Why Low-Sugar is Better for Your Fitness Goals

“As a trail runner for many years, taking care of my nutrition is essential to maintaining my weight goal. A healthy fruit smoothie gives me energy after my run without worrying about too much sugar. Besides the nutritional value and the right amount of sugar it provides, it also allows me to replenish depleted glycogen stores, repair damaged muscle tissues, and enhance my performance for the next run. It also reduces my risk of experiencing bonking, crashing, and headache.”

–DrinkFit Owner, Brian Vogt

Your nutrition must be smartly planned based on your fitness goals (cutting, bulking, maintenance, etc.). According to statistics, the top reason Americans work out is to shape up and lose weight. To achieve your goals, the type of workout is a major factor, but so are your food and beverage choices and the discipline to control specific food intake, such as those containing sugar. Pre, during, and post-nutrition matter. Especially with weight and fat loss goals, low-sugar consumption is something to explore. But first, it is vital to understand how the body works in relation to the food you are taking.

Metabolism

Your metabolism is the chemical reaction in the body that converts food into energy. But before going there, let’s start from the beginning of it all. When you take in food, the saliva, with its enzymes, breaks down the food’s starch into sugar. The sugar, with the fat and water, travels to your stomach, where digestion happens. Another enzyme that digests protein turns it into chyme.

The chyme enters the duodenum, where the gallbladder secretes its bile. This bile thins out the fat and makes it easier for absorption. Another group of enzymes from the pancreas goes into the duodenum and breaks down further the sugar, protein, and fat. Sugar, protein, and fat bid farewell to each other and go on with their separate transformations. Here, the exciting part starts with metabolism, which significantly affects weight management and your fitness goals.

ACHIEVING FITNESS GOALS: Hitting Your Macros

Sugar

Sugars are carbohydrates digested in the body as glucose that goes directly to the bloodstream. Some will be taken by the liver and muscles as glycogen stores, and some go to the brain. These become our body’s primary energy source. The excess sugars are converted into adipocytes.

Using the glycemic index, you can measure how quickly a food increases blood sugar levels. Values range from 1 to 100 (slowest to fastest). It has been proven that fructose has little effect on blood sugar.

Protein

Protein turns into peptides which are broken down into amino acids (building blocks of protein). Amino acids make up the body’s protein stores. It aids in the growth of muscles, hormones, repair and recovery. If the body is not getting enough from glucose, protein is broken down into ketones to be used for energy. On the other hand, excess protein will be of little use to the body. It will be excreted as urea and, worse, may also be converted into fat. 

Fat

Fat goes to the bloodstream and to the liver. The body deposits it as visceral and subcutaneous fat. The excess will become triglycerides and stored in adipose tissues. Lipolysis must occur to obtain energy from fat or the breaking down of triglycerides.

ATP

Energy comes from macronutrients, with carbohydrates being the most essential source. Workouts and sports activities require getting sufficient nutrients from our foods; otherwise, we feel quickly tired and can’t perform to our optimum level. Foods are metabolized at a cellular level through cellular respiration to make ATP (Adenosine Triphosphate). ATP is the chemical the cell utilizes for muscle contraction and cell division. This process involves oxygen to produce energy from carbohydrates (aerobic respiration). This is great for slow and steady energy requirements.

Anaerobic respiration, a process that doesn’t require oxygen, uses pyruvate, which is then reduced to lactic acid. This is effective for high-intensity activities between 1-3 minutes.

Poor Food Choices = Poor Energy

If you can’t manage nutrition well, this will lead to poor energy levels, resulting in adverse physical and cognitive functions. This includes reduced strength and stamina, low performance level, loss of focus, and less ability to recover after exercise.

Too Much of Sugar is Bad

Carbohydrates or sugar are the primary primary energy sources. There is so much hidden sugar in today’s food and beverages that it is almost hard to tell. With the increasing obesity and diabetes cases, we must be wary. Two cans of soda contain 70-80g of sugar. It’s easy to consume too much of it quickly without even realizing it.

Highly appetizing food and beverages contain high amounts of sugar that the body doesn’t need for energy and ends up storing as fat. The food industry thrives on the fact that refined foods made of sugar give us the dopamine effect. Nutrient-deficient foods such as candies, syrups, and chips will leave you unsatisfied and trigger you to eat more, whereas fruits and vegetables do the opposite by lowering the ghrelin levels, making you feel full.

Too much sugar leads to intense cravings, weight gain, diabetes, and fatty liver disease, severely affecting your fitness goals. Opting for low-sugar foods containing natural sugars, which can promote proper weight management and heart health and reduce the risk of diseases, is recommended. A low-sugar diet maintains healthy blood sugar levels!

The best way to achieve this is to be mindful of what you consume. Read the food label. Know what you are taking in your body. Many people need to know the sugar content before making a purchase. The availability of safe sugar alternatives such as stevia (a plant that produces natural sweeteners) makes it easier for us. 

Bottomline

The low-sugar option complements federal dietary requirements. There are many types of sugar and its alternatives in the market. Some can be deceiving. It is always a matter of knowing and deciding, and it is your choice. Most importantly, it should be a short-term plan and a lifestyle.