Too much candy affects a gym body. But you need a certain amount of carbohydrates(sugar) for bodybuilding or athletic body. Eleven essential nutrients are required for muscle growth, and sugar is one. If you still crave candies that do not contain animal products, then you can go through this content to know about the best vegan gummy bears.
But you should know what form of sugar and how much you need before you take it.
As for pre-workout fuel
If you’re looking forward to eating candy as a pre-workout snack, you should probably stop and look at your routine for the day. Low-intensity exercises like walking or bike rides around your house don’t need candy, as these workouts tend to use your stored fat as energy. But if you’re going to do intense workouts like HIIT, Resistance training, or indoor cycling – candy like Sour Patch Kids or Gummies would be perfect. They are easy to digest and spike your blood sugar, giving you an extra rush of energy so you can get the best out of your workouts. Do make sure you don’t overeat candy because that could make you sluggish or, worse, cause abdominal distress. The recommended amount of sugar per day is about 15-20 grams, so, as long as you abide by that, you should have fun & boosted workout session.
As a post-workout snack
When you have a particularly intense workout, your body uses blood glucose and stored muscle glycogen, which are stored carbohydrates, as a source of energy. There’s an interval of around 30 to 120 minutes right after you finish where your muscles start recovering and are most effective at converting glucose to muscle glycogen storage. Research shows that a fast absorbing carbohydrate, like candy, could aid this process. Because the sugar in candy doesn’t need to be broken down and is quickly absorbed into the blood, the spiked blood sugar level then triggers the release of insulin that directs all the excess sugar into your muscles. And since the muscles need all the sugar they can get for repair, none of the sugar will be stored as fat! Candy that includes peanuts or Gummies is an excellent option for post-workout snacks.
Another time you can have candy is right after you wake up. Your body was in an 8-hour fast, and unless you had a protein-heavy meal for dinner, it’s going to be in the same state as it was post-workout. Keep in mind that since you haven’t exercised, a small sugar intake should be enough to feel energized in the morning. A small insulin spike triggered by candy would work pretty well to replenish the body’s stores. As energy is pumped into your muscles, you’ll feel revived and ready to tackle the day ahead.
During workouts
It’s not uncommon to feel a dip in energy levels when you’re running a marathon or cycling a challenging route, which is why an easily portable snack, like candy, is ideal to have on hand. Candy like jelly beans and gummies give you a much-needed pump of energy that keeps you going. When you train in more than 2-hour intervals, your body will deplete its stores pretty quickly, so to prevent that from happening, you should have 30 grams of carbohydrate intake every hour. You also need minerals and electrolytes, so consume candy specially made for sporting events like Sports Beans.
A different form of Sugar
There are two types of sugar. The first one is natural sugar, readily available in our regular everyday foods. Glucose, fructose, and lactose are some sugars in rice, milk, etc. This sugar directly goes to the blood and does something in our bodies. The second one is artificial sugar or added sugar available in juice, chocolates, and sweets. Sucrose is the standard form of fake sugar, and it enhances the taste, sweetness, and durability of food. But both natural and industrial sugars are uptaken by the body almost the same way and broken down into glucose or fructose.
1. Natural Sugar
It contains fat metabolism, and it’ll convert into fat faster once it goes into our blood. But still, Natural sugar is healthier cause it includes vitamins, fibers, minerals, and many other nutrients. E.g., apple contains sugar as well as it also has other nutrients.
So natural sugar is healthier cause you can have other low-sugar nutrients. But raw sugar is not more beneficial if you only take natural sugar.
2. Artificial Sugar
Artificial sweeteners are synthetic sugar substitutes.
Artificial sweeteners can be an attractive alternative to sugar because they add almost no calories to your diet. However, they can be obtained from natural substances such as herbs or sugar. In addition, you need less artificial sweetener compared to the amount of sugar you would typically use for sweetening.
3. How sugar is good for the gym body
When we take sugar as food or drink, it is absorbed by the blood and increases our body’s insulin level. Insulin works like a transporter. It opens up boy cells and allows glucose goes into the cell. And when cells open up, other nutrients also go into the cell. When you finish your workout, your muscle cell will be damaged for the gym body. That damaged muscle cells should be replaced by new cells. And it’ll happen automatically within some amount of time.
That time is called recovery time, and cell substitution is the so-called recovery process. If your body’s insulin level increases after a workout, then your body cells will be opened, and nutrients will be taken. So your damaged cells will be replaced quickly. That means fast recovery.
Faster recovery means more muscle growth and more energy for the next workout session. So the insulin pike after the workout will help your muscles grow.
The transport of glucose into cells by insulin also has many positive effects on your work. Glucose is degraded into mitochondria into ATP, a form of energy that is important for various catabolic or anabolic pathways and metabolism in general. High amounts of ATP are needed when we work out as we have a higher energy demand. But one negative point is when uptaking sugar is the decrease of testosterone and increase of cortisol due to the rapid release of insulin.
Testosterone is essential when it comes to muscle growth. Some study says that testosterone levels drop up to 25% when eating 20 grams of refined sugar. And sugar metabolism strongly depends on your protein and fat levels as they influence, amongst other things, the hormones insulin, testosterone, etc. So it is not only about sugar when it comes to physical performance.
Conclusion
Sugar(glucose) is excellent for muscle growth, especially after a workout, where muscle recovery can occur better due to the higher availability of nutrients. Sugar can provide a lot of energy when it comes to physical performance, but too much sugar can lead to sudden drops of the blood sugar level and, therefore, to fast exhaustion. And, sugar is said to testosterone levels is not inconsiderable amount. So the advice is, you should always take care not to exceed the maximum amount of sugar you can uptake. Because you have capacities in which sugar serves you well, and if you exceed this threshold, sugar will be stored in the form of fat.
Should You Eat Candy?
Yes, you should eat candy if you want a speedy recovery. It affects the body in many ways, as I’ve mentioned above. But don’t eat too many candies. Because candies are made of artificial sugar, it doesn’t contain any other nutrients. If you take too much, it’ll be stored as fat in your body. So eat a specific amount of candies after your workout only.
