Candy Is Not Good For You But It Can Help Your Fitness Goals

What?!?  No, I haven’t been paid off by the junk “food”(cough, cough) industry, even though it’s likely they’ve done that before…see the list of sponsors for this association of “healthy” eating experts here, for an example of junk food company’s manipulation of information.

Still, a blast of sugar, timed right, can aid in protein synthesis and get you greater muscle building results.  But I don’t want you to go blindly into a candy binge, so let’s dive deeper.

Halloween, A Scary Movie For Family Health

Halloween is that time of year where kids go out into the neighborhood and return with a bucket, a pillowcase or a garbage bag, filled with candy!

If you live in a country that doesn’t practice this tradition, then maybe you don’t believe me but consider yourself lucky to escape the perfect storm of childhood excitement, unchecked consumerism and a socially accepted (more like promoted) celebration of gluttony.

Halloween can be a lot of fun.  With the cool costumes, the creative house decorations and the camaraderie, great memories are forged.  Still, stocking your house with candy and then having your kids bring home another 100 pieces more, sets up a challenging environment for your health.

How Sugar Went From A Treat To A Staple

Now, if Halloween was the only time of year you, or your kid, gorged yourself on sugar, that wouldn’t be so bad but let’s take a step back.  Sugar is everywhere, all the time and dressed up so pretty.  We put it in hot drinks, have it in juice, desserts, and snacks.  It hides in pasta sauce, BBQ sauce, and elsewhere in the kitchen.  We get it or give it as a reward, for Valentine’s Day, Christmas and of course, Halloween.

The problem is not a little bit of sugar, it is the constant intake and then the massive amounts that we consume on special occasions. If this sounds like your sugar consumption habit, then you probably want to ease off.

Why?

 Check this article out from Dr. Mercola for a lot more information.

If you aren’t consuming tons of sugar, in its various sources regularly, then I’m going to fill you in on how to use a bit of the candy you “confiscated” from your kids, or collected from the office, to make your post workout routine more effective.

When Your Insulin Levels Spike, You Get Bigger

Whether you want bigger muscles or leaner, stronger muscles, affective protein synthesis is the key to maximizing the results of your workouts and achieving your fitness goals.  Getting better muscles relies on a few things, like exercise and eating.  When it comes to eating, protein is key but without an increase in the hormone insulin, it has limited value.

Generally speaking, spiking insulin production is not desirable.  It leads to getting bigger, which, in the absence of exercise, means getting fatter.  It can also lead to type 2 diabetes, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and other health problems.  To avoid these issues and get the benefits of insulins growth stimulating potential, you want to utilize a few strategies.

Resistance exercise improves muscle protein balance, but, in the absence of food intake, the balance remains negative (i.e., catabolic). The response of muscle protein metabolism to a resistance exercise bout lasts for 24-48 hours; thus, the interaction between protein metabolism and any meals consumed in this period will determine the impact of the diet on muscle hypertrophy…. Hormones, especially insulin and testosterone, have important roles as regulators of muscle protein synthesis and muscle hypertrophy. Following exercise, insulin has only a permissive role on muscle protein synthesis, but it appears to inhibit the increase in muscle protein breakdown. Ingestion of only small amounts of amino acids, combined with carbohydrates, can transiently increase muscle protein anabolism… [1. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11255140]

Let’s unpack that.  Here’s Your Muscle Building Cheat Sheet:

• Resistance training, e.g., weight lifting sets the stage for muscle gains
• There is a window of 24-48 hours to after working out to take advantage of this by eating
• Consuming amino acids, i.e. protein, is key but not sufficient to maximize results
• Adding carbs and having insulin raised allows amino acids/protein to build muscle

Basically, workout and break down your muscles, then consume protein and carbs to get stronger and bigger.  The scientist guy, who wrote that quote above for the National Institute Of Health, like most other scientist folk, kept it conservative and somewhat vague.

To be more helpful to those of you who wish to get more bang for your buck from your workouts, here’s my suggestion….

After pushing it at the gym, down that protein shake, or whole food protein source, with some Halloween candy.

Say what?

That’s right.  Halloween candies are simple carbohydrates and will result in insulin spiking.  Don’t eat your kids entire haul in one sitting!  Think about having 4 gummy bears or a mini chocolate bar.  Chances are if you are going hard at the gym and your diet is clean for the most part, a little bit of candy, well timed as a post workout strategy will result in more muscle not more fat.

I will say, if you are struggling to lose weight, have health issues, are fighting a cold or a cavity, there are other ways to utilize your hormones to make fitness gains and you should probably leave your kids candy alone.  You can get an insulin boost from fruit as well.

After all, candy can make you sick, while vegetables can help treat sickness.  So, maybe you should just swap your kids candy for vegetables anyway.

On Halloween, when deciding to eat candy or veggies, think about it this way: Sick or Treat.

A Family That Picks Vegetables Over Candy Chooses Health Ahead Of Sickness

How do you avoid overconsumption of Halloween candy?  And on the other end of the spectrum, what’s your post workout nutrition routine?

Please comment and share, so we don’t have to struggle with willpower on a spooky night alone.