Sugar is fuel for the body

Man is not self-goers. Every day, every second of our cells to swallow rough amounts of energy so we can breathe, walk and think, live and laugh. When the fuel cells is mainly sugar, or more precisely glucose. Without this we could not survive glucose. But our brain burns around 140 grams of glucose a day. This is as much as ten tablespoons of sugar.

In order for our bodies, we must not pure sugar spoon in its purest form. Our bodies can produce the fuel itself - and for everything: bread, pasta, potatoes or chops. This will take some time, however, because the metabolism requires many intermediate steps until he has produced from food to fuel glucose.
Two teaspoons of sugar in the blood

The easiest way, the metabolism, if we eat pure glucose, so glucose. Therefore, Sweet is also considered food for the nerves: the sugar passes quickly through the intestines into the bloodstream and from there to the brain. Almost the same processed sugar our bodies. Flour, potatoes and noodles made from starch, so a chain of glucose building blocks. Can cleave the body in the intestine, and already he has the coveted fuel. Even fats and proteins our body can convert into energy, but this takes quite a long and successful only in a roundabout way.

From the intestine or the liver of the sugar enters the blood: There are swimming everywhere and in healthy 60-140 milligrams of glucose, depending on whether one is sober, or has eaten a meal. This refers to a deciliter, which corresponds to a champagne glass full of blood. A newer unit determines the value in millimoles per liter: 3.4 to 7.8 in healthy subjects should be. Extrapolated to the entire body revolve around one to two teaspoons of sugar in the blood. This red-transport stream brings the fuel to each cell.
Store in good times, burn in times of need

Normally, we eat more sugar than necessary. A part of our body lies a surplus in the muscles and liver to make fats from it. Fat stores energy and may well be stored in cells. Most of the surplus lands, but as a store of sugar, so-called glycogen in the cells: Up to 450 grams of it - as heavy as four and a half bars of chocolate - fit into our body's own cell depot.

Hard times come then brings to our body's first energy saving from these sugars. Even at night when the last meal back is long, the organism reaches back to glycogen. But the sugar can burn the memory cells are not, therefore, the liver converts the glycogen back to glucose. Our muscles are not as generous: they build the glycogen off only when they themselves require energy.

While keeping body fat depots can be very long - that we have painfully learned in diet-resistant fat pads, enough storage capacity for glycogen only for about 24 hours. The distress lasts longer, for example, because the man makes a starvation diet is, the metabolism in order to implement an emergency program: it provides glucose them yourself. This happens mainly in the liver. She then builds the body's own protein to glucose.