PJ's Fitness Blog
A blog about a fitter you. Come find out what is on the cutting edge of fitness science and be a part of the ongoing conversation.
America now tops the list of the fattest countries in the first world. In fact, new data shows that we are about 60% obese as a population now, when measured by bodyfat instead of that worthless “BMI” measurement our government insists on using.
Why is this, when the USA has the most personal trainers and the highest number of health clubs per capita of anywhere on the planet? Well, the answer is simple. We have been brainwashed that fat is fattening and have been misdirected from the real culprit: SUGAR.
Sugar spikes your insulin. High insulin levels put you in a fat storing mode. Insulin spikes also cause you to be hungry for more sugar. I’m sure you can see the viscous weight gain cycle here.
By “sugar” I mean sucrose, dextrose, refined flour, refined bread, and starches. Sugar also includes fructose, which is in my opinion, the worst of the sugars. It’s no coincidence that our obesity rate increase parallels our fructose consumption increase since the 1970′s. Fructose is found in High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS), which is most responsible for our obesity rates. HFCS is in most of the processed foods you will find on the shelf in your local store – especially in “low fat” foods. It is also found in table sugar and even other “seemingly benign” products such as agave nectar.
It is true that fructose is “low glycemic” and even moderate amounts will not spike your insulin like other sugars will, but fructose is fattening for another reason. This particular calorie bypasses your digestive system, goes straight to your liver and at least half of it is immediately turned into fat. The same goes for alcohol calories, but that’s another post.
If you must have fructose, get it from fruit. God created fruit with fiber that slows the absorption, so eating (organic) fruit in moderation (i.e 1-2 pieces a day) is actually OK. Even raw sugar cane is OK to eat, as long as you eat the stick part too.
I could go on and on about the evils of sugar in all it’s forms, but if you want to understand the science behind the facts, check out the videos below. Take the time to watch them and it will change your life.
Dr. Lustig’s “Sugar the Bitter Truth:” http://youtu.be/dBnniua6-oM
Gary Taube’s take on sugar (short version): http://youtu.be/rwcgzOcGW3A, and why we get fat (long version): http://youtu.be/bTUspjZG-wc
This is me in 2002 at age 35, on sugar.
This is me in 2007 at age 40, off sugar.
When I get my new license this May, I’ll be 45. I think I look even younger than I did at 40. I sure FEEL younger! I’m leaner, stronger and faster too, with less aches and pains. Now that I have been off sugar for 9 years, I feel like I have literally turned back the clock. I have my own time machine!
Why does sugar age us so rapidly? Well, besides being a poison, here are some technical reasons, as explained by Dr. Mercola:
I personally advise total sugar consumption below 10 grams per day. I eat zero grams. I’m talking about sucrose (table sugar) of course, but that also includes high fructose corn syrup. That stuff is like rat poison!
You have your own time machine too. Is it worth it to you, or would you rather keep eating sugar, stay fat, miserable and die early?
It’s your life.
It’s your choice.
There has been a lot of press lately about chocolate and it’s health benefits – especially when Valentine’s day is just around the corner. Chocolate is one of the most common Valentine’s day gifts and there is good reason for that, both on a conscious and a subconscious level.
First, most chocolates have sugar, which temporarily medicates your brain with chemicals that make you feel happy. The downside however, is this “high” only lasts about a hour and then things start to return to normal – and then worse – within about two hours. At that point, the sugar has worn off, your blood insulin levels are spiked, your metabolism is in a fat storing mode, your mood is worse than before eating the chocolate and so is your energy. This makes conventional chocolate a bad idea overall. But take heart, there are some yummy solutions! Just read on.
Chocolate is indeed known to mimic the feelings of being “in love.” This is due to a chemical found in chocolate called phenylethylamine, which is part of a group of chemicals known as endorphins. Phenylethylamine levels in the brain are elevated when people are “falling in love.” Seratonin is another chemical found in chocolate. This chemical is known for its happy and calming properties. Here’s the catch though: To get high enough concentrations of these chemicals to feel their effects, you must eat real, unprocessed chocolate – namely – cacao. Not cocoa. That’s processed. Make sure it’s CACAO. There is a big difference.
Real chocolate without the sugar offers some real health benefits too. Things like decreased blood pressure and blood clotting, increased blood vessel health and improved LDL levels to name a few. These benefits come from cacao’s high flavanol content. Real cacao is bitter to the taste though, so that is why chocolate manufacturers process the heck out of it and add all that sugar.
There are only 3 sources I have found that will give you all the mood and health benefits of real chocolate (cacao) while still tasting great. I’m listing them here in order of health and coincidentally, taste, from worst to best:
1.) Good – Cavalier brand no-sugar added dark chocolate bars. These are sweetened with Maltitiol, so if your body produces gas from this ingredient, beware. It might make you feel like you are in love initially, but farts following soon after can ruin the mood.
2.) Great – Mercola.com chocolate bars. All the benefits of cacao without the bitter taste, nothing artificial, no insulin spike, no fat storing phase, plus some protein to boot! They are super expensive though, but hey, it’s true – we really do get what we pay for. http://www.mercolacatalog.com/whey-protein-2/whey-protein-now-in-a-chocolate-bar/
3.) Amazing – X Gym’s new chocolate pudding recipe! All the health and mood benefits of real chocolate with the amazing taste too. Best of all, you can make it at home! Check it out on www.hardbodcafe.com in the “Deserts” section.
Real cacao also has an ultra high fiber content and we all know how awesome that is. There are so many nutritional benefits to real cacao, it is actually classified as a superfood. In fact, cacao is arguably the most potent superfood on the planet. Many experts claim it’s anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory properties are unsurpassed, even by other known superfood powerhouses such as turmeric, cinnamon, gogi berries and blueberries!
How do I know all this? Mainly from studying the research, but also from personal experience. You can study it for yourself by just Googling it. You will find that the darker the chocolate the better, so look for higher cacao content and lower sugar content. The higher the cacao and the lower the sugar however, the more bitter it becomes, unless you follow the suggestions above.
As for personal experience, my girlfriend is the best case study I have ever seen. Her mood is so drastically affected by cacao, it is truly remarkable. If she is bummed about something or feeling anything other than happy, shiny and elated, all I have to do is fill her mouth full of the pudding recipe mentioned above and within minutes she’s smothering me with hugs and is happy as a mouse in a cheese factory.
Be careful however, with this knowledge because the effects of cacao are so remarkable, it could be used for manipulation of other people’s moods. If you are feeding someone cacao for their health and brain benefits, then good for you. If you are using it to manipulate their mood for your own benefit however, then you’re just a jerk.
First of all, the book titled, ” The China Study” written by Dr. Campbell is an observational study. Even though the author is a doctor and should have known better, he made the blunder of a layperson by assuming causation from observational correlations. His claim on the cover, “The Most Comprehensive Study of Nutrition Ever Conducted” is outright fraud. This is not science in any form.
If I have already offended you with these statements, then you have an agenda to protect and can stop reading now, so you don’t get any more upset. If you want to learn more about how science really works however, and some new facts about our physiology, then read on.
Even the newest rookie scientist will tell you that all you can do with data from observational studies is use them to form hypotheses that can then be tested in well designed, randomized, controlled trials. Then and only then, if the study results show it, can you even begin to consider talking about causation. If you need clarification on this subject, check out this video. It’s awesome and hilarious: www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1RXvBveht0.
Observational studies aren’t facts. They are observations, which are open to interpretation and therefore, human error based on bias, mistakes, etc. When you have some cold hard facts however, you can draw more accurate conclusions.
I’m not claiming perfect science here. I’m just offering better “bad science” than Dr. Campbell gives you. The facts I cite below are also observational, so I’m using the same “science” that Dr. Campbell has used in order to compare apples to apples.
Since there have been no well designed studies on meat eaters and vegetable eaters to date, we have to make inferences from observation, as flawed as that is. This however, opens things up for error and mistranslation of data like Dr. Keyes did in the 1960′s, starting the whole low fat revolution that, in my opinion, was one of the biggest disservices to society in modern history. Not only is the low fat philosophy flawed and downright wrong, it has made our nation fatter instead of thinner, but this topic is for another post…
Here are 7 quick facts. Feel free to draw your own conclusions:
1.) Our ancestors were hunter gatherers. This means that they were mostly meat eaters, since the agricultural revolution hadn’t happened yet.
2.) Fossil evidence shows that our ancestors dealt with cancer about as often as they flew airplanes.
3.) Cancer and other diseases like diabetes have only reared their ugly heads since the industrial revolution began, less than a couple hundred years ago. These diseases (as well as obesity) have grown at the same rates as our food processing technology has advanced (thanks to the industrial revolution).
4.) Our genes haven’t changed since those of our ancestors found in fossil records.
5.) Modern hunter gatherer societies are also virtually cancer free. They don’t even know what diabetes is. Obese hunter gatherers do not exist. Even traditional Eskimos who eat blubber all day, average about 11% body fat.
6.) Modern hunter gatherer societies get more than 80% of their calories from animal products. Traditional tribes like the Inuit get over 95% or their calories from animal products.
7.) Modern vegan societies (i.e. Hindus) are not cancer free. Vegans also get diabetes and have plenty of obese members of their society. The only exception is the extremely small segment of strict, hard-core, 100% “raw” vegans who eat organic produce only. They are typically very lean and free from diabetes, obesity and cancer. Some people, like my good friend Tim Van Orden, can thrive on this diet (as long as certain vitamin supplements are consumed), but most people find it too difficult to sustain and/or just don’t feel well on it.
Now some people take issue when I use our ancestors as an example of good health. They typically say, “Hey wait a minute – our ancestors had a average life span of about 40 years.” Yep, that’s true and with a little context, you will easily understand why. The main problem with the age calculations of our ancestors is that their infant mortality rates were factored into their lifespan averages and since they didn’t have access to fancy hospitals that are pretty darn good at saving weak babies and salvaging tough births, about a third of their babies didn’t make it. Mom’s often died during childbirth as well (and they were making babies at a pretty young age back then).
Another problem is that our ancestors didn’t have access to fancy first aid kits and trained paramedics on the other side of a telephone call, so when they fell down a hill chasing their dinner and banged their head hard enough, or even got a pesky little compound fracture, they died. Oh, and also keep in mind that they weren’t just the chaser of food. They were also being chased by bigger food, and they didn’t have a .357 magnum to defend themselves.
Now take all that (plus more that I won’t go into due to the interest of keeping this short due onnaccounta our limited attention spans thanks to modern television) and average it together and you’ve got a life expectancy of about 40 years old. There were indeed lots of very old people back then and those fogeys were extremely healthy and sturdy as evidenced from the fossil records.
My diet is about half vegetable and half animal by calories. I love veggies, so I eat lots of them. I also prefer them raw because of the taste and health benefits. I make sure they are organic and when possible, locally grown. The meat I eat is always wild, or grass fed, or free range organic. I also eat fun foods using organic ingredients like this pudding recipe: http://youtu.be/AIWs9zG-Rks (to make it vegan by the way, just use a vegan protein powder). I even eat bread! Check this recipe out: http://youtu.be/Msw6XlSv4hA
If I ate modern processed foods and conventional animal products however, I’d probably get cancer and diabetes pretty quickly. I’d get fat really fast too. As it is now however, I’m sure that I will stay cancer free, diabetes free, will continue to have normal blood pressure, healthy cholesterol levels and will maintain my current body fat in the single digits until a ripe, sturdy old age.
Personally, I do not believe God created us to be vegans. Our tooth structure and intestinal design suggests otherwise. He even gave us specific instructions on how to prepare and cook meat in the Old Testament. He also promised His chosen people a land “Flowing with milk and honey.” In the New Testament, He personally served fish and bread to thousands and even created wine out of water. I don’t believe He would encourage such foods if they were unhealthy in any way or would cause disease, but back then of course, everything was organic, locally grown, unprocessed and there was no damage to the ecosystem associated with growing and raising food. Since then we have really screwed things up.
Lastly, I want to make it abundantly clear that I fully support anyone who is vegan for religious, environmental, moral or ethical reasons. They have some really good points too. Those who do it purely for health reasons however, should to re-examine the evidence.
Eating to be lean, healthy and strong really isn’t that hard to figure out. In fact, it can be done by following 7 rules. Even if you just follow the first 4 you will be doing better than 90% of the population in this country. Try just one new rule to start and when you get that one down, add another and so on until you are eating right out of habit without the need for forced willpower.
Rule 1: Drink enough filtered water. How much is enough? Take your bodyweight in pounds, divide by two and that’s how many ounces you should be drinking (for those who weigh between 70 and 250 lbs.). This will detox you and keep you hydrated which will free up your liver to do all of its more than 400 metabolic functions.
Rule 2: Try to overeat organic vegetables all day. In fact, get obsessive over them. If you are filling up all the time on these foods (raw is best), then you will quite literally be turning back the (more…)
