The Paper's reporter Ma Zuoyu
Weight loss is the reason why many people start running. But if you don't keep your mouth shut and just "step out of your legs", the effect of slimming does not always seem to be satisfactory.
So, how should you "keep your mouth shut" during exercise? In fact, there is a rather "simple and rough" way in the European and American running circles, that is, to quit sugar.
However, is "sugar abstaining" really an efficient way for ordinary runners to change their weight? During this time, Meyer Heather, a nutrition columnist for the American running magazine Runner's World, personally experimented with refusing to take sugar for 30 days during running training.
The result was unexpected.
What sugars can't be ingested?
Before understanding what changes will occur when you stick to sugar, the first thing to figure out is what you should do to quit sugar.
Based on her training intensity and research, Heather set the basic standard of a 30-day "sugar-free life," which is not to consume added sugars.
This means that in a month's time, Heather's training recipes will still appear fruit, and the amount will not change much, "it must be noted that if there is no added sugar, the impact on the sweetness of the food is not large, because other natural sugars can be used instead, such as honey." ”
In Heather's study, there are many aliases for added sugars —sucrose, brown sugar, corn syrup, dextrose, fructose, high fructose corn syrup, honey, maple syrup, and raw cane syrup/sugar.
"If you have these terms on the label of food you buy in a supermarket, you need to pay attention to the fact that these are sugars." In Heather's view, for runners or fitness people, the scope of defining "sugar cessation" in this way is more in line with the needs of the body.
Heather suggested that the breakfast preference should be yogurt and oatmeal, of which yogurt and oatmeal should have a sugar content of less than 8 grams. Including functional drinks during training, sugar-free functional drinks may also be considered.
In Heather's view, the amount of training for many people has not actually reached the level of needing to be replenished with sugary functional drinks.
During the 30 days of adhering to this "sugar cessation" approach, Heather herself felt emotional fluctuations, and she was surprised to find that she had to face and solve 6 problems before her weight changed, which is also a process that many weight loss people who refuse to take sugar must face.
1. Create the illusion of "body lightening"
Heather did feel "refreshed" in the first few days of refusing to take in added sugars. But soon, she realized, it was a psychological effect that was common.
"In fact, a change in just a few days is unlikely to have a significant impact on a system as large and sophisticated as the human body."
However, compared to eating some unhealthy fast food and drinking too sweet drinks every day, reducing the intake of sweet foods can indeed make the body and mind more relaxed.
As NBA star LeBron James once said after not eating sugar and dairy products, "My original plan was to maintain it for a month, but after a while, I found that my body felt good, so I chose to stick to this diet." ”
2. Start fighting willpower
However, Heather found that over time, the "relaxed" feeling in the later stages would be greatly reduced.
After nearly half a month of "quitting sugar", she found herself beginning to lack perseverance. "If you don't experience it first-hand, many people may not be able to imagine how difficult it is to change habits that have been formed for a long time."
In many cases, especially in some socializing that cannot be rejected, refusing to consume sugar has become a psychological struggle.
3. Skin becomes "sensitive"
"If you don't eat sugar or other 'bad' things, your skin will become rosy and your hair will become silky smooth." These are some of the comments you hear a lot. However, Heather did not experience these good physical reactions. Instead, her jaw began to pimple.
"Of course, it must be fair to say that I admit that I have been battling acne for some time." Heather admits that she herself has had some skin problems and that dietary changes may not have been the real trigger.
"But given that the problem appeared within a week of 'sugar abstinence life' after disappearing for a long time, it was part of the experimental record."
4. Want to eat more fruits and nuts
Usually, in order to reduce the intake of added sugars, many people choose to use fruits instead of sweets. The fiber content of the fruit is high, and the abdominal function is very obvious.
However, for runners who want to "lower sugar", is the fruit "safe"?
Robert Lausig, professor emeritus of pediatrics at the University of California, gives the answer – usually in addition to grapes, fruits with high sugar content (in their natural form) often contain soluble and insoluble fibers, which can slow the body's absorption of sugar in the fruit, thereby preventing the occurrence of blood sugar spikes.
In other words, "Even if there's a lot of sugar in the fruit, it's hard for you to absorb it." ”
In addition, unsalted or roasted organic cashews, although high in fat, can help but sugar abstainers to solve the psychological burden.
5. It is easy to become too harsh on sugar
Heather is an expert in nutrition, so she understands the concept of "hidden sugar." There's sugar in virtually everything, even flour.
For example, 236.5 ml of low-fat milk contains 13 grams of sugar (in the form of lactose), and the equivalent amount of low-fat chocolate milk contains 24 grams of sugar, and after removing 13 grams of lactose, there are 11 grams of added sugar.
In the process of "quitting sugar", Heather became more and more sensitive to the sugar in food, and even paid special attention to the types of added sugars before purchasing many foods, and would choose them after carefully reading the nutrition labels.
6. The weight change is small, but the habit change is large
In fact, after the 30-day "sugar cessation" experiment, Heather's weight neither increased nor decreased, which is actually a similar result of her communication with many "sugar cessation" runners.
"I think that although sweets can still be eaten, it is to pay attention to them as much as possible, and there is no need to control the intake of sugar." Of course, Heather admits that if you want to achieve weight loss, you may also do it in other ways.
Heather believes that it is not wise to deliberately "quit sugar", especially for runners or gymnists in training.
In addition, Heather's greatest feeling is that deliberately not eating one or another type of food is extremely harmful to the body and mind.
In order to reduce weight, Heather once tried to reject carbohydrate experiments — and like "sugar cessation", this memory is quite painful, "then the state was particularly bad, like something was missing." When you start a balanced diet, your body begins to adjust. ”
However, the process of "quitting sugar" has changed Heather's lifestyle, she will pay close attention to the ingredient list of food, she will torture herself whether she really wants to eat the chocolate on the table, and gradually improve her habit of eating ice cream.
"You can't eat as you please." This is Heather's summary after his personal experiments, perhaps a cliché, but it is more instructive in this context.
Maybe we can't completely quit sugar, and the willpower of ordinary people will not be so firm, but within our own ability, we can eat healthy.
Editor-in-Charge: Ascendas
Proofreader: Liu Wei