AAAHHHHH!
I am going to stop eating altogether. I don't even plan on drinking water because apparently fluoride is bad and the water pipes are leaching chemicals, and acceptable levels of bad things in my water may not be very acceptable after all.
DOUBLE AAAAHHHHHH!!!!!
It's no wonder people don't have a clue as to what and how to eat. I read an article 2 months ago that said I should eat 6 small meals a day and in the same magazine this month I was told it didn't really matter how many times I ate just as long as my calorie intake was in line with my metabolism. What?! Really?
Don't eat at least an hour or two before going to bed because your body will store all of those calories, but the more weights you lift, the more your "RESTING" metabolism increases and the more calories you burn. I guess I need to find a dictionary and hone up on my "sleeping" and "resting" definitions. The more I write, the angrier I am getting. This blog ought to turn out amazing!
What to believe, oh, what to believe? What ever happened to the dietary pyramid? The one some of us grew up with in the 80's and 90's. Well apparently 8-11 servings of bread, rice, pasta, and cereal is now the leading factor for obesity and people acquiring type 2 diabetes. Yeah, I didn't see that one coming.
SO WHAT DO WE DO?
Go Vegan! Only kidding. Relax, in no way am I bashing Veganism nor am I against it. I have met a few people who swear that it has changed their life. And you know what I say to that?
GOOD FOR YOU!
because that is the whole point. If what you are doing is honestly working for you then keep on doing it. If what you eat gives you energy, peace of mind, improved health, and a better functioning body then keep on doing it.
IF ON THE OTHER HAND.....
If what you are eating is making you plump, fat, fluffy, hefty, tired, miserable, and all around unhappy, then we need to make some changes. I rarely use analogies because most of the time I am the only one that gets them, but here is one I would like to offer you.
I am a golfer and have been playing for a long time. I am quite good, believe it or not and the reason for this is that I am smart enough to listen to what the BALL is telling me. Let me explain, if I hit a shot that goes off to the left, instead of blaming my hip turn, or spine angle, or blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, I think to myself, "What really caused the ball to go left"? Well the club face was obviously going in that direction and subsequently enough it was pointing that way as well.
NO WAY?!
Yep. Too easy you say. It should be. Now the correlation to food. If you look in the mirror and see parts of your body expanding, or if you suffer from heartburn, or have gas, or feel bloated, or get diabetes, or just feel bad then you must stop blaming outside factors and listen to what the FOOD is telling you. I do make a slight suggestion when you do this...
YOU HAVE TO BE COMPLETELY HONEST ABOUT YOUR OBSERVATIONS!
If your breakfast consists of a doughnut, a banana, and coffee and for lunch you have a cheeseburger, fries and water and for dinner you eat pasta, bread sticks, salad, and dessert and then tell me that all you ate during the day was a banana, water, and a salad, you are doing yourself a grave injustice. I really don't care if you lie to me because I can see how YOUR body had responded to YOUR food choices, but please, please, please don't lie to YOURSELF.
Enough tough love. Where can we start to make a change? Lets focus on sugar and refined carbohydrates.
SUGAR: Fructose, Lactose, and Sucrose are some of the main players in this game.
Sucrose is table sugar. The stuff no one should have or use in their house. Just saying. You want to make a real change? Stop using table sugar altogether. The stuff we buy has enough sugar in it already to choke a cow, we don't need to add any more. Alright, great progress so far.
Lactose: Is a sugar found in dairy, mainly milk because most dairy products are created from milk. DUH. There is good in lactose unless you are intolerant of course. How do you know if you are intolerant? Listen to your damn body people. If you eat any type of dairy product and soon feel heartburn or bloating or any other bad sensation, STOP eating dairy. There are a thousand alternatives. Find one!
Fructose: Is a simple sugar found in plants. It is a monosacharride which in Lamen's terms means that it only has one saccharide making it very easy to digest. Very easy to digest means that it hits the blood stream fast and it hits it hard. Why does this matter? Glucose and Insulin people, but more on that in a minute.
OK, the minute is up. Why do we need to eliminate as much sugar and refined carbohydrates from our lives as possible. Because of two little teeny tiny words, GLUCOSE AND INSULIN. Glucose is the main source of cellular energy, meaning our cells primarily use Glucose to function and Insulin is the key our body produces that unlocks the door of the cell so that Glucose can come in and join the party. Well then, why am I telling you to stop eating the energy our body needs? Because deep down I am a very angry person and I want to make your life as miserable as possible. Only kidding.... Maybe.
So here is how I am going to justify cutting down on our sugar intake. Another analogy coming up. Wow, apparently I do like to use analogies after all. Honest observation of ones self. See, I do practice what I preach.
A car uses gas as its primary fuel, therefore we fill up our tank until it is full and then drive the car until the tank is out of gas and then repeat the whole process again. We only use as much as we put in. Our body runs in a similar way, with one huge difference, our body's gas tank is able to EXPAND AND STORE EXTRA FUEL. Let me repeat that, our body's gas tank is able to EXPAND AND STORE EXTRA FUEL!
This is why it is critically important to listen to and observe your body, if you are even slightly over weight you have put more fuel into your tank then your body could use and because our bodies like to remain alive, your body decides to store the left-over fuel for a later date.
SIMPLE AND AMAZING. SIMPLY AMAZING.
The problem is we don't wait for the stored fuel to be used, NO, we eat some more. And when the extra fuel from that meal is stored, we don't wait until that storage bin of fuel is used before we eat again, NO, we eat some more. And the cycle goes on and on. Remind me, and I will talk later about caloric density and how it really matters to your health and well being.
Back to the main topic. Glucose, which is the final breakdown of Fructose, Sucrose, and Lactose is very dangerous in LARGE amounts because our body prefers it and because it doesn't require a lot of energy to break it down. So here we are with a massive amount of glucose in our system and now we need a way to get it into our cells and/or store some for later.
HELLO INSULIN!
Our Pancreas is the organ in our body that creates and distributes Insulin. What happens when you over work an organ or a machine? That's right. It begins to wear out and not function properly. This is why people "acquire" type 2 diabetes. (So sad that we do it to ourselves) We have flooded our body with so much Glucose that our Pancreas is working over-time to create enough Insulin that it just starts to wear down and our body becomes insulin resistant. We have the fuel, but because of our bad food choices, we have destroyed a major tool in our body that allows us to stay moving.
This is why I say we need to eliminate table sugar and refined carbohydrates from our diets. By the way, refined carbohydrates (pastries, breakfast cereal, white, bread, pasta, cookies, doughnuts, and the like) are just as easily broken down into Glucose as sugar is. Hence the word "refined".
The moral of the story. If we can cut back and ultimately eliminate table sugar and refined carbohydrates from our diet we can make a profound impact on our overall fitness. I know this is a lot of information, but it doesn't even scratch the surface of what I want to share with you. I am going to spend the next couple of weeks discussing diet and nutrition in an attempt to make some sense of it all; for you as well as for me. I hope you will join.
In the mean time (shameless plug) head over to http://myshakeology.com/carlsonfitnow to learn about a life changing, I mean that with all of my heart, product and take a look at what Shakeology can do to help you get control of your diet and make a lasting change in your life. I take it every single day and I will continue to do so until the world ends or I do, whichever comes first.
Thanks for reading and put down the damn muffin. NO SODA EITHER PEOPLE!
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