10-11 ENERGY:Layout 1 17/2/09 18:03 Page 1
FEATUREENERGY
Revitalise yourself for optimum health with a different kind of
Energy Boost
By Tony Bishop-Weston from Foods for Life
T
here is a
popular myth
that, if you want
energy, the best
nutritional source of it is of extra calories. But for
sugar. Call it what you will, most people, this is just not
energy drink, energy bar, the case.
energy powder, energy boosting Foods for Life weight loss
food – they are nearly always expert Yvonne Bishop-Weston says
stuffed with glucose, dextrose, that for the rest of us “sugar and
fructose – just sugar, sugar and more refined carbohydrates are something best
sugar. Most people want an energy avoided wherever it’s conveniently possible”
boost either mid-morning or mid- She says that our evolutionary development has
afternoon, the times of the day between failed to keep up with the pace of the food
meals. It is all too easy to reach for a snack manufacturing processing methods,
such as a biscuit or chocolate bar, but even many whilst our physical pace has dropped
seemingly ‘healthy’ options like flapjack or carrot cake almost to hibernation levels as we sit transfixed in
are still, essentially, energy through sugar. front of digital screens or in our cars instead of
Recently I went to a talk by a spokesperson foraging for food and keeping out of danger. In
from The British Nutrition Foundation (BNF) other words, our modern diet and sedentary
who told us “sugar was nature’s most perfect lifestyles fail to provide us with opportunities
food”. If anything, it is a little too perfect. to burn sugar fast enough, so we are more
It’s a little too good at fuelling our bodies likely to provoke our bodies to ‘over
with energy. enthusiastically drop sugar’. This may
I guess you’d expect an organisation, potentially leave us converting sugar to
whose members include a number of body fat and suffering from energy slumps,
global manufacturers who have a vested headaches, dizziness, irritability, anxiety
interest in selling sugar, to speak highly of and cravings. For most people, sugar is not
the sweet stuff. If you happen to be a an serving its purpose.
athlete like swimmer Michael Phelps, the multi Longer term, a sugar rich diet may disrupt the
Olympic gold medal winner, needing 12,000 balance of your sugar storage hormone (insulin)
calories a day, then sugar can be a convenient source and aggravate inflammatory diseases such as arthritis
10 GOHEALTHYMAR/APR2009 READ THIS & PREVIOUS EDITIONS ONLINE AT WWW.GOHEALTHYMAG.CO.UK
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