Something to Chew On

A Tribute to Women and Glucose
By Scarlett Stussy Chaidez, MCN, RD, LD

My crew is full of women—blood, step, adopted, and honorary. I’m the oldest of an all-girls family, and, at one point, even all of our pets were female. It’s always been loud, and my dad is always outnumbered unless his sons-in-law are around. You’d think that growing up around that much estrogen would be a tumultuous environment, but we’ve always thrived in it. My people are hilarious, genuine, and supportive. Our communal strength comes from years of cheering each other on, giving life advice, and being humbled in ways that only a sister can provide. These women shape how I see the world and myself.

As a woman, and even more so as a dietitian, a common struggle I encounter amongst even the strongest women is how we view our bodies. Body dissatisfaction is something most people have dealt with, but I think that the ever-changing “ideal” female image makes women particularly susceptible. Thinness was one of the highest ideals for women in the ‘90s and early 2000s when I was growing up. Then the Kardashians brought “curvy” back. Women’s beauty standards are as volatile as they are unrealistic, so it’s so no wonder fad diets are always evolving and rebranding themselves to stay relevant (I’m talking about you, Atkins Diet > Keto Diet > Carnivore Diet). Thanks to decades of societal standards and predatory diet companies, many women are confused, frustrated, and disconnected from their bodies—and their body image and health suffer as a consequence.

Labeling foods as “good” and” bad” only brings shame and guilt into the equation: “I ate a ‘bad’ food, so now my whole day is bad, and I’m bad, too.” This thinking is overly simplistic and harmful. Instead, I like to encourage people to think about what purpose each food serves: fullness, taste, nutrients, satisfaction, nostalgia, celebration, etc.

When we use foods with their purposes in mind, the guilt starts to retreat, and we’re able to better listen to what and how much our body is asking for. For decades, women have been taught to eat less and to shrink their bodies, but what if we thought about food as the fuel that gives us strength to do hard things, energy to make it through the workday, or endurance to engage with the people and hobbies we love?

I started playing soccer in third grade with my St. James friends on the Pink Panthers team. Somehow, we all stuck with it for the next decade, and my best friends (and later all of my younger sisters) played for the Texas High girls’ soccer team. At the high school level and beyond, soccer matches are (a nearly-continuous) 90 minutes of play. Fueling for sports wasn’t something I was taught to do, but the human body is adaptable, especially when you’re young. Because of this, growing athletes often don’t know that their performance could be made better and more enjoyable through nutrition.

Sage, my youngest sister (GO #8!), plays competitive sports, just as the three of us who came before her did. Through trial and error, my parents learned that, if she has a carb-forward meal before a game, she is able to react quicker on the soccer field as compared to when she has a protein-heavy pre-game meal. Of course, there’s science behind that, but I wasn’t at home to help them connect those dots sooner. Sports nutrition is a delicate balance and a unique science, so, once she was in high school, my sister actually worked with one of my dietitian coworkers to ensure she was getting enough nutrients to thrive through long days of advanced classes, soccer, and cross-country, with enough energy left over to write for the school paper and participate in student council. (Man, being a teenager really is exhausting.)

Bodies convert carbohydrates to glucose (commonly known as sugar), which is your brain’s primary and preferred source of energy. It can get energy from other sources, but it takes longer and is not an efficient process. The body also primarily uses sugar in most sports and workouts. Our muscles store sugar so that they have energy ready to go. Activities like sprinting, heavy weightlifting, and jumping rope use up those muscle stores quickly, and once the sugar is gone, we must either slow down and catch our breath so the body can use an alternate fuel source, or replenish with more sugar. This is why “carb loading,” Gatorade, and runners’ gels exist.

As we shift our food lens further from “bad vs. good,” we are more easily able to see different foods for what they are: sources of both fuel and pleasure. Empowering people—especially women—to embrace a variety of foods is one of the most rewarding parts of my job. Once you know the science, having a cupcake as a pre-workout snack (or before a math quiz, or at a birthday party, or any other time you want) doesn’t seem so “bad” after all.