Something You've Heard Before

Most carbohydrates contain some level of glucose, whether it is by itself or paired with fructose to form sucrose. When you eat or drink a glucose containing food, the glucose enters your bloodstream upon digestion. The rate at which this happens determines the glycemic value of the given food. A higher glycemic value is equal to a faster absorption rate and vice versa.
Once the glucose has entered your bloodstream, some of it will be used as energy through the process of glycolysis. This is why you may feel a rush of energy when you eat sweets. Your pancreas must then secrete enough insulin to escort the unused glucose into your cells. Think of insulin as the key needed to gain entry to your cells. At this point, you will be in a state of hypoglycemia because the insulin did its job and cleared the blood of glucose. This results in the body thinking it needs more energy and you begin to crave more of the quick-hit, simple sugars that you just consumed. This is the beginning of the sugar craving cycle.

As you give in to your cravings this downward cycle continues. Your pancreas continues to secrete insulin to clear your blood of glucose, but over time, the locks on your cells begin to jam and the keys (insulin) no longer work like they used to. It requires the help of additional insulin to be able to enter. In the mean time, the glucose is essentially locked out of your cells. This need for more and more insulin to clear the glucose from your blood is referred to as insulin resistance.

At the same time that your pancreas is working overtime to produce the insulin you need, it also begins to reduce glucagon production. Like insulin, glucagon is a hormone produced by the pancreas. Instead of letting glucose into your cells like insulin does, glucagon is responsible for the process that converts stored glycogen into glucose and lets it out of your cells to be used as energy.

You see, when your blood glucose levels are low, the pancreas secretes glucagon so that glucose can be released from your cells for energy. However, if you are insulin resistant, your blood glucose levels are consistently elevated, signaling to your pancreas that additional glucose should not be released from your cells. Thus, dramatically hindering your efforts of reducing stored body fat.

Stay tuned for Part 3 where we will discuss fructose.