Actually, you can eat anything you want 365 days a year. You heard it here first. You can eat cookies, cake, brownies, fudge, fruit salad, anything you want. That's right, you can eat all of those "bad" things, but there's just one catch. You can't eat very much.
Yay, that's good news right? You can eat anything you want, just in moderation. The problem is, most of the stuff we want to eat, is stuff we shouldn't eat. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not suggesting that we all go out and stuff ourselves will all sorts of sugary delights, I'm just saying that we can have a taste of these sugary delights without contributing to the weight we will want to lose come January 1st. It's funny how there seem to be two different categories of "treat eaters."
One category of people find that they crave sugary stuff like cake, pie, and chocolate, but once they've had a bite or two, the craving subsides. The other category of people craves the stuff and when they get a taste, it's like a vampire on a blood feeding frenzy, they can't stop! So when I say you can have a taste, you have to be a category one person, you have to have a little self control and only have a bite or two. If you aren't there yet, it's honestly best for you to avoid the sugar altogether, sorry, just keeping it real.
So, How Much Can I Have?
Well, let's look at sugar like alcohol. In Texas, if you are caught driving with a Blood Alcohol (BA) level of.08% you are considered intoxicated, or over the limit. Anything leading up to that is not over the limit, but you still have the substance in your body.
Now, depending on your size, it doesn't take much to have a BA level of.08. It only takes a few drinks. Studies suggest that and average sized person can have one alcoholic drink per hour, and stay under the limit. The reason is because the alcohol is metabolized in the body over time.
Alcohol is basically sugar, and cookies, cake, brownies, fudge... are almost completely carbohydrates, and those carbs are almost all sugar. So, generally more than one drink per hour puts you over the limit, so how many bites of sugary goodness can we have?
This might be depressing, but don't let it cause you to drink. You can have about two bites of these delights without going over your limit. Notice the word bites, not mouthfuls.
So What Happens When I Go Over The Limit?
You won't get arrested for eating too much sugar, but you probably will be feeling guilty. What actually happens is, when you get a shot of roughly 20grams or more of sugar, your insulin spikes. To keep this very plain and simple, when you eat a certain amount of sugar or carbohydrates, your insulin spikes. The more sugar you consume at one time, the more dramatic the spike.
This insulin carries the sugar throughout your bloodstream and it makes two stops. It first stops at the body's muscles. If you've recently worked out, your muscles' glycogen stores are being used up, and the insulin carries the sugar to restore it. That's a good thing, but how many of us are working out and consuming cookies and other holiday treats at the same time?
If our muscles don't need the sugar, and they don't if we aren't doing any strenuous activity, then it goes on to its second stop. The second stop is FAT stores. That's right, eat, or drink too much sugar at one time and it's probably going straight to your problem areas. Think about that the next time you clean your dessert plate.
The Solution:
Eat only a few bites of the goodies. A few bites will keep your sugar level low enough that it doesn't cause a spike, and the sugar is more likely to be used as energy rather than stored as fat. Just like above, you can eat a few bites per hour, but any more, and you go over the limit.
The Reality:
Who can really eat just a few bites? We all can. We don't really like to eat all of these goodies; we just like the taste of them. New research has come out saying that on average, on the third bite of something, our taste buds become rapidly insensitive to a food. That means that only the first few bites really taste that great. Try this for yourself. I was personally surprised to find that this was the case with my favorite ice cream.
So, have a merry Christmas and eat what you want, just keep it to a bite or two per hour. Remember, the new year is only a week away, it's much easier to not eat it than to burn it off after January 1st.
Want to find out more about Building Huge Muscles, then visit Klint Newton's site on how to choose the best muscle building exercises for your body type.
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