Training August 3-August 7

August 3 AM

5 sets:
5 TnG Power Clean @155
5 Hand Stand Push Up (slow and controlled)

Rest 3mins

6 sets:

10 Box Jump 24'
15 DB Lunges (35lb)

August 3 PM

Weighted Pushup Max

-150lb max

4 sets:
Row 250 Row
25 Pushups

-1:38, 1:29, 1:27, 1: 27

August 4 (2pm)

Active Rest

10x 25m Swim (70%)

August 5 (7am)

5 sets:
5 Behind The Neck Press (125lb)
10 Toes to Bar
rest 60

Rest 5 active minutes

5 sets:
10 Kip Pull ups
15 Wall ball (20lb)
rest 60

August 6
Rest

August 7 (10am)

a.Romanian Deadlift 8-7-6-6; rest 120
b. DB Lunges (40#) 16 reps (8eachleg)
c. 5 Muscle up
c. 20 Double Unders

Training July 25-30

July 25

a. Snatch 5 x 3 (work on speed)
b. Power Clean "touch n go" 4 x 3
c. Thruster 3 x 9 @155; rest 60 sec

July 26

a. Press 5-5-3-2-1
a. Chin up Max rep 5 sets (no kip); rest 60sec
b. Tabata Feet to Bar, Hollow Rock; no rest
c. shoulder work

July 27
a. Snatch grip deadlift 5-5-5-5-5-
b. RDL @ 185; 4x 8; 60 sec rest
c. Rope Climb 5 x 1; no hands
c. Max Rep Triangle Pushup; rest 60sec
d. Max DU in 1mins; rest 60 sec

July 28
off

July 29
a. Floor Bench 5x5 @ 205
a. Kip Pullup 5 x 10; rest 60 sec
b. row 100m, hspu 5 x15, pushup, 5x 15; rest 60 sec

July 30
CrossFit Total

Backsquat 355lb PR!
Press 175lb
Deadlift 405 PR

Never Will I Ever: Hip Surgery

My hip has been bothering me sometime. The pain never seems to go away. I have two options: I can continue to mobilize through movement and soft tissue work or I can get surgery...After this video I have come to the realization that I will never get hip surgery. It's not worth it. As the Supple Leopard say "every human being should have the ability to perform basic maintenance of themselves"

Training: July 18-24

July 18

BB Complex:
5 Clean (155lb)
5 Front Squat
5 Push Jerk
-work on technique
Rest as Needed

Conditioning:
10.9.8.7.6.5.4.3.2.1. For Time
KB Swing
Situp
Toes to Bar

July 19
R&R

July 20

Upper:
2 Press
4 Push Press
6 Push Jerk

Conditioning:

5 sets for time:
10 MB Clean (20lb)
8 Dynamic Pushup on Plates
6 KB Snatches (each)

July 21

Skill:
Snatch and OVH Squat

Conditioning:
10min AMRAP
6 OVH Squat (135lb)
12 Ring Pushup
20 DU's
then
10min AMRAP
6 Backsquat (135lb)
12 Ring PU
20 DU

July 22
AM.
5 sets:
5 RDL (185lb)
10 Pullups
Rest 60 sec.

Conditioning:
5sets:
10 Wallballs (20lb)
10 Burpee
Rest 60 sec.

PM
2k Row
time: 8:58, 22s/m, 2:18avg

July 23
R&R

July 24
A. Bench 5-5-5-5-5
Actual: 185/205/225/245/245

Stamina:
B.5 Pull ups, 5 Ring Dips, 5 Push ups: On the minute for 10mins.

C. Rotator Cuff Pre-hab

UnCommon Core

By Will Richardson from Weblogg-ed

So I’ve been building a list of my UnCommon Core, the things I think we can expect every child to understand regardless of interest and passion. I know some will read a liberal bias into this, but I find these hard to argue against, to be honest, regardless the political viewpoint you bring to them. So here’s a baker’s dozen:

1. Living softly on the Earth (Our global impacts.)

2. Gender equality equity (Note #2) (With a particular emphasis on the objectification and sexualization of young girls and women.)

3. Developing expertise (Understanding what it means to go deep intellectually)

4. Public participation (Both online and off)

5. Managing, analyzing, synthesizing and sharing multiple streams of simultaneous information (Thank you NCTE)

6. Physical fitness and health (Real fitness. Real health.)

7. Consumerism and finance (Understanding the systems of money)

8. Networked online learning (And all that goes with that)

9. Reputation management/becoming a trusted source/online safety

10. Participating in a democracy (Online and off)

11. Embracing and learning through change (Too much of schools is about stagnation.) (Added after original posting.)

12. Embracing diversity (Our changing cultural influences)

13. Problem solving and programming solutions

Training: July 11-16

July 11

Backsquat 5-5-5-5-5
-last set 315lbs. PR!

July 12

a.Press 5.4.3.2.1
-last set 155lb
b. 4sets:
12 Toes to bar,
12 GHD situp,
12 TRU push up;
90sec rest between sets

July 13
R&R

July 14
4 sets of 5min AMRAP:
5 Cleans (155)
10 Pullups
15 DB Lunges (30lb each)
20 Box Jumps
-rest the remaining of 5mins before completing next round

July 15

a. OVH Squats
b1. 8 Incline Bench (135lb)
b2. 8 Pullups
c. Wall Slam ball 3 x 20

July 16

10mins of "Nate"

2 Muscle Ups
4 HSPU
8 KB Swing at (2P=71pounds)

Pros: Happy with 5rm Backsquat. Deload week from all the maxing the week before.
Cons: Need more olympic lifting and mobility work.

Training Cycle: 6/8-6/10

Thursday:

50 Squats
40 Situps
30 Pushup
20 Pullup
10 Pistols
20 Pullups
30 Pushup
40 Situps
50 Squats

Time: 12:30 (moderate pace)

Friday:

1RM Snatch-200# PR

Then

2 Press (95)
4 P.P
6 P. J
8 Toes to Bar
Rest 2min
4x

Saturday:

1RM Clean-255#

Summary of Week:
I was really happy with my max snatch. I had been following a strict oly lifting program for the past two months. As far as my clean is concerned I'm not so happy. It was around this time last year that I cleaned the same amount of weight. The body weight workout was to work out the kinks. The overhead movement felt good.

Next Cycle: More oly lifting, increase pullup volume, stay mobile

Work Ethic

Work ethic is a set of values based on hard work and diligence. It is also a belief in the moral benefit of work and its ability to enhance character. A work ethic may include being reliable, having initiative, or pursuing new skills.

YUMMY Paleo Magarita

The NorCal Margarita By Nick Zadrozny

The fitness geeks at CrossFit have been turning me into something of a nutrition geek of late. Along those lines, Robb Wolf’s blog and Paleolithic Solution podcast have been hugely informative. Rather than attempt to summarize the paleo diet here, I encourage you to check out Robb’s blog and podcast if you are at all into exercise and nutrition. Good stuff.

(Tara concocting a margarita for me!)

One particular gem of a discovery is the NorCal Margarita. It’s a tasty adult beverage that the nutrition geek can enjoy, thanks to science!

1. 2–3 shots of 100% agave tequila.
2. Juice and pulp from one lime.
3. Shake it all up with some ice.
4. Add soda water to taste.

Also, I’ve found that it can help to make a few of them at a time, to average out the different sizes of limes.

This drink is wonderful, for a few reasons:

1. Tequila is delicous.
2. Tequila is fermented agave juice, which makes it gluten- or and starch-free. Gluten, as nutrition geeks know, is a gut irritant and just generally bad stuff, and starches are way too dense with unnecessary carbs. Rum could likewise work well here.
3. Lime juice blunts the insulin response of the alcohol, maintaining your precious and hard-earned insulin sensitivity.
4. The lime juice also provides a net alkaline load when it gets to the blood stream, which is a good thing. Most other foods provide a net acid load, and it’s nice to balance that out.
5. The carbon dioxide bubbles in the soda water help get the ethanol into your blood more quickly. This has the practical effect of allowing you to drink a bit less for the same effect.

Yum!

7 Tips for Success According to Oprah

Here's a few takeaways tips you can learn from Oprah's international success.

1. Give back to your fans.
Like any great brand, Oprah has made her fans feel valued. In her "Oprah's Favorite Things" segment, Winfrey has given away everything from camcorders, to croissants, to cars. A good lesson to businesses that an unexpected surprise for your customers can go a long way to gaining loyalty.

2. Take risks and get attention.
In 1988, Winfrey invited a group of neo-Nazis from California to Chicago to appear on her show. Although Winfrey later said she regretted the controversial decision, the move vaunted her into the national spotlight and showed her viewers that she was not afraid to take risks.

3. Explore new verticals.
Winfrey started her career in 1983 with a gig hosting Chicago's low-rated WLS-TV's half-hour morning talk show, AM Chicago. Since then, Oprah has scaled her business into new media verticals including her eponymous TV show, O: The Oprah Magazine (which launched in 2000), the OWN television network (founded in 2011), as well as apps for both her magazine and TV show.

4. Reveal your personal story.
Some companies put up a shield to hide the entrepreneur from the brand: not Oprah. The talk show host has made a number of very personal revelations, most notably that she was sexually assaulted when she was nine. Though not every entrepreneur needs to share their entire life story, the message is clear: transparency between you and your business offers a sense of trust to your customers.

5. Get celebrities on your side.
Besides the Oscars, few events have generated the number of celebrity appearances than Oprah's surprise farewell. Part of Oprah's ability to generate support from celebrities has been her tell-it-like-is style of interviewing on her show. "You have given me love, support, wisdom and, most of all, the truth," Maria Shriver told Oprah during the farewell episode.

6. Become an influencer.
Time magazine talked with Craig Garthwaite, a professor at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management and a bona fide Oprah expert, about Oprah's success at marketing. And just how big is her influence? "For example, the novel Anna Karenina sold 11,648 units in the 12 weeks before inclusion in the Book Club," Garthwaite says. "In the 12 weeks following inclusion, Anna Karenina sold 643,122 units—a staggering increase of 5,421 percent."

7. Know when to quit.
After 25 years, Oprah finally decided it was time to call it quits to focus on her television network, OWN. The message is clear enough for entrepreneurs: don't be afraid to end on a high note.

2011 Regional Workouts

The 2011 Reebok CrossFit Games Regional season begins on May 27 with four locations. They will take place from Friday to Sunday. Each of the three competitions (Individual Men,

Individual Women, and Teams) will have two workouts per day.
Scoring for Regionals will be similar to the Open. The score for a given workout is their ranking for that workout (one point per place, low score is better). Scores for each workout are added together to get the overall score. At the end of the six workouts, athletes and teams with the lowest scores are the winners.

Individual Workouts

Workout 1
For time:Run 1000 meters30 Handstand push-upsRow 1000 meters

Workout 2
Thruster Ladder - Athletes will have 20 seconds to take a barbell from the ground, then perform one thruster at a specified weight. They will have 10 seconds to transition to the next barbell. Their result is the highest successful thruster.
Men’s weights in pounds: 155, 165, 175, 185, 195, 205, 215, 225, 235, 245, 255, 265, 275, 285, 295
Women’s weights in pounds: 105, 115, 125, 130, 135, 140, 145, 150, 155, 160, 165, 170, 175, 180, 185

Workout 3
21-15-9 reps for time of:Deadlift (315lb / 205lb)Box jump (30”/24”)

Workout 4
For time:100 Pull-ups100 Kettlebell swings (53lb / 35lb)100 Double-unders100 Overhead squats (95lb / 65lb)

Workout 5
“Amanda”9-7-5 reps for time of:Ring muscle-up Squat snatch (135lb / 95lb)

Workout 6
For time:20 Calorie row30 Burpees40 Two-hand dumbbell ground-to-overhead (45lb / 25lb)50 Toes-to-bar100 foot Overhead walking lunge (45lb plate / 25lb)150 foot Sprint

Team Workouts

Workout 1
For time:4 X 750m Row50 Handstand push-ups4 X 750m Row
Teams of 4 (2 men, 2 women)

Workout 2
Thruster Ladder, same rules as the individuals. Teams of 2 (1 man, 1 woman). A team’s result will be the sum of the highest successful thrusters by each athlete.

Workout 3
21-15-9 reps for time of:Deadlift (285lb / 185lb)Box jump (30”/24”)
Teams of 2 (1 man, 1 woman). The man performs the entire workout then tags the woman who does the entire workout. Total time is the result.

Workout 4
For time:250 Pull-ups250 Kettlebell swings (53lb / 35 lb)250 Double-unders250 Overhead squats (95lb / 65lb)

Teams of 4 (2 men, 2 women). Team will complete this as a chipper, with one athlete working at a time. A team must complete all of the Pull-ups at the rig, then complete all of the Kettlebell swings, then all of the Double-unders, then all of the Overhead squats. There is no set rotation needed among the athletes. A team’s result is their total time to complete this chipper.

Workout 5
Team “Amanda”9-9-7-7-5-5 reps for time of:Ring muscle-upSquat snatch (135lb / 95lb)

Teams of 2 (1 man, 1 woman). The man does 9 muscle-ups, then the woman does 9 muscle-ups. Then the man does 9 squat snatches, then the woman does 9 squat snatches with a separate barbell, etc. The pattern continues until they both have completed the couplet. A team’s result is their total time to complete the couplet.

Workout 6
For time:20 Calorie row30 Burpees30 Dumbbell ground-to-overhead (45lb / 25lb)30 Toes-to-bar100 foot Overhead walking lunge (45lb plate / 25lb)150 foot Sprint
Teams of 4 (2 men, 2 women). All four athletes perform the entire workout. The first athlete enters and completes the Row. When that athlete has completed the row, they move on to Burpees, and the second athlete may begin the Row. This pattern continues, in order, through all of the movement. No athlete can begin their next station until the athlete ahead of them is clear from that station. A team’s result is the total time for all 4 members to go through the workout.
Movement standards and further information will be coming over the next few days.

Food: It's Killing Us

Darren Hardy, Publisher of SUCCESS Magazine

The No. 2 Instrument of Death
What do you think causes more deaths in the United States each year?
Car crashes
Drug overdoses
Alcoholism
Firearm accidents

All of those combined don't total a third of this insidious instrument of death: food.We are literally eating our way into the grave.Obesity (caused by bad diet and lack of exercise) kills some 400,000 people in this country every year, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Only smoking-related diseases account for more deaths, with a total of 435,000 annually, the CDC reports.A staggering 129.6 million Americans are overweight or obese—that's two out of every three people in this country.

Think about it.

While our ancestors battled disease, famine and other deprivations, we are killing ourselves—with excess.On top of that, we no longer have to chase down and kill our own food. Instead, we chase the world while sitting in front of a computer screen all day, every day, often neglecting to schedule in some form of physical activity.A recent article in The New York Times cited several studies showing that sitting for extended periods—at a desk, in front of the TV, etc.—leads to weight gain and increases the risk of obesity, diabetes, heart disease, a variety of cancers and early death.

Author Olivia Judson, an evolutionary biologist, detailed how the body shuts down following prolonged periods of sitting, causing a metabolic disaster of such proportions that even getting a full hour of exercise each day can't offset the impact.We DO have a healthcare problem, and most of it is SELF-inflicted. We aren't taking proper care of our own health. We need a new healthcare policy, and I don't mean one enacted by Washington—but one enacted by you. You are the only one responsible for what you put into your mouth and how often you move your body.

The Outcome Based Coach

In perfecting my craft I'm learning new ways to assess my nutritional coaching model. Below is a brief list of how I make nutritional adjustments to "hurdles" clients face when reaching their goals:

Hurdle 1: Eating Out Frequently
-Choosing Custom Meals
-Using the Five Habits
-Choosing Compliant Restuarants

Hurdle 2: Busy Life, Litttle Food Prep-Time
-The Sunday Ritual
-The Breakfast Ritual
-Precooking Protein
-Prechoping Veggies
-Liquid Nutrition

Hurlde 3: Lots of Travel
-Choosing the BEST location
-Choosing a room with a Kitchenette
-Carrying a big cooler
-Bringing Protein Supplements
-Bringing Powered Veggies
-Bringing Homemade Bars

Hurdle 4: Busy Social Schedule
-Pre-eating before dinner
-Bring food with you
-Becoming the Host

Hurdle 5: Nutritional Boredom
-Ask for cooking tips from friends
-Buy a new cook book
-Read online articles and blogs
-Practice your cooking with friends

These practices set clients up for success. It's my belieft that the bulk on all nutritional consultation should happen in the privacy of a one-on-one session. Coaches who fail to do so will not succeed in the long run because member's don't see the value of the gym other than a "workout" spot. When things get tough or mundane they leave you.

Workouts Of Art

When having to decide whether we wanted to hire someone to create our website for our new business or do it ourselves, we as a team thought it was best to try it ourselves. I couldn't fathom having to pay someone every time I wanted to change the design of our own web page. It's a great business model for website developers but crappy for those who always have a new idea for their website.

After building two websites: www.crossfitnaples.com & www.prhsbearwrestling.com I realized that I had a passion for creating something out of nothing. More so, I enjoyed the obsessive compulsive nature of getting it' perfect. One thing I realized that limited my creativity was my inability to compose photos that suited my objective. So I started to do some research and got well versed. I ordered two books on internet and web-design: Head First WordPress and The Internet Book (both these books were recommended by a web design expert).

Then I started fooling about with programs similar to Photo Shop and Adobe Illustrator. In this competitive environment the slightest edge makes the biggest difference. So far this is what I've produced..,(more to come)

How to Get Real Education

By Scott Adams, The Wall Street Journal If you're having a hard time imagining what an education in entrepreneurship should include, allow me to prime the pump with some lessons I've learned along the way. Combine Skills. The first thing you should learn in a course on entrepreneurship is how to make yourself valuable. It's unlikely that any average student can develop a world-class skill in one particular area. But it's easy to learn how to do several different things fairly well. I succeeded as a cartoonist with negligible art talent, some basic writing skills, an ordinary sense of humor and a bit of experience in the business world. The "Dilbert" comic is a combination of all four skills. The world has plenty of better artists, smarter writers, funnier humorists and more experienced business people. The rare part is that each of those modest skills is collected in one person. That's how value is created. Fail Forward. If you're taking risks, and you probably should, you can find yourself failing 90% of the time. The trick is to get paid while you're doing the failing and to use the experience to gain skills that will be useful later. I failed at my first career in banking. I failed at my second career with the phone company. But you'd be surprised at how many of the skills I learned in those careers can be applied to almost any field, including cartooning. Students should be taught that failure is a process, not an obstacle. Find the Action. In my senior year of college I asked my adviser how I should pursue my goal of being a banker. He told me to figure out where the most innovation in banking was happening and to move there. And so I did. Banking didn't work out for me, but the advice still holds: Move to where the action is. Distance is your enemy. Attract Luck. You can't manage luck directly, but you can manage your career in a way that makes it easier for luck to find you. To succeed, first you must do something. And if that doesn't work, which can be 90% of the time, do something else. Luck finds the doers. Readers of the Journal will find this point obvious. It's not obvious to a teenager. Conquer Fear. I took classes in public speaking in college and a few more during my corporate days. That training was marginally useful for learning how to mask nervousness in public. Then I took the Dale Carnegie course. It was life-changing. The Dale Carnegie method ignores speaking technique entirely and trains you instead to enjoy the experience of speaking to a crowd. Once you become relaxed in front of people, technique comes automatically. Over the years, I've given speeches to hundreds of audiences and enjoyed every minute on stage. But this isn't a plug for Dale Carnegie. The point is that people can be trained to replace fear and shyness with enthusiasm. Every entrepreneur can use that skill. Write Simply. I took a two-day class in business writing that taught me how to write direct sentences and to avoid extra words. Simplicity makes ideas powerful. Want examples? Read anything by Steve Jobs or Warren Buffett. Learn Persuasion. Students of entrepreneurship should learn the art of persuasion in all its forms, including psychology, sales, marketing, negotiating, statistics and even design. Usually those skills are sprinkled across several disciplines. For entrepreneurs, it makes sense to teach them as a package. That's my starter list for the sort of classes that would serve B students well. The list is not meant to be complete. Obviously an entrepreneur would benefit from classes in finance, management and more. Remember, children are our future, and the majority of them are B students. If that doesn't scare you, it probably should.

THERES NO SUCH THING AS A REST DAY

That’s correct. In elite fitness every moment you spend doing nothing there’s someone out there doing something. Theses freaks of nature are doing two and three workouts-a-day (*cough* Rich Froning *cough*). Competition is not for the weak at heart. But that doesn’t mean your supposed to run your self dry until you have nothing left in the tank. My suggestion is that if your training falls on a “rest day” there are other things you can be doing:

1. Mobilize With such invaluable resources like Kelly Starretts MobilityWOD and Jami Tikkanen’s mobility blog there’s no reason that you shouldn’t be spending time “smashing” your meat, as Kelly Starrett likes to say. Each and everyone of us have tight or impinged musco-skeletal tissue that must be addressed. If these [t] issues aren’t dealt with they’ll eventually deal with you according to a handicap in the fundamental movement, pain, or sub-par performance.

2. Skill Work Most limitations in movement patterns are not caused by a lack of self-determination or negative thinking, rather beacuase of limited experience and proficieny in skill and drills . Experience cannot be bypassed and if attempted will only manifest itself back into pain. “Practice makes perfect.” Go tackle your goat and be free of worry that the next wod you attempt has snatches in them. With the birth of CrossFit Gymnastics, Gymnastics WOD, Power WOD, and other iconic resources such as CrossFit Endurance, Mike’s Gym, and C2 Rower there’s no excuse. Absolutely no excuse.

3. Play a New Sport Some might argue that playing a new sport is harder than training. I agree. It’s not a mystery why “Sport” is at the top of the Theoretical Hierarchy of the Development of an Athlete (see image below) . The only way to to find major weakness’ in yours training is to particpate in the unknown and unknowable realms of sport. These experimentimental particpations with sport (in various metabolic pathways) will bring you back to the drawing board to assess limitations in your mobility or need for additional skill work.

My hypothesis is this: Mobility, Skill work, and Sport are interdependent of each other. They are all transferable to one another and help give feedback loops toward progress.

So next time someone says that it’s a rest day. I want you to really question if that’s such a great idea.

The 3-15-5-1 Plan

By Darren Hardy, Publisher of SUCCESS Magazine We've established how critically important learning to effectively network your way to key relationships will be to your future (Part 1). I gave you the most important principle in endearing yourself to those key relationships (Part 2). Now, I don't want to wrap up this series without leaving you with a plan of action and a road map you can use to dramatically expand the reach and depth of your networking results. Because I am trying to run an entire enterprise and often travelling, the networking program I have created is a per week objective of 3-15-5-1. Theses are meetings and conversations OUTSIDE of my normal business interactions. These are contacts solely for my no agenda driven networking… besides the agenda to give and deposit that is. 3 In-person meetings: Taking a page from Keith Ferrazzi's book Never Eat Alone, these 3 face-to-face get-togethers are usually over breakfast, lunch, dinner or coffee. 15 written communications: Via email or even touches on Facebook or comments on their blog or handwritten communications. 5 phone calls: Direct, just keep-in-touch phone calls. 1 gift: That is where I send a gift to at least one person a week. This might be a book I think they would really benefit from based on what they were talking about. It could even be something for... CLICK HERE TO READ MORE

Glucose Storage Pool

Typically, 20 grams of blood-born glucose circulates every hour. If our blood sugar drops below that, the body will use the glucose immediately for preserving blood glucose and for immediate energy. If excess glucose is present, the liver and muscles will take up what they can. The liver can store about 80-100 grams of glycogen before it's topped off. And the muscles can store between 300 and 600 grams of glycogen before they're topped off. Beyond this, additional glucose can be transformed into body fat. (Nutrition The Complete Guide, ISSA, 200)

Why North Americans Are Getting Fatter

Top 5 Reasons Why North Americans Are Getting Fatter
By Charles Poliquin

1. Thanks to “cereal” mass murderer Ancel Keyes, the man behind the cholesterol scare, saturated fats were falsely demonized. People were told that everything with fat in it was evil. Of course people still have to eat, so they replaced nutritious foods such as eggs with highly processed sugar laden cereals.

2. Portion size is climbing constantly. According to Sugar Shock, the original Hershey candy bar was 0.6 ounces in 1908, while current bars range from 1.6 to 8 ounces. The book also points that serving size of Coke have tripled since the1950s.

3. Kids are far more inactive than ever. Television watching hours used to be a far better predictor of obesity than obese parents or dietary habits. Now the trend is that the Internet is replacing TV watching. The average teenager in the province of Quebec in Canada, surfs the Net 32 hours a week!

4. Their portion sizes are far superior to European ones. My European students always say how surprised they are at servings sizes in American restaurants. Psychologist Paul Rozin, Ph.D. and his colleagues point out that anything that contains sugar in the U.S. is significantly larger; candy bars and soda portions are respectivally typically 41% and 52% larger in Philadelphia than in Paris.

5. The Canadian and US governments preach high grain consumption. So, compliant people will eat 6 to 12 portions of grains a day, coming from bagels, breads, boxed cereals, and pasta. Most of it being the cheap, highly processed kind.

Are Carbs more addicting than Cocaine?

In 2007, researchers at the University of Bordeaux, France, reported that when rats were allowed to choose between a calorie-free sweetener and intravenous cocaine, 94 percent preferred the sugar substitute. The researchers concluded that "intense sweetness can surpass cocaine reward. . . . The supranormal stimulation of these receptors by sugar-rich diets, such as those now widely available in modern societies, would generate a supranormal reward signal in the brain, with the potential to override self-control mechanisms and thus to lead to addiction...read more

How You Get Hooked (Over Time)

1. When you take in carbs, like Gatorade or whole-wheat bread, you secrete the hormone insulin. Even thinking about carbs causes this to happen.

2. Refined carbs spike blood sugar, and this is a big problem. The first result is that your body immediately stops burning its existing fat stores.

3. Too much blood sugar is a dangerous situation, and in response, insulin, a hormone, rips it from your blood and tells the body to store the energy as fat (in men this first happens around the waist).

4. Normally your liver controls blood sugar, but because you eat so many carbs you have a constant supply of insulin circulating. This turns out to be bad—very bad. This causes you to become resistant to insulin.

5. Insulin resistance means your body pumps out more insulin to make up for the deficit. Now you're getting fat, but what's worse is that your body desires even more carbs as fodder for the excess insulin.

6. You get fatter and fatter and your body craves more carbs to feed your increasing girth. This destructive cycle is why Americans are so overweight (the process doesn't happen overnight).