Gimme that Sweet, Sweet Brain Damage...

There's a point in most people's day, where you might be getting a little tired and need an extra kick. Whether it's in the morning or mid-afternoon, coffee or diet soda starts to call your name. Get that extra kick of caffeine without all those nasty sugar-calories. Long-term solution, make alterations to your diet for a more sufficient energy supply throughout the day. Short-term answer is not diet soda and coffee with artificial sweetener.

But diet soda has the caffeine i need, zero carbs, zero calories, and (for you Zoners) its keeping me in the damn zone. WTF? For those of us intimately involved with a dietary eating plan such as the Zone, have a basic understanding of keeping balanced blood sugar through out the day.. here's a quick run down. Eating LOW-GI carbohydrates keeps your energy supply at a time-release-like state between meals. If you eat HIGH-GI carbohydrates, you get a nice big spike of energy and then crash off of it soon after. When sugar is released into your blood, an adequate amount of insulin is released from your pancreas. But there was no sugar in the diet soda, so where's the problem?

Unfortunately for the diet soda junkies, there is another villan at work in the release of insulin. Mr.Hypothalamus. Remember that guy from grade school science class? With fond memories or not, he's behind another aspect of insulin release. When your tongue gets a taste of something sweet, there is a signal sent to your brain (the hypothalamus), telling it that there is energy coming in and that we're going to have to produce some extra insulin to accommodate the raise in blood sugar levels. Now we have an increase in insulin, and no actual sugar going into the blood. The brain is now confused. Not only does the artificial sweetener dull our insulin sensitivity like HIGH-GI foods, but it has now altered the brain's ability to properly judge regulation of insulin. This newly disfunctional release is now applied to the normal foods that we eat after the fact. So we're no longer getting adequate insulin coupled to the glucose (sugar) that is in our blood. Scary shit. Injury or harm, congenital or acquired, to the tissues of the brain resulting from inadequate oxygen supply, trauma, or other causes. That is Dictionary.com's definition of Brain Damage. Artificial sweetener (coupled with zero calorie intake) has technically caused damage to our brains, giving us, well.. Brain damage; not fun.

But my doctor says that 1 diet soda a day isn't bad for me. Your doctor is basically saying "Hit yourself in the head with a baseball bat, ONCE today... instead of THREE times." Clearly less is better, (but NONE is best)-where MORE just prolongs the affects of it. If you are trying to lose weight, this is terribly defunking your chances. You can be losing weight, no doubt.. but it decelerates results and is doing more damage to your body that you do not need. But this applies to all.. Want to put on muscle? Increase recovery rate? Jacked up insulin levels will effect the rate cellular turnover and repair in a negative way.

Artificial (Adjective) Definition courtesy of Dictionary.com Unabridged (v1.1)

1. Made by human skill; produced by humans (opposed to natural)
2. Imitation; simulated; sham
3. Lacking naturalness or spontaneity; forced; contrived; feigned
4. Full of affectation; affected; stilted: artificial manners; artificial speech.
5. Made without regard to the particular needs of a situation, person, etc.
6. Biology. based on arbitrary, superficial characteristics rather than natural

Now, lets apply those words associated with the definition of "Artificial" to a chemical that we're putting into our bodies by choice..

People who are dialed into their diets and put forth a huge deal of effort in balancing their blood sugar and reducing insulin sensitivity are being seriously cheated by using artificial sweeteners. It derails this attempt and is working against our best efforts (especially with beverages where calories are null: diet soda, crystal light, etc). Thats a lot of work benefiting a lot less than it could. Being CrossFit instills the need for efficiancy in our lives. The removal of Artificial Sweeteners from your foods, makes your diet significantly more efficient. For everyone, decreased insulin sensitivity is just one step closer to hyperinsulinemia, which may be the cause of some of the most serious problems (diabetes, heart disease, hypertension, obesity, rhumatoid arthritis, and may more). This is particularly very important for type2-diabetics, who's bodies are already delinquent in the insulin department (with dangerously high blood sugar levels). If you're a Bacardi & Diet drinker, rest easily knowing that the calories from the bacardi does aid in less degenerative results from the artificial sweetner in the diet coke.

This all being said, tells me that the removal of artificial sweeteners from our diets, can lead to better results, health and longevity. The body has only evolved to be able consume certain things without causing harm to itself. Artificial sweeteners are relatively new to mankind, and by no means natural. Evolution takes quite some time. Aim to drink things that you can physically make yourself, rather than crazy chemical coocktails. Your body will appreciate it more. Who's up for the challenge?

references:
Study: Artificial sweetener may disrupt body's ability to count calories
Physiology: Insulin, Glucose and the Brain
Sugar on the Brain

Comments

[dingo]

nice job sean. Really good piece though I think I just crapped my pants. Maybe some of that explains my lightheadedness.

[Cal]

SeanyCakes...I agree with Dingo, minus the dump in the pants. I always figured that diet soda wasn't good for you and now I know why. So thanks.

Question: as far as Naked juice, Odwalla, Mix1 and like go, what's your zone recommendation? Clearly they are easy to choke down and super-convenient, but there has to be a catch. Same for Zone bars. What's the deal?

Also, I'm struggling to find a decent breakfast protien alternative to eggs and bacon. Any suggestions?

Furthermore, where should I post such questions, since I'm anticipating having them from time to time? Should we start a general nutrition questions thread?

[sean]

awesome guys.

cal,
personally, i would keep zone bars as a last resort. they are balanced and for most of us that is key. that fact is, there is unfavorable sugar in it. keeping you 'in the zone' (sorry i hate saying that as much as everyone hates hearing it) for less time.

'zone perfect bar' ingredients:

Soy Protein Nuggets: ( isolated sou protein, tapioca starch, salt)
Chocolate Flavored Coating (sugar, fractionated palm kernal and palm oils, cocoa powder [processes with alkali] nonfat milk, sorbitan monostearate, soy lecithin, natural flavor)
Peanut Butter Fudge:( corn syrup, sugar, peanut butter, high fructose corn syrup, palm kernal oil, milk protein, soy lecithin, xanthan gum, carob seed gum, salt, caramel color, beta carotene, vanilla extract, peanut oil with other natural flavors)
Peanut Butter Chips:(evaporated cane juice, palm kernal oil, partially defatted peanut flour, nonfat dry milk solids, maranatha peanut butter [peanuts, salt] whole milk solids, salt, soy lecithin)

(good) zone bars -> (better) fruit -> (best) vegetables

odwalla, naked, etc.. keeping track of which fruits are more favorable is key. i believe these are all 100% fruit juice, which is always good.. here's the stickler.. naked is about 15 ounces.. 'most' people tend to slam these bad boys down in the matter of minutes. (same problem with protein shakes. you're eliminating the chewing (breaking down aspect).

naked 'orange mango motion' 100% fruit juice
31g of CHO in 15.2 oz
zero fiber.

that comes out to roughly 3.5 blocks of carbs. you can drink that down in 5 minutes. if you think about how long it takes you to eat an orange (average 18g CHO) its probably a bit longer, as well as packed up with some dietary fiber, which slows down absorption (a good thing).

you can eat too much (or a perfect amount too fast) of a good-low GI carb and still spike your blood sugar; pacing. if you can pace yourself it'll be a lot more beneficial.

keeping breakfast fast and non-routine is a pain in the ass. there will be a recipe section up soon in 'feeding grounds' with plenty of ideas for all meals + snacks. as far as varying protein, check your butcher for a nice big peice of meat (ham is good in the morning), roast, chop up and feast for days. mix it up with the eggs/bacon/sausage.. and don't forget about fat-free cottage cheese, low-fat cheese, milk, and soy products (if youre not paleo).

hope that helps (and discussion forum is in the works) currently post under topics that spark questions-

[Lauren]

I'm sad. So so sad. Ignorance is (was) bliss. I didn't want to know what that crap was doing to my body, but now I do....and I just have to say "no" to things like splenda. Thanks for the explanation, it really helps to have things spelled out like that. I'm so happy (and sad) to have you doing this Sean - Now, I have to go clean out my cupboards....

[Lauren]

Sheena and Destiny, I think you have some cupboards to clean out too.......

[Sheena]

I as well am sad...so sad. Splenda and I have formed quite the relationship over the years. When I wake up in the morning, splenda is there waiting for me to her in my coffee and start my day off "sweet". Ok on a serious note, what the hell can I put in my coffee now? Please don't tell me that my sugar-free french vanilla creamer is going to make me stupid too.

[sean]

sheena, i plan on elaborating on this more, but in short:

look for a natural sweetener.. i dropped the artificial sweetener about two weeks ago and i'm still adapting to black or just cream coffee; not easy, especially if you look forward to that 'sweetness' in the morning. if you have the time and/or patience for trial and error, experiment with squeezing a little (and i do mean LITTLE) fresh fruit juice, though it may work slightly better with tea's; still worth a shot for coffee; call me crazy. but i could get down with some pineapple 'flavored' coffee :)

alt:
http://www.vanillafromtahiti.com/vanillaextract.html
has all natural (no sugar, gluten free) vanilla powder and extract.. on the high end, 4g (1tsp) has 1g of CHO (about 12 calories).. the only listing on vanilla i could find was that it was classified as a 'sugar alcohol" so i'm assuming its just empty calories-not awesome, but ok (till proven wrong).. more to come on this topic; i'll see what i can dig up-

[Cal]

seany....talk to me about V-8....

[Ajlouny]

You learn something new everyday. Thanks for the info.

[kara]

I HAVE CUPBOARDS I'M CLEANING OUT TOO!!!!

[DONAHolland27]

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