Hi Everyone!
It looks like we’ve fixed our technical issues and are back. This week, we’ll begin by discussing my upcoming birthday challenge because I’m trying to get a group of you psyched to WOWY with me. I’ll be training like a headless chicken for the next couple of weeks leading up to 24 hours of madness over the Thanksgiving weekend. A lot of my workouts are LONG, meaning that I’ll be in WOWY for many hours at a time. Therefore, getting our schedules together should be a cinch.
If some of you are wondering just why you should WOWY, well, are you aware of all the stuff the give away in there? And, I mean, you’re working out anyway. Why not sign on, even if it’s just for a chance to win something? Plus, you can support my birthday challenge madness while you’re at it.
http://steveedwardschallenge2007.blogspot.com/Now let’s get to some questions:
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Hello,
I have been doing the P90X and I am in my 7th week. I do see changes in my body, but not to the degree of everyone on the video. The exercise is not a problem, it is the diet. I have a major sweet tooth. I have to leave for work by 6am and always have coffee in hand. I have been putting splenda in it instead of sugar. Your article talked about not having splenda. Am I better off with sugar, or do you suggest no coffee at all? (please tell me that is not so)
Thanks for the help, and I love your article. This was my first time looking into beachbodies website. I will continue. My goal is to finish the program with better eating now.
Sincerely,
Amy Torgrude
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Eating is very important but, keep in mind, that just because you’re diet is perfect and you’re not getting the results you want doesn’t mean that it’s not doing you any good. The more you exercise the more capacity your body has for exercise and the healthier its becoming—plus you won’t be “skinny fat” no matter what you look like. Plus, the more you exercise the less negative effects sugar will have on you.
As for sugar vs fake sugar, I’ll vote for the sugar. I think fake sugar is terrible for you, and splenda is one of the major offenders. A teaspoon of sugar can be burnt off with by taking the stairs once a day instead of an elevator. With artificial sweeteners, we really don’t know the harm they are causing because there is big money lobbying to keep us in the dark. Here are a couple of reference articles, one on skinny fat and a couple on splenda.
http://www.beachbody.com/product/newsletters/257.do#article2http://forums.milliondollarbody.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/8082987037/m/608103588===================================
I enjoyed the information in your article about fast food. In reading it I notice that there is a lot said about calories and fat, but not a lot about sugar. I didn't understand why in your article the Oreo Pizza was considered not that unhealthy when it contains so much sugar. We all know that sugar turns into unhealthy carbs and I think readers should be made aware of that, too. At least with pizza you have the option of healthy vegetables for fiber and fuel and cheese for fat (both needed in your body in the right portions), yet Oreo's have little to none on the scale of real food value. Although the carbs that come in most pizzas are unhealthy so I don't know that pizza should ever be encouraged even in small amounts unless made on proper dough. If you are going to kind of promote sugar (which we also need in limited amounts) why not promote fruit as an alternative or even a real fruit slush drink from Sonic which contains 200 cals, 30g sodium, no fat, 50g of sugar (probably some not natural but there is real fruit so who knows) and 8% vitamin C. Just a suggestion.
Interesting article though,
Wendy Biss
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Joe’s point was that the pure nutritional breakdown wasn’t that unhealthy compared to the other items on that list. He didn’t say it was healthy; he said not “that” unhealthy. Thanks for your suggestion but I’d avoid that “real fruit” slushy unless you were doing a lot of exercise because fruit, sans fiber, is not healthy. It’s pretty much just sugar. My guess is that this drink is only slightly better than a soda—though it is, for sure, better.
I think your basic understanding of carbs is accurate but your science is backwards. All carbs break down into sugars. Refined sugar—and refined complex carbs—are what we want to avoid because they cause an insulin reaction and are also extremely dense calorically. The only time sugar and dense calories are helpful is during endurance sports when you are burning more calories than you body can replace. At all other times, eating low density foods, like WHOLE fruit, is much better. Here are a couple of articles:
http://www.beachbody.com/product/newsletters/216.do#article2http://www.beachbody.com/product/newsletters/089.dohttp://www.beachbody.com/product/newsletters/224.do#article2=====================================
In Steve Edwards' article, "Just Eat This: 5 Rules For A Healthy Diet", he says that artificial sweeteners, such as Nutra Sweet and Splenda, have not been proven to kill. Wrong! There is abundant evidence linking these products, especially aspartame, with a variety of diseases, brain tumors and cancer being foremost among them. Within a mere 12 months of aspartame's introduction to the market and our food supply, the incidences of brain tumors increased an astounding 10% and type 2 diabetes by 30%. There were no other contributing factors for these increases during the same time period.
The dangers of these products have been hidden or minimized from the public by the very corporations that produce them. These products have NO PLACE in a person's diet, even in small dosages.
Erick
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None of these things are “proven”. I’m not saying that I don’t agree with you to a degree. I’m just saying that I can’t write it without scientific evidence. I’m not saying that there isn’t scientific evidence either, if you get my drift. What I’m saying is that there is nothing out there I can use that would hold up in a legal battle with a much more powerful lawyer. Not yet anyway. Thanks for your letter.
So it seems we’ve found a de-facto theme for the issue.
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My question revolves the upcoming holidays - Thanksgiving and Christmas - and how to handle the barrage of home baked goodies and chocolates. I love chocolate but wonder if, during a time of stict dietyary planning, I should allow any treats at all?
Any advice you can give will be appreciated.
Jeff Whytsell
Ohio
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Always a tough subject, this one. Mainly you’ve just got to want to. Nothing beats good old motivation. Here are a couple of holiday articles that might help:
http://www.beachbody.com/product/newsletters/232.dohttp://www.beachbody.com/product/newsletters/127.do=====================================
Just read your article on the hidden sugars in food. I noticed
there wasn't any mention of sugar substitutes, splenda and the like. I took my son to a nutritionist who said they were as bad
if not worse than sugar itself. Can any one verify this? I was also told that natural sugars, found in fruits, etc. were actually easier for your body to purge. For a week I changed our natural sugars
found in fruit to organic fruit and amazingly all three of us lost more
weight...
Donna Bruneau-Lester
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This was the beginning of a long email. Sorry, I can’t use them no matter how interesting they are. But I used this part because it fit today’s theme. Doesn’t really even need an answer; just hammers home the point I’m making today, avoid artificial sweeteners.
Until next time, don’t just train hard, train smart,
Steve
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