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VIII . NUTRITION
CrossFit Kids is the optimal fitness program for children and The sugar industry is enormous. It is an international
addresses the 10 general physical skills via a variety of func- commodity, produced from sugar cane or sugar beet and
tional movements performed at high intensity. However, consumed in massive quantities across continents and
without changes to food intake (both content and volume), countries. Reportedly, global sugar consumption increases
physical progress, though exceptional, will be muted rela- by about 2 percent per year. In the United States alone, sta-
tive to the athlete’s potential. tistics indicate the typical diet contains about 30 teaspoons
of refined sugar per day. This statistic increases when you
For the most part, children do not purchase their own add in the amount of sugar consumed in soft drinks. But
food—adults do. In this way, parents have a great deal of cane and beet sugar are only a part of the picture.
control over what kids and teens eat. Parents are therefore
instrumental in the health (fitness added up over a lifetime) Sugars come in many forms and carry a wide variety of
of their child to the extent that they intervene with their names. A good rule of thumb is to look for anything that
dietary choices. We highly encourage parents and children ends in “ose,” such as sucrose, fructose, levulose, lactose,
investigate dietary options to support optimal health. Below maltose, and saccharose. Other common varieties and
is a simple, effective starting point with children and food. forms of sugar include cane sugar, corn sugar, brown sugar,
Sane Nutrition for Kids/Teens in 150 Words confectioner’s sugar, grape sugar, dextrose, fruit sugar, malt
sugar, milk sugar, invert sugar, and maple sugar. As you
By: Jeff Martin can see, there are many ways to sweeten a product, and
companies go to great lengths to market this product in all
Our goal with kids is not to get them on the Zone or any its various forms. This gets us hooked and ensures that they
other highly specific diet. Rather, our goal is to get them to have a ready market. Often this marketing includes sneaky
think and make good choices about what they eat. Our goal tactics designed to trick consumers into a false sense of
is to teach them very basic concepts. For example, sugar buying and eating healthy.
is “bad”; protein is “good” and should be included in every
meal; nuts and seeds are “good” fats; pasta, white bread, Even more insidious is our dependence on those products
white rice, and even whole grains are not that good for you; that are not typically thought of as sugar sources. Not the
colorful fruits and vegetables are good for you. “oses” but, rather, those which eventually behave like simple
sugars once they are in the body’s systems. We strip our har-
Look at your plate, make a fist, eat that much meat every vests of their natural goodness in an attempt to make them
meal. Next, turn your hand over and fill it with nuts and “palatable” and, in the process, leave them nutritionally
seeds, eat that much good fat. Fill the rest of your plate with depleted. A whopping 85 percent of all grains eaten today
fruit and vegetables. Fill your plate this way at every meal; are refined-white bread, white rice, processed breakfast
do not eat more. cereal, snack chips, etc. These create a response in the body
Sugar Parts 1– 4 that is (at least) equally as harmful as any of the obvious
sugars.
By: Cyndi Rodi, CrossFit Kids Magazine, March–June 2009
In the interest of overall health and wellness for our children
Sugar is widely consumed and accepted, habit forming and and teens, it is incumbent upon us as parents, trainers and
seductive, and we cannot deny the grip that sugar holds on affiliates to educate ourselves on this subject. In the next
modern society. We use it as a reward for good behavior, for few paragraphs, we will look at our modern relationships
comfort on a stressful day. We wrap it in delightful packag- to sugar and discuss the ways in which we can attempt to
ing and conceal it in presumably healthy dishes. But what safeguard our families and clients against its ravages.
price are we paying for our addiction to this product? Sources:
Sugar can make you sick. I don’t mean sick to your stomach, http://www.illovosugar.co.za/home
like when you’ve eaten too much candy. I mean ill. Sugar
consumption has been tied to numerous illnesses and Consider this seemingly contradictory statement: sugar is
diseases, some of which are potentially fatal. Our reliance essential to human health. Our cells use sugar in the form
on sugar as a flavor enhancer, food additive and personal of glucose (aka blood sugar) as an energy source, and we
reward is driving us toward extinction. would not fair well without it. The distinction is in amount
and kind. Here we set about to understand the body’s
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relationship to sugar. nutrient dense than simple sugars. Still, these produce a
similar insulin response in the body as that caused by simple
Our bodies utilize substances called “macronutrients” to har- sugars such that, given too high an intake, even complex
ness the sun’s energy. These macronutrients—protein, fats, carbohydrates can be a health concern. Many nutrition
and carbohydrates—are found in the food we consume. You experts are recommending that carbohydrate consumption
can gain a greater understanding of how this occurs and in all forms be kept to a minimum. Coach Glassman put
how our bodies metabolize these substances by reading is quite concisely in his World Class Fitness in 100 Words,
the CrossFit Kids Magazine series “CrossFit Kids 101” on the which became the basis for all CrossFit Kids nutritional
metabolic pathways, February through August 2008. standards: “Eat meat and vegetables, nuts and seeds, some
For our discussion of sugar, we need to simply understand fruit, little starch and no sugar. Keep intake to levels that will
that the carbohydrates we eat are broken down through support exercise but not body fat.”
various mechanisms of digestion into simple sugars. These In our next discussion of sugar, we will begin to investigate
sugars are absorbed into the bloodstream, where they are the ways in which sugar and the corresponding insulin
escorted into the cells of the body by something called response can wreak havoc on our bodies.
“insulin.” Insulin is produced and distributed by the pan-
creas. The release of insulin into the bloodstream sets off a Nutrition is a touchy subject. It can quickly bring a conver-
chain of events that involves and/or affects every organ of sation to a fever pitch. I’ve heard that Coach Glassman has
the body. Insulin is the body’s friend unless its relationship compared it to discussing religion. Folks just don’t want to
to the body is changed. Too much insulin or an inability to hear you criticize their faith. Demonizing something like
utilize it properly can lead to a host of health issues. Still, sugar and refined carbohydrates that are such an integral
insulin is imperative for our cells’ well-being, and we can part of our culture may not be met with the kindest accep-
help our bodies remain efficient insulin users through some tance. I’m sure I’d have an easier time broaching the topic if
pretty simple lifestyle choices. sugars were a bacteria or a virus. Unfortunately, sugar can
do just as much damage as the meanest strain of either.
The speed with which the food we ingest is broken down is
dependent on which type of carbohydrate is being con- It has become impossible to deny the negative impact of
sumed. There are simple sugars—those with single sugar sugar on the body. Conduct even a cursory Internet search
units called “monosaccharides” and those with double sugar using the words “sugar” and “disease” and you will quickly
units called “disaccharides,” both of which compose a large discover that the intake of sugars and refined carbs has been
portion of the standard diet in the developed world. Simple solidly linked to numerous health issues. Our society has
sugars, like table sugar and other natural sweeteners, are developed the habit of medicating individuals in an attempt
broken down with lightning speed and immediately enter to alleviate the symptoms of such diseases, but this amounts
the bloodstream. Disaccharides, such as fruit and honey, to nothing more than putting a small bandage on a gaping
digest a bit slower but still produce a profound physiologi- wound. We can no longer bow to popular culture on this
cal response. The same is true of carbohydrate sources such issue. Our children’s very lives are at stake.
as white breads, pasta and white rice. While this may seem
like a desirable scenario, the truth is this causes the pancreas Dramatic? No. Emphatic? Yes.
to release large amounts of insulin into the blood in order Too much blood sugar is disease-inducing, and excess blood
to move the sugar from the bloodstream into the cells for sugar is largely related to the diet. In response to increases
use as energy. Big spikes in blood sugar play a crucial role in blood sugar (glucose), the pancreas releases insulin
in illness and disease. And the fast breakdown and removal into the blood. The body needs insulin in order to convert
of sugars means that hunger levels remain elevated, which glucose into energy. This hormone “‘unlocks’ the cells of our
causes one to get hungry sooner. These types of sugars body, allowing glucose to enter and fuel them.” Too much
can cause one to gain weight, because ineffective hunger blood sugar causes an inordinate spike in the amount of
control typically leads to an over consumption of calories. insulin in the blood. The adverse effects of too much insulin
Obesity itself is linked to numerous health issues. in the blood include weight gain; elevated blood pressure,
Complex carbohydrates, called “polysaccharides,” contain cholesterol and triglycerides; increased plaque deposits on
multiple units of simple sugars that are bonded together. arterial walls; and immune suppression. Furthermore, too
This bonding makes the breakdown of these carbohydrates much insulin can desensitize the cells of the body, leading to
a slower process. Hunger is better controlled by these types insulin resistance, which means the body cannot use insulin
of carbohydrates (such as can be found in many vegetables), efficiently. This can cause enough problems on its own,
and the sources from which they are derived are often more but to make matters worse, the body can eventually lose it
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ability to use insulin, leading to further complications. High prevalent blood-sugar-related diseases in existence. I think
blood sugar is reportedly responsible for 3 million deaths the best word to describe our relationship to this disease
around the world each year. is “desensitized.” We hear about it so often that it doesn’t
shock or scare us anymore. But it should. In the United
Excess blood sugar is the culprit in the over-production of States alone, there are reportedly 23.6 million people with
insulin, exposing the body to various health risks. According diabetes, while as many as 41 million are believed to have
to a study published in The Lancet (2006), “Blood sugar pre-diabetes. Based on death-certificate data for 2002,
deaths are comparable to the 4.8 million deaths from there were nearly 225,000 deaths related to the disease. This
smoking, the 3.9 million deaths from high cholesterol and figure is believed to be a grossly underreported, because
the 2.4 million deaths from overweight and obesity each individuals with diabetes generally present with multiple
year.” Again, high blood sugar most often finds its roots in chronic conditions that may obscure the diabetes connec-
what we eat. That is why we MUST get our children’s diets in tion at death. “The total economic cost of diabetes (in the
order. United States) in 2007 was estimated to be $174 billion.”
I have been guilty time and time again of relenting on this Clearly, this disease demands our full attention.
issue, so don’t think I’m preaching. It is each adult’s responsi- Diabetes is a disease in which the body does not produce
bility to gain an understanding of this topic and, armed with insulin or is unable to use it properly. There are two major
that knowledge, enact positive change for the children in his types of diabetes. Type 1 diabetes is marked by the body’s
or her life. Children and most teens do not shop for grocer- inability to produce insulin. Type 2 diabetes, the most
ies. They do not cook the family meals or pack their daily prevalent type, is a result of insulin resistance, meaning
lunches. Now is the time to help them gain an understand- the body cannot use it properly. Cells that cannot get fuel
ing of positive nutrition and create healthy eating habits. In into them—like those which are unable to use insulin—will
the interim, it’s OK to force our ideas of healthy eating upon literally starve to death.
them. In fact, we owe it to them. The following information
should solidify our resolve. The connection between diet and Type 2 diabetes is well
established. Foods that cause spikes in blood sugar, like
Hypoglycemia those we discussed last month, create a dangerous internal
Hypoglycemia is low blood sugar. It is not a disease. It is an environment in which insulin is being produced in massive
indicator of another problem, usually diabetes or pre-dia- quantities in order to move the sugars from the blood into
betes. This may seem like an odd thing to include on our the cells. Overproduction of insulin leads to insulin resis-
list, because we are talking about too much blood sugar. tance, which can lead to diabetes, a risk factor for cardio-
However, low blood sugar causes a series of reactions within vascular events. Diabetics are at high risk for high blood
the body that impacts the overall blood-sugar picture pressure and cholesterol, which explains why heart attack
and negatively affects the body’s organs. The far-reaching and stroke account for nearly 70 percent of deaths among
effects of this condition are evident in its vast array of symp- diabetes patients.
toms. Glucose is the brain’s preferred energy source, and a
deficit of glucose may cause multiple problems including Excess body fat elevates the risk of Type 2 diabetes.
confusion, abnormal behavior, visual disturbances (i.e., According to the National Institutes of Health, approx-
double vision or blurred vision), and (rarely) loss of con- imately 80 percent of cases of Type 2 diabetes are in
sciousness. Hypoglycemia also forces the body to regulate overweight or obese individuals. Fat cells increase insulin
blood sugar through the production of hormones that are resistance. These cells have fewer insulin receptors than
similar and/ or the same as those which induce the “fight muscle, which means the insulin produced to service them
or flight” response. Symptoms include heart palpitations, is not utilized efficiently, thereby causing a surplus in the
tremors, intense sweating, and hunger. Hunger, as you blood. Excess glucose that is not used for cell metabolism is
might imagine, brings on a host of problems of its own. converted to body fat. This increased cellular mass—which
Hormones that are produced to convince the body it needs is inefficient at using insulin—causes an overproduction
more glucose to resolve the hunger can lead to overeating of the hormone in an attempt to service the new cells. To
and obesity. The condition of hypoglycemia creates a con- further complicate things, fat cells release free fatty acids
stant see-sawing of blood sugar, created by the “need more that interfere with glucose metabolism. More insulin and
glucose/need less glucose” cycle, which can take its toll on less ability to use it—you see the problem.
the body.
Metabolic Syndrome X
Diabetes This is a group of cardiac risk factors that are a direct result
Diabetes makes our list because it is one of the most of insulin resistance. These include obesity (especially
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around the abdomen), blood-clotting abnormalities, and Brain-Related Diseases
lipid fluctuations that are considered abnormal. An indi- Elevated blood-sugar levels increase the risk of degenera-
vidual who is diagnosed with Syndrome X has an elevated tive diseases of the brain. A recent study published in the
risk of cardiovascular disease and premature death. Care Journal of Biological Chemistry found that consumption
to hear a list of the other possible symptoms of Syndrome of sugary sodas was correlated with a doubling of plaque
X? Fatigue, hypertension, high cholesterol, elevated deposits in the brains of rats. Studies have shown that
triglycerides, difficulty losing weight, polycystic ovarian plaque causes brain cells to “distort” or malfunction on
syndrome, hormonal disturbances, peripheral neuropathy, multiple levels. Significantly, subjects in the “sugar” group
uncontrollable diabetes, blurred vision, depression, sleep performed more poorly on tests of learning and memory
apnea, skin problems, heart palpitations, memory problems. than did their non-sugar counterparts. The limitations of the
study are found in its small sample size. However, another
Not convinced yet? The Third National Health and Nutrition study out of the Karolinska Institute in Sweden found that
Examination Survey indicated that 24 percent of the U.S. Type 2 diabetes ups the risk of Alzheimer’s disease. Of
population has Metabolic Syndrome X, and that percentage great concern is their finding that people who have raised
increases with age, reaching 43 percent in the 60–69 pop- blood-sugar levels without the presence of diabetes were at
ulation. What do they recommend to combat this rampant equal risk for developing dementia and Alzheimer’s disease
syndrome? Diet and exercise. They state, “It is universally as those with Type 2 diabetes. A study conducted by Kaiser
agreed that an ideal diet consists of protein, vegetables, Permanente in Oakland, Calif., tracked 22,852 patients with
fruits, unsaturated fats, complex carbohydrates ... . High Type 2 diabetes for eight years. The researchers found that
protein, low carbohydrate is the way to go.” “those with very poor blood sugar control were more likely
Heart Disease to develop dementia, while those with the worst blood
Blood sugar is intricately tied to heart disease, and it’s no glucose levels were 78 percent more likely to get dementia.”
wonder based on what we’ve learned so far. As early as the Our children aren’t likely at risk for dementia or Alzheimer’s
1960s, researchers began to tie sugar to coronary heart at this point in their lives. Still, we cannot deny the effect of
disease. Studies have been difficult to control, so the data elevated blood sugar on the brain. Why would we continue
is sketchy at best. However, there is solid evidence that to allow our children to, in effect, damage their brains?
blood-sugar levels do, in fact, have significant impact on the Maintaining reasonable, safe levels of blood sugar may
cardiovascular system. Diabetes doubles the risk of heart prevent harmful plaque residue and minimize the long-term
disease, and the higher the blood sugar, the higher risk. A degeneration of the brain.
study out of Johns Hopkins University found that, in Type 2 Elevated blood-sugar levels are tied to numerous health
diabetics, “every percentage point increase in blood glucose problems and diseases. Blood-sugar levels are undeniably
levels boosts risks for heart disease and stroke by 18% and controlled, in large part, by the diet. Positive dietary habits
ups the risk of clogged arteries in the legs by 28%.” This can help our kids avoid the debilitating effects of blood-
study and others like it have caused some researchers to sugar diseases upon every organ in their bodies.
call for lower than “normal” blood-sugar levels in diabetes
patients. But it doesn’t take full-blown diabetes to endanger We’ve established a connection between blood sugar and
the cardiovascular system. Male heart-disease patients have various health issues and diseases. But when we think of
been found to be at greater risk for death when their blood- diseases, there is one that seems to strike the greatest fear
sugar levels are in what is considered the “normal” range. in our hearts and minds. That is cancer. If we can somehow
Normal blood sugar, a glucose level of 100 or less, has been control our or our loved ones’ chances of being diagnosed
statistically shown to triple the death rate among such men with this frightening disease, shouldn’t we?
compared to those who maintain lower-than-normal levels.
More studies are needed. What is confirmed is that improper Evidence continues to accumulate that high blood-sugar
levels of blood sugar can cause damage to the cardiovascu- levels increase the risk of various cancers and mortality risk
lar system. The implications for our children are staggering. among cancer patients. Researchers tracked more than 1
The longer we allow our children to willingly elevate their million Koreans ages 30–95 over a period of 10 years. Study
blood-sugar levels, the greater risk we expose them to. participants with the highest fasting blood-sugar levels and
Yet, this is something we can largely control. The potential those with diabetes were more likely to develop cancer or to
long-term, cumulative damage to the cardiovascular system die from cancer. “The risk of developing cancer was compa-
brought about by a lifetime of poor dietary choices can be rable to the risk of dying of cancer.” The strongest associ-
minimized by creating healthy eating patterns early in life. ation was found for pancreatic cancer with the risk almost
doubling for men and more than doubling for women.
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