Dr. Sekula on weight loss, fitness and nutrition

I recently had a meeting at a local coffee shop (Starbucks, is there anything else?). I was on time. My counterpart was stuck in traffic. After getting my drink of choice (Venti, half-caff), I picked up the Starbucks menu.

As I scanned the menu, I noticed a large number of items I would never consider… Let’s take a look. 

First of all, the menu is overwhelming. I’ve been countless times but never picked up or even unfolded it. Printed on a sheet of 10×18 in. paper, with four columns of choices, it’s loaded with drink choices. As far as I can tell, there are 218 items. With a choices of “Things to add or leave out” section, the choices are practically infinite.

So what did I find? A whopping 156 out of 218 drinks contain at least 25 grams of carbohydrate. That’s 72%. You will be happy to know that my Venti half-caff checked in with zero.

The worst offenders? Where should I start…at 72%, it ran the gamut. As far as hot drinks go, the worst offenders were White Chocolate Mocha, Espresso Truffle, Hot Chocolate, Signature Hot Chocolate, Caramel Apple Spice and Tazo Green Tea. Carb counts ranged from 25 to 94 grams per drink. All of these without whipped cream. Add that and you can figure up to 3 grams of sugar, depending on the size of your drink.

The Venti Caramel Apple Spice is the culprit checking in with 94 grams. That’s 22 teaspoons of sugar. As an aside, could you sit down and eat 22 teaspoons of sugar? Overall, 68% of the hot beverages checked in as FAILS. Your best bets, any plain Coffee, short, tall and grande Classic Espressos, any Caffe Americano, any Cappuccino, and any size plain Tazo tea. All check in at under 25 grams (still too much for me, but hey, you gotta draw the line somewhere). There are a couple of others here and there, but you get the idea.

Good luck with the cold drinks, where 81% have more carbohydrate than you can shake a stick at. Frappuccino’s were the worst. The winner? How about a Tazo Green Tea Blended Creme Frappuccino (without whipped cream, of course)…it only has 111 grams. Double Chocolate Chip and Vanilla Bean came a close 2nd and 3rd, with 104 and 100 grams, respectively. The Pancreatic Hammer Trio is what they really need to be called. 

Looks like Starbucks created their menu using the food guide pyramid. The drinks follow the blueprint: low in fat, high in carbohydrate. I’m just waiting for the barista to offer me a bagel or low-fat muffin with my coffee…oh wait, never mind.  I guess paying better attention is in order.

Why hasn’t the guy from CSPI (scroll down to the guy from CSPI) gone after Starbucks? He’s gone after Coke, McDonalds and everything in between. Why not Starbucks? As far as I can tell, Coca-Cola and Starbucks are pandering the same things.

Oh wait…I think I know. People at Starbucks are smart enough to know the difference. They don’t need someone like Jacobsen forcing calorie counts on the wall, like those who frequent McDonalds. 

So there you have it, you are smarter, at least now, for going to Starbucks. Just stick with plain coffee (fully caffeinated or not). Your pancreas will thank you.

Any Starbucks drink stories you care to add?

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Can the insanity of listening to celebrities ever stop? Are they ever right about anything?

Why is it news when Paul McCartney and Yoko Ono (and a bunch of other, pasty looking pseudo-celebrities) attempt to create a free yourself from meat day? Jeez, if giving up meat (even for one day) would bring me closer to looking like them, I’d put beef jerky in my socks.

And why are they the experts on “climate change?” I’ll bet they were consulted on the name change too, huh? As a perfect display on her understanding of the situation, Yoko provided this brilliant piece of evidence…

Give up one day and then it will be two days maybe. It’s a very, very intelligent idea.”

Very intelligent, indeed.

Sounds about as intelligent as the lady in the video (not identified, although she sounds like a nutritionist).

Cutting your meat consumption in half would be better for the climate than cutting your car use in half.

She looks like a vegetarian – too many carbs! (if you know what I mean)

Hey, I have an idea. Why don’t I start walking or riding my bike everywhere and doubling my meat consumption? All that extra activity will require more protein, gotta rebuild that tissue – and as I said before, I’m not not putting soy in my body.

I’ll let Paul and all the other men eat soy. Then I’ll put them in contact with Kramer – they’re gonna need some of these.

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Stephan over at Whole Health Source (an excellent blog – and in the list of Blogs I Read) has written a 3-part series on Eicosanoids.

If you’re interested in maintaining excellent cardiovascular health and wondering if your diet could be improved, these posts are mandatory reading.

The first, Eicosanoids, Fatty Liver and Insulin Resistance is the primer for metabolic syndrome.

The second, Eicosanoids and Ischemic Heart Disease is an eye-opener regarding consumption of poly-unsaturated fatty acids (PUFA).

The final, Eicosanoids and Ischemic Heart Disease part II shows that it’s not just the ratio of omega-6 and 3’s in the diet that’s important, but the amount too.

All of Stephan’s posts are good but this series may top them all!

Brian

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Before getting to the challenge, a question. It’s the last week of January, how are you doing on those Resolutions? Never fear, you still have time and I have something just for you.

Our first annual Fitness Challenge, benefiting the Fort Bend Education Foundation, is starting soon. We’re asking you to participate for two very good reasons. First, exercise is good for you. No shocker there but even though you know that, sometimes you need a swift kick to get it in gear; and that’s where reason number two comes in. Knowing that you’re working to support our teachers and students in Fort Bend ISD is all the incentive you need.

Here’s how it works. Our Fitness Challenge was inspired by the legendary 300 workout surrounding the 300 movie. If you have HBO, you’ve seen the movie. Believe me. I think it’s running a continuous loop. The 300 challenge is a series of exercises, each performed for a specific number of repetitions under a time limit. 

There are seven exercises: pull-ups, deadlifts, pushups, box jumps, wipers, clean and press and pull-ups again. During the challenge, you start with the pull-ups and proceed to each successive exercise and finish with pull-ups. One time through completes one circuit. There are four different levels within the 300 challenge. For Levels 1 – 3, you must complete two circuits within 20 minutes. For level 4, you need only complete a single circuit in 20 minutes.

And that is where the challenge lies. With each successive level, the number of repetitions you must perform increases. For level 1, you need only complete 5 pull-ups and then 10 repetitions of every other exercise before finishing with another 5 pull-ups. For level 4, you must perform 25 pull-ups, 50 repetitions on everything else and finish with another 25 pull-ups. If you add those repetitions up for level 4, you get 300. Interesting, no?

So what exactly is the Fitness Challenge? Well, when you decide the take the challenge, the first thing you need to do is register at our facility. Registration is $35. We will evaluate your fitness level and determine which level of the 300 workout you should strive to complete by the end of April. We’ll give you a t-shirt, give you some tips on how to work out to reach your goal, and send you on your merry way. Then we’ll test you again the last week of April. If you’ve met the challenge and successfully completed your level, we’ll give you a finisher t-shirt and you’ll get special recognition when we make our donation to Fort Bend Education Foundation.

Now, about that registration fee. You can get it waived when you sign-up for one of our special training programs. We have a few time slots available created specifically to help you reach your goal.  

So how are we raising money for Fort Bend Education Foundation? When you register, we’ll give you a sponsor form. Use that form to get family members, colleagues, friends, your neighbor, anyone to sponsor you. Get them to commit to a “per rep” sponsorship. For example, someone sponsors you at $1.00 per rep. When you complete your final testing in April, we’ll provide you a letter indicating exactly how many reps you performed. When you go to inform your sponsors of how well you did, show them the letter. If you completed 300 reps, then your sponsor pays $300. If you only did 50, then they pay $50. You get the picture.

The point is that you’re getting in shape while raising money for a great cause – never lose sight of that.

For more info on the Fitness Challenge or to sign up, visit our homepage and give us a call or send us an email.

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• Good Calories, Bad Calories by Gary Taubes
• Nutrition and Physical Degeneration by Weston A Price
• Protein Power by Dr. Eades
• The Power of Full Engagement by Loehr and Schwartz
• Words that Work by Luntz
• Made to Stick by Chip and Dan Heath

I read all but Made to Stick – I’m in the process of finishing that one now.

I can recommend them all. If you’re looking for health-related info, the first three are excellent resources. I’ll have to warn you though, the first two (Good Calories, Bad Calories and Nutrition and Physical Degeneration) are lengthy reads. But the info is outstanding.

Protein Power by Eades is a great read. I’m sure his new book (which is on my list, by the way) will be just as good. Dr. Eades has a knack of conveying the complex in a concise and clear way.

Words that Work and Made to Stick are personal development/business books. They help you develop ideas/thoughts/copy to sell your products or services.

So onto this years list…I’ve recently been hooked by the thriller bug. And I’ve been hooked in a bad way. I’m pretty sure I’ve received the entire series for Mitch Rapp. I’ve already read the first two – Term Limits and Transfer of Power. These two were page-turners – edge of your seat kind of excitement. I’m going to have to pace myself and not let it interfere with work…so that will be a challenge.

I’m going to read In defense of Food by Michael Polian and Mistakes were Made by Tavris and Aronson.

I read about a 1/3 of Polian’s book before I had to put the thing down. While I agree with most of his premise (I could nitpick) I found it very difficult to read. Sentences were way too long. Way too long. His message wasn’t difficult to grasp, once you deleted about every other word. But come on, I expected an easier (better?) read from someone with his journalism background.

I haven’t even cracked the cover on Mistakes were Made but from what I understand, it’s good. The subtitle, “Why we justify foolish beliefs, bad decisions, and hurtful acts” is intriguing in its own right. I’m hoping it will provide helpful insight and help my professional development.

So there you have it. That’s my list of “other” reading for this year. Eleven books – one per month. I’ll probably slog through Good Calories, Bad Calories again and read some articles (if you can call them that – they-re books in their own right) by Loren Cordain – the Paleo guy.

So, what is on your reading list?

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So the MPP is the first important thing we do. The other is educate fitness professionals. We have a school for personal trainers that provides a nationally recognized certification, allowing our graduates to work anywhere in the country. Our program is also certified by the State of Texas, and if you’ve ever tried to get an education program approved by our state, you know we must be serious about this school – just kidding, I don’t want the State coming down on me .

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The results of last week’s poll are in. In case it’s slipped your mind, the poll was on who you thought would win the PGA Championship. We had 147 votes.

Contestant, # votes and finish:

• Doug (“This is not an outdoors tournament?”) Pike, 13 votes, 4th place
• Rory (“the course is its most vulnerable – ever!”) Sabbatini, 7 votes, last place
• NOT Rory Sabbatini (all for fun), 38, 2nd place
• Tiger (uh…nevermind), 68 votes, 1st place
• Ernie Singh Goosen (I’ll betcha someone in Europe has this name), 21 votes, 3rd place.

Tiger was the unquestionable winner in our poll nearly doubling the votes of NOT Rory, which when you think about it is essentially the field. Strong!

My personal favorite? Ernie Singh Goosen. He came on at the end, closed really hard on Sunday and came in 3rd. Not bad!

My second favorite? Doug Pike. The whole time he thought he was in an outdoors tournament yet he still managed to take Rory out behind the woodshed.

Alright. I’ll see you guys no Tuesday. Have a great weekend. Hope you get to play some golf.

Brian

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Well I don’t know why, but an overwhelming majority of you were glad to see that Sergio didn’t win either.

In case you missed it or would like to cast your own vote, the poll is here.

I really have nothing against him, nor do I dislike him. And when I’ve seen interviews of him, he comes across as a guy I’d probably like. Some people think he needs an attitude adjustment. He’s too cocky or arrogant. And sometimes he comes across as a smartass – none of which bothers me one way or the other. Being somewhat of a smartass myself is why I think I would probably like him – note emphasis on somewhat.

But even with the outfits (which really mess up the HD experience) I simply don’t think his play stands out all that much one way or the other. Good enough to be there but just not good enough to win it.

Oh well…on to the results.

There are 262 subscribers and 183 of you voted. That’s nearly 70%. Not bad.

Yes (I’m glad Sergio didn’t win!): 148 votes
No – I like his outfits, so I wish…: 35 votes

The yesses received 81% of the votes – an overwhelming victory.

So there you have it. Sorry about that Sergio.

Until next time, break a sweat each and every day.

Brian

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It’s been awhile since my last post; just over a month. Soon after I created this blog, I suffered the dreaded nerve impingement in my neck. It was absolutely miserable and I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy. Without getting into all of the details, I finally received a correct diagnosis. Five bouts of neck traction, anti-inflammatory medication and rehabilitative exercises have me back on track.

As I said in my initial post, my intentions are to post here frequently regarding fitness for golf. I’ll be posting regurlarly on the Boot Camps that I am running, various articles I have written, golf-specific fitness tips and various other topics. If you read the August issue of Golf Digest that had the health survey, you know there are other issues golfers have to deal with. These other issues as they relate to diet, fitness, health and exercise are the “various other topics” I will be covering.

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