They are not your friend either.
The preferred energy source for our muscles, brain and central nervous system is carbohydrate, so we need some in our diets, the issue is many of us are eating too many of the wrong kind.
At midlife the problem increases as we become more insulin resistant and levels of our hormone leptin decline, which means we’re more likely to overeat (as leptin controls our appetite) and less efficient at processing what we ingest for energy, leading to blood sugar spikes and increased body fat as unused energy is stored around our midsection.
Both men and women can suffer from this, but it is post-menopausal women that are most affected. A new study in collaboration with King’s College London, Harvard, and Massachusetts General Hospital found post-menopausal women not only had a bigger blood sugar spike after eating carbohydrate rich food than pre-menopausal women of the same age, but that they also consumed more sure and reported poorer sleep, increasing the risk of type 1 and type 2 diabetes, obesity and heart disease.
Whether you are male of female, in your 40s and 50s you want to be aware of what’s going on for you hormonal and optimising your lifestyle in line with that, which is what we work with our clients to do.
As a start, cut down on your high GI carbs, load them earlier in the day and aim for them to make up no more than 40 – 50% of your total daily intake.
A footnote, sugar is also highly inflammatory to the body and brain, and higher consumption is linked with increased anxiety levels, not to mention weight gain, so cut that back where you can too.
There’s a lot more to it, if you’d like to know more, get in touch.