Simple Sugar Candies
Simple sugar candies. You can refer back to my carbs post, but I will try to sum it up quickly here. Simple sugars are bad because they spike your insulin levels and this opens up the doorways for nutrients to store as fat. The big loop hole in this situation is that insulin also opens the doors for proteins and carbs to be stored in the muscle. This means that if you have a workout, or even after you've played pick up hockey, your muscles crave protein and nutrients to repair the damage you've done during your workout. Muscles have storages for these carbs and proteins and after a workout they are empty and you will need to replenish these and bring to, the nutrients needed to repair and build muscle(protein). So by timing your candy craving, and having it within 30-60 minutes after your workout, you actually promote more muscle building than if you didn't eat this candy! Pretend in the picture below that the pathways are a toll booth. To get across the bridge insulin has to be there to open the gate, and it's charge (assuming you don't have a diabetic macpass) is carbs (simple sugar candy). Now if you were to pay the toll without working out, you would pay the toll and take the bridge to tubby town(red bridge), and store your nutrients as fat. However, if you do this after a workout, you take a different bridge, and that is straight to tanked town and your muscles are ready to grow (green bridge) ! Long story short, eat your simple candy carbs after a workout and they are healthy for you, any other time (99% of the time) they are unhealthy for you. A great video explaining insulins response to sugar is posted here (note it does not include a description of proteins going to the muscle post workout, just how the response and system works) : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYH1deu7-4E
Miscellaneous -Chocolate Bars, Chips, Etc.
Now, after eating all your simple sugar candies, we are left with those tasty chocolate bars and those endless bags of chips, on a side note, is it just me or are the number of chips in each bag going down every year? What's up with that! Let's refocus, I unfortunately can't tell you that these things are particularly healthy to have post workout. There is a lot of formal debate on the uptake of fat post workout so for those purposes we will stay away from it. However, my overall stance is a little bit post workout won't hurt you (NOT INCLUDING TRANS FATS EVER). However for the purposes of what research shows we will say you can't. So when the hell are you suppose to eat all that stuff? One easy answer; on cheat day. Yes guys, use your chocolate and chips as a goal. Eating healthy for 6 days by eating very low amounts of simple sugars (with the exception of post workout) you have earned yourself a cheat day. This isn't a cheat day in the sense you get to be unhealthy for 1 day and do damage to your body, it is a cheat day in the sense that being unhealthy for the day is actually healthy for you. This spike in insulin and response, keeps your metabolism from slowing down, and maintains a homeostasis for your body. By staying low simple carbs too long, you will slow down your bodies metabolism, as well as increase your response to it. Think of it like this, if I don't eat simple carbs for a week and have them, my body's response will be very similar to a response I would normally have, If I don't eat carbs for a month, and then eat a simple carb, my body's insulin response will be through the roof. So make sure you cheat! (assuming you earned it) So eat up and enjoy!
Alcohol on Halloween
When it comes to alcohol on halloween thats a little tougher. Most hard liquor drinks will be loaded with carbs and calories primarily in the mix of the drink. Rule of thumb, if it tastes sweet, it is, and it's bad. You can plan this for your cheat day (because we all love martini monday every now and then) or you could also focus on drinks like vodka waters to avoid these sugary mixes. On a side note here though, alcohol can increase estrogen production in males, so try not to be an alcoholic.
When looking at beer the unfortunate thing is finding one with few carbs as carbs in beer are very bad for you. My personal recommendation is look at the light beers, around 100cals. Some of the best that I enjoy are micro brewed Molson M or my favorite Michelob Ultras (Ultras only have 2.6g of carbs!)
All that said, enjoy your Halloween and I invite you to eat all your Halloween candy just like I will!
Ryan Trueman BSc
Ryan.Trueman@dal.ca
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