The Foods that I stopped consuming for my ABS
Abs are not everything although they are definitely something. A lot of the times we exercise and eat boil down to how we are going to look in the mirror. For any of you who read the Great Gatsby, that six-pack represents the ‘green light’, the orgiastic future that year by year recedes before us. We are motivated to chase it not knowing its our only reason for wanting to get in shape in the 1st place. Its no surprise that a lot of us tend to give up seeing its not enough although before not long ‘we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.” It’s a cyclical routine that merits reflection.
A few years ago, I deployed to the Middle East, my first deployment actually. I could go all day what was going through my mind from the transportation to getting there, among them was how I was going to get in the best shape of my life and get those coveted abdominal muscles. I failed to pay attention the increasing waistline and gut that became more noticeable in pictures and I was adamant about pressing the reset button.
When they say, “Abs are made in the kitchen,” they mean it literally. There is an adage in fitness circles that you cannot exercise off a crappy diet. You are what you eat. That being said, I become more conscious of what I ate and cracked down on the foods that were impeding my progress.
Dairy Milk
In dairy milk is lactose and lactose is sugar which contributes to weight gain. Dr. Coogan, director of the didactic program in nutrition and dietetics at University of Nevada, Las Vegas, noted when removing dairy from your diet, “the biggest difference you’ll see is your reduction in sugar consumption from the lactose-containing portions of certain dairy products,” leading to weight-loss. For me I did not just see a difference there. I felt less bloated and less inflamed attributing that to better gut health and more pleasant bathroom visits. By adulthood, up to 70% of individuals no longer produce enough lactase to properly digest the lactose in milk, leading to symptoms when they consume dairy. Being lactose intolerant is not as binary when you think about it.
Meat
For those of you who know me, this was gut-wrenching to say the least as meat has always been my bread and butter and felt it was my only source of protein. I am not just talking about those good old burgers. This includes deli meats such as roast beef, turkey, and chicken breast. They contain a lot of additives, fillers, chemicals, and sodium, all of which harmful to your gut’s lining that promotes weight gain. For me, it was no wonder when I gave it up, I felt an abundance of energy finding myself waking up earlier in the mornings before my alarm clock. One of the contractors I befriended and had the good fortune of working with had a background in nutrition and nutrition and dietetics. I never forgot what he told me one day when he said that he would not be as cut as he is he was if his meat consumption was more often. Knowing that at the time, I took a sabbatical from eating meat and today, if I eat meat, its chicken since the protein is more natural and soluble whereas I will eat red meat very rarely.
Juice
The Defac or cafeteria in civilian terms over there had these juice boxes I found delicious. My favorite was the grapefruit flavor. It really compensated for the cafeteria not being able to have actual grapefruits often. I would practically have it everyday.
Go Kashi Lean Cereal
During my time there, I made it my objective to have a bowl of oatmeal daily. While I did that, I would pour some Go Kashi Lean cereal on top for taste along with honey and some maple brown sugar. I would track my progress seeing steady changes. I was close. Until I started stagnating, I started doing some serious investigating and I couldn’t put my finger on it, then it hit me. It was my breakfast. I knew it was not lunch as it was typically eggs, vegetables, and/or my plant based protein shake and it definitely was not dinner since I fasted from the early afternoon to the morning. I proceeded to opt of juice and ate my oatmeal only with honey. It was only a matter of weeks until I saw my lower abs in the mirror!
The Bottom Line
Although you guys have your own takeaways, I figured you should hear mine since I am writing this. If you have watched Scooby Doo, at the end, they will always unmask the culprit. In this case, its sugar. When a fruit is being converted into a liquid, it gets pasteurized, pulverized, filtered, pureed, and stored in massive vats for months at a time, all of which chips away at the nutrients, vitamins, and belly-filling fiber the fruit once had making it merely empty calories. Not only that, its pumped with sugar and so much of it spikes your blood sugar since there’s no fiber to slow its release into the bloodstream. Juice is just soda without the bubbles. That being said, your fruit intake should come from the source! With the topic still on sugar, that extended to my choice in Oatmeal. I opted for the original flavor since the other flavors like cinnamon and maple brown contain sugar. While Go Kashi Lean is better than most cereals, dried cane syrup and brown rice syrup are major ingredients in it and they are no different than sugar. It also does not help that breakfast cereal has been found to have unrealistic serving sizes. In taking away from this, I hope you guys become more conscious of not just the food you have eaten over the years but the what’s in it. That starts with looking at the nutrition facts.
