I almost lost at my own game.

This is serious, but my mistake can REALLY help you!

I was traveling in Orlando FL for some talks.

I always plan and pack well – mixed nuts, some portable fruit, packets of salmon, etc.  But this trip is a bit different — I knew the setup, where I was speaking, and I’d have some great food at my fingertips whenever I wanted.

So I didn’t plan like I usually do — just some basics.

And it came back to bite me. 

I’m on the way home yesterday and was pretty hungry.  Fortunately it’s a decent size airport with some solid options.  Could always have more mixed nuts, some fresh fruit, or maybe even a smoothie if done right.

You see, when we travel we almost always carry along some packets of BiPro protein — our protein of choice here at the Team Mohr HQ. 

This way you can bring that to most smoothie places, ask them to use that, mix it with water or milk, some fresh or frozen fruit, and you’ve got a great quick meal.

Now, some people working there cooperate — others do not, but we always ask anyhow if we’re in a pinch.

But I didn’t bring the protein this time.

That’s OK, I thought — I’m going to venture into the dangerous waters of the 125 g sugar bombs that are sold at Smoothie King and the others — and figure out a decent option.

So there I am, staring at the menu; studying it like I was in med school preparing for the MCATs.  In fact I was looking so long, trying to decipher the marketing gibberish, that they asked me 3 times if they could help me.

I think they were ultimately sorry they asked.

"I’m checking out the Muscle Punch Smoothie — it says strawberries and bananas.  Is that real fruit or fruit juice or puree?"

"Real fruit for both."

"And do you guys use frozen yogurt as the base, regular yogurt, water or milk?

"Water"   I think we’re getting somewhere.

"So there are no juices, syrups, or anything else outside of what’s listed?"

"Outside of ice, no.  It is a soy protein in there, but we can substitute whey protein for the soy if you prefer that."

"Alright, I’m going to do that one — the small size — and I will substitute the whey for the soy."

I admittedly felt proud for navigating this menu — loaded with marketing hype — as best I could.

I watch him put the water in there.  Excellent.

Then the scoops of bananas and strawberries.  Perfect.

Scoop of protein powder.  Ice.

Then he added a few squirts of something in a container. 

"What is that," I asked?

"Wheat germ oil."  OK.  While I would have preferred actual wheat germ, since I love the flavor, the oil will work.

And then he grabbed two more bottles and added several squirts from each. 

"What are those two things you just added?"  He said "vanilla essence and honey" and mid sentence he added a scoop of something else.

Not even asking what the other scoop of powder was, I said "HONEY?  It doesn’t list honey on the menu. I have a honey allergy, so I’m sorry I can’t have that."

And I left, embarrassed that I was almost beat at my own game – but proud – I fortunately came out on top.

You might be thinking — MOHR, it’s HONEY — it won’t kill you. Lighten up a bit.

And you’d be right — it won’t.  But, first of all, it wasn’t a little teaspoon of honey.  It was a lot more.  And seeing as they didn’t list honey on the label, I also wondered what that powder was.

I got home, logged on to their website, and realized quickly what it was.

TURBINADO (ummm, in other words, MORE SUGAR).

In fact, here it is, cut and copied from their website.  "Strawberries, Bananas, Soy Protein, Non-Fat Milk, Vanilla, Wheat Germ, Nutritional Yeast, Turbinado, Honey"

Interestingly, in the store they listed just strawberries, bananas, protein and wheat germ.

And do you know what the smallest size cup of liquid candy would have given me — 84 grams of carbs, 75 of which ARE SUGAR!!! 

I didn’t want to pay for the shake I wasn’t going to drink, which is why I threw out the food allergy fib … it’s an easy way to always get you off the hook and since this guy already made it, it technically was otherwise mine.

Lessons from this trip:

1. Plan ahead regardless of how well you think you’ll be eating.
2. You’re in complete control of what is offered to you.
3. You can always use the "food allergy" lie if you don’t want to otherwise say no. 

In case you’re wondering, I did get a little bag of mixed nuts from another vendor and called it a day. 

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A couple weeks ago I posted a question on Facebook …

Sugar or artificial sweeteners.  Which do YOU choose?

The answers ranged from NEITHER to ONLY stevia to regular sugar, brown sugar and so on.  In other words, they ran the gamut.

Here’s our take.

IDEALLY, we’d say neither.

But since this is the real world, we’ll pick.  And we’d say SUGAR. 

Say WHAT?

Sit tight.  More specifically than sugar, we’d first say local honey. 

Is it magical with loads of powerful nutrients like some profess?  Nope.

BUT, at least it’s more slowly absorbed than regular sugar and there are actually some interesting data showing local honey (local to your area) may help with allergies and they’re also experimenting with it in healing wounds.  NOTE, we don’t suggest pouring honey on an open wound and hoping for the best.  There’s certainly more to it than that.

Let’s explore this a bit further.

First, adults eat about 22 teaspoons of ADDED sugar each day. That’s equal to washing down a candy bar by guzzling down two 12 oz cans of soda.

Teens are even worse with 34 tsp of added sugar per day.

So instead of washing that candy bar down with 2 cans of soda, add another can on top of that for teens.  EACH day.

Soft drinks are the #1 contributor to this glut of sugar, followed by candy, cakes, cookies and pie.  Sad.

Is it weird, then, that our answer to "Sugar vs. Artificial Sweeteners" is "sugar?"

Let’s step back for a second.

Added sugars are horrible for you.  The majority of the population eats WAY too many.

But we’re not so keen on artificial sweeteners either.  Why?  Well, they’re artificial chemicals that we’re dumping into our bodies and while data is out there that these are safe in certain doses, there’s also been a lot of safety data for pharmaceutical medications like Vioxx, which they ended up pulling off the market for a variety of safety concerns.  Maybe less severe, but certain artificial sweeteners are triggers for migraines and more recently, some data suggests artificial sweeteners affect body weight and blood sugar.

Again, you see the dilemma in that it’s a hard question to answer.

What makes it particularly difficult is the answer "neither" is not practical.

Case in point.  In Louisville yesterday nearly 3000 athletes competed in the Ironman — an event where you swim, bike and run a total of 140.6 miles.  I did it 3 years ago.  It’s certainly not easy.

But you wouldn’t decide on Saturday that you were going to participate in this race the next day.

Likewise, it’s not practical to take someone with a several soda per day habit and say NEVER again will you drink soda.  And don’t think about replacing it with the diet alternative … just drink water from this point forward!

Small Steps = Big Results!

We believe if you currently use a lot of added sugars — soda, candy, cakes, cookies, etc — target ONE of those and change that.

Currently drink a can of coke each morning?

The switch to Diet Coke is a good small step.

Work with that for 1 week. 

The following week, continue with that first step and improve something else too.

Maybe if you’re a vending machine person in the afternoon where you typically grab a candy bar, plan ahead and choose a piece of fruit instead.

Small Changes = Big Results!

Ultimately, continue to drink less and less of the soft drinks and replace them with their diet alternatives.  Then, down the road, again, replace those diet alternatives with something like water with fresh fruit cut up, or use a berry green tea and make unsweetened iced tea.

Lots of options, you just have to think outside the box.

The key overall with sugar OR artificial sweeteners is moderation.  Like we said, neither are great.  Is having 1 sweet treat on occasion going to kill you?  Of course not.

At the same time, don’t rationalize your daily soda and cookie habit as "moderation."

What do YOU think?  Sugar or artificial sweeteners?

Please leave a comment below and let us know what you think!

Sugar.

It might be the world’s biggest "addiction."

And America’s sugar binge is said to be fueling the growing obesity epidemic.

A new report out by the American Heart Association shows that over the last 30+ years, America has increased sugar intake by 20% …

… said another way, it is estimated that we consume 22-30 teaspoons of sugar every single day, or upwards of nearly 500 useless calories.

This not only increases the risk for overweight and obesity, but also leads to countless other diseases, like diabetes and heart diseases.

We’re literally killing ourselves as a country with our own fork and knife!

Completely.  Useless.  Junk. 

Check this out — drink 1 20 oz bottle of regular soda and you’re almost hitting the daily average for most adults.

Add a daily latte in the morning and a sweet treat after dinner and you may be 30 lbs heavier at the end of 1 year.

So how do you break this sugar addiction?

1. Be more active — no, that doesn’t break the addiction, but it at least allows your body to use those excess calories.
2. Try other sweet treats — grilled fruit, for example, is an incredibly "out of the box" sweet treat.
3. Every meal doesn’t have to end with a sweet — dessert should be a once in awhile thing, not an everyday/every meal thing.
4. Skip the daily latte.  Sorry, addicts — opt for another morning drink — even trying tea and adding a bit of your own honey, for example, would be better than the loads of syrupy junk added to drinks. 

It’s important to add that the added sugars we’re talking about are different than the naturally occurring sugars in fruit and dairy products.  Those are OK … no one ever became obese by eating too many fruits (or vegetables).

Cut down.  Just a bit. 

Slowly killing yourself with a daily sugar binge is not a good way to go!

There are over 30 names for sugar…

…turbinado sugar, raw sugar, agave syrup, fruit paste, raw honey, malt syrup and many more.

Of course we have our organic sugars too.  Are these any better if we’re trying to lose weight?  Ray from train2befit asked a question on the blog about the healthiest sugar options.

Is there such a thing?  A "healthy" sugar?

Clearly, when burning belly fat is a goal, sugar (all forms) need to take a back seat.  But let’s put a few of these under the microscope to see if there’s a best of the worst.  Afterall, with teens eating nearly 100 lbs of sugar per person, per year, we have some headway to make.  It should be no surprise that research shows belly fat has skyrocketed in this age group.

But adults aren’t much behind.  And the obesity epidemic we’re facing around the world is a tell tale sign that we’re overfed, yet undernourished. 

Let’s get to the good stuff.

First, just because something is organic, doesn’t mean it’s healthy.  Organic sugar isn’t a magical health food like it’s often considered.  It increases belly fat just like plain old table sugar.

Let’s cover a few of the most commonly questioned poisins in the fight against belly fat.

High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS)

This one was invented in the 1970′s.  It’s in nearly every food and beverage in the super market — from breads to ketchup, fruit juice to cereals.  Some have claimed it’s caused obesity saying, this one sweetener is preventing us from losing belly fat permanently.  Interestingly, its use has skyrocketed the same way the obesity epidemic has over the last few decades.  And research has suggested there is a correlation.  This caused a negative spiral of media ads pointing the finger at this one ingredient.

And the Corn Refiners Association fought back.  They created commercials saying that HFCS is no worse than sugar.  What they didn’t say is both are junk, why eat them at all?

My first "problem’ with HFCS is that it was "invented."  I don’t want to eat anything that was "invented." I want to eat foods as close to the ground as possible.  You can avoid HFCS, just like you can avoid other sugars.  Sure, it is metabolized a bit differently than sugar, but you know what, the foods that are loaded with HFCS are junk — regardless of the form of sugar.  Soda = junk.  Fruit juice cocktails = junk. Popsicles = junk.  If you buy organic options of these same foods, they’re all junk and will prevent you from losing belly fat, put a halt to losing fat from your hips and thighs, or getting into your skinny jeans.  

Agave Syrup

This natural sweetener recently became popular.  Agave nectar is produced from a plant and is popular in organic markets and with vegans.  It is touted for its low glycemic index, meaning it won’t cause much of a spike in blood sugar.  But no studies are available showing how it compares to other sugars in terms of blood sugar control.  It is primarily made up of fructose, which is in fact lower on the glycemic index.  One important note – if you try this, look for USDA-certified organic products. Most agave comes from Mexico and there have been issues with recalls because of excessive pesticides in the products. 

Raw Honey

Often sold at Farmer’s Markets, supporters of this sweetener love that it’s not processed.  Me too.  And because it’s not processed, it IS higher in a few nutrients (mainly B vitamins).  With that said, honey wouldn’t be my first choice for getting in any vitamins and minerals.  I DO like that you can use less of it than table sugar because teaspoon for teaspoon, it’s sweeter.  There’s also some very interesting data showing eating local honey may reduce allergies, it can be used as an anticeptic, and much more.  (NOTE: I don’t recommend pouring it on an open wound).

But in the end, will too much honey prevent you from getting the body of your dreams and slashing belly fat?  Sure, it’s still empty calories when you compare it side by side with fruit, for example (which also is high in a form of sugar, but nothing I’d worry about).

Where does that leave us?

All sugars have relatively the same number of calories per gram.

Organic sugars will still prevent you from losing belly fat.  Non organic sugars will prevent you from losing belly fat. 

If you are going to use a sweetener, opt for local honey and use it sparingly.  Still, the best way to eat foods is in their natural state — fruit is sweet, enjoy that as dessert.  Grill it to bring out the sweetness.  Add balsamic vinegar to a pan and heat it up to create a calorie free "syrup" that’s great with fruit. Avoid foods with ingredients that have been "invented" — the closer to the ground they are, the better off you will be.

In the end, burn belly fat by eating foods with few ingredients and training right.

What do you think?  Leave your thoughts in the comment section.