Say I’m definitely going to be eating a certain amount of sugar, is it better to get it over with in one day, or to have it over the course of two or three days?
No expert, but from what I have read, I would say space it out, and pair it with a protein and fibre.
This slows the insulin spike, and keeps your blood sugar more balanced.
Having lots of sugar in one go (eg. An icecream) isn’t the end of the world as long as you don’t do it constantly all the time.
Why are you eating a certain amount of sugar?
The short answer is that it really doesn’t matter unless it’s enough to make you sick. Balanced diets are real, unhealthy diets are real, unhealthy foods aren’t. It’s about the long game.
As others have said though, your teeth might prefer all at once then brush 60m later.
All at once. Preferably before an intense energy expenditure. Your body will use some for energy and the rest will be stored in fat using insulin.
If you eat it all day, you’re using a lot less of it for energy and your body is just creating fat. And you’re creating insulin the whole time.
Food is energy whether it’s stored as fat or burned as energy for your body depends on the state of your current health. Your metabolism, gut micro-biome, etc. and whether or not you are a person that is always on a restrictive diet. Your body’s main job is to protect you. When you restrict you send your body into starvation mode and it stores that food as fat. It doesn’t matter if you are eating a salad or a cookie. It’s okay to have a conscious indulgence but when they become a staple you are creating further metabolic issues. Long-term processed foods, sugars, antibiotics etc can lead to leaky gut and most chronic diseases. If you want a cookie eat a cookie. Choose a lifestyle way of eating stay away from restrictive diets.
Definitely spread out.
You will experience the “Crash”/lethargy after your insulin rises and falls pretty quick in response.
You might actually end up wanting it again later, from a sugar “craving” perspective it’s better to spread.
From a calorie perspective, if it’s the same amount spread or at once, it makes no difference (assuming everything else is equated).
All at once and early in the day.
It is better to have 1 big metabolic hit and we experience less of a penalty when eating sugr/fat earlier in the day (breakfast). As surprising as this may be.
The later in the day thr worse the penalty.
Hmmm hard to say. It depends on how much you’re planning to have. If it’s like a whole cake that would leave you in a good coma for the next day or two; if you space it out, you’re eating in more moderate amounts but you’re consuming it on a daily basis which may build into a habit and make you crave those foods more.
(Assuming that you have self control and don’t struggle with an ED) If you can control and portion the size of the meal, try all at once; otherwise, spacing it out in normal amounts over the course of a couple days would be safer I think.