sugar

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Sugar May Be Keeping You From Losing Weight

I really feel the need to write something about the role of sugar in our lives.

Sugar may be keeping you from losing weight

In my last post, I wrote about a plan to lose weight and keep it off (you can read it here). It’s not a diet, rather a way to live.

In that plan I said to cut down on or cut out sugar. 

Well, that brings up all kinds of thoughts or definitions in a person’s mind. How do you define sugar? 

What I’m talking about with regard to cutting out or down on sugar is really simple sugars. And that is a broader category than just the sweat in candy.  

This is how I understand the role food plays in our body. I don’t have any medical terms, this is just how I view the way the body and food work together. 

We need sugar because that is what our body runs on. Sugar is the fuel for our body. It’s like the gas in our car – we need it to keep the engine running. 

And everything we eat eventually breaks down into sugar. Our bodies take the food we eat and process it, refine it, distill it down to fuel, sugar for our bodies to burn.

Though all food breaks down into sugar, it doesn’t mean it’s all the same. There are some foods that break down slowly into sugar and others that break down very, very quickly.

These last types of sugar we will call simple sugars. We find them in candy, chips, pop etc. 

Foods that break down fairly fast are starches, carbohydrates – foods like breads, potatoes, and Chinese food. … I’m just kidding about the Chinese food, but you’re always hungry about an hour after you eat it, so it must break down quickly. 

More complex foods break down slower, like meat for instance. 

It makes sense that the foods that take longer to break down, or are more complex, will provide fuel for your body for a longer period of time. They won’t immediately flood the body with excess fuel that your body can’t deal with, that causes more harm than good. 

When it comes to sugar, you want to cut down on the foods that quickly break down into sugar. You want to put more premium fuel into your body and less cheap gas. 

We like to buy cheap gas because it fills up our tank for less money. But there are particles and impurities in that cheap gas that is ultimately harmful for our car’s engine. 

That is how sugar works in the body. You want to keep putting in the complex, long-lasting sugar and not the simpler, cheap sugar. 

And, like with anything, never overfill it. You can go a long way on three quarters of a tank of gas.

If you want to see a chart on the breakdown of food, google the glycemic index and you will see the sugar rating in foods. 

This is huge in losing weight. Really work on reducing those simple sugars, while maintaining the more complex sugars. 

If you do, you will see your weight come down.

Here’s the thing: We can try to live on a steady diet of activities that will take all our time and leave us often feeling empty. Do not neglect your spiritual needs which are more complex and long-lasting. Feed your spirit by giving yourself time with God, reading His word, worshipping Him and praying. These are complex fuels for your spirit. 

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What simple sugar item do you need to reduce or ditch from your diet? Leave your comments and questions below.

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It’s Pancakes For Lunch Today; That Might Not Be Good

“How about pancakes for lunch” my wife suggested at noon on Saturday. It is one of our go-to weekend lunches.

But since it’s early in the year and there’s still all kinds of sugar pumping through my veins, from chocolates to candy to baking, I’m not sure it’s wise to have something so sugar-laden.

If you are thinking that it doesn’t have to be that sweet, then you’ve never seen me eat pancakes.

First you have to stack them, about 6 or 7 high, and then you create a waterfall scene with the maple syrup flowing down into puddles on the plate below. 

It reminds me of a scene right from the Bible. You know when Elijah had altar wars with the prophets of Baal? Elijah dowsed his altar with water and more water, so that the water filled the trough around the bottom of the altar. Then he called on God to bring fire and burn up the water – which God did.

Well, my pancake scene reminds me of the altar with all the water being poured on it before God lit it on fire.

Anyway, the syrup is sweet and plentiful, but then there are the pancakes themselves. 

My wife, Lily, doesn’t just make regular pancakes. She make banana chocolate pancakes. Into the batter she adds mashed bananas and chocolate chipits. These babies are sweet all on their own!

Now it’s possible I could show some restraint with how many pancakes I take, and even limit the syrup I use, but I know how it goes.

I look at my stack and think, “maybe one more”, and when I’m pouring on the syrup, sometimes it’s hard to pull up on that spout when that golden brown elixir is flowing so smoothly in slow motion fashion. 

No, I think it was a mistake to say I’d have pancakes for lunch. Maybe by about the middle of February my sugar levels will start to go down to an acceptable percentage level.

We use real maple sugar on our pancakes and I’m not sure if that is better or worse than using that fake stuff by Aunt Jemimah that my son seems to love so much. 

… There must be something seriously wrong with him that he would prefer that coloured water with some artificial flavour added in. 

But I don’t mind because when it comes to any kind of saucing of food, that kid knows no limit. It doesn’t matter if it is gravy, hot sauce, or syrup, if it is something that you pour over food Mike floods his plate with it. 

So his choice means more syrup for me. He can just use that cheap imitation stuff to his heart’s content. 

But this doesn’t solve my sugar problem today. Maybe having hot wings with Franks Red Hot for dinner will counter all the sweetness I’m having at noon. 

Why not? It satisfies my conscience.

Here’s the thing: You can have too much of a good thing to the point where it’s not good for you. But you can’t have too much of God. In fact, when you are low, an extended time of thanking Him will lift your spirits. And if you are full of joy, thankful praise will motivate you further to love and good deeds. No matter what’s flowing through your soul, time focussed on God will produce good fruit. 

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: When was the last time you took an extended time to thank the Lord? Leave your comments and questions below.

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I Just Renewed My Muscles

I finally have some life back in my muscles. I am feeling better than I have in a long time on the ice.

It’s sort of like Popeye in reverse. Remember that cartoon character? Popeye would get beaten down, usually by Brutus, and just when it looked like Brutus would finish him off, Popeye would say, “That’s all I can stands; I can’t stands no more.”

Then he would pull a can of spinach – yes, a can of spinach – right out of his shirt.

It’s only through the magic of television that he could hide that spinach there.

But once he ate that spinach, he got new strength and “he was strong to the finish cause he ate his spinach. He’s Popeye the sailer man (toot toot)” … You have to see the cartoon.

I did the opposite. I didn’t eat anything to give me renewed strength; I cut something out.

Back in November, I wrote a post about how my muscles were really giving me some pain when I played hockey. I was trying to figure out what was causing it – maybe medication, maybe my heart, maybe sugar. You can read that post here.

I decided to try cutting out sugar … well, not cut it out entirely; we were just about to head into the Christmas season.

My plan was to reduce sugar by cutting out snacks and junk food.

It’s been two months, and I said I would report back on this topic. This is what I discovered …

I dropped some weight over these two months – about eight pounds to be exact – and I didn’t do anything other than reduce my sugar intake.

Yes, I still have my hot wings and a can of Dr. Pepper on Saturday nights, but that’s pretty much the only time I have pop or fried food all week. … I’ve tried to cut out french fries as much as possible.

I purposely didn’t try to exercise any more than I had, so the weight loss is due solely to the diet change.

Here is something else: I feel good. I actually want to remember how I feel right now because that might keep me going when I get tempted to get back into sugar.

The other thing that seems to have changed is my hockey playing. I was experiencing muscle pain and fatigue in a huge way. That pain and fatigue is gone.

Now, I’m not sure if it’s because I’m not ingesting sugar like I was or if it has to do with me having a few less pounds to carry around on my skates.

But I will take that mystery and live with it.

The last several times playing hockey have been a treat for me. I don’t feel like an old man out on the ice.

I feel more like Popeye – strong to the finish. I like how this feels, and it’s way better than the momentary enjoyment of a chocolate bar.

Here’s the thing: After you have confessed your sin, take a moment to think about how you feel, how close you feel to God, how grateful to God you are, how you want to please Him with your life. Then remember that feeling because you will be tempted to sin again. And when you’re tempted, remember how you feel pleasing God with your life. That may keep you from falling to sin again.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What do you need to add to or cut out of your life? Leave your comments below.