Friday concluded a week of Hero workouts with
DG
Complete as many rounds as possible in 10 minutes of:
8 Toes to bar
35 pound Dumbbell thruster, 8 reps
35 pound Dumbbell walking lunge, 12 steps
U.S. Air Force Major Walter David Gray, 38, of Conyers, Georgia, assigned to the 13th Air Support Operations Squadron, based in Fort Carson, Colorado, died on August 8, 2012 from injuries suffered during a suicide bomb attack in Kunar province, Afghanistan. He is survived by his wife Heather, daughters Nyah and Ava, and son Garrett.
The intention of the week of Hero workouts was two fold.
1. Show respect to these heroes who gave the ultimate sacrifice while defending our freedom
2. Start this year off with a tough week and set the pace for the upcoming year
I believe we did both. There was a good turnout at the garage this week. Personally, I had an excellent week in the kitchen making very good food choices and continuing to eliminate sugar and grain from my diet everywhere possible. This sounds easy, but no amount of will power or desire is enough to eliminate sugar.
The current food system does not make it easy. As I have become more aware of how bad sugar can be for my health and performance, I have started looking in all products that pass my lips. I have been astounded at where sugar is hidden and in staggering amounts.
Sauces, Ketchup, hamburger meat, vegetable "Green drinks" all contain massive amounts of sugar. I looked at the ingredients on the Vitamin C packet I was drinking and guess what...Fructose was the first ingredient and this tiny packet of supposed Vitamin C had 5 gm of sugar. You cant even get Vitamin C without sugar without really trying. For reference, One Hershey's Kiss has 1.3 grams of fat and 2.6 grams of sugar.
5 grams of sugar is certainly not going to kill you, but I was taking between 3000-4000 mg of Vitamin C per day through the use of these packets. That is 15-20 grams of sugar. The recommended daily intake of sugar is 37.5 grams and that has grown over time.
What is pretty sobering is that I am a guy who is paying pretty close attention to my diet, my exercise and my performance. In an attempt to supplement some needed Vitamin C in the winter when I am not consuming as much fresh fruit, I decide to buy a supplement only to find that it is LOADED with sugar. If I can be fooled by this, how does a person who is paying no attention to their sugar intake stand a chance? How can a kid make good choices when they are absolutely surrounded at every turn with candy, soft drinks, energy drinks, energy bars, and so called healthy alternatives that are packed with sugar or various forms of sugar like High Fructose Corn Syrup, Fructose, or the more healthy sounding options like Organic Cane Sugar. IT IS ALL THE SAME!
We are being attacked by sugar, literally.
Try going 1 day by keeping your sugar intake to under 20 grams. Look at every ingredient in every single thing you eat or drink. It is very difficult to say the least.
There are so many plans out there on how to eat, how to lose weight, how to increase strength or any metric you want. The bottom line is that we all have to become educated on what is in the food we eat, and understand how this Standard American Diet (SAD) is killing us as a nation and do everything we can to protect ourselves and our families from the metabolic disorders that ultimately come from this way of eating. This only happens by taking responsibility for the food that enters our bodies. Do not leave it up to the food manufacturers, they are not doing you any favors. Shop at the grocery store, around the edges only, cook your food and then eat it together as a family.
If you are interested in learning more, watch the 2 documentaries that I have seen lately. Fed Up with Katie Kouric as the narrator is excellent and will show you some shocking and scary things about childhood obesity and the challenges our children face every single day in making good food choices. Also watch Sugar Coated. Both of these are on Netflix and very good. Watch with your kids if possible.
Good luck navigating this challenging landscape. If you find some things that work, let me know.
