Our bodies are built to be natural fat burning machines. Burning fat as an energy source means our bodies have sustained energy throughout the day, allowing us to live life doing the things we love. Let's take a closer look at why...
"Our bodies are built to be natural fat burning machines."
Key Reasons to Burn Fat for Energy
1. Feel Fuller for Longer
When you burn fat, you get a slow, steady release of energy, which also means you won’t need to eat as frequently. This is great news for your digestive system. The process of digestion requires a lot of energy and can be a contributor to energy slumps throughout the day.
2. Hormonal Balance
When we burn fat as an energy source our blood sugars are balanced. However, when our bodies use sugar for energy, our blood sugars become unbalanced which puts stress on the body.
Because our sex and stress hormones share the same precursors, it means our bodies prioritise producing stress hormones over our sex hormones. The short of it is, if you can’t stabilise your blood sugar levels over a day, you won’t have any chance of stabilising your hormones over a month.
“If you can’t stabilise your blood sugar levels over a day, you won’t have any chance of stabilising your hormones over a month.”
3. Say goodbye to sugar cravings
When your body is using fat as a fuel, you stop craving sugar as much because you simply don’t need it! With fat as an energy source, your body will no longer crave the quick energy boost you would usually get from simple carbs.
We know cutting back on sugar can be hard at first, so we’ve put together these 6 tips to help you lower your sugar intake one step at a time.
Why aren't we already burning fat for energy?
In the modern world, we often turn to stimulants throughout to get through the day including, simple carbs and sugary treats.
"In the modern world, we often turn to stimulants throughout to get through the day including, simple carbs and sugary treats."
When we eat, food is broken down into its macronutrient parts and released into our bloodstream for “processing” and generating energy.
Carbs break down to their simpler forms; glucose, fructose or lactose (sugars), while proteins break down to amino acids and fats become lipids or essential fatty acids.
Simple, processed carbs are different. All the fiber, protein and fat has been processed out of it. This allows sugar to move quickly through the bloodstream, giving your body a short-lived energy boost and spikes your blood sugar levels in the process.
Our bodies release the hormone insulin in response to incoming food. Insulin lowers blood sugar levels by increasing the rate at which glucose is taken up by cells throughout the body, essentially turning into energy. However, when we overloaded with simple carbs, our body isn’t able to burn all the sugar we’ve consumed for energy and instead stores the extra glucose in your cells, which is essentially what we see as body fat.
“Our body isn’t able to burn all the sugar we’ve consumed for energy and instead stores the extra glucose in your cells.
It all boils down to nourishing your metabolism so that it can function optimally. Meaning it can produce insulin effectively - but not more than you need - and the rest of the time reverts back to burning stores of fat and glycogen within your body. Eating right for you is an essential part to this, so a good place to start is by taking the "What food is right for me?" quiz.
