hate sugar!

just need a picke me up have had three bad days!!!!

today is good. i dont wanna dramatically cut my weightwatchers points to make up as i just feel im not doing it properly if i do. ive cut back by four today and so far have earned 10 so i figure if i do that for the next few days i can turn this week around. having a real problem with my willpower and sugar! and i know i need to cut it out. i eat so much biscuits and choc etc and while the weight is coming off i feel deprived cos im wasting my points on crap. any tips or advice?

Oh yes. Plenty of sugar advice!

The danger is refined cane sugar. Unrefined brown sugars tend not to have the faux-diabetes effect that the refined stuff does. And of course refined sugar comes in many guises on ingredients lists, such as sucrose and "high fructose corn syrup" (which makes it look soooo healthy because it says fructose, but actually contains about the mix of fructose and glucose that sucrose does), so it's safest to just go cold turkey on all the rubbish that you already know is bad for you - chocolate, biscuits, jam, sugary drinks.

Why? Well, sugar is passed extremely quickly into the bloodstream, thus hiking your blood sugar level unnaturally. So your pancreas goes "Crikey! Problem!" and pumps out insulin.

Insulin makes much of your body take that sugar out of the blood and stash it away as glycogen. Problem with glycogen? It's a faster, easier energy source for your body to use than fat is, so you stop using your stored fat and start using your stored glycogen instead. Those biscuits stop you losing weight because they stop you using your fat stores.

And once all that sugar's been stored, you've lots of insulin left in your body. So your organs are going "GIMME SUGAR! I NEED TO CONVERT IT TO GLYCOGEN! THE INSULIN MADE ME DO IT!" So you start craving sugary foods.

So you eat sugar. And your pancreas goes "CRIIIIIKEY! High blood sugar levels! Better put out some insulin!"

And your liver, muscles and fat tissue all go "Omomnom! Lovely sugar! Let me convert that to glycogen and store it! Nice! MORE SUGAR PLEASE!"

And you go "Jesus Christ on a Bike, I need sugar..."

And your pancreas goes "Criiiiiikey! Better put out some insulin!"

Get where this goes?

Brit, I did not know that... You are an amazing fountain of knowledge Thank you..

No more cakes biscuits etc for me..!

brit. you are a legend. x

brit what about alcohol? i drink rum.

In theory, an absolutely tiny amount of the alcohol that you consume may be converted, eventually - via many intermediate reactions - into glycogen. But that's a negligible threat.

Alcohol does have a dramatic effect on the blood sugar levels of diabetics who have not eaten properly, but why this is isn't fully understood as of yet.

The calories present in alcohol also aren't really responsible for weight gain (or lack of weight loss) - at least not so much as alcohol's real effect, which as we all know is to suppress things in your body.

While we usually associate booze with suppressing inhibitions, it also dampens down on your metabolism, which in turn dramatically reduces the calories from fat that you oxidise while drunk. Like glycogen, it gives your body an easier source of energy, so your body takes it and leaves your fat stored safely away for a rainy day.

Even better is that once you're sober, the acetate that your body converted alcohol into is still wafting around in your system, so you're still not burning fat. Acetate, like glycogen, is a far more readily-available source of energy than fat is, and your body will always take the path of least resistance when it comes to sourcing energy (and possibly when it comes to tidying the house - after all, Diagnosis Murder is on).

Alcohol also increases your appetite. You'll find yourself far less able to resist the buffet after a few glasses of whatever your preferred tipple is, and while all the acetate's available, that food's going to get stashed away as fat because it's too much bother to use the energy from it just now.

Finally, alcohol reduces your testosterone levels, and that's a hormone urgently required to build and maintain muscle mass. Less muscle means a lower base metabolic rate, and that means you burn fewer calories while going about your daily life.

All in all, booze just isn't your weight-loss buddy.