If you have been trying to lose weight or just want to live healthier to decrease the chance of suffering certain diseases or illnesses that have happened already in America to some people through poor diet and unhealthy habits, than you have come to the right blog. Today’s article is on knowing what foods to avoid to prevent slowing your metabolism down. For starters let’s discuss why foods in high sugar content are bad for you. Understand how the body works. If you buy and eat foods with the following, especially in large portions=starches, carbohydrates (CHOs), sugars, calories and even some fats depending on what is in the fat (THAT’S WHY YOU READ THE INGREDIENTS) you will cause through digestion a high peak in your blood glucose level. Even though we see on the label a section called sugars you must understand that starches, CHOs, fats, including calories and sugars breakdown to further simple and complex sugars in the body as a ending result. When we eat the food it gets into the stomach, the food than through digestive juices/acids cause break down the ingredients into complex or simple sugars which get transferred into the blood stream (fructose and glucose). Glucose is the prime fuel for the body. Fuel meaning giving energy to the body so we can function in doing our daily exercises (as simple as range of motion of extremities). Remember when digestion takes place it utilizes the glucose it needs at that time throughout the body. If you have a large meal or a small meal high in starch or carbohydrates or sugars or calories the body won’t need to utilize all the break down of these foods which is broken into simpler sugars which gets broken down in the stomach. So you’ll have extra sugar in the blood. If the human body was able to dispose of this extra sugar by getting it out of the body naturally we wouldn’t have any obesity. So when we have bagels with cream cheese, or a Mc muffin or some fast processed food for breakfast than start work followed with going out to eat for lunch at a restaurant nearby work than stop off at a pizzeria to pick up dinner for a pizza with chicken wings and blue cheese dressing followed with ice cream we are dealing with high percentages of sugars (as the ending product from digestion=fat storage=weight gain). How this works is first the body utilizes the sugar that it needs than the extra sugar still in the bloodstream when it reaches the liver fills up that organ with glucose (active sugar) that is transferred into glycogen (inactive sugar) but remember the liver is like a gas tank where it can only fill up with so much sugar and when it reaches full the sugar left in the blood stream has to go somewhere. It goes to our fat tissue where it is absorbed=weight gain. We have to be more disciplined in our eating habits. Society needs to speak up or just not go to some of these fast food joints since ending line the food is not good for you. Burger King just came out with a burger topped with fries (what the heck is this going to do for someone’s health). America wake up to the restaurant industry and know to eat out 2 times or less a week or you will be at a high probability of putting weight on. When you eat 3 large meals a day these meals take 6 to 8 hours to digest. The trick is when you are in body mass index range for your height still eat 6 small meals a day with vegetables/fruits and healthy fiber with one of the 6 meals a day being highest in protein with vegetables/fruit (being 50% of the meal on a 9″ plate, no larger and no second helpings). The 5 other meals are smaller and low in calories (80-100), carbohydrates (10-12 grams), sugar (4 or less grams) and the protein (about 6 grams). In between the meals if you feel hungry drink water or have a snack like celery or something similar to it. What you cause is your sugar intake with your metabolism of the body to stay more at a steady rate (including your sugar level 80-110) if you eat 6 healthy small meals a day. When you eat a donut, or processed cereal it will cause the sugar to spike up high and cause the metabolism to slow down (Ex. frosted flakes, grape nuts, and I could go on—again read what the ingredients are and what the products version of a serving is). You feel tired an hour or two after a large meal of unhealthy/processed food or even a healthy but large meal. Why do you have no problem in the AM with getting to work and getting started for the day? Well with drinking coffee in AM it takes care of the fatigue due to the caffeine, so you may not realize the impact of how low your metabolism is. Trust me, I was there once too. I am still trying to lose but I am getting there. So what the body actually does is this: When glucose gets transferred into the bloodstream from the stomach, following the digestion process, and reaches the pancreas which senses the free floating glucose in the bloodstream it then releases insulin into the bloodstream. Doing this the insulin now allows glucose to transfer into tissues and cells that need it at that time (fuel for energy of the cells and tissues to do their function) and if not needed we end up with extra glucose in the bloodstream. When it reaches the liver and is sensed by the liver the liver stores it to the full maximal capacity that the organ can handle. Keep in mind the liver is only so big, so when a individual has a large excess of glucose in the bloodstream from their meal that they just ate it only can store so much. The liver actually converts the sugar from glucose (active sugar=active fuel) to glycogen (inactive sugar=non-active sugar). Now if you still have extra glucose in the bloodstream after the liver does its storing the glucose has to go somewhere. The extra sugar now gets stored into the human fat tissue=weight gain. Fat storage is simply putting weight gain on the person’s body. If your sugar blood level isn’t kept between 80-110 throughout the day than your metabolism isn’t kept at a steady rate. Eat 5 days or more a week with 6 small HEALTHY meals a day and treating yourself one or two days a week to treats (only one or two times each day of the one or two days your treating yourself). In treating yourself 1 to 2 days with not as healthy foods you can do this ONLY if your body mass index is within normal range. If not than you have to lose weight first. For if you still need to lose weight and you treat yourself to fattening foods or highier sugar content foods you will put your diet behind 3 days, which will prevent you from losing weight. This is due to the food high in sugar as the ending result of digestion and you cause high fat storage with decreasing your metabolism. The sacrifice for your body is worth it but during the weight loss period you will even shrink your stomach size naturally. There are 4 food groups with each group having lean, leaner and the leanest type of foods in that group of the 4. If you want to learn more about this than go to my website healthyusa.tsfl.com and peek at what we can offer you through Dr. Wayne Scott Anderson with his book “Dr A’s Habits of Health” and even foods to buy if you want them in the beginning of your diet loss which provides health bars to lunches and dinners to desserts of all kinds to all types of shakes/drinks and so much more foods (low in fat/calories/carbs). Learn how to become healthier for yourself, even spreading the news to family or friends who may become interested and being a great mentor for your children in helping the next generation to be more healthy which would help our health care system to helping our health economy that includes insurance payments for bills at hospitals/doctor’s offices lessened. Our society has become so unhealthy in diet causing so many increases in diseases/illnesses, including children, (Obesity, Diabetes II, coronary artery disease, hypertension, and more). Take a look at facebook or UTube with pictures of people in America shopping at Walmart that some people post . It may be funny to that individual who posts it or a slender individual but it is also outright scary with what’s happening to our country.  America let’s wake up if not for our health our future children’s lives!!  Think about it.  Yes changes have been made compared to 25 years and further back but not enough that our government has to get involved.  People we can’t even take care of ourselves or little ones in living longer in a fairly healthy state of body and mind.  Let us make the change not our politicians or is it too late?  I know living unhealthy is not for me and many more so take that turn in your life, if you haven’t,  for the better of yourself and the ones around you that you impact (like your children for one).