I need a hit bro…

I’m not talking about heroin but one food group that ignites the same part of the brain drugs do…and exercise to balance the point…SUGAR. That’s my birthday cake – Oreo heaven.

Let’s rewind back to childhood. Do something good…get a sweet treat. Feeling sad…have a chocolate. Win something…have a bottle of pop. Reward or commiseration…you get the sucrose, fructose…some sort of ‘tose’ ploughed down your mouth. It’s driven into us…from early years…we don’t choose. Mix sugar and fat…that’s like TNT and a firework doing the tango.

Am I sitting on an ivory tower…quite the opposite. Fairly recently I descended into a spiral of sugar debauchery. I too have it hardcoded into my neural pathways that treats are good reward or commiseration. On this occasion it was total disaster.

March 2020…the beginning of a multi country adventure surfing parkouring my way around the beaches of Europe. Now I had already started my street running basic parkour adventures in 2019 visiting Zurich, Amsterdam, Valencia, Brussels and Ibiza…so I was excited to add surfing to my Relentless Challenge iteniery – I even took extreme swimming lessons in preparation. So anyway 4 days til launch date with the family…the WHO announced the pandemic….bang in 24 hrs everything evaporated including flights, accommodation and athlete sponsorship. A leap of faith but the floor disappeared.

Now with a 3 yr old in tow I quickly switch disappoint into survival mode and we resided in the Cotswolds for 6 months (we then escaped the hell of Covid by living in Cyprus). But in the Cotswolds it was lovely and was happy to escape the old, overcrowded and tired city of London. But my mindset triggered into a spiral and I became a sugar whore. I mean for 2 months I devoured every biscuit you can think of. Jammy Dodger and a cookie with Smarties infused!!!! I even slept with one under my pillow…just in case. Chocolate said ‘hold my beer’ and joined the night time sugar fest 2 sometimes 3 helpings.

Unashamedly it was depression…I knew that…I danced with that notion and I am fully emotionally in touch with my mind…I was still grieving the loss of my mother to foot. Thank the cosmos I was training twice a day but wow the damage I took was compelling. Skin was dry, sleep was annihilated to the point I didn’t know who I was or what I was thinking. Skitty skatty brained and stuck in the woods. I started Worldschooling my son and I shook out on the sugar comatosed mindset.

Victim yes…But thankfully for a short window. I realised that I’m a pioneer, leader…a father to a son and leading by example is the ONLY way to live…otherwise it’s a lie.

Lifestyle induced Diabetes is rife throughout the World. Children as young as 8 are prediabetic. I got laughed at during kids birthday parties when I stopped my 2/3 year old son poisoning himself with cupcakes, sugar drinks and a fat cake slice. At 4 years I was vetoed on the sugar ban but he is restricted to once a week – no sugar. Not ideal but a compromise.

Think of a typical day. Toast with jam, tea with sugar. Pasta and bread for lunch and dinner consisting sugary sauce washed down with alcohol and then a sweet pudding. Add to this the snacks during the day. I guarantee at least 40 to 50g of sugar consumed in one day. That 2 cans of sugar. Carbs will turn into sugar if not used as fuel so add this to sugar. Bread, potatoes, pasta, pizza and rice to mention a few add to the pancreas bashing brigade. Imagine a cheat day going all out. Booze is laced with sugar and chemicals that your liver gets abused by. A blow out day – easily 100 to 150 grams of sugar. That’s about what is recommended in 2 weeks I think of the top of my head.

‘Big Mac is protein though bro’…it’s has as much sugar as a can of coke….and then wash it down with a litre of coke and some salt infested carby fries…WOW. McDonald’s went a step further with the grand big Mac…sell out. Effing insanity.

(Enjoying a Hotdog fries and beer at a New York Yankees baseball game)

Moderation is key in life…so enjoying the odd treats is ok but If you emotionally cheating on your broccoli with a snickers bar regularly, down the line…your brain, heart and pancreas will suffer. Diabetes…probably one of the leading killers of all the diseases. It attacks everything  – eyes, ears, brain heart…list is endless. The pancreas is the sweatshop worker that eventually is beaten to submission.

Through Relentless Challenge – I have helped reverse 3 pre-diabetic people and 2 fully blown metformin eating mofos.

I rate sugar on par with booze and cocaine. The millions the NHS have to treat this is gut wrenching.

Yep that’s me shaking and baking a cocktail mixer – sad to say that most of the crazy named cocktails are not only laced with sugary alcohol drinks…but also all the other drinks mixed in which is unlikely natural.

Sugar – love it or hate it we love the stuff so much so that we cheat on ourselves and those we know about how much we put away for real.

Be Healthy Stay Relentless