Mens Fitness on fat loss

I saw this article at Mens Fitness on fat loss and thought I would drop a bit of it here as well as adding a link to the rest of the article. I hop this has been a good week and great weekend for you!

According to its publicist, sugar is a health food. After all, it contains zero fat, provides instant energy, and makes almost any food taste better. But these attributes are all trumped by a physiological fact: Sugar makes you fat. That may seem like a given, but by understanding why, you can minimize sugar's harmful effects and create a leaner, healthier body.

Eating sugar is like flipping a switch that tells your body to store fat. And sugar is everywhere -- not just in soda, candy, and desserts. It's disguised in refined carbohydrates like bread, rice, and pasta, and even in beer and milk. Your body can't tell the difference -- it quickly digests and absorbs all these sugars into your bloodstream as glucose.

This means most men eat the equivalent of a high-sugar diet -- even if they've sworn off sweets. Case in point: During digestion, one slice of white bread is converted into the same amount of glucose as 4 tablespoons of sugar.

Here's what happens: Every time you eat sugar, your blood-glucose level rises quickly. In turn, this stimulates the release of insulin, a powerful hormone that signals your body to store fat. There's also a dose response: The more sugar you down at any one time -- resulting in a greater rise in blood glucose and, consequently, in insulin -- the longer you stay in fat-storage mode.

Of course, you may not be ready to give up sandwiches, fried rice, and spaghetti. But use the cutting-edge strategies that follow and you can slow the rate at which sugar is absorbed into your bloodstream. The payoff: You'll diminish the impact any food has on your glucose levels -- and on your body's ability to burn fat. Consider it nutritional damage control. And the benefits extend beyond the physiology of fat metabolism. Research shows that keeping blood-glucose levels in check decreases appetite and reduces the risk of diabetes, heart disease, and cancer. Fortunately, that's not just industry marketing hype; it's a scientific reality.

Read the rest of this article at Mens Fitness