Sugar vs Fat Burning

December 11, 2014
Ann Louise Gittleman, PhD, CNS

Ann Louise Gittleman, PhD, CNS

Award-winning nutritionist and New York Times bestselling author.

Which fuel stokes your metabolic fire?

Simply put, your body burns either sugar or fat for energy.

Typically each of us falls into one category or the other. Whether you derive your energy from sugar or fat will ultimately determine your ability to lose weight and keep it off for good.

If you are running on sugar, you will crave sugar and you will not burn body fat. However if you are burning fat as fuel — the preferred fuel source for your system — sugar cravings will become a thing of the past.

Fat Burners are generally much healthier because burning fat does much less damage to our bodies than burning sugar does. The good news is we can condition our bodies to burn fat as the primary energy source.

Still not sure?

Check out these signature symptoms of a sugar burner.

  •              Midriff “muffin top” or an overall high percentage of body fat
  •              Sugar cravings
  •              Age spots on your skin
  •              Being overweight
  •              Having a sedentary lifestyle

In contrast, here’s what you can expect if you are a fat burner:

  •             Lean and muscular
  •             Satisified for three to four hours after eating
  •             No sugar cravings
  •             Exercise for at least 45 minutes daily

Here’s How It Works

While we go about our daily activities, our energy comes from burning either sugar or fat in our cellular mitochondria. This process releases free radicals that are destructive to the cells.

Sugar burning utilizes many more of your anti-aging antioxidants and causes a cascade of inflammation in its wake.

Sugar Shock

Our body becomes adapted to burning sugar by eating high sugar, simple carbohydrate foods, frequently. Even excessive grains, fruits, and fruit juices can be problematic.

Your body becomes accustomed to burning sugar as the primary fuel. When you are not eating sugar your body will break down muscle tissue and rob your skeletal system to find protein to convert into sugar. This causes muscle loss and osteoporosis.

Your blood sugar also stays elevated when you are burning sugar, which causes glycation damage to our tissues by cross linking proteins. While sugar destruction shows up as unattractive brown spots primarily on our hands and face, there is also tissue damage on the inside of our body as well.

Fat Burning is Best for Your Body

Eating fat or having the body use stored fat provides more energy with fewer free radicals being produced. Eating fats at every meal and snack can help maintain muscle mass and bone density.

To Turn Your Body Into a Fat Burning Machine: Eat the Amazing Omegas

Two of the most important types of fat are the essential omega-3 and omega-6 fats. Omega-3 fats raise your metabolism, help flush water through your kidneys, and lower your triglyceride levels.

These fatty acids also increase the activity of carnitine to help your body burn fat better. Alpha-linolenic acid, the leading omega-3 is found in purslane, walnuts, flaxseeds, chia, hemp and flaxseed oil. While essential fatty acids EPA and DHA are found in salmon, sardines, and mackerel.

Omega-3 fats are burned off more quickly than other fatty acids, so when you restrict your food intake you lose omega-3’s first – unless you include EFA supplements and food sources.

This is just what the Fat Flush Plan does. Otherwise, you will lose weight at the expense of your omega-3 supplies, and you’ll regain the weight easily. This begins a vicious cycle. Your metabolism will slow because your body is less effective in using insulin when omega-3 fats are missing.

Omega-6 fatty acids stimulate your thyroid, thus raising your metabolism by activating your brown adipose tissue to burn fat for energy rather than storing it in your white adipose tissue.

The gamma linolenic acid (GLA) found black current seed oil is one of the most efficient sources of omega-6. GLA is so important as a fat burner that I have included it as a core supplement in the Fat Flush Plan.

Fat metabolizers like lipase and ox bile are welcome additions to the fat burner’s daily vitamin protocol to make sure the dietary fats are being digested and absorbed properly.

Many of us lack pancreatic enzymes like lipase. Our bile ducts can become congested and clogged lacking bile acids or bile thinning nutrients. I highly recommend both lipase and bile which serve as potent digestive aids to complete fat digestion.

Get with the Plan

The Fat Flush Plan is an effective and healthy way to accelerate your body’s transformation into fat-burning mode. It provides healthy fats from metabolism-revving flaxseed oil, GLA, nuts, avocado and full fat dairy, high quality meat, fish and poultry and lots of fiber rich veggies.

Thousands of people have made the switch— are you ready to join the fat burners?

 

Related Articles and Podcasts

Ann Louise Gittleman, PhD, CNS, is an award-winning New York Times bestselling author of more than thirty books including The Fat Flush Plan series and her latest book, Radical Metabolism. She’s been rewriting the rules of nutrition for more than 40 years and is internationally recognized as a pioneer in the field of diet, detox and women’s health issues. 

For a FREE daily dose of tips and strategies for maintaining healthy weight, conquering insomnia, and much more…check out my Radical Health Tips.

I’d like to meet and greet you on my Facebook groups, so won’t you check us out at the Radical Metabolism RevolutionFat Flush Nation, or my Inner Circle!

9 Comments

  1. Kathleen

    I just bought my container of Fat Flush Whey powder for my veg. smoothies. The detailed information in this article regarding the sugar-burning body I found most helpful. It is scary the damage sugar does, so thank you for this blog.

    Reply
    • Liz

      I agree Kathleen. I learned that sugar is not just harmful at the time it is eaten but that eating it can make a metabolic change that is very destructive.

      Reply
  2. Ione Norling

    Sugar also feeds cancer ….so to be a fat burner is by far the way to go !

    Reply
  3. Kat

    Thank you for the information. It is very enlightening. This may be an unfounded concern but can their be a problem with taking the ox bile? How is it prepared? Is it filtered? Is it pure? Fillers? Can it transmit any pathogens? Is it produced in the states? Is it regulated? I don’t want to take it and down the road hear that there is a problem with it. But I do trust Anne Louise I just want to understand what the ox bile is all about. Thank you.

    Reply
    • Liz

      You raise a valid concern.Ann Louise only recommends the cleanest and highest quality products. I have taken the UNI KEY HCL+2 with ox bile for many years. It has helped me digest protein and fat very effectively.

      Reply
    • Ann Louise

      Dear Kat:

      Thank you for the vote of confidence. The only bile products I have ever recommended are those distributed by Standard Process and UNI KEY. Both of these companies use extensive third party testing as well as comply with GMP in their businesses. The tissues extracts and glandular substances that UNI KEY intregrates into their products come from New Zealand cattle that are bred without the use of antibiotics, hormones, or other growth catalysts and are tested for prions and other undesriable elements. Ox bile is added to the UNI KEY HCL product while Standard Process utilizes bile salts in theirs. Hope this helps.

      Reply
  4. rebecca

    Very illuminating as I never understood this before! As I have belly fat and age spots on my hans with some sugar craving I relate strongly . I am familiar with fat flush and have followed the program a few times over the past ten years. It has slowly changed the way I eat and nutritional awareness. does the way we burn food also have a genetic component or it is determined solely by our eating habits over time and also is age a factor. I am approaching 64? Thank you.

    Reply
    • Ann Louise

      Hi Rebecca: There is definitely a genetic as well as age component to metabolism. Inherited conditions regarding the thyroid most defnitely play a role as does the composition of probiotics in the microbiome. Hormones like insulin, glucagon, and the eicasonoids determine responses to food and whether fat can be accessed or stored. The good news, however, is that by changing over to a fat burning diet like Fat Flush which is chock full of the right fats, low carbs, nutrient rich vegetables and high fiber you can help to outsmart any predisposition that is age or genetically induced.

      Reply
  5. Amy

    Hello. Ann Louise I’m on my journey of cutting sugar out of my diet. I take a few of standard process vitamins. One is zypan ( enzyme ) the other is there omega. Linum b6. My homeopathic doctor uses that brand. I’m glad to hear you approve of standard process. I hope once I clean out my body and get it where it needs to be that my racing heart and food intolerances will slowly fade. Thanks for always posting great articles . Amy

    Reply

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