oils, fats and sweets

Oils, fats and sweets should form a very small part of your diet. Oils and fats in this case, are the sort you might find in biscuits, cakes and pastries. The kind of fat that has been processed by hydrogenating it (heating it so the structure of the fat cells actual changes to more closely resemble a plastic than a food) has no use by the body and should be avoided at all times!

Sweets contain high levels of refined carbohydrate, which have disastrous effects on the body's ability to regulate blood sugar levels. How many times have you eaten something very sweet (possibly also containing a quantity of fat, such as a doughnut) and shortly afterwards started to feel really tired? That's your body starting to shut down the flow of oxygen to the brain because it is trying desperately hard to get the blood sugar levels back down or up to a reasonable level!

Fats and oils are not all bad though - poly- and mono-unsaturated fats are required by the body for many functions and these are readily available from a good diet. Choose natural sources of fat such as avocados, nuts (unsalted and unroasted!), seeds, olive oil, fish etc. rather than the cakes, pastries and biscuits described previously.

If you find yourself craving sweet foods, there is a good chance that it may have something to do with the sweet foods you ate a short while beforehand. Once your blood sugar levels start to rise (that immediate feeling of more energy), the body produces insulin which brings it back down again (the energy slump you often feel after eating lots of carbs), below the level it started from. If left unchecked, this viscous circle often leads to weight gain and other health problems such as diabetes.

Your body won't start to shut down if you decide to break the cycle and deprive it of refined sugar and saturated fat, but it will certainly function a whole lot better if you give it the nutrition it is crying out for!