We want more energy, so we reach out to what gave us energy in the first place, which is sugar, caffeine, stimulants. The insulin crashes make us want more carbohydrates, more sugar and then we crash. You may be interested to know that children have a higher tolerance for carbohydrates and sugar because they’re somewhat like a “blank slate.” Then we get set up for that roller coaster which is a self-perpetuating cycle because the more ups and downs we get the more we crave sugar. When we’re young we’re fed a bunch of sugar and it gets conditioned into our food choices at an early age. How does this impact your life and why do we do this? This rollercoaster of high and low, high and low is not just a result of sugar intake, but this also happens with many stimulants including chocolate and caffeine. We start to develop what I call the blood sugar roller coaster. It’s important to know when you have a high intake of sugar your insulin spikes and attempts to limit the amount of sugar by pushing the sugar into the muscles and organs to be utilized at a later time. Our diets changed became more carbohydrate and sugar heavy for most people. Refined sugar became a central aspect of the American diet roughly 40-50 years ago after the second world war. Children and teens love their candy, chocolate, soda and energy drinks. Unfortunately, there are repercussions to a diet that’s high in sugar and habitual sugar intake starts at a young age. Most of you come from a standard American diet and as many of you already know, I come from an Italian background so my upbringing was slightly different than what you may have experienced.
Sugar is a big topic when it comes to ketogenic diets because this is one of the main things that must be eliminated completely from our diet and lifestyle in order to embark on a keto paleo life. These favorites of the American diet can often be the cause of anxiety and depression and medication is frequently prescribed as the only solution, but the blood sugar fluctuations causing the anxiety can be remedied by a keto paleo lifestyle. We’ve all experienced the highs and lows associated with caffeine and sugar, and today we’re going to be getting to the root of what’s really going on here.