).
This not only sounds bad… it is bad… and can have long lasting repercussions on your body fat amount, immune status, muscle and skin quality and the overall health of your organism.
There are many ways to eat and it appears no one diet works for everyone.
However, there appears to be one guiding principle underlying all approaches to eating…….
Blood Sugar Control or Blood Sugar Balance is the optimal effect from eating the right balance of foods for YOU.
You may do better on more carbohydrates and less protein and a little fat or, more protein and certain types of carbohydrates and more fat, or some other combination.
The key issue is….. Is the way you are eating keeping you in balance so that you are not drawing on your reserves unnecessarily? If the answer is no, then you are causing physiological stress, creating a negative hormonal cascade and suppressing your immune function.
Simply stated, you have two primary ways of generating energy to support your organism:
The ideal way of creating energy for yourself is by eating an optimal combination fats, proteins and carbohydrates for your unique needs. Creating an efficient metabolic function requires a certain consistency of eating as well as a synergy of macronutrients.
The other way of creating energy for yourself is more like stealing from yourself. It is a Catabolic (breakdown) metabolism driven by stress and blood sugar instabilities..… Unfortunately, this response liberates potentially dangerous stored fatty acids and damages metabolic reserves. Through a process of scavenging for protein sources from immune organs, muscles, and skin your body finds what it needs. This process is guaranteed to weaken your body in various ways, increase your rate of aging and cause an increase in your body fat.
A healthy liver can store glycogen for up to 8 hours. However, this glycogen is designed to support low blood sugar events and bouts of stress ….this is why many people can last all night without eating or can “get away with” not eating for several hours during the day.
However, any time you go too long without food and your blood sugar falls below normal, you are shifting your body toward a Catabolic, emergency metabolism. Once this occurs you begin breaking down your protein stores to make Cortisol (which stabilizes blood sugar and helps manage stress)….this is an emergency process, an “at a cost” situation, and frequent use or overuse of this system causes an increased rate of physiological damage as you suppress your immune system, create stress and cannibalize protein from your body.
After 8 hours without food and a depletion of stored glycogen, Adrenalin will be released to support your emergency fuel source. Your Adrenalin will be used to mobilize resources and squeeze the last of the stored glycogen out of your liver. The body then shifts into a fat for energy mode and releases stored fatty acids for energy.
This release of fatty acids is not enough by itself, however, and not a good long term strategy. The body still needs sugar/glycogen to function and maintain basic processes. The need for sugar, again, is fulfilled by emergency Cortisol production.
The primary problem with poor blood sugar management is that it creates this emergency Cortisol production and as Cortisol increases sharply and frequently, you begin to “eat up” and metabolize your Thymus gland, other immune organs, skin, and muscle to supply adequate fuel for the all important feeding of your heart, lungs, and brain. This process, if chronic, is a slippery slope that depresses thyroid function, slows metabolism and speeds the aging process.
To learn how to Balance Yourself contact:
Mark@TheDynamicBody.com or call 512-517-7631