F.U.E.L.

Recently, Mike and I held a nutrition seminar at CrossFit Oakland. It went really well and we covered a LOT of material on food choices, Paleo diet and the Zone. I think we could have easily gone on and on about the topic, but it can be a bit overwhelming for beginners. I've found that it is more effective to keep it simple, especially for those who are eating consciously for the first time. The key is to get new clients to adopt some healthy eating habits from the get go.

As a trainer and someone who's been there, it is incredibly frustrating to come into the gym and bust your ass on the WOD yet never see the results of your hard work. In order to fully experience the benefits of CrossFit training, you've got to provide your body with the fuel it needs. From a medical perspective, changing someones diet is probably the best thing I can do for them. If a client is Xfitting regularly, then they've already done half the work. The next step, and most important change comes with a commitment to a healthy diet. Michael Pollan said it best in the first line of his book In Defense of Food, “Eat food. Mostly plants. Not too much.”

Here is a list of some basic food recommendations. Personally, I feel that it's more important to get the junk out of your diet and focus on food choices before getting into the more technical stuff like counting blocks.

1. Eat REAL food.

-Meaning, only food that you can find & eat in its original and natural form.

-Fruits, vegetables, meat, nuts, seeds and dairy(cheese, milk, plain yogurt)

-If it has a label on it, chances are its not real food.

2. Eat protein with every meal.

-Something that once had a face.

-Grass feed animals are preferable.

-Dairy is okay.

-Beans, seaweed, nuts and quinoa are not protein.

-Again, Face=Protein

3. Eliminate (or Limit) Gluten from your Diet

-Wheat, flour, barley, oats, spelt, rye, millet, quinoa (am I forgetting any?)

-Beware: a lot of foods have gluten added to them, remember to read labels, especially meats.

-Gluten is a protein that has been linked to a lot of disease including, but not limited to; auto-immune disease, Celliac disease and inflammation.

4. Take Fish Oil

-Improves brain function

-Prevents heart disease

-Reduces inflammation and joint pain

-Facilitates fat loss and recovery

Loco por Coco!

Today I will share the latest thing to hit my taste buds: coconut milk. Not only is this creamy substance sweet and delicious, it is also a great source of fat! Not to mention it has a very low Glycemic load, giving it 2 thumbs up from Dr. Sears.

It is anti-carcinogenic, anti-microbial, anti-bacterial, and anti-viral. The main saturated fat that it contains, lauric acid, is also found in mother's milk and has been shown to promote brain development and bone health. –wisegeek.com

Its very versatile adding just a hint of sweetness to any dish, among the most common are soup and curry. And for those of us with a sweet tooth this is the perfect fix for those post meal cravings.

My favorite dessert concoction:
1 cup Blueberries (or fruit of choice)
1/3 cup chilled Coconut Milk
Cinnamon
Almonds (optional)
***Note: TJ's sells a “light” canned coconut milk that contains less fat and 0 carbs for less than a buck! Get some!

Yesterday's Meals:

8:00 AM
2 oz Light cheddar cheese
1 oz roast beef
Fresh mixed greens w/ apple, carrots, and avocado
Coffee w/ heavy whipping cream

1:00 PM
4.5oz Salmon
Fresh mixed greens w/ apple, carrots, and avocado
2 tbs raw Sauerkraut

6:00 PM
½ Cliff’s Builder bar

8:00 PM
(Post workout meal)
2.5oz Chicken w/ spinach
½ baked sweet potato
2 plums
¼ cup grapes

Yesterday's Workout

10 GHD Sit-ups

10 Back Extensions

65 pound Thrusters, 30 reps

50 Pull-ups
30 GHD Sit-ups

30 Back Extensions

65 pound Thrusters, 20 reps

35 Pull-ups

50 GHD Sit-ups

50 Back Extensions

65 pound Thrusters, 10 reps

20 Pull-ups

=33:56 (chest to bar pull-ups)

New Deadlift PR!

Yesterday's wod was pretty brief (thank God) so I finished my workout with some wieghted pull-ups and deadlifts.

At CrossFit Oakland

"Karen"

150 wallballs for time w/ 14 pound ball

=11:54

First of all, I really don't care for wall balls. I'm a small person and getting the ball up to the 10' target isn't easy. Unfortunately, this is exactly why I didn't get the Rx'd credit for this wod.

Weighted Pull-ups 5x3

5-5-4

w/ 5 pound weight

Deadlift 5-3-3-2-2 reps

134-153-165-180-180

I haven't tested my 1RM in a long time, but 180 is more than I have ever lifted, putting my 1RM well beyond my goal of 1 1/2x BW. Hooray! Tom C. was watching the last set of 2 and said that my back was a little soft and that I "hitched" on my last rep. This is pretty typical when lifting near your max, but I'll be careful to watch for this next time I attempt heavy deads.

Thanx for the pointers Tomas!

Food Today:

6:30 AM

Lg. Americano

w/.5tbs heavy whipping cream

8:15AM (Post Work-out Meal)

2oz Turkey

1 Plum

4.5 oz Sweet potato

=2P/4C/0F

11:30AM

.75 cup Non-fat Cottage Cheese

w/ cinnamon & coconut milk

Coffee w/.5tbs heavy whipping cream

=3P/1C/8F

Workout this AM:

"Nuke'd by Nicole"

Row 2000M

then 5 rounds of the following 3 exercises:

7 pull-ups (chest 2 bar)

7 OHS (65 pounds)

7 Burpees

finish with 50 Double Unders

=26:12

Much love the Folks

My parents came to visit this weekend and as usual they graciously brought me a medley of fresh vegetables from their garden. This summers harvest yielded onion, garlic, tomato, zucchini, basil, parsley, bell pepper, chili and eggplant. Yesterday I got to chopping and cooking most of these all up in a zesty and delicious Ratatouille! It was truly an organic cooking experiment with no measuring or recipe-reading involved, I simply threw all my veggies into a large pot and voila! The parsley added a nice flavor and it turned out rather nicely for my first attempt.

And because I am a total nerd, I will leave you all with some interesting facts about Parsley:

From WHFoods.org:

Parsley's volatile oils-particularly myristicin-have been shown to inhibit tumor formation in animal studies, and particularly, tumor formation in the lungs. Myristicin has also been shown to activate the enzyme glutathione-S-transferase, which helps attach the molecule glutathione to oxidized molecules that would otherwise do damage in the body. The activity of parsley's volatile oils qualifies it as a "chemoprotective" food, and in particular, a food that can help neutralize particular types of carcinogens (like the benzopyrenes that are part of cigarette smoke and charcoal grill smoke).

The flavonoids in parsley-especially luteolin-have been shown to function as antioxidants that combine with highly reactive oxygen-containing molecules (called oxygen radicals) and help prevent oxygen-based damage to cells. In addition, extracts from parsley have been used in animal studies to help increase the antioxidant capacity of the blood.

In addition to its volatile oils and flavonoids, parsley is an excellent source of two vital nutrients that are also important for the prevention of many diseases: vitamin C and vitamin A (notably through its concentration of the pro-vitamin A carotenoid, beta-carotene).

Yesterday's Meals

8:15 AM
3 Eggs w/ spinach, onions, salsa
Lg. Americano w/ Cream (fat source)

11:00AM
6 Almonds

2:15 PM
3oz Pastrami
Broccoli Slaw w/ hummus and celery
1 Apple

5:30 PM
2oz Chicken
½ cup blueberries
1/3 cup coconut milk

8:30 PM
1.5oz grass-fed Beef
1 cup home-made Ratatouille w/ cheese
6 walnuts

The results are in!

I just received the lab results from my blood lipid test.
The numbers on the left are my points and the numbers on the right represent Kaiser Hospital’s “healthy” or normal ranges.

Triglycerides 55 Less than 199

HDL 97 Greater than 45

LDL 98 Less than 129

Glucose 85 60-99

I was in a fasted state, as one should be when they take this; however I had just returned from my trip and hadn’t slept in more than 24hours. I think this may be the reason why my glucose level is a bit high. Or it may just be a symptom of my carb-sensativity. Nonetheless, it is slightly more elevated than I would like it to be.

On the bright side, my triglycerides are low and HDL are high. Still, I am not so sure about the LDL levels. I was informed that it is more important to know the partical SIZE rather than the quantity. Ideally, the partical size should be large. I will keep this in mind for the next time.

After doing a fair amount of research, I am pretty happy with my test results in general. I am concerned that my glucose levels are on the high end and hope that the next time I test it will be lower.

According to Dr. Barry Sears, a good and easy method of measuring your state of health is to take the triglyceride count and divide it by your HDL (the good cholesterol) count.

Here is mine 0.57 (55/97). Looks like I am doing pretty well.

From page 120 of his Omega Rx Zone book the lower the number, the better.

4: Diseased
3: Poor

2: Good

1: Ideal

Yesterday's WOD from CF national site:

"Griff"
For time:

Run 800 meters

Run 400 meters backwards

Run 800 meters

Run 400 meters backwards

=13:37