I had a question at the gym the other day that was also kind of in the back of my mind and it made me investigate the subject a little further. Artificial sweeteners are kind of a big thing for people that are starting on diets right? They’re great because while you are trying to give up all of your favorite foods this artificial miracle comes along and says, “you can still have extremely sweet things, I have no calories!” While the thought behind artificial sweeteners is great, the evidence that supports the logic behind eating something without any calories and losing weight is possibly not so great. I say possibly because unfortunately there is a lot of contradicting information in scientific and medical journals that left me scratching my head. However, I did draw a couple conclusions based on what they all said. Let’s dive into this topic just a tiny bit, without making you fall asleep whilst reading this.

So, the journals that are all FOR artificial sweeteners say that they do NOT increase appetite while consuming them. They do NOT make you eat more and they do not inhibit the suppression of appetite after a meal. So you can drink the diet drinks, have your cake and eat it too.

On the other hand, they nays say that consuming artificial sweeteners disrupts your body’s appetite control mechanisms and in turn you eat more. A couple of studies looked at the thermic effects of food and how the artificial sweeteners do not have as strong a thermogenic effect and therefore do not suppress appetite as much as food with calories.

Both sides had compelling arguments and had similar ways of figuring out what effects artificial sweeteners have on human consumption of food and yet had different outcomes. Why is this?

Well, I’m not about to tackle that question entirely but I will say that there has got to be other factors that some of these studies aren’t looking at. Some of the results differed because they were done in “healthy” people who didn’t regularly consume sweet beverages. Others were only done with animal models using rats.

One thing that these studies cannot fudge though is the numbers in terms of the effects each sweetener had on insulin levels. For those who don’t know too much about insulin, in just a few words this is the hormone that allows energy to get into our cells. Conversely, it dissallows stored energy (fat) to leave our cells. So if insulin is around, we are not going to be burning fat. Period. Now, the artificial sweeteners didn’t have as much of an effect on insulin as sucrose (table sugar), which is to be expected; but the fact that it did have an effect has to say something (this point was made by the way in a study that was FOR artificial sweeteners). So either way you look at it, if you are drinking diet soda to cut calories out you may have accomplished that, but just remember that you will not be burning any fat either because of that much feared insulin spike.

Questions, comments or just plain want to harrass me on this subject or any other? Please email me at sethrx@crossfitmaximus.com. I also have PDFs of all of these journal articles for anyone who would like an alternative to Ambien.

ScienceDaily (Mar. 22, 2010) — A Princeton University research team has demonstrated that all sweeteners are not equal when it comes to weight gain: Rats with access to high-fructose corn syrup gained significantly more weight than those with access to table sugar, even when their overall caloric intake was the same.

A Princeton University research team, including (from left) undergraduate Elyse Powell, psychology professor Bart Hoebel, visiting research associate Nicole Avena and graduate student Miriam Bocarsly, has demonstrated that rats with access to high-fructose corn syrup — a sweetener found in many popular sodas — gain significantly more weight than those with access to water sweetened with table sugar, even when they consume the same number of calories. The work may have important implications for understanding obesity trends in the United States. (Credit: Princeton University, Office of Communications, Denise Applewhite)

In addition to causing significant weight gain in lab animals, long-term consumption of high-fructose corn syrup also led to abnormal increases in body fat, especially in the abdomen, and a rise in circulating blood fats called triglycerides. The researchers say the work sheds light on the factors contributing to obesity trends in the United States.

“Some people have claimed that high-fructose corn syrup is no different than other sweeteners when it comes to weight gain and obesity, but our results make it clear that this just isn’t true, at least under the conditions of our tests,” said psychology professor Bart Hoebel, who specializes in the neuroscience of appetite, weight and sugar addiction. “When rats are drinking high-fructose corn syrup at levels well below those in soda pop, they’re becoming obese — every single one, across the board. Even when rats are fed a high-fat diet, you don’t see this; they don’t all gain extra weight.”

In results published online March 18 by the journal Pharmacology, Biochemistry and Behavior, the researchers from the Department of Psychology and the Princeton Neuroscience Institute reported on two experiments investigating the link between the consumption of high-fructose corn syrup and obesity.

The first study showed that male rats given water sweetened with high-fructose corn syrup in addition to a standard diet of rat chow gained much more weight than male rats that received water sweetened with table sugar, or sucrose, in conjunction with the standard diet. The concentration of sugar in the sucrose solution was the same as is found in some commercial soft drinks, while the high-fructose corn syrup solution was half as concentrated as most sodas.

The second experiment — the first long-term study of the effects of high-fructose corn syrup consumption on obesity in lab animals — monitored weight gain, body fat and triglyceride levels in rats with access to high-fructose corn syrup over a period of six months. Compared to animals eating only rat chow, rats on a diet rich in high-fructose corn syrup showed characteristic signs of a dangerous condition known in humans as the metabolic syndrome, including abnormal weight gain, significant increases in circulating triglycerides and augmented fat deposition, especially visceral fat around the belly. Male rats in particular ballooned in size: Animals with access to high-fructose corn syrup gained 48 percent more weight than those eating a normal diet.

“These rats aren’t just getting fat; they’re demonstrating characteristics of obesity, including substantial increases in abdominal fat and circulating triglycerides,” said Princeton graduate student Miriam Bocarsly. “In humans, these same characteristics are known risk factors for high blood pressure, coronary artery disease, cancer and diabetes.” In addition to Hoebel and Bocarsly, the research team included Princeton undergraduate Elyse Powell and visiting research associate Nicole Avena, who was affiliated with Rockefeller University during the study and is now on the faculty at the University of Florida. The Princeton researchers note that they do not know yet why high-fructose corn syrup fed to rats in their study generated more triglycerides, and more body fat that resulted in obesity.

High-fructose corn syrup and sucrose are both compounds that contain the simple sugars fructose and glucose, but there at least two clear differences between them. First, sucrose is composed of equal amounts of the two simple sugars — it is 50 percent fructose and 50 percent glucose — but the typical high-fructose corn syrup used in this study features a slightly imbalanced ratio, containing 55 percent fructose and 42 percent glucose. Larger sugar molecules called higher saccharides make up the remaining 3 percent of the sweetener. Second, as a result of the manufacturing process for high-fructose corn syrup, the fructose molecules in the sweetener are free and unbound, ready for absorption and utilization. In contrast, every fructose molecule in sucrose that comes from cane sugar or beet sugar is bound to a corresponding glucose molecule and must go through an extra metabolic step before it can be utilized.

This creates a fascinating puzzle. The rats in the Princeton study became obese by drinking high-fructose corn syrup, but not by drinking sucrose. The critical differences in appetite, metabolism and gene expression that underlie this phenomenon are yet to be discovered, but may relate to the fact that excess fructose is being metabolized to produce fat, while glucose is largely being processed for energy or stored as a carbohydrate, called glycogen, in the liver and muscles.

In the 40 years since the introduction of high-fructose corn syrup as a cost-effective sweetener in the American diet, rates of obesity in the U.S. have skyrocketed, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In 1970, around 15 percent of the U.S. population met the definition for obesity; today, roughly one-third of the American adults are considered obese, the CDC reported. High-fructose corn syrup is found in a wide range of foods and beverages, including fruit juice, soda, cereal, bread, yogurt, ketchup and mayonnaise. On average, Americans consume 60 pounds of the sweetener per person every year.

“Our findings lend support to the theory that the excessive consumption of high-fructose corn syrup found in many beverages may be an important factor in the obesity epidemic,” Avena said.

The new research complements previous work led by Hoebel and Avena demonstrating that sucrose can be addictive, having effects on the brain similar to some drugs of abuse.

In the future, the team intends to explore how the animals respond to the consumption of high-fructose corn syrup in conjunction with a high-fat diet — the equivalent of a typical fast-food meal containing a hamburger, fries and soda — and whether excessive high-fructose corn syrup consumption contributes to the diseases associated with obesity. Another step will be to study how fructose affects brain function in the control of appetite.

The research was supported by the U.S. Public Health Service.

Editor’s Note: In response to the above-mentioned study, The Corn Refiners Association issued a statement titled “Gross Errors in Princeton Animal Study on Obesity and High Fructose Corn Syrup: Research in Humans Discredits Princeton Study” (http://www.corn.org/princeton-hfcs-study-errors.html). This link is provided for information only — no editorial endorsement is implied.

Denasabi Tilapia with Stir Fry Veggies

Here’s a Paleo-friendly meal that I created during the last Crossfit Maximus Paleo Challenge. It takes a little bit of prep work, but is actually very easy to make. It also has a bit of a kick spice-wise, so some (wimps) may want to temper the heat. –Dennis Frank

1 serving (4 oz) 208 calories, 28g Protein, 9g Carbs, 10g Fat (5g sat), Sodium 877mg Serves 4

Ingredients

4 – 4oz Tilapia filets 2 small zucchini cubed

¼ cup green onions chopped

½ stalk celery sliced thin

6 shitake mushrooms sliced

6 baby carrots grated

2 tbsp fresh minced garlic

2 tsp sesame seeds

1 egg

1 tbsp canola oil

1 tsp sesame oil

Denasabi Sauce

¼ cup lite soy sauce

1 tbsp fresh minced garlic

1 tbsp oyster sauce

1 tbsp thai chile paste

1 tbsp ginger paste

1 tsp wasabi powder

1 tsp cracked red pepper

1 tsp cayenne pepper (optional)

½ tsp Mongolian fire oil (optional)

Preheat oven to 450.

Using a fork or egg whisk combine the oyster sauce, chili and ginger paste in a mixing bowl gradually adding the soy sauce for an even consistency. Add all the rest of the sauce ingredients. Mix well. Set sauce aside.

Prepare all vegetables as indicated. Set aside 1 tbsp of chopped green onions for the fish.

Start heating a wok or large heavy skillet.

Lightly oil 2 18”sheets of aluminum foil (Pam works best) and place 2 tilapia filets on right half of each sheet. Spread a teaspoon of the Denasabi sauce on each filet and garnish all four filets with 1 tbsp green onions and 1 tsp sesame seeds. Fold left half of foil over filets while rolling and creasing edges to make two air-tight packets. Place both packets on a broiler or cookie sheet. Place on center rack of oven for 7-10 minutes.

Heat canola and sesame oil in wok (or skillet). When hot, add all veggies stir frying rapidly for about 4 minutes. Add remaining Denasabi sauce and sesame seeds. Continue to stir fry. Check on fish, if time, remove from oven leaving filets in packets. When sauce is completely heated (should be boiling) add egg and continue to stir fry making sure egg is completely cooked. Remove from heat.

Remove filets from packets and serve with veggies. Makes 4 servings.

Check out LUCKY, the New Mexican princess who is giving full-on Paleo a whirl and blogging about it.

http://paleoprincess.com/

Totally stoked that Lucky is getting out there and testing these ideas, we count her as yet another enlightened Paleo soul.

Also check out www.paleotreats.com for an occasional sweet!

The Claim: To Cut Calories, Eat Slowly

America’s Worst French Fries (and What You Should Eat Instead!)

By David Zinczenko, with Matt Goulding – Posted on Mon, Feb 22, 2010, 11:21 am PST

 In spite of the name, French fries are practically an American birthright. They’re offered as the first choice side dish with nearly every fast-food and sit-down chain meal available. But here’s the catch: In a recent study of 7,318 New York City patrons leaving fast food chains during the lunch hour, researchers learned that combo meals—meaning meals with sides—averaged 1,100 calories each, which is over half a day’s allotment. It goes to show: When your regular meals at these restaurants are already pushing the nutritional envelope, adding an extra 300 (or more!) empty calories can make for a dietary disaster.

The authors of the best-selling weight-loss series Eat This, Not That! and Cook This, Not That! have rounded up three of the worst orders of fries available at chain restaurants across the country. We’ve also offered up the surprising winner of the fast food French fry cook-off—you’ll never believe which restaurant chain produces the healthiest fried spuds!

Worst Curly Fries
Arby’s Curly Fries (Large)
640 calories
34 g fat (5 g saturated, 0 g trans)
1,460 mg sodium

Arby’s is famous for its curly fries—too bad they’re overloaded with fat, calories and sodium. When one side dish accounts for nearly three-quarters of your daily allotment of salt, you know there’s a problem. As fun as these curli-Qs are, stick to the Homefry variety at Arby’s—downsizing to a small Curly Fries will still leave you with a 410-calorie side, which is more than many of Arby’s sandwiches!

Bonus tip: For full nutrition information for all of your favorite chain restaurants and thousands of foods, download the bestselling Eat This, Not That! iPhone app. It’s like having your own personal nutritionist in your pocket at all times, and will help you avoid the caloric calamities and guide you to the best ways to lose your belly fast.

Eat This Instead!
Homestyle Fries (Small)
350 calories
15 g fat (2 g saturated)
720 mg sodium

Worst Wedge Fries
Jack in the Box Bacon Cheddar Wedges
715 calories
45 g fat (13 g saturated, 1 g trans)
905 mg sodium

It doesn’t take a nutritionist to identify the hazards of a grease-soaked, cheese-slathered sack of deep-fried potatoes, but by appearance alone, nobody could guess what’s really at stake when you order this side from Jack’s. The American Heart Association recommends that people cap their trans fat intake at 1 percent of total calories. For people on a 2,000-calorie diet, that’s about 2 grams per day. See the problem? Another issue, of course, is the overload in calories—about one-third your daily allotment! 

Bonus tip: Cheese fries are clearly an unhealthy choice. But sometimes healthy-seeming options are just as dangerous as the obvious diet-sinkers. For 30 jaw-dropping examples, check out The 30 Worst Sandwiches in America. 

Eat This Instead!
Grilled Chicken Strips (4) with Fire Roasted Salsa
185 calories
2 g fat (0.5 g saturated)
805 mg sodium

Worst Fries for Your Blood Pressure
Dairy Queen Chili Cheese Fries
1,240 calories
71 g fat (28 g saturated, 0.5 g trans)
2,550 milligrams sodium

This one’s a no-brainer: Chili, cheese, fried potatoes. But even a savvy eater couldn’t possibly anticipate how bad these 3 ingredients could be when combined by one heavy-handed fast-food company. There’s as much sodium in this side dish as you’ll find in 15 strips of bacon. Stick with classic ketchup and recapture nearly a day’s worth of sodium and 930 calories.

Bonus tip: Save calories, time, and money with our free Eat This, Not That! newsletter. Sign up today and you’ll get the Eat This, Not That! guide to shopping once and eating for a week for free!

Eat This Instead!
French Fries (regular)
310 calories
13 g fat (2 g saturated)
640 mg sodium

Worst Regular Order of Fries
Five Guys Fries (large)
1,464 calories
71 g fat (14 g saturated)
213 mg sodium

Unfortunately, Five Guys doesn’t offer anything but fries in the side department. Your safest bet, of course, is to skip the fries altogether (you’d be better off adding a second patty to your burger), but if you can’t bring yourself to eat a burger sans fries, then split a regular order. That will still add 310 calories to your meal, but it beats surrendering more than 75% of your day’s calories to a greasy paper bag. 

Bonus tip: Sides account for a third of our combo-meal calories—but drinks account for a quarter of the total calories we consume each day! Battle the liquid bulge: Avoid all drinks on this shocking list of The Worst Drinks in the Supermarket.

Eat This Instead!
Regular Fries (1/2 serving)
310 calories
15 g fat (3 g saturated)
45 mg sodium

Worst Fries in America
Chili’s Texas Cheese Fries w/Jalapeno Ranch
1,920 calories
147 g fat (63 g saturated)
3,580 mg sodium

The only thing that comes close to redeeming this cheesy mound of lard and grease is the fact that it’s ostensibly meant to be shared with a few friends. Even so, you’ll collectively be taking in an entire day’s worth of calories, three days’ allotment of saturated fat, and a day and a half’s allotment of sodium. What’s even scarier, if you can imagine, is that even if you try to order more sensibly and ask for the “half” order of Texas Cheese Fries, you’ll still receive a disastrous dish that packs in 1,400 calories. There’s one French fries side dish at Chili’s that’s acceptable, although even in its much-reduced form, you’d be better off splitting it.

Bonus Tip: See what other Chili’s items made our list of The 20 Worst Restaurant Foods in America.

Eat This Instead!
Homestyle Fries
380 calories
23 g fat (4 g saturated)
230 mg sodium

Best Fast Food Fries in America
McDonald’s Small French Fries
230 calories
11 g fat (1.5 g saturated)
160 mg sodium

Out of the big three fast food joints (Mickey D’s, Wendy’s, and BK), you’ll find the least caloric, least salty fries underneath the golden arches. The key to ordering a smart side dish is portion sizing—and McDonald’s has that under control.

Shrimp Stuffed Avocados

3 medium sized avocados

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1 ½ pound small or medium sized shrimp, cooked, shelled, deveined and chilled 

Cut avocados in half; remove seed and skin. Stuff with shrimp; add lemon juice.

Or Try stuffing it with Crab Meat

Paleo Challenge 2010

 Paleo challenge has been a great — While losing weight was not even close to a goal of mine, Improving my eating habits ie: breaking my sugar addiction and improving my body composition definitely were. In addition to meeting both of my goals I was shocked to find how much faster I could recovered from workouts.

 While ill probably not stick to a strict  Paleo diet I do plan to eat primarily Paleo and definitely avoid Sugar!

Katie Dennison

Paleo Challenge 2010

The Paleo Diet is surprisingly easy for me to follow. When I started, the only expectation I had was to feel better because I was eating healthier. The first week I was eating so much food (especially fruit) that I didn’t expect to lose weight or see any major changes in my body – I was wrong. I lost nine pounds over the 4-week period, but more importantly, I discovered that it is really easy and satisfying to eat simple, natural foods. 

Broiling meat in the oven and steaming veggies in the microwave makes for a quick and easy meal. I am able to satisfy sweet cravings by eating a variety of fresh and dried fruits. My favorite treat is mashing a banana with cinnamon and putting it in the freezer until almost completely frozen. For me, it is just as good as ice cream.  

I will continue to make the Paleo Diet part of my lifestyle.

-Michelle Doolin

Need more recipes?

http://www.paleocookbook.com/

Paleo Challenge 2010

Have you ever watched a kid play with that toy where they have to put the different shaped blocks into a box of some sort? They sort of know what they have to do. They have to take the little cube and put it into the hole; but for some reason it just does not go in. Maybe they’re trying to put it in the circle instead. They eventually start banging on the box with their fists. This is what weight loss has been like for me.

I’ve always been in decent shape but over the years I just have gotten a little too heavy for my liking. I get shin splints when I run, on top of the fact I just can’t run as fast as I used to because I just feel so heavy. I also have had somewhat higher than normal blood pressure; I’m only thirty for God sakes! My educated young bride insisted that I should probably go to the doctor and possibly even get on medication. Being a pharmacist I just didn’t want to have to go down that road, not yet at least.

I knew that if I lost the weight my blood pressure would come down too. So I just did what I’ve always done, ate less and exercised more. A month went by, the scale must’ve been broken; didn’t move. Seriously. I kept working out like a rat on a wheel at the gym and eating less. I just kept feeling more tired more than anything. This equation had worked before: Calories in minus calories out = weight loss. I’d done this a few times successfully over the last couple years and now it just wasn’t working. Why?

Fast forward past a few more sessions of “banging my fists on the box” and then I stumbled upon CrossFit. A childhood friend sent me a flyer asking for a donation to the wounded warriors project in Fight Gone Bad IV at Albany CrossFit. Having never heard of this I checked it out on the internet and found out there was a CrossFit here in Lexington too. When I came to CrossFit Maximus for the first time I was honestly a little intimidated by the workouts. However, I’ve worked out at every other gym and realized this place was the real deal. The concept was just what I needed. Working out with other people; no stale, boring, routine workouts. This was it.

I met J. Sharp and told her I loved the placed and that my goal was to just lose about 10 pounds. She had mentioned the Paleo and Zone diets in passing to me and asked if I’d ever heard of them. I never had. So I went home and looked up everything I could on the internet about them. I came across a few books to put it mildly. I tended to focus on just two of the books that I found, “The Paleo Diet” by Loren Cordain and “Good Calories Bad Calories” by Gary Taubes. Even though they were essentially “diet books” they were two of the most interesting books I’d ever read. The short readers digest version take away message: spikes in insulin caused by refined processed carbohydrates cause people to become fat by inhibiting lipolysis.

Was the answer this simple? I looked up in one of my pharmacy textbooks and I almost feel embarrassed admitting this but I never really put two and two together but as plain as day in the diabetes chapter of the book: Insulin inhibits lipolysis. My “ah ha” moment had arrived. Prevent insulin spikes and you’ll lose weight. So I cut out refined carbs, started eating more vegetables and fruit and came into CrossFit a few days a week; I dropped 18 pounds in two months. So that’s pretty cool but here’s the real kicker, I didn’t have to count any calories and I was never hungry.

Now I realize that probably not everyone will just be able to drop some of their favorite foods as easily as I did, but I guess it comes down to this: How badly do you want to lose weight? Or maybe I should put it like this, once you have the know-how to put the right block in the correct hole, wouldn’t it be silly to keep trying to put the cube in the circle?

Seth D.

Paleo Challenge 2010 WINNER

I’ll start this off by talking about why I did the Paleo Challenge. I am desperately trying to break some of the lifestyle habits that I grew up with. Most of my family is obese and battling the diseases that go along with it. It is heartbreaking to watch the emotional and physical struggles that my siblings and parents are dealing with. I feel that, as the primary purchaser and preparer of food in our home, that I have the opportunity to show myself and my children a better way to eat and live. The challenge was not easy for me. I come from a long line of very good cooks, where the hallmark of a well prepared dinner is homemade bread and cream sauces. When my mom heard about the Paleo lifestyle, she was appalled that I was cutting out two of the major food groups – grains and dairy – and was concerned for my health. I assured her that my family was still getting plenty of protein, fats and even carbohydrates, just not from the traditional sources. During the first challenge, my husband and I struggled to find things to eat, but I found it a lot easier this time around. Instead of basing my meal around a certain starch (potatoes, rice, or pasta) as I had been raised to do, I started to plan around the protein source for the meal. Some of our attempts at Paleo meals were delicious and others were, well, not. We found that we really enjoyed Spaghetti Squash as a base for meals. Sometimes, we just put a meat/tomato sauce on top of it and other times, we topped it with chicken grilled with mushrooms and peppers. My kids enjoyed the nights we would have breakfast for dinner – usually eggs, turkey bacon and some fruit. Most days I had a salad for lunch and I ate a lot of nuts along the way. I was so grateful that my favorite nut, pecans, were in season for this challenge. We even attempted a Paleo dessert this time around which was made an almond macaroon made with ground almonds, stiff egg whites and lemon. I do feel better physically when I am on Paleo. My blood sugar remains steadier and I don’t feel the highs and crashes that come with my normal diet. Which is why I hope to adjust my normal diet to become more like my Paleo diet. I am planning to use this as one of the tools in my arsenal to ward off what my doctors and family history have told me is an inevitable diagnosis of diabetes. I was dragging during some of my workouts in the first week as my body adjusted to the sugar cravings, but seemed to have more stamina beyond the first week. I didn’t cheat during the four week challenge, because I was honestly afraid that it would be hard for me to just cheat a little bit, so I stayed strict Paleo for the entire four weeks. My first indulgence after the challenge was over was a Chipotle Burrito complete with rice and cheese and sour cream. I felt sick afterward, but enjoyed every bite of it at the time. I do hope to continue to eat this way, with scheduled cheats along the way. I just don’t think I could go the rest of my life without a good pizza or burrito every once in a while, but I also want to be able to live my life with energy and good health. So, the cheats will only be occasionally.

 -Kara Cook

Paleo Challenge 2010

Fun times indeed.  I ended up shedding 7 pounds which I didn’t even plan on doing.  It has really shredded up my torso and I like the results. 

I have done similar diets before, so this wasn’t too bad.  The first week wasn’t too difficult, especially since you can eat any fruit.  I also did a 2 week detox during the challenge which was welcomed.  You are eating the same foods required on a detox and pushing water, so I thought they went well together.  I would suggest it to others, however one MUST keep their immune system primed, so they don’t get weakened during workouts, and potentially get sick.  (This has happened to me in the past).

My time saver was to make fruit shakes each morning, and grill a lot of chicken each Sunday evening for the week.  Eating out however is not easy to do at all.  Finally I would suggest always having a bag of almonds in the front seat of your car.  Healthy, filling, and keeping the metabolism burning.      Thanks for all your help!

Cory Heitz