WARNING: This post is a little heavy on the science
jargon. Important and interesting, yes, but if you don't have the patience for
a little pop-culturified hard science you might want to skip this one.
Still here? Good. Lets do this.
This
article was linked to on the CrossFit homepage and it
got the gears turning in my head a little bit. There's a couple of issues here,
although it's not exactly the authors fault. He found some solid information
that is in fact very important and wanted to disseminate it to the general
public. What I find troubling is the fact that this was news to him, or anyone.
Physiology lesson time, folks. Don't worry. I'll be
gentle. Promise.
Insulin is one of the two main hormones that regulates
your blood sugar levels. The other is glucagon. They essentially have opposite
functions.
Insulin is activated when your blood sugar is elevated
and it signals your body to take sugar and other nutrients out of your
bloodstream, thereby lowering your blood sugar levels.
Glucagon is activated when your blood sugar levels drop,
and it initiate the break down of glycogen (storage form of glucose in your
muscles) releases it into your bloodstream, thereby raising your blood sugar
levels. It also plays a role in lipolysis (breakdown of fatty acids) but
apparently the exact mechanism by which it does this is still under debate.
This is pretty oversimplified but bear with me. Even at
it's simplest level you guys should be able to see why this article is
troubling.
So, we've got insulin. The main function of this sumb*tch
is to regulate blood sugar levels. Thats point 1.
Then we have insulin resistance syndrome, or
pre-diabetes.When the proteins responsible for recognizing insulin are over
stimulated, their ability to achieve the same effect from the same amount of
insulin is impaired. Think of it like alcohol tolerance - the more you drink,
the more you need to drink to get buzzed. While the cellular mechanisms are
different ultimately the effect is the same. The more insulin you use,
eventually the more you need to achieve the same effect. This is point 2.
So now we have full on diabetes of which there are two
types, 1 and 2.
Type 1 is genetic and basically the insulin factory (beta
cells) in your pancreas just don't work. You can't produce insulin naturally so
you have to monitor your blood sugar levels yourself and inject insulin.
Type 2 diabetes is caused mainly by lifestyle choices. As
with anything involving the human body there are exceptions
and extenuating circumstances but I don't have the time to address them
all here. A steady, high intake of sugar causes insulin resistance.
Eventually it gets to a point where your body can not produce enough insulin to
regulate your blood sugar levels. Chronically elevated blood sugar leads to the
production of a bunch of inflammatory cytokines (read: bad sh*t) and prevents
the secretion of glucagon which makes losing weight that much harder. This is
point 3
So. Insulin, blood-sugar levels and sugar consumption are
all intrinsically, inescapably connected. This is a very brief overview but you
can probably still see that this is the case.
This article, which was published last month, states
that, "it’s not just obesity that can cause
diabetes: sugar can cause it, too, irrespective of obesity. And obesity does
not always lead to diabetes." Well.
Yeah. No sh*t dude. That's like saying that alcoholism can lead to cirrhosis.
F*cking really?
On a side note it's totally worth mentioning that there is a gigantic body of evidence that most type 2 diabetes cases can be reversed through dietary intervention and exercise. Yeah. It really is that fixable.
This all goes back to my earlier post on educating yourself. The human body is an incredibly complex, beautiful machine. We still don't understand how it all works but we have a pretty good grip on the basics. Manipulation of insulin/glucagon levels through dietary regulation of blood sugar can actually be a really powerful tool for burning fat and building muscle if you understand the mechanisms. Stimulating production of insulin isn't always a bad thing. It's all about balance.
I just want to make one last point in conclusion. So, the fitness world has to some degree demonized carbohydrates of late. We're now finally getting into the frame of mind that we should distinguish between good and bad carbohydrates which is a positive shift from all carbs being bad. While the distinction can be difficult for some, in the language of this post the difference is incredibly simple. Bad carbohydrates cause your blood sugar to spike and cause immediate, significant production of insulin. These would be things like high fructose corn syrup or any other concentrated, simple sugar. Again, consuming some simple carbohydrates before or after a workout for the purpose of fueling yourself or causing a post workout insulin spike that accelerates recovery isn't such a bad thing, but that's another post for another time.
TL;DR Sugar can f*ck your world up if you're not careful and diabetes is bad. Thanks for reading. Cheers.
Todays Workout:
Dynamic Warm-Up - 10-15min
Weightlifting:
Deadlift 5x5 (80% 1RM)
Bench Press 3x5 (175,185,195)
Met con:
10 KB swings (1.5 pood)
10 Dips
10 Burpees
Rope Climb (1 ascent)
8 rounds for time
8 rounds for time
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