Wednesday, February 27, 2008

I believe

How do come to know truth? I know that we are guided to truths through our experiences in life. Since time in fast and testimony meeting did not permit me to get to the pulpit, allow me to share what I have recently come to know as true. My aunt sent me a lot of candy on Christmas. Actually, I still haven't eaten it all and it's now March. Speaking of March, in two days I will be 26 years old, but I digress. I've noticed that when my sugar intake rises, I am more lethargic and sleepy. This translates into more of a need for sleep at nighttime. Likewise, I've noticed that when I avoid the high-sugar foods and focus on eating healthily, I feel more active and alert-especially when I wake up.
Now if you are skeptical of my hypothesis, I relate with you. I tire of people who claim that something is true for everyone on the basis that it works for one person. The truth: It is difficult for rules to hold consistently without good scientific data for support. But I believe that my hunch has at least led me in the right direction. In 2003, four United Nations agencies, commissioned a report compiled by a panel of 30 international experts. The panel stated that the total of free sugars should not account for more than 10% of the energy intake of a healthy diet. Source According to one source, eating a lot of refined sugars may lead to insomnia. Even though I wasn't able to find an article that specifically explained that refined sugars leads to an increased need for sleep, I feel like the data should be out there. Please post a link if anyone knows of anything.
In conclusion, there are people that say some pretty outlandish things about sugar. A plethora of diets are built around the notion that sugar is evil, there are theories that sugar fuels cancer, and there are ideas that you can't be normal when you eat too much sugar. These may be true, however, the testimony I bear is that refined sugar makes you sleepy. That's all I have to say.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Trent, is the date/time correct on this post? I know I've checked your online journal since last Wednesday and there wasn't anything new, and fast and testimony meeting was yesterday, March 2... It wouldn't matter so much but I want to know when your birthday is.

Anonymous said...

I found out:
1)Poor quality sleep resulted from poorer bloos sugar control in people with Type II diabetes.
2)How to reinvent your sleep routine- hint: a protein-rich bedtime snack helps keep blood sugar from plummeting overnight.
If you want those references, you just let me know... but I also found another interesting article that may apply to you. Have you ever been been told you are Hypoglycemic? I'm sending you the article.

trentathon said...

Thanks Sylvia for the clarification. The interesting thing about Blogger is that when you save a post, and then publish it later, it publishes the date that you initially saved it as.
Taryn-thanks for the benchwork. I sure hope I'm not hypoglycemic...

Rich said...

Trent,
my understanding is that every person reacts differently (as you stated). So it could very well be true for you.