{Guest Post} Food & The Daily Battle
Welcome to Part II of the Women’s Health series here on Moi Contre La Vie. Today we’re going to hear more from Megan of Kaia F.I.T. Sacramento on the daily struggle to eat well. If you’re new to this series be sure to check out Megan’s bio {Guest Post: Women’s Health} and her previous post – Fashion of the Fitness World.
Part 2: Food… The Daily Battle
I love ice cream, especially cookies & cream. I love cheeseburgers and extra crispy french fries. I can put down a serious amount of pizza. I love crafty cocktails and champagne. I worked in fine dining restaurants for 10 years and was privileged to indulge in some amazing dishes and glasses of wine…
But now I work in the fitness industry. And I constantly try to balance my view of food… Fuel or Delicious Goodness? My answer is both.
The majority of the time, on the day-to-day, food is fuel. Looking at it that way leads me to eating cleaner, leaner, and healthier. I view myself like a machine and if I want to run properly, perform well in my workouts, and feel energetic all day, I need to provide myself with the best fuel available.
I personally feel the best when I eat multiple times throughout the day, always beginning with breakfast. I feel great when I eat lean meat and eggs, lots of veggies and greens, and fresh fruit. I like nuts and trail mix for snacks and dried fruit for dessert. Avoiding the starchy carbs, dairy, and sugar is essential to feeling good.
However, coming from the restaurant industry, I love nothing more than a nice dinner out. I appreciate a perfectly cooked noodle and a salty piece of pork belly. And I absolutely love home-made ice cream and cookies at my mom’s house. These are the good things in life.
So, how do I balance it? When do I decide to devour a sandwich and when do I stick to a salad full of veggies? I practice MODERATION. I try to stick to healthy ‘fuel’ most of the time. When I treat myself to ‘carbs’ and sugar, I view it just that way… As a TREAT. I think it’s better that way anyway. I feel like crap when I eat sugar and bread days in a row and I stop appreciating it.
Everyone has to make their choices, each and every day. But awareness is where it all begins. If you never go without bread, dairy, sugar, alcohol, etc., how will you ever know how you feel without it?
Our go-to detox at Kaia FIT is 7 days without the following:
- All starchy ‘carbs’ (bread, tortillas, rice, potatoes, etc.)
- Sugar over 9g per serving (besides sugar naturally found in fruits/veggies)
- Alcohol
- Dairy
- Processed Foods (if you can’t pronounce something on the label, avoid it!)
Eating clean is a great feeling and I highly recommend letting yourself experience it. And remember, “All things in moderation, including moderation.”
A big thank you to Megan for this great insight into her way of thinking about nutrition. It’s very easy to get into patterns of binging or restricting, so avoid all the negative side effects of both of those ways of eating and try practicing moderation as Megan has suggested.
What’s your personal approach to your daily diet?
Beginner Fitness
In 2012 a reader came to me with a simple request – Could I help her ease into a workout routine that would put her on the path to overall better health? I documented a part of the process in the following series of posts – Want To Achieve Gym Goddess Status?, Part II, Part III, Part IV & Part V.
I’ve recently received a similar request and thought that 2013 would be a great time to share some of the details with my readers again because I think it’s such a worthwhile topic and achieving better health is widespread goal. I’m sure there have been countless New Years Resolutions related to this so why not get started on your path to health and happiness now?
In addition to providing short beginners workouts for the next few weeks, I’ll be recommending reading and do my best to keep you all motivated and inspired – Which is half the battle.
Workouts:
You want to ease into a new workout regime regardless of your current level of fitness, however if you’re not currently working out, attending classes, and/or running on a regular basis I would suggest starting with one or two small workouts a week and gradually increase to 3-5 as you start improving and feeling stronger.
Let’s start Week One with two short workouts to get us in the mood:
Day One
Warm Up: 5 minutes of cardio {Walking quickly, jogging/running, elliptical, stationary bike, rowing, stair climber…}
- Elbow plank {Mark’s Daily Apple’s How-To: Proper Plank Technique} Hold for 10 seconds, relax, return to plank & repeat – 3 rounds of holding for 10 seconds
- Walking lunges {FitSugar’s Back to Basics: Walking Forward Lunge} 3 rounds of 10 lunges on each knee
- Plie Squats {Women’s Health Magazine’s Plie Squats} 3 rounds of 10 squats
Warm Down: 5-10 minutes of intervals on a machine of your choosing {See the suggestions under Warm Up}
- 30 seconds as fast as possible
- 1 minute 30 seconds recovery – moderate speed
- 30 seconds as fast as possible
- 1 minute 30 seconds recovery – moderate speed
*My recommendation is to turn this into a mini circuit workout – After your warm up do one set of planks, one set of lunges, and one set of squats, then repeat the process a second and third time to complete the circuit before your warm down.
Day Two
Warm Up: 5 minutes of cardio {Walking quickly, jogging/running, elliptical, stationary bike, rowing, stair climber…}
- Reverse Lunges {FitSugar’s Back to Basics: Stationary Reverse Lunge} 3 rounds of 10 lunges on each knee
- Crunches {Dummies.com’s How To Do Crunches} 3 rounds of 20 – Be sure to watch your form & keep your chin & elbows UP form is important w/ this move
- Leg Lifts {Shape Magazine’s Double-Leg Lower & Lift} 3 rounds of 20
Warm Down: 5-10 minutes of cardio {Walking quickly, jogging/running, elliptical, stationary bike, rowing, stair climber…}
Nutrition:
Following diets, participating in cleanses, and going through detox programs are interesting ways to find out how your body responds to things, but they’re not a way of life. Learning to eat well & make smart food choices on a daily basis is going to do much more for you than any short-term healthy eating “fix.”
Depending on your typical diet transitioning to a clean eating regime can seem pretty daunting, so to make the switch more manageable I’ll just recommend a few tips and suggest some things to cut out of your diet each week.
To start, it’s time to get cooking! Your first goal should be to cut out packaged, processed, and pre-made food from your diet. Don’t panic! That doesn’t mean that you’ll never be able to order Chinese again or never enjoy a handful of chips in the future, but if you want to transition to a clean diet the first step is to eliminate all of these types of foods. So your mission for the next two weeks is to start giving up anything processed, stop hitting the drive-through, and spend more time in the kitchen and less time at restaurants.
Here are a few alternatives:
- If you like chips or salty other snacks – Try raw almonds, butter-free air popped popcorn, or baby carrots w/ hummus
- If you crave the beta-endorphin rush of sugary treats, baked goods, or candy – Switch these high calorie picks for fresh fruit, natural almond butter, or homemade sweet treats like Choosing Raw’s Cinnamon Caramelized Cauliflower or Maple Cinnamon Candied Pumpkin Seeds
Homework:
Understanding why you feel the way that you feel and how to improve your health is important. Anyone can blindly follow instructions, but learning about health, nutrition, and your body will help you for your entire life.
So with the goal of educating yourself and expanding your horizons here are some interesting articles you might enjoy:
- Healthy fats like avocados, olive oil, and nuts & seeds {in moderation} are an important part of a healthy diet. Learn more about this subject by reading Natalie Jill Fitness’s Eating Fat Will NOT Make You Fat…
- One of the things that impacts your health almost as much as nutrition and fitness is stress. You need to pay attention not only to how much stress you have in your life, but how you deal with it – How Stress Affects the Body.
So what do you think of this new series? Are these topics and the information I provided above interesting and relevant to your life?
Disclaimer: I am not a trainer, doctor, or dietitian nor do I have any certifications associated with physical fitness or nutrition. I’m merely an enthusiast {and former athlete} who reads & does research daily and has worked out alone or with coaches & trainers since the age of 6. I am lucky enough to have access to a handful of blogs, websites, and trainers to answer my questions though. Prior to making any dramatic changes to your fitness routine or diet I suggest that you consult a physician.
For more inspiration, my daily workout routines, and more Moi Contre La Vie you can find me on these platforms:
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/moicontrelavie
- Twitter: @moicontrelavie
- Instagram: @moicontrelavie
- Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/mclv/
Guest Post: Women’s Health
Raise your hand if your New Years Resolutions – officially or unofficially – include anything similar to these:
- Eat healthier
- Go to the gym more frequently
- Lose weight
- Get in better shape
That’s what I thought.
So with all of our ambitious and health-oriented resolutions in mind I’m planning a few new series during 2013 to help motivate and educate us with regard to health, fitness & nutrition – (1) A series of guest posts from people in the health & fitness industries, (2) A Beginners Fitness series w/ reading materials, workouts, and nutritional information for you to consider, and (3) A series of posts documenting the trials & tribulations I face while attempting the Whole 30 program at the beginning of 2013.
To help get us started with Fitness Friday & put us in a healthy, motivated mindset so we can start 2013 at our best, I’d like to welcome Megan:
My name is Megan and I’m very excited to have the opportunity to guest blog for Moi Contre La Vie! When I was asked to write a few pieces for this blog, I found myself a little dumbfounded, searching for a topic interesting and worthy enough of the site. It surprised me that I felt this way since I blog at least three times a week on my own!
I manage and coach at an all-women’s gym called Kaia FIT Sacramento. I write 3-4 pieces a week for our website and find my inspiration from the amazing women of our gym community. I realized this inspiration fits perfectly in with the concept of Moi Contre La Vie and my blog topic was staring right at me the whole time!
At the top of the Moi Contre La Vie site it reads, “Celebrating Fashion, Food and Fitness,” and these are three of my favorite things! I will be writing a 3-part series on these topics and how they relate to my life as a fitness trainer and how they affect the women I’m surrounded by. Before my first post, however, I thought I’d share a little about myself and how I came to be where I am.
I’m 26 and married to an amazing man named Nick. Nick is a CrossFit trainer and ultra-runner. His passion for fitness, health and science has been one of my favorite parts about him since we met and I owe much of my success in the fitness world to him.
I was always an ‘active’ person… Dabbling in yoga and running, hitting spin classes at 24 hour fitness if I didn’t get off work at the restaurant too late the night before. You know, the typical college girl routine.
But none of it was ever enough. I loved the feeling of working out. Not the feeling AFTER a workout… But the terrible, breathless, burning feeling DURING it. And I know I wanted to feel it with more intensity.
Enter Kaia FIT.
A friend of mine started at Kaia FIT Sacramento as soon as they opened their doors and was absolutely loving it. Never mind her amazing results physically, her entire attitude and outlook on health and fitness had changed! I knew I had to give it a try….
And I never looked back. After a few months I went to certification and began coaching. A year later I’m managing the joint and have made it my full-time career!
Coming up: Fashion… Of the fitness world!
Thank you so much for the introduction Megan – We’re all looking forward to reading your next post. If you have any specific questions that you’d like Megan to answer please let me know!
Shenanigans
As I’m sure you’ve already picked up, I’m a big fan of Fall in general and Halloween in particular {Fall Fabulousness, All Hallow’s Eve & October Round-Up}. This year I was lucky enough to attend two fabulous Halloween parties in Sacramento as well as act as American River CrossFit’s team photograph for CrossFit West Sac’s charity Breast Cancer competition.
This year I was excited to dress up twice, the first time as Wendy from Peter Pan in a vintage yellow nightgown and the second time as The Black Dahlia in a fabulous little black dress that my friend made.
But don’t worry, I’m not the only one who dressed up for Halloween this year. Bones dressed up as a CHICKEN! Again. Clearly it’s his favorite costume, doesn’t he look enthusiastic?
{Mammograms In Action – Barbells For Boobs}
And the day before Halloween I watched the exciting Barbells For Boobs charity CrossFit competition which included every shade of pink known to man and even Jessica Rabbit in a stunning red gown.
How was your Halloween? What did you dress up as? What was the best costume that you saw?
The Man Behind The Camera
Other than my dear friend Liz, the remainder of the MCLV Personal Style photographs are taken by the current boyfriend Sean. He has written a guest post for us in the past and trained me in the ways of CrossFit, but has never been featured on the blog for his fashion prowess before.
That is, until today.
True, he spends the majority of his waking hours in workout clothes, but when he does deign to put on street clothes, he has a great personal style.
When we initially met in our senior year of high school he was extremely preppy – Polo shirts, button downs, and wool or cashmere collared coats. But over the years his style relaxed, becoming more and more low-key, and when we got back together two years ago he wore very little other than t-shirts, jeans, and flip-flops.
But miracle of miracles, over the last two years his sense of style has begun evolving again. And more than that, he has actually started to enjoy clothes and fashion more, like he did when he was younger. Now he shops online, asks for advice on putting together pieces in his wardrobe & picking things out, and genuinely has an interest in shopping and expanding his wardrobe.
These days he prefers to keep his daily look low-key and minimal, and primarily wears black, white, and navy. Jeans are usually his preference and he traditionally pairs them with a Lacoste Pima V-Neck, a button down, or a Polo shirt. As for brands, we’ve found that the shirts that fit him best are Express for Men and Lacoste, they both have slim fit versions that work well for his frame.
When it comes to shoes he’s tried virtually everything, from boots to slip-ons to boat shoes to loafers. He loves slip ons and its all I can do to make sure he doesn’t wear his rubber soled slippers out of the house. The most worn pair of shoes he has are his tan, lace-up Banana Republic loafers, but he did just get a new pair of slip-on boat shoes that are very versatile.
They can even be worn with pink!
And a style post wouldn’t be complete without mentioned his creativity, he picked a kick-ass Halloween costume last year that suited him quite well despite being an incredibly last-minute choice – The Travelocity Gnome! 🙂
In the mood for more? Check out my Let’s Hear It For The Boys post filled with tips, ideas, and inspiration for putting together a complete and stylish wardrobe.
What do you like most on the men in your life? Are there certain styles that appeal to you more than others? When it comes to mens accessories, do you think less is more?
Guest Post: The Paleo Lifestyle
I’m a strong believer that each body has different needs and requirements. From allergies and intolerances, to dietary preferences, to work and sleep habits. Both our lives and our bodies dictate how we should fuel ourselves, and listening to your body is something that you need to learn to do. And that’s why I believe in trying different diets. Not diets as in crash diets – diets as in lifestyle changes that allow you to experience different ways of eating, that give you the opportunity to discover the best and healthiest lifestyle for yourself.
Personally I’ve tried a number of different diets and excluded various foods over the years, from high raw to mostly vegan to gluten-free. I want to feel my best every day – I want to sleep well, wake up rested & not need caffeine to open my eyes, have energy throughout the day, not suffer from headaches, and be alert & able to concentrate. And believe me when I say that it can be a long journey of trial and error to determine what foods will give you all of that.
Today I’m here to introduce Kyle Lawlor, one of the co-authors of the Tumblr blog Eat. Drink. Paleo – Two foodies who fell in love and are now transitioning to a Paleo lifestyle. If you look up “Paleo Diet” in wikipedia or check out the Paleo Diet website you can get a full list of do’s and don’ts, what you can and can’t eat, and why the Paleo supporters think that their lifestyle is the best choice out there. But what those websites won’t/can’t/don’t tell you is how this lifestyle will make you feel, how hard the transition is, what the noticeable benefits and downsides are, and how you will feel on a daily basis.
But Kyle can.
This is his story of discovering Paleo eating, making the transition, joining CrossFit, and how those choices have affected his daily life and outlook:
My journey to a healthy paleo lifestyle has taken far longer than I wish it would. I look back and kick myself for not doing this sooner but as is constant with me, I have to do everything in my own time or I will never stick to anything. I came across the Paleo Lifestyle when I joined American River CrossFit in July 2011. At the time I weighed 280lbs and I still (unfortunately) stand only 5’8 ½”. I was out of shape. I was constantly out of breath from even the simplest of tasks. I didn’t sleep well. I snored like a band saw. And worst of all, I looked terrible! When I started at CrossFit it was terrible. My body hadn’t felt so sore since JV Spring Training for football. My quads hurt, my back was tight, and my shoulders felt like they would drop off at any moment. The funny thing is that at first, a lot of what I was doing in CrossFit was just moving myself. My first month involved very little weight training, except for my own 280lbs. But I stuck with it and kept going. Soon I started seeing improvements. My clothes began fitting better and the pain I felt after workouts transitioned into soreness. The only problem was that my gut didn’t go anywhere and the scale hadn’t changed much. The reason was a simple one, one that I never really shared with neither my trainers at the Box nor my girlfriend, Rochelle. Every night after attending the 6pm class at ARCFIT and working my ass off I would stop at Wendy’s or Taco Bell on my way home and demolish a couple bucks worth of fake food before pulling into my drive way. THEN I would go inside and eat the dinner Rochelle would have prepared for us. To understand why I did this we need to take a quick trip down memory lane.
Fast forward to February 2012! I read The Paleo Solution by Robb Wolf and it changes my life. I had been living a 20% Paleo lifestyle at best while trying to work my ass off at CrossFit. Unfortunately, as we are fond of saying at ARCFIT “you can’t out train a shit diet”. It is so incredibly true! Somehow I expected that if I worked out an hour a day twice a week that gave me permission to eat whatever the hell I wanted. February was a great month for me because it was the start of a lot of life changes for me. The first was the 30 day Paleo challenge Rochelle and I began. We cut out all the grain, all the dairy, all the sugar and all the legumes. And at first it was awesome! NOT! It sucked! But, after the first week and a half all the cravings were gone. Then the amazing things started happening. I began feeling better. I was sleeping the whole night through with much less snoring then before (much to Rochelle’s delight), my pants started literally falling off of me because they were too big, and not to get gross but my bowel movements were noticeably healthier and less frequent than I was accustomed. All in all, my body was beginning to heal the wrongs I had done to it for 24 years.
What I have come to realize over the last year, specifically in the last 4 months, is that through taking care of myself I have become a happier person. 6 months ago, someone who knew me well might consider me a good friend but hateful of just about everyone else on the planet, and that’s putting it mildly. To be plain, I had been unhappy with my life for the past few years, and despite being moderately intelligent I could not see that the problem was staring back at me every time I went to McDonald’s for breakfast, Jack in the Box for lunch and perhaps Taco Bell for dinner. These foods had a hold on me. If I’m honest, I’d say they still do. While I rarely, if ever, crave some kind of fake burger from a fast food joint, I know that if I succumb to weakness at any time and have one I will be hooked once again.
When Rochelle and I began the 30 day Challenge in February, I didn’t think it would stick. I figured I would find someway of returning to old habits. However, since we decided to eat only the foods listed in the 30 Day sample menus I was stuck. I would actually have to follow the rules on this one and see where I could go.
My life is much different now. I do my best to go to the gym 5 days a week and I don’t drink as often or as much as I used to. I wake up at 6:30am, which is early when you consider the fact that I don’t have to be at work until 10am every day. I look at the WOD (Workout Of the Day in CrossFit speak), weigh myself, prepare myself to leave the house and head to the gym for the 7am class. When I get to the gym I feel like hell. My body and mind haven’t quite adjusted to being upright yet, there’s usually loud music on and in a couple of minutes someone I consider a friend is going to tell me to go run around the building, row 1000 meters, do pushups, or wall balls, or air squats, double-unders, burpees, and what the hell go run around the building again. At that point I’m warmed up. My morning headache is gone, my back has loosened up, and my hips are just about opened to where I need them to be in order to do whatever is planned for the day. Depending on the program I’m on there will be skill work before the WOD (ie pull ups or muscle ups) or weight lifting and then the WOD. I do my best on skill work and WODs, sometimes do a second WOD, foam roll, then drive home. The maximum amount of time I am ever at the gym is 2 hours, and those are days when I’m bored and Rochelle hasn’t given me a honey do list while I’m off on a weekday.
Time for some real honesty. Life happens, accept you may eat off diet and adjust accordingly (ie work your ass off the rest of the week) Sometimes you’re at your mom’s place and she’s making spaghetti and meatballs. You clean the plate and ask for seconds. Also, sometimes you’re in a hurry and forget your lunch. Does that mean you get to hit up McDonald’s for a Big Mac? NO! Think smarter. Is there a Thai restaurant near your work? If so, do what Rochelle does when she forgets lunch, call them up, order a red curry with beef, no rice, go back to your desk and eat something delicious and most likely entirely paleo. No Thai place? Craving fake Mexican food? Chipotle. I know, it is all that is wrong with this country but sometimes you want to eat fake Mexican food. A burrito bowl with no rice and beans will do the trick. Smile and ask politely for the person behind the counter to hook you up on peppers and onions. You like real Mexican food? Fine, hit up that taqueria by your work and grab a half pound of carnitas with a side of guac. No, you don’t need to order the rice, beans or tortillas! And finally, what about a good old American hamburger? All I can say God bless In N Out and Habit burger for lettuce wrapping their burgers, they can be a life saver! Have I done all these things? Yep! Am I proud of it? Not really, but I’m still going to eat and live my life. The difference is now when I eat things that are absolutely terrible for me, my mentality is different. Gone are the days when pasta made me think wistful thoughts of Rome. Now all I can think about is how much I just poisoned my body and how soon I can get it out of me. Funny how much things can change in 4 months.
My girlfriend and I constantly talk about how different my life has become in the last 4 months, none of it negative, and the one thing we always point out is that it started with my nutrition. When I got serious my life got better. Now I don’t usually like to look to the divine in such moments, but the timing sure is coincidental.
Please note that this is a shortened version of Kyle’s article, you can see the unabridged version here which includes great recipes and more details about Paleo eating.
Please note that neither Kyle nor I are a doctor, dietitian, or nutritionist. I recommend speaking with a professional prior to making any dramatic changes to your lifestyle, diet, or exercise regime to ensure that any changes you make are done safely.
Links You’ll Love
Fashion:
If you follow me on Twitter you’ve probably picked up on my serious girl crush on The Man Repeller – Her site is clever, witty, and she’s just as fashion obsessed as I am. Maybe even more so. And today’s she’s here with a phenomenal Do It Yourself project for all you fashion lovers out there – DIY: Fancy Footwear.
Don’t you want bows?
Refinery 29 doesn’t want us to forget about all the stylish mom’s out there, check out their post on stylish moms in NYC – 8 Ultra Cool Moms Show Off Their Killer Style.
If your city is starting to heat up you’re probably in the mood for some tips on warm weather dressing. The Little White Dress is always a great option and here are some oh-so-tempting versions to try out: 14 Little White Dresses You’ll Live In All Summer.
Calling all bun heads! If you’re looking for some new hairstyles to keep your Summer looks interesting check out Refinery 29’s Give Tired Bunds A Twist With These 4 Fresh Styles.
If Coachella just whet your apetitite and you’re going to get geared up for more concerts and music festivals as the weather warms up, you’ve got to check out The Festival Tracker – The Ultimate Guide to Music Festival Fashion and Style. Bonnaroo anyone?
Health/Fitness:
Were you brave enough to sign up for a race this year? Do you have some 2012 New Years Resolutions that you still haven’t reached? Check out The Blog of Impossible Things’ The Women’s Guide To A Triathlon or watch David Kirsch and Heidi Klum’s video How To Train On A Treadmill for some needed motivation and inspiration!
Searching for healthy snack ideas or a great energy boost for before your daily workout? Look no further! 100-calorie snack: Dairy-free chocolate almond butter chews ready in five minutes.
Concerns surrounding the physical and mental consequences of chronic stress have increased over the last few years – weight gain, diabetes, depression. Are you taking it seriously? Read Chris Kresser’s Are You In Stress Denial?
Interested in the new CrossFit trend but hesitant to head to a gym for an introductory class? Take a look at FitSugar’s Three CrossFit Workouts Anyone Can Do to get you started!’
Are you fan of spices? Check out the Whole 9 Life’s Spice Hound 100 Spices Whole 30 Approved. There are some GREAT ideas here.
Barefoot running was all the rage during 2011, due in part to the success of Christopher McDougall’s Born To Run, but what about barefoot walking? Take a look at FitSugar’s Three Ways Walkers Can Benefit From Barefoot Walking and learn more on the subject.
Speaking of Born To Run, if you read it you probably got as interested in chia seeds as I did. Here are a few articles on these phenomenal little seeds
- One Green Planet – Chia Seeds: Health Benefits, Tips and Recipes
- The No Meat Athlete – Tarahumara Pinole and Chia
Health & Your Relationship
When I read Rachel Wilkerson’s How CrossFit Has Helped My Relationship it got me thinking.
A lot.
Rachel said that by encouraging her boyfriend to take up a healthy hobby – in this instance CrossFit – their relationship ultimately benefited despite the fact that in the end it actually meant less alone time. I have no trouble at all believing this. In my experience, if there’s a substantial disconnect between how much two people value health & nutrition in their lives it can potentially lead to problems down the road.
I don’t believe that you need have all the same views, do the same workouts, or approach food the same way. But if only one person takes their health seriously and devotes time, energy, and effort to maintaining said health, the other individual may become resentful, jealous, threatened etc. Or things can go the other way around and as one person becomes healthier and more fit they begin to pity, worry about, and/or neglect their partner.
Take a look at this piece by the Primal Parent entitled When Good Health Destroys a Marriage. It’s written from the perspective of a woman who changed her diet and was feeling her best, while her husband was… Not. Ultimately their marriage couldn’t survive because she has a strong, well-tested belief in the importance of good health & nutrition, and refused to settle for someone who couldn’t – or wouldn’t – put forth the effort to investigate improving his own health.
{Kyle & Rochelle – The authors of Eat Drink Paleo}
If you can find someone who shares your views, that’s fantastic – like my friend Kyle & his lady-love who write the oh-so-entertaining Eat. Drink. Paleo – Two foodies who fell in love and are now transitioning to a paleo lifestyle. But at a minimum you need to show an interest in the other’s routines and goals, and be able to talk about and share your successes and failures.
Take my relationship for example, on the surface my boyfriend and I have virtually opposite views on all facets of fitness and nutrition:
- He eats an incredibly regimented high protein, low carb diet composed primarily of chicken, eggs, and vegetables which he tracks on a daily basis. I eat a mostly vegan, gluten-free, high raw diet.
- He does intermittent fasting – meaning that he doesn’t eat until early afternoon & only eats three meals a day. While I eat at least every two hours after my 4am wakeup time.
- He follows a lifting schedule & does CrossFit-style workouts that leave him wheezing, covered in bruises, scrapes, and rope burns, and stress his nervous system for days. I run, do circuit workouts & go to Pilates, martial arts & boxing classes.
- His ultimate goal with his work outs and eating regime is to retain & increase strength while dropping body fat. I’m only interested in being healthy and not having daily back pain.
Pretty different, right? But the truth is that those are fairly superficial differences – underneath it all we’re both incredibly passionate about health and fitness, and that’s what really matters.
We love going for walks & hikes, cooking, eating, going to the farmer’s market, and planning our meals and workouts for the week, and most of all, we love debating our positions on these topics. If you looked through our emails, Facebook messages, Tweets, and text logs you’d find photos of our meals, new recipes to try, books to add to our Amazon basket, articles to read, great blogs we’ve found, documentaries & movies to add to our Netflix queue, and questions about what we’ve eaten, what workouts we’ve done, and how far we’ve walked that day.
Every day.
{Hers vs His}
It doesn’t matter that we’re not spending our days doing the same things, what matters is that we both approach our lives with a profound respect for our bodies, what we put them through, and how we fuel them. Yes, we debate topics like veganism versus paleo eating, different types of fat, which oils to use in cooking, fasting, detox programs & cleanses, and strength training. Yes, sometimes I question his sanity when he comes home with his hands shredded from doing hundreds of pull-ups or muscle-ups or toes-to-bars. But mostly, we just talk about it.
Our shared passion for health and nutrition was not what brought us together 12 years ago, nor is it what has kept up together, but it does give us something to talk about and share every single day. And because it’s important to us both, we appreciate the other’s routines and ambitions, even though they’re different.
Like Rachel said:
One more lovely side effect of the fitness revival: Eric and I are back to bonding through nerdy, fitness-related conversations. (We’re also bonding over our sore muscles.) I’m really enjoying little things like talking about our workouts and progress, discussing an article about diet or exercise, trying new healthy foods together, or going shoe shopping for new athletic shoes.
You don’t need to be 100% in sync with your partner, you just need to be with someone who has the same appreciation and respect for health and fitness as you do. Added bonus if it becomes something that you can share and bond over!
How to Survive a CrossFit Meet
This past weekend was the 2012 LaLanne Fitness Garage Games Kickoff. An all-day CrossFit event Saturday at LaLanne Fitness in San Francisco and the first big competition of the season for my boyfriend and his teammates from American River CrossFit in Sacramento.
After last year’s introduction to the joys of CrossFit competitions – the Fittest of the Sierra’s in South Lake Tahoe was the 1st big competition I attended – I wanted to share my advice & lifesaving tips on how best to survive one of these high intensity, rowdy, crowded events.
(1) What To Bring:
- Bring food – Lots of it. These kids can EAT, so pack unprocessed, lean meats, cheeses & nuts for snacking between workouts.
- A close second on the must have list is booze. You’ll need it and so will they. Trust me. These are work hard, play hard types and blowing off steam immediately after a brutal competition is a MUST.
- Water! I can promise you that a giant water bottle will come in handy. This weekend all three competitors ended up using my Nalgene which had to be refilled every 5 minutes.
- Camera – The biggest issues that I’ve had photo-wise is that the athletes are moving so quickly that in some cases the pictures are blurry or the camera doesn’t reset quickly enough to capture the next shot. As much as I love my Canon, this season I invested in a little HD video camera that also takes stills. Success!
(2) What To Expect:
- Lots of people – These are busy, crowded events and in addition to lots of competitors, you’ll be surrounded by members of the hosting team and tons of spectators. Expect to be bumped or asked to move to accommodate events.
- No place to sit – In some cases events will be outdoors and you’ll have bleachers to sit on, but primarily the events are indoors and you’ll be standing pressed against a wall, craning to see over the heads of the other spectators.
- A fast-paced environment – With large numbers of competitors and a handful of workouts to get through, the organizers may be rushing to get through the events. Some workouts can be “blink and you miss them” short so keep an eye on your competitor to make sure that you see everything.
- LOUD and offensively bad music. This weekend was bad. R&B bad.
(3) What To Do Afterwards:
- Plan to go out – You’d think everyone would be beyond exhausted after a day full of crazy workouts, but my experience has been that the adrenaline is still pumping and they have a few more hours of energy left in them.
- Head straight to a restaurant, trust me when I say they’ll be ready for a big meal. And if they’re paleo-people I’d pick a restaurant in advance to make sure that the menu is acceptable.
- Make sure that the restaurant you’re going to has a bar. Your competitors will definitely want a drink. Or two. Or three.
I can’t recommend checking out one of these events enough – they’re exciting and fun to watch, never a dull moment.
P.S. Ladies, in case you need some more incentive, the shirts come off about a fourth of the way through. I’m just saying.
Holiday Preparation & Execution
Sometimes pictures speak louder than words. And when your holiday prep encompasses everything from baking sugar cookies to putting up decoration to holiday themed workouts (which you’re watching – not participating in), pictures are definitely the less painful way to go.
Enjoy!
My personal hero, Gina!
- What? You don’t have footie PJs?
Links You’ll Love
Health/Fitness:
Are you getting back into the kitchen after a busy Fall? Want to make more home cooked meals and stay out of pricey restaurants? Want to eat healthier food? Here are some tips & tricks of the trade to get you back into the kitchen and up to speed.
- How to Roast Veggies – From Hungy Hungy Hippie
- How to Roast Garlic – From OhSheGlows
- How to Build a Meal Sized Salad – From Choosing Raw
- How to Get Started – From Choosing Raw
- How to Peel a Butternut Squash – From Healthful Pursuit
- How to Cook Tofu – From Hungy Hungry Hippie
Spicy Chipotle Shells & Cheez from Happy Healthy Life – I’m making this as soon as humanly possible, I love recipes that use chipotle and I love mac n’ cheese!
Are you intimidated by Kettlebells? It might be time to face your fears – 7 Reasons to Try Kettlebells Now & The Super Slimmer You Haven’t Tried from Prevention.com. You can also read about my experience and check out some beginners exercises with them here.
In the mood for some winter comfort food? How about red enchiladas? How about healthy red enchiladas? Thought so. 🙂 Hungry Hungry Hippie has you covered!
Fashion:
Ready for a gorgeous Winter Wonderland? Check out Tatler’s Russian-themed spread over at TLo. I LOVE the way they styled the Armani (pictured above) – you can’t even tell that it’s the same dress!
Kate Bosworth’s Mulberry look at a recent Chateau Marmont event was picture perfect, low-key elegance with a hippie twist. Army green dress, studded pumps and an adorable boho twisted hairstyle. FabSugar covered the look here and WhoWhatWear covered it here.
You may not think of Heidi Klum when you think of budget shopping, but the Project Runway host has some tips to share.
Jessica Hart Debuts Her Capsule Collection with Pencey – Seriously cute dresses and easy separates that can be thrown together for breezy, summery looks. Soft fabrics, floral prints, fun cuts – See the collection here.
Do you love headbands, graceful updoes, chic pony tails? WhoWhatWear has some great Holiday Hair Accessoriesto help you create the best looks this holiday season, or you can check out Fashionology’s 7 Holiday Hair Ideas Straight from the Runways.
My Personal CrossFit
This past weekend I suffered through an introductory CrossFit session with my boyfriend as the slave master. Since neither gasping for air nor achy muscles are conducive to photograph taking, only a few pictures were taken.
The scene of the crime, American River CrossFit in Sacramento.
I was so optimistic and full of hope before we started…
The session began with an introduction to lifting form and basic weightlifting apparatuses. First on the docket?
Kettlebells!
Despite their unassuming name and demeanor these little “bells” are, in my humble opinion, quite evil. Saturday’s workout included goblet squats (which I think should be renamed goblin squats, but I digress) and kettlebell swings. After learning the basics of these two exercises, I was given the following warm up:
3 rounds of:
- 3 burpees
- 6 Goblet squats
- 9 Kettlebell swings
The next portion of the workout was devoted to mastering back squats, which according to my back squat-obsessed boyfriend, are the most important exercise to include in your workouts.
* Note: Ladies, if you’re worried that working with weights will add unwanted bulk to your frame, please don’t be. Weights are a great way to not only stimulate your metabolism, but are key in staving off weak bones and diseases like osteoporosis. Here’s a great article that walks you through the benefits of weights and may help alleviate some of your fears – Everyday Paleo: Women and Muscle.
So after working on my form – chest up, chin up, knees in line with feet – I was given a mini back squat workout of 3 rounds of 10, squatting just the bar. The suggestion (I use the word “suggestion” loosely as this was essentially a demand) was to incorporate back squats at least twice a week going forward, Mondays 5×5 & Wednesdays 3×10.
Next up was pull ups. SHUDDER. So I realize my pull up fears are somewhat unfounded, but hanging from that cold metal bar always manages to suck out my confidence. I’ve been practicing on the Gravitron at my work gym, but was informed Saturday that negative pull ups are actually the best way to prepare your body for this exercise, which entails jumping up to the bar and slooooowly lowering yourself down. After a handful of pathetic pull up attempts and half a dozen negative pull ups I practiced kipping with a band, the small chest forward swinging motion definitely helps you to capitalize on your momentum to complete the pull up.
And was I done after all that? Nope… That was, apparently, all just a warm up. Next came the following short circuit workout:
3 rounds of:
- 30 jump rope single jumps
- 20 box jumps
- 10 squatting wall balls (8 lbs/10 feet)
I was red-faced and shaking with muscle fatigue by the end of this torturous hour, which sadly was only a fraction of how I would come to feel in 24 hours.
Was the workout intense and exhausting? Yes. Am I sore? Yes. Am I concerned that my boyfriend hates me little bit because he did that to me? Yes. Am I counting the days until my next attempt? ABSOLUTELY.
Guest Post: Low-Intensity Fasted Cardio
For Moi Contre La Vie’s first guest post please welcome Sean, a certified CrossFit instructor and self-taught health & nutrition guru, who will be discussing low-intensity fasted cardio. When he first mentioned this topic to me I thought it was extraordinarily interesting and immediately pounced on him to put it into writing.
{Yes – That’s Sean}
Enjoy!
For quite some time, i have prided myself in being physically capable of overcoming demanding physical challenges at will. Whether it be lifting heavy weights, running long distances, or some other overtly masculine challenge. For this reason, i use to laugh at myself when i was humbled by seemingly simple tasks, which in my goal of attaining general physical athleticism, i would overlook. This was never more apparent than when i would visit places like San Francisco where walking for an afternoon, yes walking, would leave me feeling beaten down and exhausted (my tiny girlfriend waiting for me to pant my way up every hill was demoralizing in itself). Little did I realize, that in neglecting one of the most fundamental forms of human locomotion, I was passing up a potent and extremely valuable health and fitness tool. One that requires a little time and very little effort.
Living in a place like San Francisco, where walking is a valid method of transportation, is dramatically different from than the suburbs in which i reside. Here, i can not think of a single person that walks, or even rides a bike, outside of the specific purpose of getting exercise. Funny enough, i know overweight people who will ride their bike for two hours straight when it is exercise, but when it comes to the half-mile commute to work or the store, the only option is the SUV. Not to say that i was any different, it is a habit that you learn.
Then, a few months back, I found an article discussing the topic of low-intensity fasted cardio exercise to augment training for gymnast. (I have a strange fascination with gymnastics training methods, the level of skill and strength required for basic competency is astonishing). The highlight of the topic was how low-intensity fasted cardio was a simple and effective way to keep fat off a gymnast, whilst not compromising their performance in the gym and permitting them to eat more. I thought this was very interesting and saw no reason why it would not be just as useful for anyone who was interested in a simple method of losing stubborn fat (who isn’t?).
First off, what is low-intensity fasted cardio? The “fasted” part of the equation should not be taken in any extreme sense of the word. Your body will begin to enter a fasted state about four to five hours after you eat. It takes about that long for your body to either use the nutrients you have eaten or store them. By this time you body begins using alternative sources of fuel which are derived primarily from your liver and increased metabolization of fat. Since most people do not eat while they sleep, they will generally wake up with blood rich in metabolized fat ready to be used for energy (There are numerous other steps in there, but that’s the basics). When you eat first thing in the morning, your body essentially reverses this process, turning to the more energy rich food and re-storing the fats you metabolized. Just because you freed the stored fat (metabolized) doesn’t mean you actually use (oxidize) it. So there is an optimal time (when you wake up or if you want to not eat for a while) for your body to access your stores of fat. This is where the bit about walking comes into play.
Pairing fasting with low-intensity cardio (low-intensity cardio can be just about any steady state exercise that doesn’t require you to breathe heavily – i.e. walking) is an easy way to capitalize on the metabolized fat that i just described. Why walk, when you can do more work in less time by running or some other higher intensity exercise? One, walking is easier to do consistently, especially when you don’t think of it as exercise. I walk to get coffee or to by food for the day, not to work out. For some reason, turning it into a necessity (I must have coffee) changes the walking from an option to a requirement. This makes doing it everyday easy. Second, fat is not the most efficient form of energy for your body to use. Once you begin to cross over into moderate to higher intensity exercise your body’s ability to meet your energy demands through fat metabolism isn’t adequate. It will generally turn to other richer sources of energy like muscle tissue.
First, thank you for the guest post. Second, and more importantly, thank you for calling me tiny. 🙂
While squeezing in some walking time is always good for you, whether you treat it as exercise or just need some time to yourself, low-intensity fasted cardio seems like an extremely beneficial activity to try on for size. I’ll confess, while I don’t read traditional dieting books, I will read almost any silly book that talks about French women and their approach to food {French Women Don’t Get Fat, Two Lipsticks and a Lover, A Woman’s Guide to Finding Her Inner French Girl…} The number one tip all of these books give you is: WALK! The French walk everywhere. If there’s a choice between taking the stairs or an elevator, they take the stairs. They walk to work, they walk to the market, they walk around their cities and towns rather than driving. In my mind this reinforces the benefits of walking and illustrates how the French maintain their slim figures.
Can’t go through the drive through if you’re walking!
Sean usually walks to the store in the morning or walks for a few miles along the river with his roommate, which sounds to me like an ideal way to start to the day. Unfortunately with a 4:30am start time for my days a leisurely stroll isn’t in the cards, however I have been lucky enough to live less than two miles from work for the last few years so I usually walk to the office, weather permitting.
So keep Sean’s advice in mind and hit the pavement or trail to burn off some fat in the am before treating yourself to a healthy breakfast.
Do you… CrossFit?
Do you have a short attention span? Are you bored with the classes offered at your gym? Are you a highly competitive individual? Do you like to keep things interesting? Than CrossFit might be just what you need to shake up your workout routine.
In case you’re not familiar with this workout craze, here’s a short summary from the official CrossFit website:
CrossFit is the principal strength and conditioning program for many police academies and tactical operations teams, military special operations units, champion martial artists, and hundreds of other elite and professional athletes worldwide.
The CrossFit program is designed for universal scalability making it the perfect application for any committed individual regardless of experience. We’ve used our same routines for elderly individuals with heart disease and cage fighters one month out from televised bouts. We scale load and intensity; we don’t change programs.
Or in the words of CrossFit founder Greg Glassman:
“Eat meat and vegetables, nuts and seeds, some fruit, little starch and no sugar. Keep intake to levels that will support exercise but not body fat. Practice and train major lifts: Deadlift, clean, squat, presses, C&J, and snatch. Similarly, master the basics of gymnastics: pull-ups, dips, rope climb, push-ups, sit-ups, presses to handstand, pirouettes, flips, splits, and holds. Bike, run, swim, row, etc, hard and fast. Five or six days per week mix these elements in as many combinations and patterns as creativity will allow. Routine is the enemy. Keep workouts short and intense. Regularly learn and play new sports.”
I feel I should warn you, CrossFit is an intense program not for the faint of heart.
I’m not going to lie. I couldn’t raise my arms after my first introductory session. This was especially devastating considering I was told I don’t know how to do proper push-ups and my pull-ups were a joke.
Words hurt you know!
From what I’ve seen, the major pros of CrossFit are: (1) The duration of the workouts. These sweat sessions will be brutal, but short (direct & to the point, thank you very much). You can absolutely fit one in mid-day, no excuses, and head back to work or school with a rosy glow. (2) You will not get bored! Each day’s WOD (workout of the day) is different, focusing on different strengths and keeping you interested and challenged. (3) I would say that the factor that has struck me the most about CrossFit is the sense of community. The individuals who regularly attend a gym (aka box) develop a close bond and are exceptionally supportive of one another. The family that sweats, toils & bleeds together, stays together!
While the cons are few and far between, I will say that the “tenets of CrossFit” such as the Paleo diet, while not required, are highly touted and recommended. As a vegan, obviously that’s not a feasible program for me, but I take personal affront at the idea that sweet potatoes should be eliminated from anyones diet (note: only strict paleo disciples exclude tubers entirely, while those following a modified paleo diet may choose to continue eating them).
The other concern that I’ve heard voiced about CrossFit is, unfortunately, the cost. While most gyms offer a free introductory class and low one-off drop in session fees, monthly membership can be steep (between $120 and $200 depending on the gym).
I was honored to attend the Fittest of the Sierra’s tournament at the South Tahoe CrossFit center with the American River CrossFit team this past weekend. While I’m sure I could have annihilated the competition should I have joined the festivities (I kid, I kid), I was there solely in an observatory capacity. (Maybe I can be a water girl?)
As a former athlete I have to admit that I have missed the meet-environment and Saturday brought back a lot of memories. The collective energy, the anticipation, the excitement simmering under the surface, and yes, I even missed the smell of chalk.
This competition was an absolute blast to witness. The workouts were intense and merciless, but the atmosphere was enthusiastic and positive, with teams supporting one another and genuinely having a great time. There was a DJ, plenty of dancing (I’m talking to you Trevor) and tons of food. Not to mention some stunning displays of athleticism and sheer determination that left me gaping. One of the highlights for me was watching the women’s snatch (how to do a snatch lift) when the entire gym full of people screamed and shouted encouragements as one competitor struggled from a stance on both of her knees, finally pushing herself up to her feet to complete the lift. The crowd went wild.
Unfortunately the stress of CrossFit competitions can be very hard on the body and mind, as evidenced below:
BEFORE
AFTER (No, that is not a mug shot and yes, we took him out for beer and pizza afterwards. In public. You are welcome South Lake Tahoe.)
I’d like to thank the South Tahoe CrossFit organization for hosting an amazing competition and the American River CrossFit team for letting me tag along on their adventure. Congratulations to all of the competitors, you all did an amazing job!
Moi Contre La Vie 