Salsa and Soul Blog

Until recently, a 40-year-old man could eat whatever he wanted without gaining weight. Suddenly he begins to pack on pounds and now he’s having trouble losing it. What gives?

The man is not alone. He may even begin working out regularly, but still cannot lose weight. He believes he doesn’t eat perfectly, but also not badly. He sometimes misses breakfast and almost always eats lunch. While he occasionally enjoys a big southern style breakfast, he mostly eats lighter meals like cornflakes, instant Cream of Wheat or bagels. He eats out several times a week. While he loves fast food, he limits it to two to three times weekly. He usually eats dinner late. Sometimes, if it’s really late, he just skips dinner, but usually ends up snacking before falling asleep.

The common explanation for man’s weight gain is that his metabolism has slowed down with age. Metabolism is the rate at which your body processes and uses energy. While metabolism does slow with age, it is also becoming clearer that the aging process is accelerated because of lifestyle choices. The man in this scenario has been making poor choices for years. Years of little or no exercise and poor nutritional choices have consequences. Many of the foods he enjoys are also processed and contain lots of fats, sugars and sodium. These are high glycemic foods.

The glycemic index measures how fast a carbohydrate converts to glucose and raises blood sugar levels. As one doctor recently commented to me, high glycemic foods raise your blood sugar “faster than if you were slapping table sugar on your tongue.” In response to your blood sugar rising after a meal, your body releases insulin to stimulate cells to absorb the sugar from your blood. When functioning properly, your muscle cells absorb most of the sugar and use it as energy. Insulin also stimulates cells to store some of the sugar in the abdomen as fat reserves.

After years of rapid spikes in blood sugar, normal amounts of insulin no longer stimulate the absorption of blood sugar as they once did. The body actually becomes insulin resistant. Muscles no longer absorb blood sugar properly. The excessive blood sugar is instead absorbed and stored as fat reserves in the abdominal area. Arteries age more rapidly. The risk for cardiovascular diseases and diabetes increases dramatically.

The good news? This deadly process can be slowed down or reversed with exercise and a proper diet with an eye towards less processed, lower glycemic foods.

It’s not just age. It’s what you eat.