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3 Things to do every day

3 Things to do every day

1. Learn something new. Take some time out of every day to learn something new that you are interested in and share that with somebody.
2. If you are going to do something, do it well. Take your time, be thoughtful, plan and execute. It’s okay if you only do 1 thing per day.
3. Laugh hard. Find something that makes you laugh and take time to enjoy the moment.  

Here are 12 toxic thoughts that might be taking up too much real estate in your mind--if so, a quick eviction is in order.

1.     Comparing yourself to others. When your thinking revolves around comparing yourself to others, it's a battle you will never win. Look in the mirror for your only competition.

2.     Trusting no one. When you think you can trust no one--maybe not even yourself--it's hard to move forward. Trust is a fragile thing, easy to break, easy to lose, and hard to get back. Trust begets trust, so you have to at least trust yourself before you can trust others.

3.     Worrying about what others think. As long as you think and worry about what other people think you will be possessed by their thoughts. The unhappiest people are those who care about what other people think. To succeed, do what you want and give them a reason to talk about your success.

4.     Allowing problems to overwhelm you. Thinking too much turns situations into problems. The problem is not the problem; the problem is thinking you have a problem and allowing it to overwhelm you and spur you into overthinking. Let it go and let it be.

5.     Thinking you have control. We like to think we can control what happens. You cannot control everything, of course, but you can control how you respond to things. The belief that we are in control is an illusion; our response to our thoughts is our power to make a difference.

6.     Not believing in yourself. Doubt kills more dreams than failure ever will. Not believing in yourself twists things around, and often it makes things worse than they actually are. Belief in yourself takes just a little bit of confidence--work on cultivating it before doubt crushes you.

7.     Letting negativity rule you. When your thoughts dwell only on negativity, you don't make room for positivity to take root. Train your mind to see the good in everything. Positivity is always a choice, and success depends on the quality of our thoughts.

8.     Dwelling on the past. If you spend your time thinking about the past and dwelling on what went wrong, you will be tempted to respond the same old way, being the same old victim--you're robbing yourself of creating your future. Success lies in understanding the past but not dwelling there.

9.     Feeling conflicted about the struggle. Remember, every struggle you go through makes you wiser and stronger. Don't let your struggles break you; let them make you.

11.  Dwelling on what you want that you're not getting. If you are thinking about how you are not getting what you want, remember there are many people who will never have what you have right now.10.  Not giving yourself a break.  If you think messing up is wrong and making mistakes is failure, think again and give yourself a break. Good things take time, and often there are lessons that must be learned before we can get where we are going.

12.   Feeling lost and not found If you are thinking that you've lost your way, work to be grateful for what you have. Remember, life does not have to be perfect to be wonderful, and success does not always come to those who seek it. It's sometimes in getting lost that we find what helps us the most.

Toxic thoughts must be dealt with before we can face success. Most of what we create will be with our heart, and most of what we build will be from our thoughts. Let's keep close tables on what it is we're building.

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2014 Cervelo S3 with Shimano Ultegra Di2 Aero Road Bike

The Aero Road Bike has grown more and more in the bicycle industry over the last few years. Each major brand has come out with their own aero road bike model and each brand has tried to make the perfect aero road bike. The Engineers at Cervelo have done just that! The 2014 Cervelo S3 Aero Road bike is a magical blend of Aero Dynamics and Road bike characteristics.  Previous attempts at making a great Aero Road bike have led to bikes that are very fast and aerodynamic however the ride quality of the bike is, for lack of a better word, harsh.

Cervelo is a company that quite simply just knows Aero, if you have ever raced in an Ironman event you know that the majority of the bikes raced at Ironman races are Cervelo’s, in fact one of the fastest bikes ever tested in a wind tunnel is the Cervelo P5. One of the biggest improvements you can make in an Ironman event is aerodynamic efficiency on the bike. Riding an Aero Bike can make a dramatic increase in efficiency which will result in using less energy over the 112 mile bike leg leaving your legs fresh for the 26.2 mile run that awaits you off the bike. What does this have to do with the S3? Well Cervelo has taken everything they know about aerodynamics and combined that with the award winning engineering of the Cervelo RCA to make the Cervelo S3.  By engineering the front triangle of the bike for aerodynamics and combining that with the road bike style rear triangle from the RCA (Find out more about the RCA here) you get a compliant ride that will corner, handle bumps, and climb like a traditional road bike however in a straight line you gain a significant aerodynamic edge over to speed past the competition.

“As a 10 year veteran of cycling the Cervleo S3 is by far my favorite bike”

Bicycle Engineering at its Best

What’s so great about the Cervelo S3?

Well you are probably thinking that such a great bike will come with an enormous price tag, but it does not. When purchasing the S3 you have 3 options to choose from;

• Cervelo S3 with Ultegra 6870 Di2, $5200
• Cervelo S3 with Ultegra 6800, $4000
• Cervelo S3 Frameset, $2300

The Aero Seat Tube cutout allows a 700x25c tire

One of the other benefits of the Cervelo S3 is that even with a tight aerodynamic rear cutout on the seat tube you can still ride a 700x25c (You can learn more about riding wider tires here) tire further improving ride quality and in the long run efficiency over any distance of riding.  The Cervelo S3 has internal cable routing capable of handling whatever the next evolution of components may be and a lifetime warranty, make this an outstanding value.  Plus is pretty awesome looking.

To sum it all up, the Cervelo S3 is one of the best bikes I have ever ridden. Sure you can spend 2x as much on some other bikes out there but the cost to benefit ratio is not even close to the value of the Cervelo S3, this is a pro tour caliber bike at an honest price tag.  Combining the Aerodynamic engineering of a truly aero bike with the road bike handling and ride quality you get a truly amazing bike that is fun to ride in a group or solo.

Cervelo S3 features as shown:

• Full high modulus carbon fiber frame, fork, and seatpost
• Ultegra 6870 Di2 components
• Ultegra 6800 brakes
• Rotor 3DF 52/36 crankset
• Shimano Dura-Ace C50 clincher wheelset
• Specialized Turbo Pro 700x25C tires
• Specialized Romin Evo Saddle

 Enough writing time to ride!

  

SODA not so POP!

I was recently in line at a breakfast/coffee shop and I overheard a conversation of a young woman and her friend talking about losing weight. Both girls were probably in college and they were not quite obese but they were definitely overweight and showing an excess of adipose tissue around the

midsection, face and butt. The one woman turned to her friend and said that she really need to stop drinking soda and that her friend stopped drinking soda and she has lost a lot of weight. I didn’t think much of it but later as I sat down drinking my coffee as I watched her walk out with a big cup full of soda (could have been diet soda I’m not sure but I’ll have already covered that here) and I wondered “does she not really know that soda consumption is a major influencer of adipose fat storage?” I almost stopped to ask her but I felt that would be rude. In the next few paragraphs I would like to show you why soda and sugary drink consumption can lead to overweight and obesity problems.

 

So what is in Soda?

This is a great question but let’s look at what is really in soda. We all know there is sugar in there but what else and why is the sugar inside sodas bad for you? Most sodas contain Water, Sugar, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Carbonation, Caffeine, Sodium, Potassium, Food Coloring and Preservatives.  In other words Soda contains Sugar or Super Sugar, and chemicals your body can not use.  In fact most sodas have so much sugar in them that they should make you throw up, but because of the phosphoric acid they do not.

“Basically just don’t drink soda”

Rapid Blood Sugar Spike

Sugar and High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) are the main culprit in weight gain associated with soda consumption, In a 12 ounce serving of soda it is common to get 44g of sugar in a serving, 3 or 4 times the recommended daily allowance. So what, big deal, that is only 175 calories. The problem here is what happens to your blood sugar once you drink that soda. After consumption in 30-45min your blood sugar will spike well above the normal range. When you have a blood sugar spike this signals cells in your pancreas to increase insulin production. That rapid insulin increase signals cells to uptake glucose into your cells. When insulin levels are high your body knows that you have just eaten food, signaling your body into storing these excessive amount of sugars into fat. After a short amount of time all the glucose has been absorbed into your your cells rapidly causing your blood sugar to fall over the course of about 1 hour total. This spike and fall of blood sugar is a stress on your body, encouraging your body to hold onto body fat, store body fat and burn glycogen at rest rather than using stored fat as energy. This sort of loop is what can cause weight gain specifically around the midsection.  This storage of fat and burn of carbohydrates effect can last several hours. After a rapid insulin spike, fat oxidation stops and fat storage begins. Compound this by several sodas a day over several months or years of the same behavior and all of the sudden that muffin top has become a full on spare tire.

Cane Sugar VS HFCS

Table Sugar, cane sugar or beet sugar and High Fructose Corn Syrup are not the same thing, not all sugars are created equal.  Let’s look at table sugar and cane sugar. Cane sugar and table sugar both are a blend of 2 types of “Sugars” about 50% Glucose and 50% Fructose bonded together. On the glycemic index from 0 to 100 cane sugar and table sugar (Sucrose) both are about a 50 out of 100.  Conversely HFCS is a super sugar created by the use of a few enzymes in a lab that is still a blend of Glucose and Fructose but will behave differently when consumed in the human body. According the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Americans have consumed 1000% more HFCS between 1970 and 1990.  Furthermore when we consume HFCS we still have a large insulin response from the glucose but we also have a relatively large amount of fructose being metabolized in the liver. Recent studies have shown that large amounts of fructose metabolized in the liver leads to lipogenisis, or fat storage. HFCS can range from 55% Fructose and 45% Glucose to 90% Fructose and 20% Glucose. What does all this mean?  Both Sugar and HFCS in large doses from soda or sugary drinks have negative impacts on weight gain and there is a strong correlation between the introduction of HFCS and obesity in modern diets.

 

Why do sodas contain HFCS?

Many food manufactures use HFCS because it is inexpensive to produce, will last a long time on the shelf and is a very stable food additive.  A simple rule of thumb is to read food labels and limit the foods you buy that contain HFCS. At first this will be a chore because there are a lot of foods that contain HFCS but you need to remember that your health is an investment in your future and you should invest wisely.

To Sum it all up

1.   Drinking Sodas with or without meals is a major contributing factor in weight gain
2.  Rapid blood sugar spike and crash will cause your body to store body fat rather than burn body fat
3.  Rapid blood sugar spike and crash is a systemic stress on your body with poor health consequences
4.  Avoid foods that are high on the glycemic index
5.  Limit your soda or sugary beverage intake to a minimum

Food for thought

"The food we consume is not a breakdown of nutrients like carbohydrates, proteins, and fats but a beautiful symphony of infinite complexity working in perfect harmony to nourish our bodies"