Articles: 
 From The Desk of Clarence Bass

American Olympic Lifters at the Paris Olympics

Carol and I streamed several of the Olympic Weightlifting classes directly from the NBCOlympics.com website, and were able to see entire competitions which we could not view on the regular Olympic telecasts - and it WAS exciting.

Five lifters from the USA competed and two won medals: a men's bronze in the 61kg (134 lb) category, and a women's gold in the 71kg (160 lb) category.

The men's bronze was won by 20 year old Hampton Morris - the first male US weightlifter to medal in the Olympics since the Los Angeles Olympics in 1984.  (The USA was a powerhouse in Olympic lifting when Bob Hoffman and his team competed.)  In the 134 pound class Hampton snatched 126kg (278 lb) and clean & jerked 172 kg (379 lb). Hampton's father is his coach and he trains in their garage!

The woman's gold was won by Olivia Reeves, 21 years old, giving her the distinction of being the first US female weightlifter to win a gold medal in 24 years.  In the 160 lb category she set a new Olympic record in the snatch of 117kg (258 lb) and clean & jerked 145kg (320 lb).  The interesting fact about her training is that her coach had her training only once on three days a week instead of the six day a week twice a day lifting of most competitive Olympic lifters.

Our other lifters: Wes Kitts, lifting in the 102kg category (225 lb) at 34 years of age, placed 8th; Jourdan Delacruz placed 5th in the 49kg class; Mary Theisen-Lappen placed 5th in the 81+ class.

We did watch the men's 165 lb class, a competitive class, with lifters snatching 400 lbs and clean & jerking 518 and 523.  Wow!

I was an Olympic lifter from age 15 into my 30's, and my best lifts in pounds were Standing Press 275, Snatch 245, Clean & Jerk 325, after which I turned my attention to bodybuilding, rowing, etc.  (The Standing Press is no longer part of Olympic weightlifting competition.)

Our friend Carl Miller from Santa Fe, an excellent lifter himself, teamed up with Tommy Kono to coach the US weightlifting team for the 1976 Olympics, and later established a wonderfully functional gym in Santa Fe which taught physical conditioning based on the Olympic lifts (among other things) until he retired. 

His son Shane and wife Kim established their own gym which teaches Olympic lifting in Santa Fe as well as general fitness training.

Congratulations on the fine showing of the entire American team at the Paris Olympics which indicates even greater success in future years.

SCOTTISH SUCCESS STORY REPORTS BACK YEARS LATER

Billy Blair, Success Stories 2 checking in.

I am now 67 and retired. I have had my two new hips for 10 years. You were right, apart from high impact movements, I am doing everything I did before.

My training is mainly spin bike for cardio and kettlebell circuits for strength.

I feel like you are an old friend, even though we have never met.  I have been following you for most of my life, just around 20 years behind you in age.

I am delighted to see you and your good wife thriving on your lifestyle and can only hope to be in such great health as time passes.

Wishing you both all the very best, Billy Blair.

FIVE WAYS TO SPOT ULTRAPROCESSED FOODS

I wrote in RIPPED and again on this website that unprocessed foods are the key to calorie control.  Processed foods lead to overeating, while unprocessed foods encourage energy balance--you stop eating when you meet your energy needs.

Food processing is any procedure that alters food from its natural state. Some processing is, of course, necessary to make food edible.  The kind of processing that is a concern is the kind that reduces volume and concentrates calories, encouraging over eating.

A special report in the April 2024 Tufts Health & Nutrition Letter sets out 5 ways to identify ultraprocessed foods.  Ways that encourage you to eat and keep eating, until you're stuffed.

New and different, common sense ways to spot--and avoid--ultraprocessed foods.

#1: Is it in a box or bag? 

All ultraprocessed foods are packaged, but not all packaged foods are ultraprocessed. (Consider a bag of frozen peas or corn, for example, or a box of whole grain cereal, which have been processed, but not ultraprocessed. Still this is a good place to start. 

Take a moment to check for signs of ultra processing.

Totally unprocessed foods (like whole fruits, vegetables, eggs, poultry, and seafood) do not need a Nutrition Facts label or an ingredients list.

Processed foods have a longer shelf life, but also indicate that the food is highly processed.

Carol is an expert at spotting highly processed foods that encourage over eating.  I often go shopping with her, but she does all the shopping, while I push the cart.

#2: Is it "flavored" or "instant."

If the front of the package has either of these words, it's a red flag.

Look carefully to find words like "fruit-flavored" hidden below all the pictures of fruit and healthy-sounding product names.

"Instant" oatmeal, rice, soup cups and other foods that increase convenience are not always bad, but they are not as good as varieties that take a little longer to cook.  They cook quickly because their cell structure has already been partially broken down.

"This may cause the carbs to raise your blood sugar more quickly than the unprocessed version. A bigger concern is that the quick-cooking foods often have flavoring, sweeteners, salt, preservatives, and other additives that push them into the ultraprocessed category.

#3: Does it have ingredients you don't recognize?

While a long ingredient list is often mentioned as a way to identify ultraprocessed foods, it's really the ingredients on the list that matter, not the length.

Some of these are from natural sources, but some are made in a lab, but all that is a hint that this food has undergone some serious processing.

#4:  Is it high in refined carbohydrates?

Reasonable portions of carbohydrate rich food are not a bad choice, as long as the carbs are in their original form (like the sugars in fruit and whole milk, and the fiber in grains and produce).

In ingredient lists, foods are placed by weight, so the higher an ingredient is on the list, the more of it you are getting.

As well, the weight of a product is almost always a clue.  For example: white bread is light, while whole grain bread is substantially heavier.  Flourless, sprouted grain breads are a good choice. We buy Ezekiel 4:9 Sprouted Grain Bread.

#5:  Are the health claims emphasized?

Seems contradictory, but the food packages that seems to scream "health" the loudest may not be the healthiest choices.

If the package says, "low sugar," check the ingredient list for non-nutritive sweeteners. If it says it has more fiber than similar products, look for added fibers.

You may find that the replacement is more processed than the original.

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Latest U.S. Government Dietary Guidelines Consider Ultra-Processed Foods

As you would expect, food companies dispute the idea that their products are unhealthy and say that packaged foods give people a convenient, affordable way to eat.

"Attempting to classify processed foods as unhealthy simply because they are processed misleads consumers," says David Chavern, CEO of Consumer Brands Association, a trade group representing the consumer products industry, including food manufactures.

Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian, a cardiologist and professor of medicine at Tufts, gives the opposing view in everyday language.

Because the microbiome digests calories, this means that even if two people are eating the same number of calories, the one consuming lots of ultra-processed foods will have more calories available to be turned into fat compared with someone eating a largely minimally processed diet.

"You can imagine how hard it is for the first person to keep the weight off," he opines.

You can read all about the two positions in a piece by Andrea Peterson in The Wall Street Journal: https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/nutrition/the-trouble-with-america-s-ultra-processed-diet/ar-AA1jU36m?ocid=hpmsn&cvid=3f96564b610f4d0f95384cf8b3d12192&ei=11

It well be interesting to see if ultra-processed foods make it into the always confrontational Government Guidelines.  Trade groups carry a big stick in the world of politics.

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The Detailed Bottom Line by Tufts' Professor Alice H. Lichtenstein  

Whether you're cooking at home, getting take out, or eating out, emphasize minimally processed foods like fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, beans, lentils, whole grains, fish, and yogurt. 

Look at Nutrition Facts labels when buying packaged foods to find the variety with the least added sugar, salt, and refined  flour--and the most fiber.

Understand and consider what has been done to the foods you eat.

Focus on your overall dietary pattern.

Occasionally eating an ultra processed food is not going to have a big impact on your health.  The dangers come when ultra processed foods replace most of the whole and minimally processed foods you eat or drink.

Think before you bite down. 

This photo by Pat Berrett shows the leanness that unprocessed food helps to build.

* * *

You'll find many more details in the Tufts University Health & Nutrition Letter.

Carol and I subscribe and look forward to what each issue will bring. It is one of our guides to living healthier longer.  Our articles present their bottom line and you'll find many more details in the Letter itself.