Crash Course

You’re stuck waiting at the ED and you’re starting to drag. A Coke and a candy bar should hold you over until you can get a real meal in you. Right?

Wrong. It may have worked when you were 15, but those days are long gone. Your hormones are not what’s raging anymore, and that inner tube around your middle is part of your energy problem.

The Unsweetened Truth

Controversy continues to rage among professional health experts, not to mention the sugar industry, about how much sugar you can consume before it’s bad for you. Everyone seems to agree on two facts. One: On top of the spoonfuls of table sugar (sucrose) we add to our cereal, fruit, coffee and so on, even more sugar (including sucrose, glucose, fructose, maltose and other caloric sweeteners) is added by manufacturers and chefs to many processed foods, condiments and restaurant meals to make them taste better. And two: All these various sugars are physiologically identical, carrying about 15 calories per level teaspoon, mainly differing in flavor. This adds up to a whopping 70 teaspoons consumed by the average American each day—or 100–150 lbs. of sugar a year—according to the Sugar Association (www.sugar.org). The average EMSer may be consuming even more sugar than that to compensate for a typically erratic meal schedule. One regular 12 oz. can of soft drink has nearly 10 teaspoons of sugar. That’s one sweet drink!

What the Sugar Association does not mention is that this amount of sugar can wreak havoc on both your energy level and your overall health. In fact, says Beth Loiselle, LD, RD, nutrition consultant for Good Food Market & Cafe in Lexington, KY, and author of The Healing Power of Whole Foods, “Sugar contributes to many of our symptoms of not feeling well: being overly tired, sleep problems, mild depression, forgetfulness, etc. It increases dental plaque, which promotes cavities and gum disease, and it depresses the immune system by decreasing the activity of our white blood cells. While these cells can normally gobble up 13 bacteria per hour, after a person eats sugar, they can consume only about one per hour. The typical diet with doses of sugar throughout the day makes us more susceptible to colds, viruses, bacterial infections, fungal infections and even cancer.” In addition, she says, sugar contributes to the obesity problem in several ways, including its addictive nature, “tricking us into wanting more and more of it.”

Feeling Tired and Twitchy?

So what’s wrong with caffeine? After all, without the creamers and sweeteners that most people use, coffee is low-cal and diet cola offers (almost) as good a buzz without any calories at all. But if you’ve ever had the jangles from too much of the pick-me-up—or the drags from not enough—you’re aware that caffeine presents its own problems.

While recent reports indicate that coffee is a mildly effective antidepressant, too much of it is not a good thing: It can cause those feelings you’re calling stress.

“Caffeine is a stimulant that affects many parts of the body, “ says Loiselle. “It influences the heart and the central nervous system, as well as the endocrine, reproductive and respiratory systems.”

Caffeine is also known to cause headaches—by getting too much and, when addicted, by withdrawing from it, she says.

The central nervous system, explains Loiselle, shows caffeine’s effects through “feelings of anxiety, panic attacks, sleeping problems, nervousness, muscle twitching, lack of balance, poor memory and tremors. Caffeine increases the secretion of stomach acid, which contributes to heartburn and digestive upset, and can aggravate ulcers. It also causes a decreased absorption of iron,” she says.

Additionally, caffeine’s impact on the cardiovascular system includes influences on heart rate, heart rhythm, blood vessel diameter, blood cholesterol and blood pressure, say some nutritionists.

“Some people have heart palpitations as a result of caffeine,” says Loiselle, stressing that these problems are not from one or two cups of the stuff, but in “somewhat larger amounts.”

Breaking the Crash and Burn Cycle

So how do you increase your energy level when you’re dragging? The short answer, according to David Heber, MD, director of the UCLA Center for Human Nutrition and author of the L.A. Shape Diet, is to eat some protein (a protein bar, for example) and a piece of fresh fruit, engage in 15–20 minutes of meditation or “skilled relaxation” and drink a tall glass of water. If you’re in good condition, that should put you back on track.

The longer answer is to get more exercise and more rest (at least eight hours of sleep a night); and eat three small healthy meals plus a couple of healthy snacks throughout the day. You’ll be amazed at the amount of energy you can maintain.

Loiselle, whose extensive knowledge of nutrition began as a get-well program for herself, agrees. “I suggest that anyone who eats poorly—lots of sugar, not many vegetables—take just two or three weeks and do a complete turn-around with their diet and see what happens. In all likelihood, after you get over the withdrawal, you will feel so much better, you won’t want to go back to the old habits. You just never know how good you can feel until you eliminate the junk—sugar and refined grains, as well as caffeine—and begin to eat wholesome foods,” she says.