I’m the first one to say that once I stopped eating sugar, I used to pound this crap down like there was no tomorrow. And even though I very infrequently will indulge, I’ve been trying to tell you robots for quite some time now to stop drinking diet soda as a regular thing…but noooooo…you don’t listen to JJ. The reason is that tasting something that has the illusion of sweet fosters the desire to eat real sweets and things with sugar in them. It also has the illusion of hydrating you…but totally doesn’t.
Here’s an article from Men’s Health so maybe you’ll have to believe me.
We talk a lot about ”watching what we eat,” but if you never gave a thought to what you ate and instead watched only what you drank, you could probably cut 450 calories a day out of your life. (Yes, nearly a pound of fat loss a week!) That’s what a study from the University of North Carolina found. Americans today drink about 192 gallons of liquid a year—or about 2 liters a day. To put it into perspective, this is nearly twice as many calories as we did 30 years ago.
When confronted with the growing tide of calories from sweetened beverages, the first response is, “Why not just drink diet soda?” Well, for a few reasons:
Just because diet soda is low in calories doesn’t mean it can’t lead to weight gain.
It may have only 5 or fewer calories per serving, but emerging research suggests that consuming sugary-tasting beverages–even if they’re artificially sweetened–may lead to a high preference for sweetness overall. That means sweeter (and more caloric) cereal, bread, dessert–everything.
Guzzling these drinks all day long forces out the healthy beverages you need.
Diet soda is 100 percent nutrition-free, and again, it’s just as important to actively drink the good stuff as it is to avoid that bad stuff. So one diet soda a day is fine, but if you’re downing five or six cans, that means you’re limiting your intake of healthful beverages, particularly water and tea.
There remain some concerns over aspartame, the low-calorie chemical used to give diet sodas their flavor.
Aspartame is 180 times sweeter than sugar, and some animal research has linked consumption of high amounts of the sweetener to brain tumors and lymphoma in rodents. The FDA maintains that the sweetener is safe, but reported side effects include dizziness, headaches, diarrhea, memory loss, and mood changes. Bottom line: Diet soda does you no good, and it might just be doing you wrong.
The best way to hydrate is by drinking low-calorie, high-nutrient fluids.
Recently deceased hybrid sex kitten Eartha Kitt maintained her outrageous legs and fabulous figure by weight lifting and running daily…all the way to 81 years young! Of course having the hybrid advantage didn’t hurt either….
JJ’s Sunday: 75 minutes resistance training
30 minutes Zone 2 with a 5 minute Zone 3 finish
JJ’s Monday: 40 minutes TT interval cycle
45 minutes swim
You think I got Rolex and Chex for Christmas like Ms Kitt?
I’m not a superstitious person, really I’m not. But sometimes you really have to call on a higher power…like when 4 ton trucks carrying 40 tons of granite and barreling by you every 5 minutes on a 2 lane road its 35 degrees overcast and drizzling….jesus….Big Bucks Big Bucks No Whammies!
I always laugh at motorcycle clowns who think they’re tough…they’ve got leather jackets and horsepower!!! Cyclists are the most fearless, focused people I know.
Even though last week before the course was announced, last was taking the “I hope I end up in pink at the end” line, now that the plans have been layed out he is definitely not the favorite, if he ever was. The Tour de France is usually pretty flat for the first week, allowing the riders to “ride into shape.” Not the Giro…it kicks your ass from the very beginning and never stops. I still think Lance can win the Tour de France…but not the Giro…no way.
“I’m very excited to come next May to your country and compete in the first Giro for me,” he told Gazzetta dello Sport’s website. “This is a special year for many reasons — obviously, the 100th anniversary.”
Armstrong expects an exciting race from the gun as it will head into the Alps in week one. And the 61.7km individual time trial from Sestri Levante to Riomaggiore on May 21 could prove a make-or-break day, he said.
“The second week I think is highlighted by the long time trial,” he said. I’ve never done a time trial of 62km. This will be a critical day in the Giro,” he said.
Other tough stages lie ahead in the final week, including stage 19, a 164km leg from Vesuvio that Armstrong said “will be a test for all of us.”
In Godfather II, we robots learned from Fredo’s drunken whore wife after the Corlerone family toast that “Cento Anni” means 100 years, that we should all live to be 100 years old…well my favorite race (yes, better than the Tour de France), the Giro d’Italia, is 100 years old in 2009. The jersey for the Giro is pink, rather than the jaune of France, and this year will be designed by Dolce and Gabbana, which is pretty frickin glam-rad! I might actually have to be a poseur and get on this year, but just to hang on the wall because only real toolboxes wear sponsored jerseys on the road.
Here’s the official story:
The Giro d’Italia, which in 2009 will welcome seven-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong for the first time, will start its centenary edition in Venice on May 9 and finish in Rome on May 31, organizers said in unveiling the 3395.5km route on Saturday.
The race, which Spaniard Alberto Contador won this year, will comprise 21 stages and take in major cities including Milan, Turin, Florence, Bologna and Naples.
RCS Sport’s Angelo Zomegnan said the 2009 Giro contains stages “suitable for each and every specialist, from sprinters to time trialists to climbers,” calling it a route certain to select “the strong man, the emperor of the Centennial Giro.”
Astana general manager Johan Bruyneel, who was in Kazakhstan meeting with President Nursultan Nazarbayev and the team’s Kazakh sponsors, said the two key stages would be the 61.7km individual time trial in Stage 12 and Stage 17 to Blockhaus.
“We are used to big stage races with decisive mountain stages in the last week. We will have to change our usual strategy,” Bruyneel said. “That is one challenge, but the biggest challenge will be to bring back Lance Armstrong to his level of three years ago. I am confident about this and we are highly motivated as well by the presence of a lot of big names at the start of this centenario.”
Reigning Giro champ Contador has his sights set on the Tour de France after his Astana team was not invited last year, leaving him unable to defend his 2007 crown. That may leave his teammate Armstrong free to fight for the Giro victory, although Italian Ivan Basso — back after a two-year doping ban — compatriots Damiano Cunego and Danilo Di Luca, and Spanish Tour de France champion Carlos Sastre will also push hard for glory.
Adding a touch of glamour, Italian couturiers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana will help to design the famous pink jersey.
The Giro will begin with a 20.5km team time trial and finish with a 15.3km individual time trial.
Stages of the 2009 Giro d’Italia
Stage 1, May 9: Venice Lido (team time trial, 20.5km) Stage 2, May 10: Jesolo to Trieste (156km) Stage 3, May 11: Grado to Valdobbiadene (200km) Stage 4, May 12: Padova to San Martino di Castrozza (165km) Stage 5, May 13: San Martino di Castrozza to Alpe di Siusi (125km) Stage 6, May 14: Bressanone to Brixen Mayrhofen (Austria) (242km) Stage 7, May 15: Innsbruck (Austria) to Chiavenna (244km) Stage 8, May 16: Morbegno to Bergamo (208km) Stage 9, May 17: Milan-Milan Milano Show (100km) May 18 - Rest day Stage 10, May 19: Cuneo to Pinerolo (250km) Stage 11, May 20: Turin v Arenzano (206km) Stage 12, May 21: Sestri Levante to Riomaggiore (individual time-trial, 61.7km) Stage 13, May 22: Lido di Camaiore to Florence (150km) Stage 14, May 23: Campi Bisenzio to Bologna-San Luca (174km) Stage 15, May 24: Forli to Faenza (159km) Stage 16, May 25: Pergola to Monte Petrano-Cagli (237km) May 26 - Rest day Stage 17, May 27: Chieti to Blockhaus (79km) Stage 18, May 28: Sulmona to Benevento (181km) Stage 19, May 29: Avellino to Vesuvius (164km) Stage 20, May 30: Naples to Anagni (203km) Stage 21, May 31: Rome to Rome (individual time trial, 15.3km)
Dr Curl at the Ravens/Stealers game Sunday. We Wuz Robbed!
Thanks to Dr Curl and her great staff, (esp Elizabeth…I will not become a Somali pirate I swear)! I am cleared for takeoff to swim and even limited running! So here we go again…I was thinking of regularly posting my workout schedule, just so people could see how much goes into maintaining fitness at a reasonably high level…would anyone be interested in that? Bueller? Bueller?
New Shoes for the Coupe, Pt 3. The Nike Structure Triax 11
Ok, I have roughly 3 months until a “B-race” in Miami (March 15th). But since it is a “B-race” (as opposed to an “A-Race” which this coming year is in Boise mid year and Canada late year) I don’t need to peak in March, just be 85-90%, then dip again April and start building.
This, by the way, robots, is how everyone’s fitness works. It’s a cycle and a process….no one can be in peak condition all year. It’s not possible or desirable. You can, however, be in peak fitness and wellness all year…that is possible and desirable, yes?
So, this week the goal is to start to build what we call and aerobic base…that calls for low to medium intensity workouts that get progressivley longer over time. Taking into account my recent surgery, and relative loss of endurance because of the 3 week break, this is what I have for today (weds):
- 2 miles in Zone 2 on the treadmill, with a stop and check midway to make sure all systems are go. Of course I rarely run anymore on the treadmill, but again, better safe than sorry with the new knee.
- 20 minutes core training and stretching
- 2o minutes of drills in the pool and 3 x 200m at a easy to moderate pace (1.35 per/s)
Kenyon Martin just won the “some jocks are the stupidest fuckheads in the world” award, tattooing his girlfriend Trina’s lips on his neck….!?! Damn Kenyon, who’s pimpin who?
I give Trina all the credit in the world on this one…you go girl! I guess she does walk it like she talks it..,here are the lyrics from her hit song “My Neck, My Back”:
You might roll dubs, you might have G’s
But so what player, get on your knees
A girl like me moans and screams Thug misses know what I mean
At the club so fresh, so clean
Girls hatin’ fellas watchin’ me
Standin’ out in the line, so clean
With a unit on my face, so mean
I gotta pick which fella I need
To take me out, spend his money on me Try me I’ll make you see
No other girl got nothin’ me
So, lick it now, lick it good
Lick this just like you should
Right now, lick it good
Lick this just like you should
My Neck, my back
Lick it just like that
My Neck, my back
Lick it just like that
Lick it indeed, KMart…and right now this Diva’s phone is ringing off the hook with calls from the new Phelps girlfriend and Kardashian and all the other goldiggers trying to figure out how to get it that good.
…and this publicity picture of Robery Downey in the new Sherlock Holmes (directed by Mr $75 Madonna) proves it. You can be a bloated alcoholic coke whore for years - hell, decades - and given enough resources, coddling, “me time” at Malibu Promises, and hollywood crony ism, anyone can resurrect themselves and, more importantly, THE CAREER, to regain their physique …not their health, mind you, but their physique…
are you listening Busta Rhymes?
Of course it helps just a lil bit if your initials are RDW…if not you mayt end up looking like this…
