As I always say your body is what you eat. Getting the rights foods with the right nutrients is the key to successful workouts and training sessions. How can one expect to to have a great workout if you don’t have the energy derived from good nutritious food. As the old saying says ‘The food you eat can either be the safest and most powerful form of medicine or the slowest form of poison’.
17 June 2013: Siobhan Byrne and Mark O’Reilly talk about sugar
Lets start with Sugar in my own opinion whether you are a triathlete, swimmer, runner or just your average gym goer you have to ask your self the question is how im training better for sugar intake? Think yes? Think again. We can all be partial to a bit of sweet now and then some more than others but take example that energy drink after, during or before training? Is it really working for you? Sugar has been proven to lower the immune system for up to 5 hours literally hampering your recovery. Not exactly great news if you are in the middle of a triathalon on a bike ride swigging some sugary energy formula and still expecting to get through a run. The proven fact is that all sugars have this effect on the immune system, including Sucrose, fructose, Glucose, honey and orange juice. Lets have a look at a few proven side effects from our not so friendly friend sugar.
- Sugar can cause hypoglycemia, (feeling cranky or acting aggressive,Feeling nervous, Headache hunger, shaking or trembling, sleeping trouble, sweating, tingling or numbness of the skin, tiredness or weakness).
- Sugar can cause or lead to certain forms of cancer especially in women
- Sugar may lead to cancer of the breast, ovaries, prostate and rectum
- Sugar can cause colon cancer, with an increased risk in women
- Sugar can be a risk factor in gall bladder cancer
- Sugar can increase the aging process
- Sugar can upset the bodies natural mineral balance
- Sugar contributes to a weakened defense against bacterial infection
- Sugar interferes with the absorption of calcium and magnesium (look into it if your cramping up frequently)
- Sugar can increase fasting levels of glucose
- Sugar can contribute to weight gain and obesity
- Sugar can produce an acidic stomach
- Sugar can create energy slumps
Sometimes we can be mislead to think that certain healthly looking foods are good for us when they can contain quite high levels of sugar.
500 mls of fresh orange juice can contain up to 10 and a half heaped teaspoons while a bottle of reduced sugar flavoured water can contain up to 16 and a small low fat youghurt up to 7 teaspoons and if you think sweetners are the answer there are whole other load of side effects that can come with asparatame including memory loss, nausea and temper.