Simple Sugars For Your Waistline

I get a lot of questions about fitness and working out.  People like to talk to me about what I've done, what I haven't done, what they've done, what they think, and their philosophy on the whole thing is.  People rarely talk about nutrition though, and it really is the bottom line to fitness.  There isn't a lot of point in walking on a treadmill for an hour, then scarfing down a Honey Bun with a Starbucks White Chocolate Mocha Frappuccino to go on the side.  It seems as if people miss or ignore the obvious things.  One of those being:

Calories In > Calories Out = Increased Weight

The 500 calories you burned walking on the treadmill for an hour isn't going to offset that Big Mac (mmm good though!), Large Fry, and Coke.  Dean Karnazes ate 28,000 calories during a 48hr ultramarathon one time and lost weight.  Thats 2 weeks worth of food on a standard 2000 calorie diet. How is that possible? Easy, he burned more than 28,000 calories.

However, a surplus in calories is an over simplification of the problem in my opinion.  I think the two biggest issues are ignorance and nutritional brainwashing.  Lets take something simple like drinking a can of Coca Cola and analyze the process:

• First off, it contains 10 teaspoons of sugar which is 100% of a standard persons recommended daily intake.  The phosphoric acid in the coke helps keep you from throwing up such a large amount of sugar.
• The entire calorie content of that soda will be metabolized within 30 minutes since the main ingredient in the drink is High Fructose Corn Syrup. It is easily broken down and absorbed by the body. 
• During the metabolization process your blood sugar spikes and large amounts of the hormone insulin flood your system.  That insulin tells your body to stop burning fat and start using sugar for energy in an effort to balance out your blood sugar levels.  However, if you're the average American your energy stores are full so that sugar gets converted to fat for storage around your body.
• Your blood pressure rises because of the Caffeine. 
• Dopamine is released so you feel a high.
• Your metabolism is increased.  That burger and fries you just ate are now absorbed even faster.
• Calcium and other minerals bind to the phosphoric acid.
• Caffeine's diuretic properties cause you to pee. Therefore, you expell much needed water, calcium, zinc, magnesium, and other needed nutrients through your urine.
• Eventually you have a sugar crash and start feeling tired and irritable.
• Because there is a lag in insulin regulation your blood sugar drops lower than it should which has the adverse effect of increasing your appetite so you can repeat this whole cycle again.

This is where the nutritional brainwashing comes in.  Barring the Caffeine, these effects can be found in the vast majority of foods you pickup at the supermarket.  I had someone not to long ago tell me that Pop Tarts are good because they have fruit in them... insert BERTSTARE...



How about this idea that Lean Pockets or Healthy Choice TV dinners are good for you.  Besides the massive amounts of sodium you will find in these things, you will also find 5-10 teaspoons of sugar in them.  If it comes in a plastic package tucked away in a nice box chances are it is highly processed garbage devoid of nutrients and full of salt and simple sugars.

What is the solution to all of this?  I really don't know.  Crappy food is everywhere you look.  Subway, while better than McDonalds is still highly processed for the sake of taste, looks, and shelf life.  Heck, we label sticking a frozen pizza in the oven as, "Making dinner."  People wonder why diabetes is such a huge problem now.  It's obvious, look how much sugar is being consumed by people.  Your body after a while starts building up a resistance to insulin which increases your risk of getting type 2 diabetes.

I'll be honest.  The best I have ever felt was on a low carb, high protein, and medium fat diet.  I was lean, strong, and full of energy.  Starting January 1st I am going to be trying my modified version of the Caveman Diet.  It is essentially unprocessed lean meats, fish, nuts, seeds, vegetables, and fruits.  The idea is that as Homo Sapiens we evolved to a diet like this and not one with massive amounts of sodium and highly processed carbohydrates.  I'm curious to see what the end results are for this diet.

I'm not a food Nazi. I love me a Big Mac every once in a while but, the common ideas about what is good or isn't good floating around are laughable. That 1200 calorie shake at the Jack Shack looks pretty tasty though...