Simple carbohydrates, the enemy?

Hey everyone! I wanted to type up a quick post on why I believe simple carbohydrates are our enemy. Simple carbohydrates are sugars with only one or two chain molecules. Since food is only turned into energy once it's digested the sugar turns into energy very quickly. If that spike of energy (calories in the sugar) aren't used quickly in some sort of physical activitiy, those calories are more likely to be stored as fat.

Here are a few fun facts about Americas consumption of products that have mass quantities of sugar in them:

• The average American consumes approximately 30 teaspoons of sugar a day, equivalent to 100 pounds a year. 
• The average American consumes 44.7 gallons of soda per year compared to 28.3 gallons of water per year...that's approximately 70,000 calories in soda!
• According to CDC.gov as of 2010, approximately 33.3% of Americans were overweight and 35.9% of Americans not overweight are obese. That means approximately 69.2% of the American population is fat...
• Being overweight/obese leads to many more health concerns including diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and some types of cancer.

Isn't this enough to persuade you to cut back on sugary products? I was about 230 pounds at my heaviest (5'9) and drank at least 2 sodas a day and had multiple packaged snacks and crappy meals on the regular. I was fat, depressed, and insecure with myself. Girls, no matter how nice you are, don't like a fat boy. It's the sad truth but that's what motivated me to lose weight. When I was about 16, I cut all the soda and sugary products from my diet and dropped down to 205 within 6 months. By the time I was 18, I was at an "in alright shape" 190. I'm now 20 years old, weigh 186 at 5'9, and am happy as can be. I've come a long way and hope I can influence people to lose weight and get healthy simply by cutting back sugar and exercising a little bit. 

                                                       April 3rd, 2012 (195 pounds)

                                                                      March 3rd, 2013 (185 pounds)

Typical simple sugar products include:

-Candy

-Maple syrup

-Packaged snacks

-Soda

-Fruit juice (avoid juice sweetened by "High Fructose Corn Syrup" PLEASE!)

-Honey

-Jelly, etc.

You can limit the amount of sugars you consume by looking at the back of a nutrition label and under carbohydrates it will tell you how many of those carbohydrates are soda. Simple sugar is not filling and has very little nutritional value. An alternative to simple sugars would be products or foods containing complex carbohydrates. Complex carbohydrates are sugar molecules with multiple chains, they take longer to digest. As I stated earlier, food is only turned into energy once it's digested. The slower it's digest the longer the energy is going to last and the less likely it is to be stored as fat. Complex carbohydrates are also much more filling and most contain fiber, which helps with the digestion process. Here are some foods and/or products that contain complex carbohydrates:

-Green vegetables

-Whole grains and foods made with whole grains: oatmeal, wheat pasta, whole grain wheat bread.

-Starchy vegetables such as: potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn, squash, pumpkin, etc.

-Beans, lentils, and peas. 

These are not only complex carbohydrates but FULL of nutrients and vitamins that the body needs. Unlike simple carbohydrates, many of these foods have healthy fats and protein that the body needs to rebuild itself.

Take it from me, I've done A LOT of trial and error with my body and have learned quite a bit. I'm not a professional so take my advice with a grain of salt, but I only want to help others and I've done quite a bit of good for myself by cutting a lot of sugar from my diet. I currently try to consume sugar when I first wake up (because our body is in a fasted state and can use a little bit of quick digesting calories) and after my workout when my body also needs energy. Even then, it's only about 15-30 grams of sugar at the most; the rest comes from complex carbohydrate sources. 

I hope this is informational and helps a little bit. Feel free to leave comments or follow my blog, I'm here SOLELY to help others and would love to have followers to read my blogs as I come out with them so I know I'm helping others. Thank you for your time and have a nice day! :D

America the...starving!?

So, according to CDC.gov approximately 68% of America is overweight and over 1/3 of Americans are obese! After taking history and political science classes, I've learned quite a bit about my country's history. (I know people from other countries will read this.) Many English settlers traveled across the ocean to find a new and hopefully improved life in the Americas. Many of these settlers died because their body's were too weak to fight off illnesses, hunger, or the weather. It took many, many trips of settlers to come over until we were finally able to learn how to "colonize". We learned how to have enough food and survive by working together with the land.

Today, America continues to starve. Our "prosperous" country has a lot of food and for good prices, but is this food nutritious? Up until about the late 1980's there were no such thing as "fat kids" in school. You might have your occasional overweight or chunky kid but nothing like we see today. Today, we live such a fast paced on-the-go life that we would much rather go for the more convenient food rather than the healthy more time consuming food. I believe technology has gotten us so lazy to the point of death. Kids would much rather sit on the computer than go outside. They'd much rather play video games than ride their bike. Parents don't understand that they are raising a very, very unhealthy generation.

Food these days is terribly un-nutritious. I'm not one to complain about preservatives or ingredients in food but the number one thing on my list that I believe is killing our youth is high fructose corn syrup. It's a super concentrated sugary syrup that is in pretty much everything you eat or drink that is sweet, even JUICE! That's right, 95% of the juice we drink isn't even actual nutritious juice. It's sugary syrup with added vitamins.
A 12 oz can of coke contains 39 grams of sugar. Who actually only drinks 12 ounces of soda? I usually drank 32 oz or more. That's about 150 calories of energy ALONG with the meal you're eating. The reason this high fructose corn syrup is so bad for us is because it contains fructose, which has been known to cause insulin resistance and diabetes.

The reason we get fat is because we have too many calories that our body doesn't need. Sugars digest VERY quickly and turn into energy FAST. If we don't use that energy, our body naturally stores it for later. This is a survival technique that our body's have developed over thousands of years to survive times of little to no food. The problem with this survival technique, our country consumes WAY TOO MUCH SUGAR and we don't do enough CARDIOVASCULAR ACTIVITY. Just a little something on my mind that I needed to rant about.

This isn't VERY informative but over my years of bodybuilding/diet altering, I've come to the conclusion that many people are unaware of what I've outlined in this very unorganized blog. I promise my next one will be much more organized and detailed, but for now...Carpe Diem!

A little bit about me...and my body!

Hey everyone, first post in this part of my blog! I've been into weightlifting since I entered high school and can't get enough of it. It's my hobby, my escape, and quite honestly my love. Bodybuilding makes me feel good, physically and mentally. I've literally learned life lessons from exercising, something that might be strange to others...I know.

I'm 20 years old now so it's been about 6 years that I've been lifting weights. It wasn't until about 2 years ago that I really noticed that you are what you eat. I grew up poor and didn't live with very healthy people, I ate what was there and a lot of it. I may have been able to tell you every lift you need to know to work every part of your body, but it doesn't matter unless you're giving your body the correct fuel.

I entered high school at 5'6 180 pounds, reached 5'8 228 toward the end of my sophomore year, 210-215 pounds my junior year and ultimately left high school weighing 185 at 5'9. I played football and feel that I was given a edge on the fitness world because I understand what intensity and work ethic are in a workout. Now, I'm 5'9 (pretty sure I'm done growing) weighing 186. Difference is, I have abs and my body is starting to look very good. I took an entry level nutrition class my 2nd year of college and have blasted off ever since. I tweak my diet every so often, pretty much leaving most carbohydrates out once spring/summer come up.

I've lifted for strength and power as well as for aesthetics and looks. I back squatted 500 pounds (I weighed about 198-205 pounds) at my best when I was 18, with knee wraps and a belt. I hit 435 pounds as my deadlift personal best this last year and am hovering right around that weight still.

Over time, I want to get the "perfect body" as well as gain strength once I obtain a comfortable physique to do so. I'll be posting on here periodically about my progress as well as just some information/motivational posts. Just wanted to let you guys know a little bit about me, hoping to acquire some followers. I'm serious about this and workout 5-7 days a week, sometimes twice a day. Please feel free to ask questions and I'll provide the best possible advice that I can to you.

 Thank you for taking the time to read this, have a nice day! :)