WOD
12 Minute AMRAP:
5 Chest to bar pull-ups,
10 Burpees,
15 Squat jumps.
Attention: First, no Blackhawks kids class at 7:30 p.m. Second, there will be a Christmas merchandise sale this week. All remaining t-shirts and tanks are $15, all remaining hoodies are $30 and it’s first come, first serve. Further, as we are in the holiday season and dealing with lots of treats, here is an article and video for your consideration.
Fructose is a poison.
Powerful and profound words, but it’s not a statement of an opinion. It’s a statement made by Dr. Robert Lustig followed by medical proof that, once ingested, the impact fructose has on our bodies is the same as that of a poison/ toxin. The above video is one I HIGHLY suggest everyone watch. I know, once you open it you may notice it’s an hour and a half long, who has that kind of time? Should you find yourself sitting around getting a pedicure, or waiting at the DMV, or you’re the passenger in a vehicle sitting in I-70 weekend mountain traffic, perhaps you can pop this video on to pass the time. Now that I’ve watched it, I’m going to say something cliche here, I can not un-see or un-know what I’ve seen and learned. The information was impactful and dare I say it, mind-blowing. When Verve and CrossFit became a part of our lives there was an additional path we began to follow with regards to understanding nutrition and a greater appreciation for what is healthy eating. This video will aid us in our journey of really understanding what we put in our pie hole and how that translates to a long, healthy life.
Dr. Lustig starts off with a general premise most of us may be thinking: calories in, calories out. Meaning that if I want to lose weight I simply need to burn off the calories I consume. The truth is we as a society eat more than ever before, “we all weigh 25 lbs more today than we did 25 years ago.” Compared to 20 years ago men are eating approx 180 more calories/ day and women eat approx 330 more calories/ day. The question is, why are we eating more? We have a hormone called Leptin, it comes from our fat cells and tells our brains, “hey, I’m all full up. I don’t need to eat any more.” The fact that we are all eating more tells the scientific community this negative feedback loop in our bodies is no longer working right. The next question then is why? I can’t answer that for you, well I can because I watched the video, but I don’t want to spoil it for you.
Where are all these extra calories coming from? They are coming from the increase in carbohydrates we consume. In 1982 the FDA recommended a low fat, high carb diet because at the time fat consumption was associated with heart disease. Well food that was cooked without fat and void of fat did not taste as good as it’s high fat counter part.So in order to make low fat food palatable sugar was added. The fat content decreased, carbohydrate content increased.
Let’s talk sugar, specifically glucose, sucrose, and fructose. On a sweetness scale glucose sits at 75, sucrose sits at 100, and fructose sits at 120. Well if we were talking adding these sugars to food to improve taste because fructose is sweeter than glucose we would possibly believe we would not need to add as much of it. Unfortunately the opposite is true, we use even more.Hence the eventual development of high fructose corn syrup, an incredibly cheap, and easy way to enhance food.
Drinking 1 can of soda per day equals out to 15#/ year of added weight. This is not because of the calories, it is because of the sugar and our bodies response to it. We have another hormone in our body that tells us we are hungry. Fructose does not allow this hormone to be suppressed, meaning we continue to believe we are hungry. Fructose does not allow for the stimulation of Leptin, the hormone telling us we are full. So we always believe we are hungry and we never getting the feeling we are full. With that in mind exam the following picture:
Over the years our serving sizes of sugar have increased. In certain convenience stores in Texas you can get a 60 oz. soda, candy bar, and a bag of chips for 99 cents.
In a study shown in this video Dr. Lustig makes a comparison to chronic ethanol consumption (alcohol) to that of chronic excess sugar consumption. The are 12 major health risks that are linked to alcoholism, 8 of those 12 health risks are the same for people chronically consuming high levels of fructose. Fructose is a poison.
This is only the tip of the iceberg of information to be gained from watching this video. If you like getting your world rocked, this 90 minutes will do the job.
Article and Video Courtesy of CrossFit Verve.