The REAL American Sniper

/

 

As we continue to examine the three pillars of health (sleep, diet, exercise), we are going to start digging into the most controllable variable of all three: DIET.  

What exactly do we mean by “controllable”?

Think about it. Sometimes we simply can not exercise (possibly due to injury, or a scheduling conflict that is beyond our control), and many people struggle mightily with the actual act of falling asleep (as good as their intentions of actually going to sleep might be, they struggle with insomnia). But food? We have complete control over the nutrients that we decide to put into our mouths for consumption. Nobody is putting the proverbial gun to our head when we tear into that bag of Funions or the 30 rack of Bud Light (although it does taste so good when it hits the lips!).

BUT, don’t confuse “choice” with “easy”.  Of course it can be difficult (and not as much fun) to eat well. And not surprisingly, the majority of the country agrees with that statement. A full two thirds of Americans are statistically overweight or obese. Obesity is a $150 BILLION dollar per year problem….and if you’re keeping score at home, that’s a total of a 10% tab on YOUR health care bill (yup….we’re all paying for it). The good news? That number will double in 10 years…ugh.

Bad times.

And the main culprit in the majority of our diet-related problems? The one that is picking-off Americans left and right, sniper-style, in the form of diabetes and cardiovascular disease?

SUGAR.

Sugar is killing a crap-ton of Americans, and it’s certainly ruining the potential results that you could be getting from your workout.

The topic of diet and nutrition is a huge one, and we can’t cover all of it in one blog post. We could spend a ton of time talking about the aforementioned health crisis in this country. More specific to this group, we could talk extensively about eating to PERFORM; using food for fuel, and examining how approaches like Paleo eating can help us optimize our workouts.

But for now, we are going to take a quick, very basic look at sugar, and why you need to have a better understanding of it.

 

If NOTHING else, here are four things I want you to know:

 

1)   You need to understand INSULIN. Insulin is very simply the body’s “traffic cop” that tells it what to do regarding fat storage and fat burning

2)   The more sugar is detected, the more insulin is released. The insulin traffic cop tells the body: “store your fat…hang onto it, and don’t do anything with it until I get rid of all of this sugar”

3)   Within this cycle, when the body needs to BURN FUEL, it will burn the sugar first, NOT the fat that is stored in tissues and around organs

4)   The more sugar is consumed, the more the cycle continues. The body can become INSENSITIVE (or resistant) to insulin, and we get fatter and fatter.  We have a name for this: Type II Diabetes

While there is certainly more to the story, let’s stick to the big picture for now:

 

More sugar = more insulin = we STORE more fat instead of burn it = we’re an overweight country

 

THIS is where millions of Americans get totally confused. “The label says no fat!  I’m eating healthy!!!!!”

No……..you’re not.

The food labeling in this country is an absolute joke and a disaster. If you are in the middle aisles of the grocery store (not on the periphery where most of the whole foods are) and you see “low fat”, “heart healthy”, keep walking. I guarantee you that there is lots of sugar in that bad boy.

“Sugar free”, you say? Then look at the label for "aspartame". Or glucose. Or sucrose, maltose, fruit juice, dextrose, raw sugar, starch, honey, corn syrup or any other kind of syrup.

“You don’t understand….I drink DIET Coke”!! There is nothing “diet” about Diet Coke. One of the primary ingredients in Diet Coke is aspartame,  which is an artificial sweetener. Artificial sweeteners are worse for us than sugar is!

Guys….aspartame is making us fatter.

Aspartame is making us fatter!

Aspartame is making us FATTER!!!!!

(I’m either having a mini-stroke here or am about to go Full Jack Nicholson in The Shining)

ASPARTAME IS MAKING US F#@*ING FATTER!!!!!!

 

(….ok....I’m good now)

 

Try this one: consuming one soda per day increases your risk of diabetes by 29%.

“But I drink soda, and I eat sugar free stuff, and I’m thin!!”

Sorry, you’re not off the hook. Remember that Insulin Traffic Cop? He directs the body to store fat around the organs as well…especially the liver. This is not “love handle” fat, it is organ fat.

Again…….not good.

We can go on forever with this but I believe the point has been made. Sugar is bad, mmmmmmmmkay?

This DOES NOT mean we try to stop cold turkey; not necessary and certainly not sustainable. We just need to consume less of it. Guidelines from the American Heart Association are 6 to 9 teaspoons of sugar per day. Where are we at right now? Twenty-two teaspoons.

If you want to optimize the hard work that you are putting in at the gym, or even be just a little more healthy, you gotta put down the Chunky. Drop the yogurt (yup….lots of sugar). Step away from the "Diet" Mountain Dew.

This is not “new” news, and most of us already know this. But hopefully now you understand a little more as to WHY it is so important.

 

Next time we’ll take a look at Integral Development. What it means within the context of CrossFit, and how we can work on it.

-Mike

 

Kill Your Comfort Zone

/

You're soft. Admit it, you are! And so am I…

We all are.

In 2015 we have every comfort, privilege and benefit that one could ever imagine. We have GPS, Google, Uber, Smart phones, Smart cars, cars that park themselves, butt warmers in said cars, instant everything, organic everything and skinny venti no foam no whip iced mocha lattes. Our Spartan forefathers would be amused.

Yet despite our access to these luxuries, fear not….all is not lost. Our primitive programming is certainly alive and well and calling for stimulation, we just need to tap into it. Consider Joe Desena, founder of Spartan Race. Desena is a huge advocate of pushing our limits as human beings and tapping to into the needs that we have as primal creatures. He (along with other creators of similar obstacle races) has built a million-dollar business around the idea that despite all of the present-day comforts that we enjoy, there is a need for us to step away from those comforts in order to grow, achieve and fulfill the basic craving we have to feel challenged and alive. Joe does multiple things every single day to pull himself out of any type of comfort that he might enjoy, and pushes himself to get better. By doing this, he drives his Spartan Race community in the same direction (take a listen to his podcast – great interviews with interesting people).

Consider CrossFit! One of the main reasons that it is so effective and impactful is because whenever you walk through the front door of your CrossFit gym, you are guaranteed to become uncomfortable. Repetitive discomfort is a great prescription for improvement.

As Nietzsche said, "Praise be what hardens us"

So let's all move out to the woods, hunt some caribou, give up toilet paper, light a fire and get caveman up in this piece?!?!? No, not exactly. Modern technology is amazing, and there's no reason that we shouldn't benefit from it.

But that doesn't mean that we allow ourselves to get too comfortable. And certainly, many of us are doing something about this right now!  We are showing up to CrossFit a few times per week, we have done a Spartan Race or Ruckus or a Tough Mudder, and that's great! All I am saying is let's build upon that.

By doing CrossFit we challenge ourselves every time we show up, which is awesome. But we can certainly do more, and periodically at the Kells we will be issuing "comfort" challenges to our community toward that end. They will be fun (most of the time), they will get difficult, and they will definitely make you stretch your comfort zone and test your resilience.

SO....with that, our first Kells Comfort Challenge can be summed up in two words:

Cold Showers.

We are offering a five day cold shower challenge to all Kells members. If you participate, it means that you will not be taking anything but a cold shower for five straight days (beginning Monday, March 30th). You must last all five days, and no hot (or even LUKEWARM) showers. Whoever is left after five days, we will pick a name out of a hat, and the winner will receive either a brand new pair of Reebok Nano 4.0 Crossfit shoes, or the new Nike Metcon 1, your choice. The only requirement is that all participants post on the CFK daily WOD/Blog to log their activity (i.e. the fact that you took your cold shower that day). And yes…this will be honor system – of course we trust you! Plus it’s not scalable to have VanHaur test the water temperature for everyone’s shower….he has a day job!

Sooooo....why cold showers??

Glad you asked. There are many benefits to this challenge, so let's break the two biggest ones down.

#1 This is an excellent mental toughness exercise. 

Is this difficult? You bet it is… It sucks! And you will have a million excuses going through your head about how stupid an exercise this is when that water first hits you. You will rationalize that a pair of sneakers is not a good reason to justify torturing yourself for a few long minutes. But this is not about shoes… It's about intentionally putting yourself in a difficult, uncomfortable situation and pushing through it. After the first day, on days 2, 3, 4 and 5, you will dread the experience. And that's the point.... pushing past that feeling and doing it anyway. This is a great example of how you can test, develop and hone mental toughness.

#2 The physiologic benefits of cold showers are substantial, including:

* Improved circulation. Good blood circulation is vital for overall cardiovascular health, and cold water causes your blood to move to your organs to keep them warm. Cold shower proponents argue that stimulating the circulatory system in this way keeps them healthier and younger looking than their hot water-loving counterparts.

* Relief from depression. Many historic greats suffered bouts of depression.  Henry David Thoreau is one such man, but perhaps Thoreau’s baths in chilly Walden Pond helped keep his black dog at bay. Research at the Department of Radiation Oncology at Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine indicates that short cold showers may stimulate the brain’s “blue spot”- the brain’s primary source of noradrenaline — a chemical that could help mitigate depression.

* Keeps skin and hair healthy. Hot water dries out skin and hair. If you want to avoid an irritating itch and ashy elbows, turn down the temperature of your showers.

* Strengthens immunity. According to a study done in 1993 by the Thrombosis Research Institute in England, individuals who took daily cold showers saw an increase in the number of virus fighting white blood cells compared to individuals who took hot showers.

* Increases energy and well-being. A cold shower gets your heart pumping, and the rush of blood through your body helps shake off the lethargy of the previous night’s sleep. The spike in energy can last several hours.

Make no mistake, this will be a shock to the system (especially if you have never done this before). Probably the most important thing to remember:  breath control. This is cold water, and your nervous system is programmed to react a certain way to the stimulus. When exposed to the water, your breathing will be increased and shallow. Your job is to override that reflex, slow your breathing down, and take deeper breaths.

Most importantly, this exercise is about a commitment to doing something. Your inner dialogue will tell you how dumb of an idea this is, and "who cares what they're doing down at the gym", or "screw this…I'm warming up".   Examine the excuses that you tell yourself before getting in the shower about why this is not a good idea. Examine that inner dialogue that is trying to talk you out of doing something to which you have made a commitment. Does that pattern mirror anything else? Is it similar to you talking yourself into or out of any other situations in life (a job change, a relationship, a habit , etc.)? On the flipside, this is an opportunity to commit to something, and to follow through. Never underestimate the value of that.

Finally, if this particular challenge is not for you, don't worry. We will be doing more of these in the near future. Additionally, you can do your own challenge! Perhaps you can do your own version of the cold water challenge by just turning on the cold for 10 or 20 or 30 seconds at the end of your regular shower. Or you could do something completely different: Meet three new people every day for five days. Turn off the TV at 8 o'clock at night every night for a week. Start the first progression of a challenging movement at the gym that you've been avoiding. Reach out to somebody that you do not know in your field of expertise (or one that you would like to get into) and introduce yourself. Ask them a question, and develop a dialogue.

The possibilities are endless here….but what we are trying to do is turn comfort on its ear. Kill routine.

So there it is, Kells peeps…the Cold Shower Challenge. We hope you jump in on this, as we are sure about the positive results that will follow.  Message me or confirm with us at the gym by March 29th that you are IN! You will be happy that you did.

-Mike

Check out this reference video/article, or just Google the benefits of cold showers:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gb0h8ZKvJW4

http://www.artofmanliness.com/2010/01/18/the-james-bond-shower-a-shot-of-cold-water-for-health-and-vitality/