Tag: #food

Hungry for Change

15 Minutes of… “Hungry for Change” Part II

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Hungry for Change

Hungry for Change

I want you all to know that it it takes me a good 60 to 90 minutes to watch only 15 minutes of this documentary because I am constantly pausing it to research and truly understand some of the shhhtuff that they are talking about. Here are my takeaways:

  • “the food companies engineer addictions, I believe, into many of the foods”
  • “MSG and free glutamates are used to enhance flavor in about 80% of all processed foods.” – Raymond Francis M.Sc. MIT
  • MSG and free glutamates can be hidden behind over 50 different names
  • a processed, refined, sugar-food or soda will deliver a biochemical change in your brain and make you momentarily uplifted and happy. People get used to that feeling and want to get that momentary feeling back again and they will, but then that feeling will soon drop off and they are left empty, with their bodies and brains looking for the nutrients and the other things that they need to function properly.
  • the food industry wants you to buy more food, that’s what their main goal is. They’re not thinking about your health and wellness; they’re thinking about what they can do to make you buy more of their product. So they manipulate the chemical structure of  the food, so that it gives the impression that it is the most fulfilling thing that you ever had.
  • diet cola has a combination of aspartame and caffeine; these 2 together create a very unique blend of excitotoxin that kills off brain cells, but before they die they have this “excitement” this “buzz.” So what you find with diet cola addicts, they’ll drink Liters of cola a day to get that “Excitement” and “buzz” again; just like drug addicts.
  • Aspartame causes formaldehyde buildup in the brain, frontal lobe inflammation, migraines, visual disturbances, symptoms that mimic multiple sclerosis, headaches, neurological problem, cognitive problems, and seizures (in more serious cases); formaldehyde is put in foods to extend their “shelf life.”
  • when a food additive (like aspartame or any other artificial sweetener) is manufactured, the process of getting approval is: (1) the manufacturer wants creates a new additive, (2) the manufacturer funds (controls) the studies that of course will show evidence that their new additive is safe , and then (3) these studies are submitted to regulatory agencies (ie., the FDA) for approval.
  • The FDA doesn’t have their own scientists that do food analyses. They just evaluate the studies that the manufacturers submit.
  • food companies are just like the tobacco companies, but instead of using nicotine to get their customers addicted, they use MSG, processed sugars, aspartame and other chemicals.
  • many food labels are deceptive; it’s like these major food companies are naming these products based on what they hope you might imagine you’re eating, rather than what is really in the box. And then there are stuff in that food that they don’t want you to know about, so they don’t put it on the label (or they come up with a name that doesn’t sound as bad as the real name.)
  • when you see “Fat-Free,” on a label, it normally means that it is loaded with sugar; you could get a 2lb bad of sugar, label it “Fat Free” and it would be allowed to be put on shelves. Technically, there is not fat, BUT once the sugar is ingested, it will turn in to fat in the body because it sends the sugar levels sky high and the pancreas needs to secrete insulin in order to bring that down so that you don’t die. And insulin [can be] is a fat producing hormone. >> the reasons I, JR, say it can be a fat producing hormone is because insulin allows glucose to go from our bloodstream into our individual cells. And once its in our cells, we either use it as energy OR we store it and those cells become “fat cells.” The issue is that people intake so much sugar, but they are not moving enough to use it as energy; so most people store this sugar in the cells which eventually become “fat cells”
  • fat is really good for you, if its the right type of fat. we need the correct fats and proteins to feel satiated.
  • the worst kinds of fats are the partially hydrogenated fats. These are the hydrogenated oils in baked items, crackers, cookies, butter spreads, margarine, etc.
  • healthy fats are the natural plant based fats like in avocaods, chia seeds, flax seeds and even healthy fat from salmon

15 Minutes of… “Hungry for Change” Part I

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Hungry for Change

Hungry for Change

Here are my takeaways from the first 15 minutes of this documentary:

  • we are not eating foods anymore, we are eating “food-like” products and they are adorned and made to look better and smell better so that people are attracted to them. They are made to have a long shelf life and the main objective is not really to give us a healthy product, its to give us a product that will make a lot of profit for the company that is producing it. 
  • we’re moving less and we’re consuming so much nutrient-less calories; these two things combined is the issue. these things combined create an obesity epidemic, a low energy epidemic, a fog in cognition, and we begin to lose the will to take self-responsibility. When we lose the will to take self-responsibility, we turn it all over to a doctor who is only able to prescribe a pharmaceutical pill that doesn’t address the real issues, which are buried and complex.
  • “the average American consumes more than 150 pounds of sugar and sweeteners each year.” – US Department of Agriculture
  • “we are overfed, but we are also starving to death”
  • as a species, the big challenge is to find calories and our body is biologically adapted to this; we seek calorie sources, particularly fats and sugars
  • when we taste something fatty or sweet, our bodies want more of it because for our hunter gatherer ancestors, fat and sugar meant survival
  • our bodies are programmed to “store up” for the “winter,” but the “winter” doesn’t come because we have so many sources of “food” today.
  • hunter-gatherer “gardeners” have an extremely HIGH amount of nutrition and an extremely LOW amount of calories in their food. Compared to our society: we have a high amount of calories, but a low amount of nutritional value
  • we have so many calorie sources, but our body still has the same signals that are ancestors had. so when we eat sweets and fatty foods, our body wants more because it is programmed to behave in a “feast or famine” environment. The problem is that we have FEAST, but there is no famine.
  • we could eat 10,000 calories a day, but if we are not getting the specific nutrients we need, then we are starving on a nutritional basis. and if we are starving on a nutritional basis, our body will remain hungry to get those specific nutrients. man-made foods (like bread and sugar and table salt) trick our body into thinking we’re getting those nutrients.
  • the biggest cause of obesity is addiction
  • we know we shouldn’t eat bad foods, but we don’t know WHY we continue to eat those bad foods

HMT: Days 24, 25, 26, 26 & 28

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HMT: Days 24, 25, 26, 27 & 28

HMT: Days 24, 25, 26, 27 & 28

Day 24: 3 mile run or cross

I did my 3 mile run on the treadmill at Crunch. It was a very very very light and easy run. I ran at 6.5 pretty much the whole time and just focused on my breathing and staying relaxed. I think I’ve said this before, but my 3 mile runs are getting really really easy and I love it. I can’t wait til my 5 and 6 mile runs feel like nothing.

Day 25: 5 mile run & strength

5 mile treadmill run

5 mile treadmill run

This run felt really good (as you can see by the happy face). I started this run at 7.0 and finished the last 2 miles at 8.0 and 8.5 respectively. I’m happy to know that I was able to run at those speeds for the last two miles. As much as I like running on the treadmill, I think I will make all my runs from now on outdoor runs. Of course if the weather is bad, I will have to use the treadmill, but there’s been some beautiful days recently and I’ve been choosing to run on the treadmill. From now on, outdoors for me; I’m excited!

Day 26: Rest or easy run

I decided to rest on Friday because my 10-K trail run was actually on Saturday instead of Sunday. I spoke to one of my young clients a few day earlier and asked her for advice for my first 10-K. The reason I asked her was because she was a cross country runner and a very athletic person. She told me to have some spaghetti for lunch the day before and more carbs with some protein for dinner the night before; so that’s what I did. For lunch I had Lemon Pesto Linguini and for dinner I went to my favorite sushi spot: American Sushi House. And hell yes, I had the All-You-Can-Easy sushi. This is what I had:

2 orders of  American Roll – Shrimp Tempura & avocado topped with 5 types of fish

American Roll mMmMmMmMmmmmmm

American Roll mMmMmMmMmmmmmm (photo taken a few weeks ago, during my first run in with All-You-Can-Eat)

1 order of Bruce Roll – Shrimp Tempura, spicy tuna & avocado topped with 5 types of fish

Bruce Roll, my 2nd favorite roll

Bruce Roll, my 2nd favorite roll (photo taken a few weeks ago, during my first run in with All-You-Can-Eat)

Day 27: Rest 10-K

The 10-K that I ran was the Diablo Trails Challenge by Brazen Racing. It was in Walnut Creek which is about a 45 minute drive for my place. The race was fun and that’s exactly how I wanted to attack the race; I wanted this race to be a “fun run.” As I continue to read Born to Run, I’ve been falling in love with running a lot more and have been trying to enjoy my runs. I’ve been looking at all my runs as “fun runs” as opposed to going on these runs with the mindset of beating my previous time, and this race was perfect for a “fun run” mindset. I did not expect all the “elements” that this race had to offer: the running through creeks where the water ran knee high, the mud, the pot holes, the high grass, and the 2 crazy steep hills. At the beginning, I tried to carefully step on the rocks that poked out of the creek so as to not get my Brooks wet, but midway through as I saw that there were going to be more than 1 or 2 creeks (there were about 15 total throughout the race), I decided to just get down and dirty and run in and through the water; and boy was it refreshing! Yea, my shoes felt heavy after and my socks were soaked, but I had a blast running! Just like I was a kid again, running through the “back woods” of my city with my cousins, jumping through puddles and shhtuff.

 

Like I did after my 5-K race, I think I summed up my 10-K experience best on my Instagram picture with my family after the race. Here are a few pics of me and Gordon before and after the race and a picture with my girlfriend, my eldest cousin and his daughter

After registering and receiving our bibs

After registering and receiving our bibs

I got to the start/finish line a little later than I wanted to, but it was just enough time to take care of everything. I used the bathroom twice, I was able to do a few lunges, put on some sun block and drink a cup of water.

After the race with our first ever (but not last) medals

Left: Gordon (1:01:04 = 9th in age group) & Right: JR (1:04:19 = 11th in age group)... Age group = 25-29

Gordon and I were pretty damn elated after the race! We both felt very accomplished after our first ever 10K and I’m so happy to have shared this experience with him. I think today was the start of our love and respect for the “running world.”

(Left to Right): my woman, me, my eldest cousin Jose, and his daughter Sheila

(Left to Right): my woman, me, my eldest cousin Jose, and his daughter Sheila

“My fam came out to support! I run because I have a family who I want to be healthy for. I run so that I could tell my nephews and nieces that they could do whatever they want if they put their mind to it; that if they want something bad enough, they could get it. I want to be an example for my family. I want my nephews and nieces and my own future kids to know that sometimes in life you’ll want to stop, you’ll want to quit but you MUST keep moving. Health and fitness is a lifestyle. It’s NOT about how much you can lift, whether you have a 6-pack or not, how far or fast you could run or how high you could jump; health and fitness is being supportive, it’s respect, it’s love, it’s compassion, it’s motivation, it’s teamwork, it’s found in others. So many times during this run I turned to someone who was struggling and said “great job, you could do it!” The look on their faces was priceless and the sound of their “thank you” made my heart smile. I run for my family and friends and I run for thise experiences; nothing else. Why > How. #ypowr”

 

 

Day 28: 10-K Rest

Today my mother took me to a massage place that offered a 60-minute massage for $20….. only $20?!?! I was a little iffy about going to this place, but my legs were pretty sore from yesterdays run so I was willing to give it a shot. Out of 5 stars, I would rate it a 3.5. I specifically told the front desk girl that I only wanted my legs to be worked on, but I guess she didn’t forward the message to the therapist. I didn’t bother to correct her when she started with my head and neck because: egh, its only $20. The upper body massage was just “aiiiggghhttt.” The lower body/leg/foot massage was……. $20 worth? One thing I did like was that she kicked my feets ass (does that make sense?). She worked my feet pretty well, but too bad it was only for about 45 seconds. To be honest, my legs felt pretty refreshed after, but I’ve had massages before and I’ve had better. Would I go back to this place? Probably not, unless my mom pays for it again 😉