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600 Million Pounds of Candy: Healthier Halloween Strategies

600 Million Pounds of Candy: Healthier Halloween Strategies

pound of fat

That’s right. Americans purchase 600 million pounds of candy every year for Halloween! Insulin surges, acid-worn teeth, food-dye poisoned bodies, you name it – in close keeping with all the decorative skeletons, it’s quite the celebration of deterioration. Furthermore, keeping candy around the house for Halloween trick-or-treaters can be a big burden to your waist line. The “fun-sized” candy packs, with 100 calories and 3.5g of fat packed into each small piece of food, contribute to a belly that’s anything but “fun size.”  (unless of course you are one of those on youtube who enjoy making your stomach talk and sing) Just five of these a day on top of your normal caloric intake and you have gained 1 pound of pure fat in a week. See the picture on the right for a scary visual representation:

But you say … “I would never eat 5 in 1 day!”   We all hope that’s true, but be sure to save your wrappers in a pile on the counter. You may be surprised by how quickly and easily these convenient snacks get consumed. The pile of wrappers can be a good reminder and deterrent.

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Here are some more strategies for a healthier Halloween:
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  • Wait until the last minute to buy candy so it doesn’t pile up in your home.
  • Give away ALL the candy. I can’t stress how important this is! If it looks like you will have some left over, make the day of the next few kids and dump it all on them. (don’t worry, the earlier kids won’t know how “unfair” you’ve been)
  • Eat before trick-or-treating begins. If you eat a healthy, filling meal before passing out candy at home, you may be less likely to snack on the candy in front of you.
  • Don’t buy tempting candy. If you are going to have treats at home to pass out, purchase items that don’t appeal to you so you aren’t tempted to eat them.
  • This one’s for the kids: buy stuff with REAL ingredients. (don’t take part in passing out chemical poisons to little children)
  • Pass out non-food items. Consider small toys (bouncy balls and silly putty), temporary tattoos, and even toothbrushes for kids.
  • Look for mini candy options- they are even smaller than the fun size.
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Look at the difference in mini-sized candy versus fun-size:
 
– 3 Musketeers:
Mini 24 calories,
Fun-size: 70 calories
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– Butterfinger:
Mini 45 calories,
Fun-size: 100 calories
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– Hershey’s Milk Chocolate Bar:
Mini 42 calories,
Fun size: 95 calories
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– Kit Kat Bar:
Mini 42 calories,
Fun-size: 80 calories
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– Snickers:
Mini 45 calories,
Fun-size: 95 calories
 
In a world where Halloween is synonymous with candy overload, taking steps toward a healthier Halloween can keep the festivities fun without sacrificing wellness. Swapping out candy mountains for balanced moderation, non-food treats, and mindful purchasing helps not only protect your health but also set a positive example for kids. Making small changes today means avoiding haunting health issues down the line.
7 Mistakes in Your Multivitamin: Analyzing Your Most Basic Supplement

7 Mistakes in Your Multivitamin: Analyzing Your Most Basic Supplement

Even the ultra-conservative (& often behind) American Medical Association recommends everyone take a Multi daily. The reasons are simple. Even if you eat a truly healthy diet (few of us even do that), we have deprived our soil of minerals (using chelating herbicides), and modified our foods to contain less nutrients (for taste, color, & sales). What kind should you take? All natural first of all.

 

7 Mistakes in Your Multivitamin

pill bottle

1. Use of synthetic vitamins – Just because a synthetic vitamin shares its chemical formula with a natural, doesn’t mean it shares its chemical structure. Picture your hands as vitamins. Each hand has five fingers, so we’ll label the chemical formula “F5.” So both are identical, right? That’s what proponents of synthetic vitamins will tell you. But you know better. Your right hand doesn’t work so well in a left-handed glove, does it? Vitamin E, for example: natural d-alpha tocopherol is a right-handed molecule, where synthetic dl-tocopherol (made from coal tar) is a left-handed molecule. Guess which one your body prefers?

2. Inclusion of artificial flavors – It’s bad enough that you have to check all your food for Splenda (sucralose), aspartame, acelsulfame K (6-methyl-1,2,3-oxathiazine-4(3H)-one 2, 2-dioxide), & saccharin. You shouldn’t have to check the product you are taking to make you healthier for these chemicals … but you do.

3. Inclusion of dyes and colors – With toxins like red 40 not even allowed in Europe, the mounting evidence against yellow 6, and large control group, double-blind, placebo-controlled studies showing cognitive upset with artificial colors in children, you’d think dyes and colors would be left out of at least our Multi’s. But profits win over our health yet again. Marketing studies show people more willing to take attractively colored pills, so we have colors to deal with now… and we’re the ones to blame.

4. Non-therapeutic doses of nutrients – Picture this “conversation”: Your doctor says that studies show that 100mg daily of a certain drug will save your life, and it comes in bottles of 120 pills, 25mg each. The bottle costs $50 / month. You say, “that’s great doc, but I only want to swallow 1 pill a day, not 4!” Doc says, “ok, I’ll have it made into 100mg pills.” You see it & say, “that pill is too big Doc, and it costs too much anyway” Doc says, “let’s just do this: take 1 of the swallowable size 25mg every morning and let’s hope for the best. That will also save you 75% on your cost.” You say, “ok Doc, sounds good. Everybody’s happy now!” Well that’s the conversation consumers have had with Multi manufacturers. And now everyone is “happily” wasting a “not-too-large” amount of money on worthless supplements while their health suffers.

5. Use of blood thinning herbs – Look, I’m all for certain blood thinning herbs like Ginkgo Biloba or St John’s Wort, or White Willow Bark … for certain clients … in certain situations … when not on certain medications. But the sad fact is that most of America is taking daily aspirin, aleve, Advil, or diuretic blood pressure medication. Although some of these herbs might be able replace what they are currently taking, it could be dangerous to take the herbs in addition to other blood thinners. So why have them part of a multivitamin promoted to everyone?

6. Use of stimulants – Let’s face it. A lot of people take multivitamins to feel better immediately, instead of to plug the nutritional holes in their diet. Guess which Multi they’ll appreciate more and buy more frequently … a nutrient-dense one … or one with Tea extract (theophylline) cocoa extract (theobromine) guarana extract (caffeine), bitter orange extract (synephrine)? Yep, the one that gives them energy within the hour. It’s not because of the b12 though, trust me :)

7. Mega-doses of water-soluble vitamins – So you are low on energy and wouldn’t mind losing a few pounds. You’ve heard B-vitamins give you energy and run your metabolism. So which multi do you choose … the one with “only” 100% daily value” of B’s, or the one with “3,000 % daily value of B’s?” Hek yeah! In classic American philosophy, if a little is good, more = mo’ better! Or as Seinfield puts it, “pharmacist, if you’ll please find the dose that will kill me, then back it off just a little bit.” The good news is that large doses of water-soluble vitamins don’t hurt your body too much, and they are generally cheap to produce. So manufacturers will use this consumer mentality to increase sales. What you end up with is expensive urine in the best case scenario, stressed kidneys in the worst. At least they hit your blood though. We know this because your kidneys filter your blood and feed the waste to your bladder. (if it hit your urine, it hit your blood. Don’t buy into this “nothing is absorbed” lie running around.”)

You are being poisoned. Did you know?

You are being poisoned. Did you know?

You are being poisoned. It’s being done through the public water supply, and if you haven’t guessed what it is yet – without any further ado, it’s fluoride – a potent neurotoxin that harms multiple body functions. It’s not for me to say whether you are being PURPOSELY “dumbed down” as a sort of population control by those who both allowed and promoted the dumping of this substance into what you drink. I don’t buy that myself; but make no mistake, you ARE being dumbed down – both physically by swallowing it and figuratively by believing the lies.

Water or poison

Ironically, your possible lack of outrage over the injustice could very well be due to the fluoride you’ve now got in your system. You see, it can make you more passive. More “go with the flow … whatever …” Do you know the name of the compound in Prozac? Fluoxetine. Interesting. With heavy fluoride exposure due to the contamination of our public water supply, not only your brain, but your thyroid, your bones, your joints and more … all have much to lose. But here’s the problem, by admitting their mistake and reversing the process, the government has much to lose as well. Namely, trust and reputation – in their minds at least. Do we really trust the government anyway? I guess many do. That’s part of the problem with our health.

Let’s start with some quotes, since some would immediately question my own credibility based the selection of letters after my name compared to the letters after some other names. I understand the suspicion, so let me allow some other people talk to you for a little bit:

Albert Schatz, Ph.D – “Fluoridation … it is the greatest fraud that has ever been perpetrated and it has been perpetrated on more people than any other fraud has.”  (Discoverer of streptomycin and Nobel Prize Winner)

Dr. Charles Gordon Heyd – “I am appalled at the prospect of using water as a vehicle for drugs. Fluoride is a corrosive poison that will produce serious effects on a long range basis. Any attempt to use water this way is deplorable.”  (Former president of the American Medical Association)

Kathleen Thiessen, PhD – “Many Americans are exposed to fluoride in the ranges associated with thyroid effects, especially for people with iodine deficiency” … “The recent decline in iodine intake in the U.S could contribute to increased toxicity of fluoride for some individuals”

Dr. Griffin Cole, dentist in Austin, TX: “I still don’t think it’s enough, honestly” … “I don’t think there should be fluoride in the water at all… Ingesting fluoride in any form does nothing for your teeth”

You should definitely continue researching on your own, but to summarize for you the scary findings of many scientific studies, fluoride:

-increases lead absorption

-blocks enzymatic activity

-causes fluorosis (obviously, hence the name of the problem)

-harms the brain (124 studies indicating this, including the lowering of children’s IQ)

-disrupts the synthesis of collagen

-accelerates tumor growth

-interferes with the immune system

-inhibits antibody formation

 

And contributes to:

-thyroid disorders

-alzheimer’s

-infertility

-osteoporosis

-hip fractures

-bone cancer

-arthritis

-dementia

Avoid it by drinking reverse osmosis or distilled water. Refrigerator filters help with chlorine, but do not remove fluoride. If you drink bottled water, make sure it is purified by reverse osmosis and that they have not added fluoride back in post purification.

Think fluoride taken internally is at least good for the teeth? Think again.

Even the government (who has much to lose by admitting their terrible mistake), at this time, is at least willing to admit the following, found on cdc.gov:

“About one third of children and adolescents 6 to 19 had enamel fluorosis of their teeth, although most was very mild.”

Hmmm… getting too much fluoride, are we? (Here’s where we are going folks: any ingested fluoride is too much)

To know that fluoride is damaging a tissue in the body that we CAN see, and to assume absolutely no damage to other tissues that we CANNOT see is a FALLACY in SIMPLE LOGIC.

The CDC continues:

“In some regions of the United States, public water systems and private wells contain a natural fluoride concentration of more than 2 mg/L, and at this concentration, children 8 years and younger have a greater chance for developing dental fluorosis, including the moderate and severe forms. These children should have an alternative source of drinking water that contains fluoride at the recommended level.”

The United Nations Children’s Fund adds:

“Fluoride inhibits enzymes that breed acid-producing oral bacteria whose acid eats away tooth enamel. This observation is valid, but some scientists now believe that the harmful impact of fluoride on other useful enzymes far outweighs the beneficial effect on caries prevention.” – UNICEF, Dec 1999

And thankfully both the American Dental Association and the Centers for Disease control have issued warnings about mixing baby formula with fluoridated water. (yet another good reason to breastfeed)

Furthermore, in January of 2011, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that they plan to reduce the recommended amount of fluoride in public drinking water.

Just listen to them spin this junk:

“One of water fluoridation’s biggest advantages is that it benefits all residents of a community—at home, work, school, or play,” said HHS Assistant Secretary for Health Howard K. Koh, MD, MPH.”

[you should be getting pretty ticked off by now, but here’s the rest of the rhetoric]

“Today’s announcement is part of our ongoing support of appropriate fluoridation for community water systems, and its effectiveness in preventing tooth decay throughout one’s lifetime.”

“Today both HHS and EPA are making announcements on fluoride based on the most up to date scientific data,” said EPA Assistant Administrator for the Office of Water, Peter Silva.

“EPA’s new analysis will help us make sure that people benefit from tooth decay prevention while at the same time avoiding the unwanted health effects from too much fluoride.”

So what’s the current fluoridation level? Glad you asked. Here’s your answer in the same article:

“HHS’ proposed recommendation of 0.7 milligrams of fluoride per liter of water replaces the current recommended range of 0.7 to 1.2 milligrams.”

Up to 1.2 milligrams per liter! Let’s put that in perspective, shall we?

On the back of any tube of toothpaste, you’ll find the warning: “If more than used for brushing is accidentally swallowed, get medical help or contact a Poison Control Center right away.” (Why the seeming double standard? Frankly, the FDA does not have jurisdiction over municipal water supply.)

Now, if you drank the minimum recommended 64 oz of water per day, that is 1.9 liters, which would give you 2.28mg of fluoride. Is that a problem? Consider this, in 1 stripe of toothpaste across a toothbrush, you would get 2.25 mg of fluoride. Now, a better recommendation for water intake is 1/2 your body weight per day in ounces. Most of us weight more than 128 pounds, much more. But let’s be conservative and say somewhere between a lean healthy man at 185 and a lean woman at 125 lies an theoretical “average” healthy human of 155 pounds, in need of 77.5 oz of water per day. That person would consume 2.76 mg of fluoride per day. Well that’s more than is used for brushing!

Of course, if you’ve been reading carefully, you already noticed the government’s admission that some regions of the U.S. contain as much as 2 mg fluoride per liter water! That is to say that if the average healthy person was drinking the recommended amount of water, they would make a DAILY HABIT OF SWALLOWING IN FLUORIDE THE EQUIVALENT FOUND IN DOUBLE THE TOOTHPASTE THAT IS — USED FOR BRUSHING. They not only should be calling the Poison Control Center, they should be calling the friggin’ government!

Well thank God many have started doing just that. The Fluoride Action Network has been formed to push for the removal of fluoride from the public water supply.

LISTEN TO THESE WORDS from Dr. Connett, who authored the book The Case Against Fluoride:

“It’s a substance called hexafluorosilicic acid or its sodium salt: silicon fluorides…These silicon fluorides are captured pollutants from the phosphate fertilizer industry. When you’re making phosphate fertilizers… the process generates two very toxic gasses; hydrogen fluoride and silicon tetrafluoride….For about a hundred years, these decimated the local area — the vegetation; crippled cattle and so on. Eventually, they were required to capture these toxic gasses, using a spray of water. That spray of water produces silicon fluorides. …That scrubbing liquor cannot be dumped into the sea by international law. It can’t be dumped locally because it’s too concentrated. But if someone buys it, it’s no longer a hazardous waste, it’s a product… Who buys it? The public water utilities buy this stuff and put it in our drinking water. It’s absolutely absurd.”

Fluoride is also a by-product of aluminum manufacturing. You see, fluoridation of the public water supply has been coincidentally (ahem) quite the money saver for companies that would otherwise be left with the problem of disposing of massive amounts of toxic waste. Instead, in a genius cooperative deal between the government and some big businesses (this goes way back), the government buys their waste and poisons us with it in the name of public health. Wow.

Because of all the propaganda, many people think fluoride is an essential nutrient for your body. IT IS NOT! There’s no such thing as fluoride deficiency. But wait! You say. There is an RDA (recommended daily allowance) for fluoride. Ah, good observation. But did you know that the RDA’s, which were established in 1941, shortly after the public water fluoridation began, have since been absorbed into the RDI’s (reference dietary intake)? Guess what? There is NO RDI for fluoride now! Isn’t THAT interesting? Furthermore, guess what the old RDA was – 2-3 mg. Yep, even more than what is contained in a stripe of toothpaste across your toothbrush. The RDA’s recommendation exceeded the amount that requires toothpaste manufacturers to put a warning label on their products! By the way, you should know by now that the RDA’s don’t carry much weight any more, and many nutritionists disagree with suggested amounts. Although the amount of fluoride they recommended could CA– USE disease, the low levels of actual healthy nutrients were just enough to PREVENT disease, not necessarily provide optimum nutrition.

I know some of you are STILL not believing me, so let me quote the National Academy of Sciences:

“Fluoride is no longer considered an essential factor for human growth and development.” This statement was made in 1993 ! (can someone say “dragging our feet?”)

Fluoride is instead toxic.

Now … that doesn’t mean it hasn’t served a good purpose:

In the 1800’s, it made a very effective rat poison, but since then, the industry has turned to something safer for the environment: your blood pressure pills. No, I’m being funny. The blood thinner warfarin (Coumadin, etc) is now used to kill off the ugly little rodents.

In the 1930’s, in Europe, it was used to treat hyperthyroidism – an overactive thyroid. It worked. Problem was, it worked TOO well, and essentially killed off thyroid function. So that stopped too.

It’s used in some pesticides as well.

So by now, you should realize that ingesting fluoride is a terrible idea. But should you use it ON your teeth? That’s another issue and one I’m not going to cover here, and quite different from ingestion. Let’s for a moment though, assume that the topical use of fluoride is helpful to teeth. I like what Dr. William Hirzy, Vice President of the EPA union says:

“If you want to prevent sunburn, you don’t drink suntan lotion. You put in on your skin. So if you want to have the benefits of fluoride in oral health, what you do is put it on the surface of the tooth, and not drink it.”

Dr. Hardy Limeback, professor of dentistry at the university of Toronto adds:

“We now know that it doesn’t need to be swallowed…The public has to be informed…they should be told that it doesn’t work by swallowing.”

But let me leave you by reiterating the very first quote I shared. I hope you take the message to heart:

“Fluoridation … it is the greatest fraud that has ever been perpetrated and it has been perpetrated on more people than any other fraud has.” -Professor Albert Schatz, Ph.D. (Microbiology), Discoverer of streptomycin and Nobel Prize Winner

50% Diet? 50% Exercise? Dallas Personal Trainer Examines the Contributions to Weight Loss

50% Diet? 50% Exercise? Dallas Personal Trainer Examines the Contributions to Weight Loss

You see all kinds of estimates on weight loss. It’s 50% diet, 50% exercise, or maybe it’s 25% diet, 75% exercise, and so on and so forth. Let’s examine the implications of those statements and come to a deeper understanding of what all affects our weight on a week to week basis. We are about to get technical, but stay with me through this detailed explanation and you at least won’t ever forget the point I’m making. Neither will you doubt it’s validity, and hopefully you’ll act on its truth.

Here’s the WEEKLY WEIGHT BALANCE EQUATION below (apart from the effects of water retention and the thermogenic effects of particular nutrients). Look at the formula below and think about it for a moment (I hope you haven’t forgotten algebraic terms).

weekly weight balance equation

Looking at the left side of the formula:

There are 4 calories in a gram of carbs, 4 in a gram of carbohydrate, 9 in a gram of fat, and 7 in a gram of alcohol. There are also 7 days in a week. Now look at the equation again and you should understand the 1st number of every term on the left side of the equation. The left side is your total “energy in.”

Considering the right side of the formula, now (energy out):

We all have an RMR, or resting metabolic rate, which is the number of calories your body would burn if you were seated in that chair all day long. This RMR is mostly due to your frame, muscle (just 1 of the reasons resistance training is important), and cardio conditioning, while only fractionally due to the amount of fat you are carrying.

Your Lifestyle Activity Factor is the % of calories above your RMR that you burn in your daily activities, outside of purposeful exercise. A construction worker’s LAF might be 80%, or RMR x 1.8, while a software engineer’s LAF might be 20%, or RMR x 1.2.

Your exercise intensity could be expressed by your average caloric burn per workout. For example, you estimate your burn with something like a heart rate monitor and total an average of 600 calories per 45 minute training session. Your exercise frequency, obviously, is the number of times in a week you do that exercise and burn those 600 calories.

Let’s bring this formula to life for a moment. Consider a typical 250 lb male eating 2500 calories a day. (if that sounds high, record your diet for a while and you might be surprised to see where you are at). If that person is eating the usual 15% protein, 35% fat, 45% carbs, 5% alcohol, and only 10g of fiber (like many of our clients when they start with us), here’s what their left side number equates to:

17,220 calories of “energy in”

Now if that same person has an RMR of 1700 and works in front of a computer all day long, while only exercising 2 days a week and burning 300 calories per session, their right side number equates to:

14,888 calories of “energy out”

That, my friends, yields:

2,332 calories to be stored WEEKLY

There are 3500 calories in a pound of fat, which means that this person would gain:

.67 pounds of fat gained per week, or 35 lbs in a year!

Let’s increase their exercise intensity to 500 per workout, and double their frequency to 4x / week. What do we get? An energy expenditure of 16,280, and a weekly extra 1392 calories to be stored:

.40 pounds of fat gained per week, or 21 lbs still gained in a year!

So what shall we do? Change our eating habits? Hek no! (an all too common answer – or, “I don’t eat that bad.”) Ok, let’s just workout 6 days a week, same new intensity. What do we get? An energy expenditure of 17,280, and a weekly BURN of 60 calories. Yeah! (read: sarcasm)

That’s a weekly weight loss of .01 lbs a week, or 1/2 a pound per year!! Excited yet?

I think you see my point. Why do you suppose so many are frustrated by the weight loss they see, or should I say don’t see, on exercise only programs?

The percentage of your weight loss that is due to eating right, and the % that is due to exercise, all depends on the depth of the changes you make in either arena. But I can tell you this, and you can SEE this now:

It is VERY DIFFICULT to change the scale on exercise alone!

So LET’S JUST SAY (read in Ron White’s voice) this person followed a more comprehensive approach and reduced their calories to 1800, making it easy by saying goodbye to alcohol most days of the week, tripling their daily fiber with quality carbs to stay full, and reducing their fat intake to 20% to make room for 35% protein. Let’s have them exercising just the minimum recommended MOST days of the week (that = 4). What does our math look like then?

11,760 energy calories in and 16,280 energy calories out, and

a weekly weight loss of 1.29 lbs per week, or 67 lbs lost in a year!

Now that’s something to get excited about :)

Burn More Bridges

Burn More Bridges

Success or failure sign

The usual words of “wisdom” you hear are “DON’T burn any bridges.” Well, I’m calling that out as terrible advice.

Although there are some situations where keeping a “bridge” intact is a smart move, it’s also a crutch many lean on when they lack the strength to leave something behind and give an all-out commitment to the new and better thing.

It could be a bad relationship you won’t let go that hinders your ability to find a good one. It could be a part-time job you keep as ” backup ” that distracts you from the full potential of the new one. It could be an old friend that’s worth dropping because they just bring you down or stress you out. It could even be a piece of furniture you want to keep even though it clutters your house and takes away from the nicer piece you already bought. You get the point.

Well, when it comes to health and fitness, this failure to burn bridges allows people to cross back over the canyons they conquered, right back to the same poor habits and choices they had previously left. It’s unfortunate, and it tells me that they really didn’t get it or understand it at the deepest level. There was no solid conviction that said: “never again.” In effect, they didn’t burn the bridge.

Just like the aforementioned examples, there are some foods, some drinks, some behaviors that are worth leaving … for good. Burn the bridge. Don’t allow yourself a way back.

What’s that look like? First of all, get that particular food you supposedly gave up out of the house. Secondly, tell your family you are never eating it again. Furthermore, tell your friends it’s something you are permanently dropping from your diet because it simply holds you back from what you really want. Guess who will remind you of that commitment in case you forget? You better believe it – your friends and family. And is that a bad thing? Nope, not at all. Because you have left it behind, and in a moment of potential weakness, you’d rather not hear it from your friends and family than partake. That does nothing but help you, right?

Here’s another bridge to burn: those clothes that are now too big that you still have sitting in your closet. Why? In case you go back? Why even think that way? Get rid of them! You aren’t going back, right? And if for some crazy reason you do, you should incur the expense of the poor decision. You see, the more penalties you put in place for yourself going the wrong direction, the less likely you will go that way! Stop making it comfortable and easy to fail. It’s the first step of success.

What about those friends you have who, truth be told, are only your friends because you share the same desire for gluttony and sloth? Sounds intense, doesn’t it, lol? Hey, sometimes you’ve got a step back and call stuff like it is :) Would they still hang out with you if you wanted to go do something active? If not, ask yourself if their presence in your life is making you healthier or bringing you down? Harsh, huh? Seriously though, if getting in shape is important to you and every interaction with a particular someone gets you further from that goal, maybe you should 1) share your concern and make a change in your activities together or 2) burn that bridge. If they are a good friend (the kind you should have), they’ll respond to option #1 with no problem. They may even follow and appreciate your lead.

It’s much like credit card debt, right? If someone had struggled with debt for years, and FINALLY made a big leap in the right direction by paying off a certain credit card, the best idea may be to literally do some “plastic surgery” – cut that thing up! It’s a way of burning a bridge to bad behavior. If that person leaves that card open and sitting in their wallet, won’t they be more likely to fall right back into the trap they just climbed out of? The same applies to your health and fitness.

Go BURN SOME BRIDGES, so you’ll stay on the right path and keep moving forward.

Gatorade and Powerade: Are They Good or Bad?

Gatorade and Powerade: Are They Good or Bad?

Seems these days that everyone who takes a walk around the block “needs” fluid, sugar, and electrolytes…and they need it now! Maybe even before the walk, maybe a bit after the walk, and of course during the walk. Really? Gatorade, Powerade, and all the other “ades” out there are over-marketed, and WAY over-consumed. They benefit certain hard-charging, long-enduring athletes, but slow down the efforts of many users that don’t fit the originally-intended user profile. Granted, especially in this heat, a walk around the block probably warrants extra fluid intake – but do you need a “sports drink?” What if you ran around three blocks? Congrats, but your body can give you a lot more effort than that before it needs help from high-fructose corn syrup, red #40, and a multi-billion dollar corporation. Let’s look at why these are overrated for most people:

Reason #1 : Sports drinks like Gatorade are useful when they aid the liver in increasing blood glucose supplied to the muscle. Your muscles rely on glucose from the liver, through the blood, after they run out of stored glycogen. Endurance athletes call this point “hitting the wall,” as it slows one down every time. However, your muscles store over 2 hours worth of glucose in the form of glycogen, more ready to use than anything in your blood. The only people who deplete these stores are those exercising intensely for more than 2 hours. Even then, depending on the person and how “loaded” those muscles are, they may not run out for about 3 hours. Most people do not exercise intensely (burning 600-900 calories/ hour for example) for more than 2 hours at a time, and never come close to “hitting the wall” or relying on glucose making it’s way through the blood from the liver. Furthermore, endurance athletes can use a technique called “carb loading” to almost double the amount of glycogen that the muscles can hold – very beneficial for delaying the “wall hit” and improving times.

woman drinking sports drink

Reason #2 : Sports drinks are liquid sugar (granted, with a few electrolytes). Most people are exercising for weight loss rather than performance. If you are trying to burn fat stores and extra calories, why drink more calories at the same time? That’s like trying to put out a fire while you throw lit matches at it. It “don’t make sense.” What about the low calorie versions? This cracks me up. Remember the purpose of such a sports drink? To replenish blood glucose when the muscles run out. If you start removing the glucose, you remove the original purpose. So why remove the glucose? To sell more to people trying to lose weight. Save your money. Drink water. Take your multivitamin twice a day, every day (the good ones will require multiple pills), and get your 5 handfuls of fruits and veggies. You’ll have plenty of electrolytes to fuel those workouts. And since you are eating every 3 hours, you’ll have a nice recovery meal inevitably planned post-workout.

Reason #3 : Most sports drinks are made to look pretty on the shelf, taste really good, and sell really well. Enter artificial colors and flavors, food dyes, and sweeteners like aspartame and splenda (sucralose) – often combined with acelsulfame K and others. These have no place in the human body anyway, and certainly provide zero performance benefit. In fact, take in aspartame consistently and risk building up formaldehyde (yes, embalming fluid) in your tissues. (aspartame breaks down to aspartic acid, phenylalanine, and methanol. This wood alcohol, or better known as paint thinner, is eventually converted to formaldehyde, which can accumulate in tissue). Does THAT make you go faster? (maybe: with an emphasis on “go”) Note: I cannot say enough bad about aspartame and the history of it’s creators, the dark cloud that hovers over it’s FDA approval, and the money/politics that drive this poison into mainstream consumption. By the way, the story gets worse when aspartame is exposed to high heat (when many people use the stuff!). If you disagree with my position, I understand. [you probably love drinking the stuff.] I get it – I used to as well, and stayed in denial for years. Then I dug deeper, read more, and uncovered more facts and research. Hence my current stance on the substance.

So what if you are exercising intensely long enough to drain your muscles of glycogen, and sweating enough in these high-heat conditions to dangerously lower electrolytes? Is there any way to maintain peak exercise performance while staying hydrated, and avoid harmful synthetic ingredients? You bet.

So now you realize that for most, sports drinks are unnecessary. But if you fit the category of hard-charging, long-enduring athlete, congrats! You can and should enjoy the benefits of a beverage filled with water, electrolytes, carbs, and even a bit of protein during your exercise.

This is especially true in the high heat of Texas summers that drains electrolytes and water even quicker. If, I say if, you are an endurance athlete, or participating in endurance athletics.

The question is: Is Gatorade the best? Powerade? What exactly SHOULD I be drinking to:

1. Avoid the dangers of dehydration, or the coma at the end of hyponatremia (a condition of being too-low on extracellular sodium due to excessive sodium loss through sweat combined with additional water intake)

and

2. Optimize performance through proper mid-exercise nutrition and hydration

Here are some good options and why:

1) Amino-Vital

Research has shown that adding amino-acids to carb/water sports drinks helps to retain water in the blood longer, delaying the emptying by the kidneys. Furthermore, in some studies drinks with a small amount of protein have helped athletes out-perform those using carb-only type solutions. This particular one uses the herb stevia to help sweeten the flavor, instead of any artificial flavors.

Nutrition Facts per 8oz:Amino%Vital

75 calories
42 potassium
135 sodium
16 carb
9 sugar
1,200mg branched chain amino acids
 

2) Gatorade Natural

This natural version of Gatorade omits the artificial flavors and colors found in standard Gatorade drinks. This is a much cleaner option than other Gatorades, but still lacks substantial potassium.

Nutrition per 8oz:Gatorade%Natural

50 Calories
110 mg sodium
30mg potassium
14 carbs
14 sugar
 

3) Coconut Water

Termed “nature’s sports drink,” this powerful fluid packs 324 potassium in every 8oz serving, in addition to the sodium needed to avoid low hyponatremia during prolonged intense exercise. With less sugar than most sports drinks, this may be a good option for those who feel other drinks are too sugary/sticky to enjoy in the heat.

Nutrition per 8oz:Zico

34 calories
91 sodium
324 potassium
7 carb
7 sugar
 

4) Home-Made Grape or Apple Sports Drink

Simply mix grape or apple juice with water (50/50) and add a level 1/8 teaspoon of salt to every 20oz of liquid. With this combo, you get all the benefits of Gatorade plus a substantial increase in potassium (which pulls water into the muscles and aids in reducing cramps). It’s both better and cheaper than Gatorade or Powerade, and void of artificial colors, flavors, and dyes. Plus, you can add your own teaspoon of liquid branched-chain amino acids – make sure they are either naturally or non-sweetened.

Your own Apple Sports Drink

50% apple juice
50% water
1/8 teaspoon sea salt per 20oz liquid

Nutrition per 8oz:Motts%Apple

55 calories
120 potassium
145 sodium
13 carb
13 sugar
(1500 mg branched-chain amino acids if added)
tiny amount of trace minerals from sea salt
 

Your own Grape Sports Drink

50% grape juice
50% water
1/8 teaspoon sea salt per 20oz liquid

Nutrition per 8oz:Welch's%Grape

70 calories
148 sodium
105 potassium
19 carbs
18 sugar
(1500 mg branched-chain amino acids if added)
tiny amount of trace minerals from sea salt