The Diet Drink

Friday, May 3, 2013

Mobility:

Downward Dog Calf Stretch
External rotation with band
Wrist Mobility

Gymnastics skill:

Spend 15 minutes practicing the following:

Triple unders 
Freestanding handstand practice
Alternate every 1:30-2 minutes between movements.

Notes: Practice Double unders as needed.  Handstand practice may include: handstand walking (increments against the wall or free space), freestanding handstand push-ups, kick-ups, max holds, and press to handstands.

Classic Conditioning:

AMRAP 15:

15 Jumping lunges
5 Power snatches (95/65)
10 Push ups

Advanced Conditioning:

5 rounds for time of:

25 Jumping lunges
5 Power Snatches (135/95)
25 Hand-release Push-ups 

-15 minute cap

Cool Down/Midline:

3×60 sec plank hold

Recently I sat in on the On-Ramp “Everything is Everything” talk and an interesting question was raised about Diet Coke and other Diet drinks.  Diso gave a great answer to the new PCF athletes and I wanted to know more information for myself on this subject.

I personally do not drink soda anymore but there was a time in my life when “pop” was something I would crave.  I would drink at least 3-5 a day.  Thinking about that now is pretty disgusting.  I was able to ween off that sugary high from my ice cold, out of the can, Coca-Cola Classic, but it took a while.  And when I say a while I mean a year, maybe?

“Pop” is a non issue for me.  But I do have family members and friends that still drink them on a daily basis.  One example is my old man.  He has type II diabetes and still drinks Diet Coke like its his job.  Whenever I see him drinking it, I always yell at him and insist that he drinks something else.  His answer is always the same, “Why?  There’s no sugar, no calories.  What’s the problem?”  The truth is I don’t know for sure.  I can’t give him a reason except that a scientist made it in a lab and no one truly knows the side effects yet.  

So I did a little research. 

The myth about diet foods and drinks is that they help you lose weight.  In fact, the opposite is true for all artificial sweeteners.  Aspartame (Diet Coke) and sucralose (Splenda) actually cause weight gain rather than weight loss.  For as long as I can remember these sweeteners were hailed as the wonder chemical because it tastes like sugar without the calories.  This is not true.  They actually make you fatter and adversely affect your blood glucose levels and insulin sensitivity.  These diet drinks contain a large amount of phosphoric acid that is extremely acidic and destroys many minerals including calcium and iodine.  Iodine is especially important for the health of the thyroid gland.  Many of you know that the thyroid gland regulates metabolism.  An under producing thyroid can cause a sluggish metabolism and weight gain will follow.

There are so many studies on aspartame and many of them, in my opinion are not conclusive.  On one end, they tell you aspartame leads to cancer, diabetes, heart disease, neurological disorders, and obesity.  And on the other end they tell you there are no side effects of aspartame.  Why is there such strong studies for or against aspartame?  Why are there no clear answers?

I’m confused.

Not to go on a rant here but most of the studies for aspartame were all funded by the food industry and not by an independent third party.  The FDA receives the results of these studies and then makes a decision based on what the food industry has concluded.  The food industry obviously will not submit any information to the FDA that does not align with what they want, and what they want is to sell a product to the consumer and keep selling them that product so they can make money.  Their concerns are not if the product they sell us is harmful, their only concern is if it tastes good and will people buy it.  

What I do know is that I do not want to consume anything that a scientist has created within the last few decades that claim to be the miracle diet cure.  If you drink diet cola you should probably do some research for yourself and make an objective decision.  And that goes for all food.  If you are curious about nutrition ask a coach, a friend, a neighbor; but do the research and come up with your own opinion and find out what works for you and experiment on yourself.  There is so much information on the interweb to make your brain explode. 

Below are a few videos I found and a website that has multiple articles on aspartame and the negative effects of diet drinks.  Educate yourself.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5tpCpqABhM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8kajVAh1Ec
http://aspartame.mercola.com/
http://www.cancer.org/cancer/cancercauses/othercarcinogens/athome/aspartame