Battle of the Bulge

August 21, 2011 0 Comments

With 66+ Percent Of Louisianians Overweight, Here Is Straight Talk About Your Health

by Coach Sid Edwards, Central schools athletic director

CENTRAL — America faces a health crisis, and my experience as a coach and now athletic director for Central’s schools has shown me that Central is very much part of this health crisis.

Just a few weeks ago, a national study revealed that 66 percent of the people in Louisiana are either overweight or obese. Unfortunately, those numbers are probably reflective of Central too.

For most of my adult life, I have been part of this problem.

Poor diet, including an addiction to fast food, and lack of exercise caused a health crisis in my life.

I have coached many championship teams, but I haven’t been the role model for healthy eating and proper exercise that I should be.

At one point, I was up to 275 pounds, and I felt terrible. I became diabetic and had to take insulin shots. I was on a lot of medication.

Then in early 2010, I was at a turning point. I knew I had to get my health right or face an early death. I was chosen to participate in WAFB-TV’s Shape Up Showdown. They ended up featuring me and highlighting my struggles.

With the help of some great counselors and a lot of discipline on my part, I dropped down to 195 pounds. I wasn’t comfortable at that weight and finally settled at 205. I felt great and got a lot of compliments for my appearance.

It was a good time for me. I got rid of all my medications, and I felt better than I had since college.

But, gradually, I began to “backslide” here and there. I slowed down on exercise. I ate bad things more and more.

Now I’m at 220, and my doctor says I need to get back on the medication. This is not where I need to be nor where I want to be. I feel sluggish.

So if you’re fighting the “Battle of the Bulge,” I fully understand where you’re coming from and how hard it is to make permanent changes in your lifestyle.

I ask myself where did that extra 15 pounds come from that brought me from 205 to 220?

When I go to the weight room and pick up a 15-pound weight, I can’t believe how heavy it is. How could I allow myself to add this much weight in just a few short months?

I know that without watching what I eat carefully and participating in a regular exercise program, the pounds pile on!

Now I am determined to get back in the groove. I know what to do. Now I just need to do it!

I’m enjoying the website, www.eatrightamerica.com. It says, “Diets don’t work!” and I believe that. It’s not about a diet. It’s about eating healthy and regular exercise.

At the end of the school year in May 2011, I launched a weight loss challenge for some of my friends and colleagues. We wanted to see who could trim down the most.

A total of 24 people signed up. A total of 18 finished the challenge. Some of the results were remarkable.

My son Cody won. He had the highest percentage of body lost.

Greg Simmons was the faculty champion. He did very well. He’s raving about how much better he feels, and he looks fantastic!

David Prescott, our assistant principal at the high school, was 3rd. He dropped from 220 to 201. Not much, you say, but really that was probably the biggest achievement of anyone. David didn’t look bad at 220. But he is a different man at 201.

My son Chase is autistic. He is 18 and a student at the high school. He was in 4th place. Because of his autism, he doesn’t have a lot of choices. But we controlled his diet and helped him with moderate exercise, and he had significant weight loss. With autism, you have to pick your battles. We worked on getting Chase off soft drinks and getting him to drink a lot of water. That’s so important!

Altogether, our group lost 400 pounds. That’s a lot of dead, useless weight that we won’t be lugging around anymore.

Over at Live Oak High, our friend David Dykes has lost 85 pounds. Pretty impressive! And he’s still working on it.

Matt Edwards lost 40 pounds, and now he has taken a position as head coach at False River Academy.

Anyway, I’m not the walking billboard for good health that I was a year ago! But I’m working on it!

Here are five rules:

1. When you’re hungry, drink water. It may satisfy your hunger, and you will definitely eat less.

2. Bring in less that goes out. Elimination has to exceed intake. That’s pretty fundamental, but most people don’t think about it. If you eat more than you eliminate, you’re gaining weight. If you eliminate more than you eat, then you’re losing weight.

3. If you’re not supposed to eat it, don’t buy it. You’re at your strongest at the store and at your weakest standing in front of the refrigerator late at night. Don’t let it into the house!

4. Remember, food is addictive. When you go wild in your eating for one day, it may carry over for two or three days of bad eating. Don’t get started.

5. Get moving. Get out of the chair and off the couch. Re-enter the world of physical activity. Go to Wal-Mart or any supermarket. Walk around. Look at the other people you don’t want to look like. Five times around the store. Notice the people and how they handle their buggies. Look at the people who walk around with their elbows leaning on the buggy? They’re in real trouble. You don’t want that!

Dr. Joel Fuhrman has developed something called the Aggregate Nutrient Density Index.

This is a score given to foods, based on the nutrients per calorie.

In his book, Eat for Health, he gives each food a score “based on the equation H=N/C, which is that the health of a food is equal to the nutrients it delivers per calorie.”

The score of 100 is the maximum possible, and 0 is the lowest possible. Whole Foods has adopted his scoring system.

Leafy vegetables such as greens score 100. Beans are 48, fresh fruit is 45, fish is 15, meat is 8, and diet Cokes are 0!

Do Americans eat right?

Well, you decide. Here is a comparison of Americans’ diet in the year 1900 and the year 2000:

1900 vs. 2000

Sugar 5 lbs. vs, 170 lbs.

Soft drinks 0 vs. 53 gallons

Oils 4 vs. 74 lbs.

Cheese 2 lbs. vs. 30 lbs.

Homegrown 131 lbs. vs. 11 lbs.

We eat the wrong things, and we eat way too much of the wrong things. And we are driven by hunger. That’s pretty amazing, if you think about it. How can we be overweight and be hungry?

The reason is that eating the wrong things makes us have a false sense of hunger.

If my stomach is growling, I say I’m hungry. But that’s not hunger. That’s bad stuff in your belly wanting more bad stuff.

Let’s distinguish three things.

• The first is starvation. When you’re body is starving, you are way beyond hunger. In fact, you have no sense of hunger. Very few Americans ever experience starvation.

• The second is what I’d call “bad hunger.” That’s when you’re stomach is growling. You may be irritable or have headaches. This all comes from eating bad food. It’s not real hunger. Believe me, you’re not dying.

• The third is what I’d call “good hunger.” When you’re eating right and miss a meal, you experience “good hunger,” which is actually a pleasant experience. Your mouth salivates, and you eagerly await a tasty meal. When mealtime comes, it is a delight.

Feeling bloated, sluggish, and irritable comes from eating bad food and eating too much.

Want to feel good? Eat good foods with high Aggregate Nutrient Density. [I’m talking to myself, not just you!]

As a coach and athletic director, I’ve observed a lot about weight gain and good health.

In our society today and right here in Central, I see a stark contrast between our athletes and other students. Our athletes are in better shape than ever. Some of our other students are in good shape too. But overall our non-athletes are in poor shape — worse than I’ve ever seen.

Watch the documentary, “Supersize Me!” In this experiment, a person ate at McDonald’s everyday for a month.

He gained 23 pounds in 30 days! He added three inches to his waist, and his blood pressure shot up. We don’t want to be like that!

Here are some tips, so that you [and I] get better:

1. Start slow. It starts with a single step.

2. Start moving and start drinking water.

3. Drink one glass of water

4. Walk out to the driveway

5. Replace a bad meal with a healthy one

6. Double your walking. Go out to the driveway twice. Then three times. Then four. Get up to 10.

7. Drink two glasses of water a day. Then three. Then four.

8. Pick up a five pound weight. Hold it out straight. Work curls every day. Increase your workout. Bend over. Move. Walk.

9. Replace the second bad meal with a healthy one.