Top 10 Muscle Myths: "Myth #8"

Myth 8: Sugar Is Bad

 

Premise

As with nighttime eating, this is another axiom that has been fueled in part by a general dietary consensus. Since your sweet youth–those blissful years of Skittles scarfing and M&M munching–sugar has been the bogeyman of your every meal, promising–if not kept in check–to foster rotting teeth, diabetic shock and a pregnant belly with matching man-boobs. Surely, it has no place in a bodybuilding diet.

Science

When you eat sugary foods, they spike your insulin levels. This causes your muscle cells to take up the sugar (glucose in your blood) and store it as glycogen. However, insulin also causes sugar to be taken into fat cells and converted into fat, and it blunts fat burning. So, yes, eating sugar is bad for most meals. One time when sugar is good, though, is immediately after workouts. Those sugary foods get into your blood stream ASAP, so your muscles can refuel. By spiking insulin at a time when you want it spiked, it won’t convert sugar into fat, but instead, it’ll drive that sugar into muscle cells along with amino acids, which build more muscle. And insulin will turn on the process of protein synthesis, which is how muscles grow.

Verdict

Sugar is the Jekyll and Hyde of nutrients. Most of the time, it lives up to its bad rep, but immediately after training it’s the good guy, because it spikes your insulin levels and drives protein to your muscle cells. Avoid sugar most of the time, but not after you work out–that’s when you should consume about 40 g of a protein shake and 40-100 g of sugary foods or drinks.

References:
http://www.muscleandfitness.com/
http://www.flexonline.com/

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