What Does Sweeten De Goat Mouth...

As some of you may now I’m in the final stages of my competition diet so sugar is not allowed anywhere near me. That being said, I was craving the taste of something other than egg whites, grilled chicken and broccoli so when I saw some Sugar Free Buttercreams whilst queueing in Marks and Spencers I decided to grab a box. In fairness to M&S, I DID see the warning on the back:

The adjective ‘excessive’ is subjective because I ended up eating the entire 42g box in about 20 minutes. What can I say? After weeks of abstaining from sweets, opening this box of sugar free sweets was like opening a can of Pringles... once I popped I couldn’t stop (and not for the first time that day as it turns out).

It wasn’t long before I paid the price for my ‘gluttony’. Within half an hour it felt like World War Three was kicking off in my gut... there were grenades, landmines, roadside bomb attacks – the lot. And the worst part was not being able to suffer through the war in the comfort of my own home. One of my colleagues could actually hear the war taking place in my belly. ‘Superbad’ and ‘Hot Ghetto Mess’ were the catch phrases that played in mind on loop all day long.

In between my covert trips to the loo my mind kept going back to the innocent looking packet of sweets - surely that tiny box of sweets couldn’t be responsible for this carnage!

Seems those blasted sweets were in fact the culprit.

‘Human enzymes can digest Isomalt only in small amounts and more slowly than sugar. As a result, blood sugar and insulin levels do not change significantly following consumption. Because the human body uses about half of the Isomalt ingested, it can act like a fiber that stimulates the bowel to counteract constipation. Thus, ingesting too much can cause diarrhea’.

-The Sugar Association

My enemy was Isomalt, but most sweeteners have the potential to throw a spanner in the works. www.lowcarb.ca states that

'because they are not completely absorbed in the bowel, they have a nasty reputation of holding onto water, and promoting diarrhea, gas and bloating. This is politely termed the "laxative effect". Sorbitol and mannitol are the worst offenders, maltitol and lactitol less so. The label should indicate the serving size. This is the amount considered safe to eat before the laxative effect takes over. So beware that overeating these foods can have serious effects. Especially for children, who of course will experience the effect from an even smaller amount'.

In layman’s terms, the body doesn’t recognise this dietary innovation so it may freak out when you consume it.

Whether you are dieting for weight loss, fitness competitions, or general healthy living, it’s no secret that sugar is one of the biggest diet villains you could encounter. Therefore, sweeteners are a godsend for many people as it helps to take the edge off of some sugar cravings. I have used other sweeteners in the past that have not had any effect on me whatsoever, but I have definitely learned a lesson in adhering to warnings on food labels and conducting better researching on what I eat.

In a way, I’m glad it happened to me so that I can now champion the benefits of eating sensibly and hopefully prevent others from making the same mistake I made. We live in the world of quick fixes but sometimes we just need to step back and be realistic. Did I need the ‘sugar free butter creams’? No. Would a small bowl of yoghurt and strawberries have sufficed? Yes.

In future, I’ll either eat the Werther’s and do the extra cardio or just forgo the sweets altogether.

Mascots or Memories

According to the Telegraph the 2012 Olympics mascots were designed to inspire a generation of children and persuade their parents to contribute to the £15 million the mascots are slated to raise in merchandising revenue...

Gimme a break.

Are the Olympics about generating merchandising revenue or a lasting legacy?

I can’t tell you anything about the mascot of the 1988 Calgary Olympics – but I can tell you that seeing Debi Thomas glide across the ice inspired me to go beyond societal constraints and make me believe that the world was my oyster.

The 1988 Tokyo Olympics taught me the importance of cultural association when I saw Ben Johnson morph from a Canadian to a Jamaican in the time it took for his drug test results to come back positive. I also remember Flo Jo for her incredible speed and fabulous nails.

The inclusion of professional athletes on basketball teams brought us the Dream Team in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics which included Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson and Larry Bird. I admit – I bought Olympic merchandise that year.

I had the pleasure of actually meeting the Angolan basketball team during the 1996 Atlanta Olympics so my Olympics memory is slightly biaised. Beach volleyball debuted at that Olympics and Michael Johnson smashed it in the 200m and 400m.

I’ll never ever forget the qualifier of the swimming in the 2000 Sydney Olympics – when I switched on the telly and saw Eric Moussambani swimming with no other competitor around him - I was transifxed. Then the camera panned out and I realised that he was in the pool in his own! Call it comical, call it embarrassing, call it whatever you want – but you still remember it.

The 2000 Summer Olympics was one of my favourite memories. Three flags which all relate to me on the 100m winner’s podium: Maurice Green (USA), Ato Boldon (Trinidad and Tobago) and Obadele Thompson (Barbados) .

Ironically I remember the Athens Olympics for Greek sprinters Konstantinos Kenteris and Ekaterini Thanou who were errrr, involved in a motorcycle accident around the same time as a drug test. I also remember Dame Kelly Holmes making many a Brit proud with her double gold and Michael Phelps for his medal haul.

Do I even need to get into the 2008 Summer Olympics???

This is literally the tip of the iceberg with regards to what aspects of the various Olympic games remain firmly imprinted in my mind – what do YOU remember?

I appreciate that revenue is important – but it shouldn’t be masked as legacy. The effort put into creating mascots should be focused on producing exceptional home grown athletic talent that will inspire our young people and not toys that they can pressure their parents to purchase.

Digitally Fattened?

No matter where you turn nowadays size seems to be an issue.

If it isn’t because of models being too thin on the runway, it’s because of stylists storming out of shows because they feel that some models are too curvy for the runway.

It’s a lose-lose situation. If a publication goes for what works – they are accused of negatively impacting the body image of millions of young girls worldwide. If they go for what is technically normal, they risk alienating themselves from their industry.

Healthy Magazine thought they found the solution when they chose to ‘digitally fatten’ their cover model.

Not a bad idea in essence, but there is a not-so-little thing called the media that jumps on these revelations like a pit-bull and will not let go until something juicier comes up.

It seems some people are just up in arms for the sake of being up in arms because the only real ‘losers’ here are the ‘plus-sized’ (fashion speak for normal sized) models who lost out on the job and Healthy readers who believed that their magazine was genuinely promoting all things... err healthy.

The Big Blocker from BIM

The Caribbean has always made a solid contribution to international track and field by producing athletes such as Ato Boldon, Kim Collins, Obadele Thompson and Pauline Davis Thompson, and Merlene Ottey to name a few. Over the years Caribbean involvement has become so prominent that the 100M finals at the 2008 Olympics loosely resembled the queue to a flags fete: Richard Thompson (Trinidad & Tobago), Marc Burns (Trinidad & Tobago) , Churandy Martina (Netherlands Antilles), Michael Frater (Jamaica) Asafa Powell (Jamaica) and of course Usain Bolt.

Although established in track and field, their contribution to other high profile sports has been minimal and largely gone unnoticed until now. The tiny Eastern Caribbean island better known for their rum than their athletes can now boast of its first ever NFL football player. Tthe sporting world inevitably sat up and took notice when it was announced that Ramon Harewood of St Michael, Barbados was the last draft pick of the Baltimore Ravens.

Harewood is not a second generation Bajan, nor is he Bajan on a genetic technicality. He is a genuine product of the former colony and is well on his way to becoming one of their biggest exports. The 6’6” 25-stone Offensive Tackle is not a dumb jock either – he was accepted to Morehouse College on an academic scholarship, majored in engineering and physics and graduated with a 3.0 GPA. It was only after he arrived at Morehouse that he decided to try his hand at football and found that it came to him quite naturally.

As far as Ramon is concerned there are a number of talented athletes from BIM (Barbados for those of you who don’t know) whom we simply don’t know about so watch this space:

‘It’s an untapped market. I can think of dozens of my peers from back home who , if given an opportunity to play American sports whether it be baseball, football or whatever would excel’.

Reflections or Regret?

So... I participated in my first fitness competition this year and bombed out. Talk about a knock to the confidence. After weeks of dieting, running and weight lifting I flexed my muscles to a panel of judges that I couldn’t even see properly from inside the spotlight and walked away with a commiseration medal. Wow.

I should have been pleased that I managed to safely and healthily sculpt my body into some semblance of a toned and fit athlete but it wasn’t enough to earn a title and essentially that’s what we were all there for.

The harsh reality is that my competitors – who I now view as fitness friends – all trained, dieted and practised their poses that little bit more than I did. End of story.


Ironically, it’s not so much the competing that potentially knocked my confidence, it was allowing 6 mortals to judge and deliberate as to whether or not my physique was worthy enough to place in this prestigious competition. These competitions are not for the weak-willed or weak-hearted for the judging aspect alone.

Outside of the judging there is a very scientific approach to one’s diet which includes accounting for body type, lifestyle, and goals. On top of this ‘clean’ diet, there is the training – the cardio, the weightlifting, etc. If you aren’t part of a fitness circle, your fitness goals can excommunicate you from just about everyone. Between not eating carbs after 2pm, carrying Tupperware as an accessory and backing a variety of minerals and supplements you will find that you are the odd one out of your social circle before long.

The life of a bodybuilder is not an easy one – but it is a chosen one. So in the same way I have been able to suck it up over the last few weeks, I’m gonna have to chalk this ‘loss’ up to experience and train even harder for the next one.
Furthermore, if my weeks of hard work yield yet another commiseration medal – so be it. No one should enter a competition without having first deciding that regardless of the outcome, they are in fact a winner.