After my last post, I was asked what I know now about nutrition and fitness that I wish I knew when I was younger. I thought this was a great question considering every day we are learning something new about health. One day caffeine is good for you, the next day it's bad. Not to mention all the crazy fad diets that have come and gone and some that are still around. i.e. the grapefruit diet, Atkins Diet, the South Beach Diet, and the Paleo Diet. It's no wonder we get confused! However, there are some facts that have remained true over the years. i.e. too much sugar can cause weight gain, eating more natural foods (especially greens!) is better for your body than processed foods, too much salt can lead to high blood pressure, strength training builds muscle and can lead to weight loss and regular physical activity can decrease the likelihood of heart disease and mental stress. But here are the top 3 things I know now that I wish I knew when I was in my teens and early 20's.
1. The amount of sugar that is in one can of soda!
I remember the days when I would drink anywhere from 2-5 cans of soda a day! Especially during my college years when I would cram for an exam, or write a 20 page paper, or after having a late night with my girlfriends. Sometimes I would even start my day off with a can of soda for breakfast! Then when we hit the phase where "diet" soda was the more popular choice, I switched from regular soda to drinking diet, low calorie or zero calorie soda. But now that I know how much sugar is in one can of soda, how awful aspartame is for the body, and how sugar wreaks havoc on our body and mind, I can't remember the last time I drank a can of soda.
One 12 ounce can of soda has about 6 teaspoons of sugar (or HFCS, high fructose corn syrup). That means, if I was drinking 2-5 sodas a day, I was having 12-30 teaspoons of sugar a day as well! No wonder I gained the infamous freshman 15 (pounds that is) during my first year of college.
Another downside of sugar is that it is highly addictive. After having it, you experience pleasure and satisfaction due to the release of dopamine, the pleasure hormone, in the brain. However, this experience is short lived and soon after, you experience an energy and mental crash. But because the pleasure we experience is so great, we want more of it. These symptoms are similar to what cocaine and heroin abusers have. i.e. cravings, withdrawal and relapse. That alone made me reduce my sugar intake straight away! Now I chose more natural sugars such as whole natural fruits, organic maple syrup, stevia, or dark chocolate that is 70% or higher. Not only do I feel better, my waist line "looks" better too!
2. Why NOT eating makes you GAIN weight rather than lose weight
You have a special event coming up and you want to look great. You bought a knock out dress that would be the envy of all of your girlfriends and that could draw the attention of all the eligible handsome men. So what do you do to make sure you fit in that dress? If you were like me, you would stop eating for a few days to hopefully drop those few extra pounds. This is the WORST thing you can do to lose weight. But that is what I did, not once, but a few times during my teenage years.
By starving yourself a few days in a row, you are essentially causing your body to go into "starvation mode." When this happens, your body tends to store food as fat rather than use it for energy. Why? Your body does not know when it is going to receive fuel again so it stores food for later use just in case it doesn't receive fuel again for awhile.
Another side effect of starving myself was that I ended up binge eating because I was craving food! I would eat just about anything (which was usually high calorie processed foods) because I was so hungry. As a result, I would end up gaining weight instead of losing it. Then I would get angry with myself for having no will power or discipline and for gaining the weight I wanted to lose. This in turn led to another side effect. I would lash out at others because I hungry AND angry. Hence, I became a HANGRY person.
What did I learn from this lesson? That starving myself does not work and that I could have saved myself (and others) a lot of grieve, heart ache and extra weight gain had I planned my nutrition more wisely.
3. Why I felt bloated, fat and had severe cramps after eating particular foods (including ice cream!)
We've all experienced feeling full, bloated and fat. I used to think it was a sign that I ate too much and that I lacked the will power to stop eating when my stomach was clearly telling me it was full. I had no idea back then that these feelings might have been caused because of something else, food intolerance. For example, I absolutely loved peanut butter. I loved it so much that I would grab a large spoon and scoop large quantities of peanut butter straight from the jar and eat it. No bread or jelly required! After a few bites, my stomach would go into spasms. I would feel bloated and often I would have cramps that were so severe, I could not even sit up straight. But it never stopped me from eating it entirely. I would deal with the pain until it subsided and then a few days later, I would eat it again as if that painful experience never occurred. I even switched to organic peanut butter just in case it was the hydrogenated oils that was causing me pain. (hydrogenated oil is a whole other topic!) T
This went on for years until I started to have the same symptoms (and sometimes worse) with other foods. Finally, I went to see a Naturopathic Doctor who ran some tests and low and behold, we discovered that I was intolerant to peanuts. It didn't take me long to learn what other foods I was intolerant to as well and I slowly began to change my diet. The result? I stopped eating food my body could not handle and I discovered new foods that by body could digest well and that tasted delicious!
So there you have it. The top 3 health lessons that I know now that I wish I knew then that would have saved me a lot of physical and emotional stress!
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