In This Episode
The Danger of Hidden Sugars
Consuming too much sugar can be quite detrimental to your health. While they may taste good, refined sugars add no nutrients but a lot of calories to the feed we eat. They can lead to packing on extra pounds, impact your cardiovascular health, and increase your risk of diabetes.
According to the American Heart Association, men should have no more than 9 teaspoons or 36 grams of added sugar a day (6 teaspoons and 25 grams for women). That may sound like a lot of sugar in a day and seem pretty easy to avoid, but you may be surprised at how much added sugar is in the food you eat every day.
Nutritionist Thunder Jalili, PhD, explains that even in the food that is "healthy" there can be a shocking amount of added sugar you don't realize you're consuming. For example:
- 2 slices of white bread - 3g or 1 teaspoon of sugar
- Fast food bean burrito - 3g or 1 teaspoon of sugar
- A small cup of flavored yogurt - 10g or 2.5 teaspoons of sugar
- One Packet of flavored instant oatmeal - 18g or 4.5 teaspoons of sugar
- Name brand energy bar - 31g or 8 teaspoons of sugar
All of these items may seem like pretty normal items to consume every day. Some foods may even be bought on the health food aisle. It wouldn't be strange for a person to eat all of these in a single day. But when you add up the hidden added sugars it comes to 66 grams or 16 teaspoons of sugar in a single day. Nearly double what the AHA recommends.
Summer Plans During COVID-19
As the weather turns warmer and we get deeper into summer, we're all yearning for summer activities and vacations. But with the outbreak of COVID-19, a lot of summer plans have been canceled. Plus, with the risk of the virus still present, how can we still enjoy the summer while keeping ourselves and others safe?
First, consider risk. How much risk are you personally willing to tolerate? How does your home or work situation impact your risk toleration? Who are the people in your life that will be impacted by your decisions?
After you have a good handle on what you're comfortable with risk wise, you can then assess the riskiness of an activity based on these three values:
- Time - How long will you be in close contact with another person?
- Proximity - How close will you be to other people? How many people will be present?
- PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) - If you can't maintain physical distance, do you have equipment like masks to help reduce the risk of infection?
Analyze your summer activities to deem how risky they will be. It may not be a good idea to do a multi-day river rafting trip with a group of strangers, but a camping road trip to some of the more remote places of the country would be safer.
Get creative on how you can manipulate time, proximity, and PPE this summer to get out and have some fun while staying safe.
Odds and Ends - The 5k is this Saturday
The Who Cares About Men's Health 5K is this Saturday, June 20. We encourage anyone who wants to join this virtual race and show support for Mitch as he gets closer to his goal of going from couch to 5K. The virtual race can be completed any way you'd like, whether it be running, biking, walking, skipping, whatever you can do to get in your physical activity that day.
Just Going to Leave This Here
On this episode's Just Going to Leave This Here, Scot really appreciates Brad Stulberg (@BStulberg) on Twitter and his simple, holisitic approach to health. Troy is so desperate for sports that he has begun watching bowling and NASCAR.
Host: Troy Madsen, Scot Singpiel
Guest: Thunder Jalili, PhD, Mitch Sears
Producer: Scot Singpiel, Mitch Sears
Connect with 'Who Cares About Men's Health'
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Scot: Here's my thing. When vegetarian food starts to pretend it's meat, that's when it fails, in my mind.
Dr. Jalili: But a bean burger is not a burger. It's a bean sandwich. To me, that's a different thing.
Scot: The podcast is called "Who Cares About Men's Health?" We aim to give you the inspiration and motivation to start being the best that you can be. My name is Scot Singpiel. I'm the manager at thescoperadio.com, and I care about men's health.
Troy: And I'm Dr. Troy Madsen. I'm an emergency physician at the University of Utah, and I care about men's health.
Dr. Jalili: My name is Dr. Thunder Jalili. I'm with the Department of Nutrition & Integrative Physiology, and I care about men's health.
Scot: All right, one of the dangers when you're eating is hidden sugars. So we've talked about sugars, refined sugars, how it's easy to eat a lot of them, which gets you a lot of calories, which then could cause you to gain weight. Plus, there's also other negative health benefits around those types of added sugars to foods. So we're going to play a little game called "How Much Hidden Sugar?" And Thunder has come in with five different food choices, and Troy, you and I are going to try to guess how much hidden sugar is in these food items that many people might consider healthy.
Troy: Yeah, and these are pretty much health food items that I eat, and I consider healthy, so I'm really curious what we're going to find on these.
Scot: All right, so "How Much Hidden Sugar?" Thunder, what are we going to start with here?
Dr. Jalili: We're going to start with something that most people consume every day, and that is bread. So if you think about your typical slice of grocery store white bread, does it have hidden sugar and how much?
Scot: Yeah, above and beyond just the processed flour, which is problematic.
Dr. Jalili: So we're not counting the carbohydrate in the bread, right. We're just counting, is the manufacturer adding sugar to that product.
Scot: To make it taste better.
Troy: So added sugar, I never thought of added sugar in bread.
Scot: Nope, me either.
Troy: And if someone asked me, I'd say, "No, there's no added sugar."
Scot: I would have said no as well. Given the fact that it's on the quiz . . .
Troy: Maybe we're wrong. I don't know.
Scot: Are we doing teaspoons, grams?
Dr. Jalili: Let's operate in terms of grams, and I'll try to convert it into teaspoons so it makes more sense.
Scot: Okay. I'm going to say . . .
Dr. Jalili: So how many grams in two slices of, like, you make a sandwich, two slices of typical bread?
Scot: What do you think, Troy?
Troy: Help me with grams. How many grams are in a teaspoon?
Dr. Jalili: Four grams in one teaspoon.
Troy: So I'm going to say now that we're asking the question, in two slices, I'm going to say 4 grams then, 1 teaspoonful.
Scot: I'm going to say one in each, so I'm going to go 8 grams, 2 teaspoons.
Dr. Jalili: Okay, we're closer to Troy. It's actually 3 grams, which is about a teaspoon. It's a little less than a teaspoon.
Troy: Still, I'm surprised. Like I said, because we're doing this, I assumed there's hidden sugar. If you'd asked me prior to this, I would have said no.
Scot: Yeah.
Dr. Jalili: So let me pose the question, why is there sugar added to bread in the first place? It's bread.
Troy: I bet it's . . . Oh, Scot knows. Scot raised his hand.
Scot: Oh, now I feel all . . .
Troy: Scot, go ahead. Star pupil here.
Scot: Maybe I didn't. It was just a reflex reaction. Because they don't use enough fat in it?
Troy: I'm going to say a preservative.
Dr. Jalili: It's no, for none of those reasons. It's just added because . . . to make the bread sweet because people like sweet things.
Scot: Oh, okay.
Troy: Yeah. I assumed this, yeah.
Dr. Jalili: Not all countries do this. So you go to Europe, and the bread there, typically, will not have sugar added to it and the bread there tastes different.
Troy: But their bread is gross.
Dr. Jalili: It's gross? Their bread is very good.
Troy: I was raised on American bread. It's got to have sugar.
Dr. Jalili: Yeah.
Scot: All right, number two. The game is called "How Much Hidden Sugar?" What's your second one?
Dr. Jalili: So this is in honor of Troy because he is a [beep] fan.
Troy: Oh, we can't say that.
Dr. Jalili: How much hidden sugar in a [beep] bean burrito?
Troy: Can we say [beep]?
Scot: We could beep it out. But every time you say [beep], I have to hit the Beep button. So ifwe could stop now, that would be great.
Troy: We could just say I'm a fast-food Mexican restaurant, very popular Mexican restaurant fan.
Scot: Okay.
Troy: It is one of my favorite places to go if I'm going out for fast food, and I consider it a healthy option compared to other fast food.
Scot: Okay, so a bean burrito from this particular establishment.
Troy: A bean burrito at this particular establishment.
Scot: All right. How many teaspoons of sugar?
Dr. Jalili: How many grams of sugar do you think one of these bean burritos would have?
Troy: Yeah. Prior to this, I would have said none. Again, kind of like the bread thing, I just, I don't think of it as having sugar. I think of it as relatively healthy.
Scot: Yeah, because you wouldn't think. Inside, it's got beans, right?
Troy: It's got beans.
Scot: Cheese.
Troy: It's got cheese, and that's it.
Scot: Plus . . .
Troy: No.
Scot: Oh, no lettuce?
Troy: Just beans and cheese. It's very simple.
Scot: You've got the tortilla, so there's probably some sugar, hidden sugar in that.
Troy: Okay, maybe that's where there's hidden sugar.
Scot: Yeah, all right.
Troy: So, again, I'm going to go with the bread answer, and it was 3 grams in two slices of bread, so I'm going to say 2 grams because we're talking about just one tortilla.
Scot: My strategy is to always double what you say. I'm going to say 4 grams.
Troy: You're just going to double my number.
Dr. Jalili: You guys are both close. It's right in the middle, 3 grams.
Troy: Three grams. Again, it's 3 grams.
Dr. Jalili: The question I would ask is, do you just eat one bean burrito or more than one?
Troy: Oh, it's at least two.
Dr. Jalili: Okay. Okay, yeah.
Troy: It's at least two, so there I'm getting 6 grams.
Dr. Jalili: Because they're not big.
Troy: They're not super big. Yeah, you've got to get two, so right there, you're at 6 grams, one teaspoon and a half at that point.
Dr. Jalili: Yeah, yeah.
Scot: Fascinating.
Dr. Jalili: Not a disaster, but it's still surprising it's there. And to your point, Scot, it's in the tortilla part.
Scot: Okay, all right.
Troy: Okay, interesting.
Scot: All right. "How Much Hidden Sugar?" number three.
Dr. Jalili: Number three, everyone's favorite healthy snack, yogurt. So how about a flavored yogurt, like a strawberry-flavored or a blueberry-flavored yogurt that we all like to buy?
Troy: Oh, mmm, it's good. Yeah, and it's healthy, you would assume.
Scot: One would assume, but I think the flavoring, probably, is where you're getting your added sugar because it is pretty sweet. If you have just true-on unflavored Greek yogurt, it can be a bit bitter.
Troy: Yeah. Oh, yeah.
Dr. Jalili: Only if you get it in the low-fat version. If you get a high-fat version, it tastes pretty good.
Scot: Oh.
Troy: Interesting. I've tried the low-fat, and I was like, "I can't do this."
Scot: I'm going to say in a flavored yogurt . . . Just a little cup, right?
Dr. Jalili: Yeah, just like your standard, you know, 4-ounce or so of flavored yogurt.
Scot: I'm going to say there's 3 teaspoons of added sugar. So how many grams is that?
Dr. Jalili: That would be 12 grams.
Scot: Oh, I'm going to go higher than that. I'm going to say there's 5 teaspoons of added sugar in that little cup.
Troy: Oh, 20 grams? I was going to say 10, so I guess we're sticking with our pattern. You're going double. I was just going to say 10, so you're saying 20.
Dr. Jalili: Okay. The correct answer is actually 10 grams of added sugar.
Troy: Wow, 10 grams.
Dr. Jalili: Now, you know, it's going to vary depending on what kind of yogurt you get, what it's flavored with. Vanilla yogurt like typically has a lot of sugar, or honey-flavored yogurt has a lot, but 10 grams, that is 2½ teaspoons.
Troy: In one thing of . . . one thing.
Dr. Jalili: In one small container.
Scot: So, again, visually image, visually imagine yourself going over to the white sugar container in your kitchen, taking one, taking two and a half into that little, small cup and mixing that in. Like, you would never think of doing that.
Troy: Right.
Scot: So wow, all right.
Troy: That's a pretty good sugar load.
Dr. Jalili: Yeah, yeah. Most people, if they put a teaspoon of sugar in like a cup of coffee or a cup of tea, they're thinking, you know, "Oh, that's a lot of sugar."
Troy: Yeah, and this is your snack. This is . . . Yeah, that's a lot.
Dr. Jalili: Correct.
Scot: "How Much Hidden Sugar?" number four.
Dr. Jalili: Okay, number four, another supposedly healthy food. You guys know the instant oatmeal packets that come in the paper packet?
Troy: Right.
Dr. Jalili: You just add water, and you've got a healthy breakfast.
Scot: Yeah. Oatmeal's great for your health. You've got that good soluble fiber in there, good for your heart, right, so perfectly healthy.
Dr. Jalili: So think about that paper packet. It doesn't matter what flavor you like, apple-cinnamon, you know, maple, whatever flavor.
Troy: It's got to be flavored.
Dr. Jalili: They all have about the same amount of sugar. So how much do you think that has in one of those paper packets?
Troy: Oh, I'm going to go, again, with the yogurt, and I'm going to say it's 10 grams, similar to yogurt.
Scot: I've been guessing like high every time.
Dr. Jalili: You don't want to keep doubling his guesses?
Scot: No. No, that's a terrible strategy. I don't know what I was thinking.
Troy: It hasn't worked yet.
Scot: We are moving on to a new strategy. I'm going to say 1 teaspoon.
Dr. Jalili: You're not thinking grams?
Troy: So 4 grams?
Dr. Jalili: Four grams in a teaspoon.
Scot: No, I am. I am, I am, I am. I'm going to 6 grams, so 1½ teaspoons.
Troy: Okay.
Dr. Jalili: You should have fell back on your strategy of just doubling.
Scot: Oh!
Troy: No. So 20 grams?
Dr. Jalili: It has 18 grams, 18 grams.
Troy: That's insane.
Dr. Jalili: So you're talking 4½ teaspoons of sugar in one of those little paper packets of oatmeal.
Troy: That's insane.
Dr. Jalili: Do we really just eat one of those for breakfast? Because they're pretty small.
Troy: There's not much in there, yeah.
Dr. Jalili: A lot of times, like, people eat two.
Troy: Right. Wow.
Dr. Jalili: So now you're doubling that. You're at 36 grams of sugar.
Troy: That's 9 teaspoons.
Dr. Jalili: And you're looking at 9 teaspoons of sugar.
Troy: So 9 teaspoons, that's my breakfast. Just eating some sugar. That's crazy.
Dr. Jalili: Yeah. Just put 9 teaspoons in a bowl and go crazy.
Scot: Just as well go get those Sugar Smacks.
Troy: I know.
Scot: I mean, seriously.
Dr. Jalili: I think those have like 6 grams of sugar.
Scot: Yeah?
Dr. Jalili: Yeah, a lot less.
Troy: So there are less grams of sugar in Sugar Smacks than there are in flavored oatmeal.
Dr. Jalili: Correct.
Scot: How did you know that off the top of your head?
Troy: Do you eat Sugar Smacks? They're pretty good.
Dr. Jalili: No, because like, one time, I was looking at that cereal, and I was shocked that it was as low as it was.
Troy: Wow.
Dr. Jalili: But the other thing to think about . . . This is one last thing about this paper, you know, paper-packaged oatmeal, 18 grams of sugar. That entire product, I think, has around 40 grams of total product, period. So 50% of the content is sugar.
Troy: Wow.
Scot: That's crazy.
Troy: Yeah, that blows my mind. Yeah, because you always think of it as healthy. You can't eat just the unflavored oatmeal. It's disgusting. So I've got to have 4½ teaspoons of sugar just to tolerate it, apparently.
Scot: All right. "How Much Hidden Sugar?" number five.
Dr. Jalili: Okay, energy bars. Everyone loves to have energy bars. They're quick snacks. You use it when you're, you know, exercising or you're in between meals. So think of a typical energy bar you like. How much hidden sugar?
Troy: Yeah, and this is something I used to consume on a regular basis, and then I looked at the amount of sugar, and I said, "Wow, I can't believe it." I'm going to say 15 grams.
Dr. Jalili: Okay, good guess.
Scot: So 4, 8, 12 . . . So just about 4 teaspoons of sugar.
Troy: Yeah, 4 teaspoons in one bar.
Scot: I've heard some people say that these things are just about as bad as a candy bar.
Troy: Yeah, that's what I've heard too.
Scot: It's just about as bad as . . . yeah.
Troy: Which is crazy.
Scot: It is crazy because, you know, it's in the health food aisle, right?
Troy: Yeah, and you think of it as a health food.
Scot: What's it doing there? So you're going with 4, which is . . .
Troy: Yeah, I went with 15 grams, 4 teaspoonfuls.
Scot: I'm going to go with 6 teaspoons, so . . .
Troy: Twenty-four grams.
Scot: Twenty-four grams.
Dr. Jalili: You guys both underestimated.
Troy: Are you kidding?
Dr. Jalili: The one we looked up has 31.6 grams of added sugar.
Troy: You've got to be kidding.
Dr. Jalili: Yeah.
Troy: That's insane.
Dr. Jalili: That's a lot. That's a lot.
Troy: And this is not just some random energy bar you looked up.
Dr. Jalili: Nine teaspoons.
Troy: This is a brand name, very common energy bar that I have consumed on a regular basis.
Scot: First name, pretty close to the beginning of the alphabet.
Troy: That blows my mind.
Dr. Jalili: Yeah, and I bet most people out there have had this bar at one time or another. Again, not all of them are going to have this much, but most energy bars do have a pretty substantial amount of added sugar.
Troy: So 31 grams.
Dr. Jalili: Thirty-one grams.
Troy: And that is our winner for the most sugar in everything we've talked about.
Dr. Jalili: That's our winner.
Troy: That's crazy.
Dr. Jalili: One other thing I wanted to add to this. So we talked about white bread, bean burrito, a flavored yogurt, a flavored oatmeal, [beep] bar. It's entirely possible somebody would eat all of these foods in one day because none of them seem to be too outrageous.
Troy: Yeah, right.
Scot: So let's add that up.
Dr. Jalili: Sixty-six grams of added sugar.
Scot: Which is how many teaspoons?
Dr. Jalili: That is 66 divided by 4. Anyone good at math?
Troy: Fifteen, 16 . . .
Dr. Jalili: Fifteen, 16 . . . Yeah, almost 16 teaspoons of added sugar. That is a lot.
Troy: Sixteen and a half, that's crazy, yeah.
Scot: Yeah. I mean, again, imagine going to the deal of sugar and just drop, a day, doing 16 of those teaspoons.
Troy: Yup.
Scot: And I think that's a great point. I looked up how much added sugar that you should have, and according to the American Heart Association, they say men should only have 9 teaspoons or 150 calories worth in a day.
Dr. Jalili: Right, and we just had these five foods that we thought were fairly healthy, and they actually added up to 66.
Scot: Yup. And if you throw a soda in on that mix, there's 8 grams right there.
Dr. Jalili: No, soda is like, what, 12 ounces, has about 40 grams of sugar.
Scot: Oh, I'm sorry, 8 teaspoons, yeah.
Dr. Jalili: Yeah, 8 teaspoons, so that blows everything out of the water.
Troy: And that's one soda.
Scot: So this all adds up, right?
Dr. Jalili: It all adds up.
Scot: Not only in calories, but just not good stuff to have in your body.
Dr. Jalili: So even if you think you're being healthy, you've still got to be a little careful because some of those things are . . . they do have added sugar and it's sneaky.
Scot: Wow. That was like really eye-opening, the little exercise there, because just in that short period of time, we realized that one of those kind of protein-type bars has 16 teaspoons of added sugar, and between that and a fast-food burrito, a yogurt, and a couple pieces of bread, and some of that pre-processed oatmeal, that's 66 grams of added sugar, which is like a lot more than you should ever have any particular day.
Troy: Yeah. No, that really is eye-opening, Scot, because like, you know, as we were talking about this, I'm thinking, "This is not an atypical day for me. This is stuff I eat."
So, Thunder, it's great to have you on the show again. Love all the information you're providing. Great to talk to you. Thanks for being here and talking to us, and thanks for caring about men's health.
So, Scot, so summer's coming up and, you know, I just keep having this thought that I'm just so restless. I want to get outside, I want to do things, and I think we're probably all feeling the same way, but we're really asking, "What can we actually do?" You know, I'm looking at June, July. I want to make some plans, you know, get out and do something, but for many of us, I think our plans have been canceled and we're really unclear on where we can go, what we can do, and what's safe, what we should avoid. I know, Mitch, you were just saying you just canceled. You had an Amtrak trip planned, up to Oregon, you just canceled.
Mitch: Yeah, we had an Amtrak trip and a river-rafting wedding, where we were afraid that people were going to be too close to one another, and so they canceled both of those.
Scot: Yeah.
Troy: So the wedding was going to occur on the river-rafting trip?
Mitch: Yeah, and then, at the end, we were going to have a little ceremony at wherever the raft pulled in.
Troy: Oh, that would have been really cool.
Mitch: Yeah, it would have been.
Scot: I think, when COVID first came, we thought that it was just something that was going to come and go, right, so we were all willing to just kind of shelter in place and do our part, but it's really turning into more of a chronic condition, right. It's something that we just have to live with, and we have to deal with and be mindful about, even in the summertime. So I thought your idea is great. I would like to see if we could get some rules because I think about this too. How can we, perhaps, still do some of the stuff that we enjoy in summer, but still be safe in a world of COVID?
So, for me, the way I think about it . . . And, Troy, I would like you to chime in on this because you are the one with the M.D. here in the room. To me, it comes down to how much risk am I willing to tolerate. That's kind of the first thing, right, because everything has an inherent risk. The next thing is I have to take my own situation into account, so not only how much risk am I personally willing to tolerate, but what is my personal situation and who else might I be affecting by my decisions. So, you know, if somebody works in a long-term care facility, they might want to not tolerate as much risk because they then risk going in at work and actually causing a lot of damage.
Troy: Right, or also the people you're spending time with, how much risk are you willing to put them at? You know, if you have family members or friends who are older or have conditions that put them at higher risk, I think that's the other thing you have to balance as well.
Scot: So the question is, is there a set of criteria that you can use to decide whether or not an event or something you've got planned this summer is safe to proceed with or not, or maybe you need to get creative and come up with something else? And what we came up with is time, proximity, and protective equipment. So if you keep these three things in mind, I think you can make a lot of the decisions, whether or not something you're doing is potentially dangerous or not. And, Troy, can you explain this concept of time, proximity, and protective equipment?
Troy: Yeah, Scot, I really like that because it keeps it simple. Just think, like you said, TPP. Okay, time, how much time am I spending right next to a person or with a person? Proximity, how close am I to this person or to these other people? And then, if you can't really limit those things, then personal protective equipment, wearing that equipment. Typically, that means wearing a mask, wearing eye protection. You know, that can be an issue as well, or just having that on. And I think if you're able to balance those things, limiting the amount of time with people, or the proximity, how close you are to those people, or having personal protective equipment, or throwing that into the mix as well, I think you can take a lot of activities this summer, things that you may not have been doing recently, but it can open some more doors to be able to get out and make some plans and do some things.
Scot: So, in Mitch's case, the river-rafting trip, take a look at that through time, proximity, and protective equipment. Mitch, do you think you made the right decision, or do you think the right decision was made on that, to cancel it?
Mitch: Well, I think the right decision was made because we would be on the river together for a couple hours for multiple days, and the trip ended at a small, like, riverside chapel with grandma, grandma and grandpa, the older people. And I know that, for the couple, that was too much of a risk for them. So I think they made the right choice.
Scot: Yeah, and you're in a raft, right, which is that proximity factor.
Mitch: I mean, even if we're . . .
Troy: Yeah, a lot of time, a lot of proximity.
Mitch: Yeah, yeah, and even though you're outside, we're right next to one another for days on end.
Scot: And that's the other consideration too. Outdoor activities, probably better than indoor activities, from what I understand. Not a lot of confirmed cases where people have gotten COVID outside. Where it tends to spread is when you're inside, you're in close proximity to somebody, like we've heard in the Midwest, meat-packing plants. We've heard call centers. We've heard choirs. You've got a lot of that vapor traveling around, you're around those people for a prolonged period of time, and, you know, you're super close to it, right. So those are bad things.
Troy: And that's a good point, Scot, because I think that's where you can kind of modify that proximity piece. I think if you're outside more, you know, you just don't have where you're just in the same room, you've got the same air circulating through. Then, maybe that's kind of the thing that does allow you to be a little bit closer to people or spending more time with them than you would feel comfortable doing inside.
Scot: Yeah. Going to a national park, is that a good, maybe, trip idea if you want to do a summer vacation? I would say likely, except for there are some national parks which are extremely crowded.
Troy: Yeah, that's so hard.
Scot: Take Zion National Park, where the only way that you can get anywhere is riding a bus, right, unless you ride your bike or run. That might not be the best option for a national park.
Troy: No, I agree. I have a hard time with the national parks idea just because, I tell you, every time I go, it's just so crowded. Like, I think of trying to go up to Angel's Landing. I don't know if you've done that hike recently, but you're going along that chain, grabbing this chain, going up this crazy, crazy, you know, ledge to get up to the Angel's Landing, and it's like everyone's hands are on this chain, and people are right next to each other. So that's a tough one to balance. But I think we're fortunate, in Utah, that we know so many great places near the national parks, sort of off the beaten path, where you can go, and you don't have those crowds. So I think that, for me, is probably what I'm going to look into rather than national parks.
Scot: Yeah. Then, maybe you want to have lunch with your elderly parents or grandparents. Perhaps, then again, getting outside and being able to put some space in between you all would be something that would . . . You know, again, you have to take your own current situation and everybody's comfort level into . . . You know, that would be better than an inside lunch, by far and away.
Troy: That's true.
Scot: Is it the best option? We're not necessarily saying that you should do that, but, you know, how can you manipulate time, proximity, and then maybe it comes down to protective equipment, you know, in that situation. I don't know.
Troy: Yeah. I think my kind of rule of thumb, as I'm looking forward, is keep it less than 20 and keep it outside, less than 20 people, do it outside if you can, you know, especially if you have at-risk people. And even then, I'm just not super thrilled about big groups, but if, you know, if you're getting together with family, with friends, I think if you're doing it outdoors and it's not a large group, and you're not shaking hands and hugging . . . I think you need to kind of avoid that too, and if you have kids, remind them, "Hey, we kind of need to keep our distance, but let's spend time together. Let's have a lot of fun together." And if you can keep it outdoors, I think that . . . I really think that makes a big difference.
But I'm going to throw out a couple ideas I've had, Scot, because, again, I've kind of struggled, as I've looked ahead, just starting to really feel restless. The weather's nice. I want to get outside and do stuff. And what do you think about a road trip, like a road trip with your spouse, your significant other, or friends? I mean, do you think that's safe?
Scot: I think, you know, if you're spending time in the house together, so yes. I think where you have to be careful is where are you going to lodge. You know, are you going to be in a hotel? Are you going to be in an Airbnb? I've heard they've stepped up their, you know, cleaning, and they've also now said that you have to have 24 hours in between guests. That would be the, kind of the danger zone for me, is where are you staying. If you're renting an RV, maybe a little bit more safe because you know who's been in that thing. So I think something like that's fine, and there again, you can think about it in kind of creative terms. Like, it could be, "You know, normally, we go to crowded places. Let's see if we can find the most just off the beaten path place to go to."
Troy: Right, and that's kind of how I see it too, yeah, like kind of maybe road-tripping, not to go to all these different sites and museums and that or, you know, but just to see the country and just see the countryside, just say, "We're going to drive. We've never been here before. Let's just go drive for a day and go to Texas or something crazy, you know, just go see the countryside, drive down through New Mexico, see a place we haven't seen before." So I think, in my mind, that seems to me like a fun activity that's a reasonable option, given the circumstances.
Scot: Mitch, do you have any ideas on what you might do?
Mitch: I'm excited for . . . I hear drive-ins are coming back, and there's a lot of ways that they . . .
Troy: Drive-ins, yeah.
Mitch: Yeah, and there's a lot of ways that some of the organizations, the actual theaters themselves, are starting to change how they hold things, and how they deliver concessions, and etc. So they're going out of their way to minimize contact, proximity, time. So you just sit in your car and go buy some snacks. And, yeah, that would be a good way.
Troy: I need to find a good drive-in. Yeah, I am just like . . . Yeah, just lately, I just like, I just want to go watch a movie or something. I don't know. We need to get a good list of drive-ins in the area or something to go to because I think I agree, that's a great idea.
Scot: On my Facebook feed, I've seen more of these outdoor movie theater screens that just a consumer can buy, whether they're inflatable or whether it's something you just kind of hang out in your backyard. You know, it used to be movie night or watching sporting events, not that there are any right now. I guess, reruns of old baseball games.
Troy: Reruns of Michael Jordan beating the Jazz in 1998.
Scot: Yeah. Thanks, COVID, for bringing those memories back.
Troy: Thanks, ESPN. Yeah, that's exactly what those of us in Utah needed right now.
Scot: But, you know, turning the indoor movie night to an outdoor movie night, and then, you know, making sure that, if you do have other households or families around, which I hear is kind of recommended against . . . But if you're going to do it, you know, proximity, and perhaps mask up, and then remember, where are the choke points, where are you possibly going to be running into people going inside and using the bathroom. So maybe you need to figure out a strategy to make that work, you know, those sorts of things.
Troy: Yeah, and I mean, I think there's the obvious too. I think it's stuff we've been doing, just maximizing your outdoor exercise, hiking, running, biking, you know, going to a lake and swimming, if you want to do that, you know, stuff like that where, there, it's pretty much a no-brainer. You've got very little proximity, you know, very little time spent next to people. You're outdoors, you don't need PPE, but I think trying to maximize that and just, potentially, even being creative, maybe combining that with a road trip, like, "Hey, we're going to do a road trip, and then we're going to do a run at these different places," or, I don't know, something like that. I think it takes a little bit of creativity to really mix it up and make it interesting, but that's, I think, the obvious thing that we can really enjoy this summer.
Scot: All right, time for "Odds and Ends." We've just got one item today. So the Who Cares About Mitch's Health 5K is happening this week. Mitch, how are you doing? You going to be ready to do this 5K? I mean, I know you've been training, from couch to 5K. You were doing really well, then you sprained that ankle. Where are we at now?
Mitch: We're going to get the 5K done, depending on how . . . I'm not sure how fast we'll get it done, but we'll get it done.
Troy: You're sure? You're feeling okay? Because it sounded like, a little earlier, it is not feeling great, but you are at least getting around on it.
Mitch: I'm getting around on it. I'm able to go jogging. I'm able to walk on it for long amounts. It's just not quite there yet, and like, in last week's episode, Gee said it could take, you know, six to eight weeks to get back up to . . . back to where I was at. So, I mean, we're on week five and, you know, I'm still staying positive. I worked this hard and, you know, may as well just go out and enjoy the morning and get my miles in.
Scot: You know, that's the great thing about having kind of an end goal like this 5K, right, because without it, you probably wouldn't have been as dedicated to training as you were, and as a result of it, you're working through this really kind of difficult sprained ankle time. You know, five weeks later, you're still struggling, but you want to see the end of this goal, which just really goes, I think, to show the power of having an end goal in mind. You think you'd be here without that?
Mitch: I don't think so. I think it would have been really easy to be like, "Well, I'm done," you know, "time to sit around all day."
Scot: Yeah. I found that when I ran my marathon. Hey, Troy, did you know I ran a marathon?
Troy: I was going to say, this is news to me. Please tell us more about when you ran your marathon.
Scot: I figure that I've got a five-year limit on before I have to, you know, run another marathon before I can stop talking this one that I ran four years ago, but . . .
Troy: Well, you're about due, yeah.
Scot: It was the same thing for me, Mitch. Like, I really kind of went into that not knowing if I was going to finish it, and it was not the way I wanted it to be. I wanted to be able to finish it faster than I knew I was going to, but still, you know, it was a great experience. So I hope this is the same for you.
Mitch: Well, yeah, and that's . . . If the 5K wasn't this week, I would probably not be getting up early and going on walks every morning, you know, and I probably wouldn't be doing those active recovery steps that I think really would be needed to get my ankle back up and running.
Scot: All right. Well, if you'd like to join us, you are an inspiration, Mitch. If you've been inspired by Mitch or . . . Well, who laughed? Was that you, Troy? Did you laugh?
Troy: That was Mitch laughing. I didn't laugh. I'm fully supportive of Mitch and I'm inspired by him. I'm just waiting for my shirt, my 5K shirt with Mitch's face on it. I still haven't gotten it.
Scot: Go to the website, or actually go to facebook.com/whocaresmenshealth. Sign up, get your bib, and then join us on Saturday for the virtual 5K that we're running, and show support for Mitch, and show that you support, you know, his health and your health as well.
All right, time for "Just Going to Leave This Here." It might have something to do with health, or it might be something completely random. I'm just going to leave this here. There's a guy that I really like on Twitter. His name is Brad Stulberg, and I like him because he has a lot of the same sensibilities as I feel that we do and kind of just a very realistic idea of what health and wellness should be. We talk about the Core-Four-Plus-One More here, which is, you know, you get your nutrition, your activity, worry about your mental health, be sure you're getting that sleep, and then understand your genetics. And he's very basic, the same way, and I wanted to share something that I saw on Twitter that I really liked.
So he said, "People just getting into health and fitness, this is what they say, 'I'm trying keto. I'm mostly paleo. I'm on the HIIT protocol. I track everything. I do lots of recovery.'" But he says, "People who have been doing this stuff for years," and this is where we can learn, "I train hard, I eat mostly whole foods, I sleep, and I prioritize community." And I just really, really like that because you can get so caught in, you know, what workout program are you using, what diet are you on, you know, what types of things there are, are you like me, are you tracking everything. But it's the people that have been at it for years that just train hard, they eat mostly whole foods, they sleep, and they prioritize community. So I think that's some good words to live by. So thanks, Brad. Appreciate that.
Troy: No, that is great. I love the simplicity, and so often, I think you just, you have to keep it simple, and you've got to have those core guiding principles. So it sounds like that's exactly what he's doing.
Well, Scot, I'm going to leave this here, just going to leave this here. So I, you know, I talked recently about my new sport being the space station and rocket launching. Now, there are actually some sports on TV now. These sports include bowling and NASCAR, and now I've become a bowling fan and a NASCAR fan. This is what it's come to. These are the only sports that are on TV now, so last Saturday evening, I spent my evening watching a strike derby by the Professional Bowling Association and watching NASCAR. I never thought I would say that, but this is where I am, and I'm just going to leave that here.
Scot: All right. So, before the pandemic, Troy, where would bowling and NASCAR have fallen on your, like, let's say the top 30 things that you . . .
Troy: I would have watched like reruns of a 1998 college basketball season before I watched bowling, but since I've already watched reruns of 1998 basketball, it is now on to bowling. So this is where I am.
Scot: All right. Well, it's time to say the things that you say at the end of podcasts because we are at the end of ours. Thank you very much for listening. Be sure to subscribe so we are in your pod catcher of choice every single week. We're on all the popular ones, including iTunes, Google Podcast, Stitcher, Spotify, so go check us out there.
Troy: And check us out on Facebook, facebook.com/whocaresmenshealth. Also, our website is whocaresmenshealth.com. We'd love to hear from you, get your questions, any feedback, suggestions for any topics. Contact us at hello@thescoperadio.com. Thanks for listening, and thanks for caring about men's health.