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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 90 CROSSFIT KIDS TRAINER COURSE Copyright © 2015 CrossFit, Inc. All Rights Reserved. V2.0.20150421R3.KW 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 91 CROSSFIT KIDS TRAINER COURSE Copyright © 2015 CrossFit, Inc. All Rights Reserved. V2.0.20150421R3.KW 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 92 CROSSFIT KIDS TRAINER COURSE Copyright © 2015 CrossFit, Inc. All Rights Reserved. V2.0.20150421R3.KW 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. 93 CROSSFIT KIDS TRAINER COURSE Copyright © 2015 CrossFit, Inc. All Rights Reserved. V2.0.20150421R3.KW
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