You hear it all the time -- eliminate refined sugar from your diet, eat five small meals a day, keep your blood sugar steady. But do you know why that advice is so prevalent? This article takes the science of blood sugar and puts it into a fun, readable format.

Basically, when you eat your body converts the carbs into glucose, which insulin carries to your organs for energy. When you wait too long between meals, your body can't scrape up enough glucose, which makes your feel tired and shaky and contributes to poor food choices. When you eat refined sugars and junk food, your blood sugar shoots up fast and crashes quickly, leaving you irritable and hungry. But when you eat good carbs, protein, and healthy fats on a regular basis throughout the day, your blood sugar and your appetite stay level.

Eat a steady diet of junky, sugary carbs and your body will eventually quit letting insulin carry the glucose away. That's called insulin resistance and it can be a precursor to diabetes and really hard on your internal organs. Exercise can help reverse insulin resistance and help you remove excess glucose from your system (before it's converted to fat), which in the long run can help you lose weight.