I do INTEND to set aside time to blog more, and I have even had the idea of creating a separate blog to share all my health and fitness experiences and research...but alas, life happens :)
I felt compelled to give an update though, in light of some of the many recent articles I've read related to healthy eating, genetically modified foods, CrossFit, and self-image.
On Food - I'm glad to see that some of the "true" science is finally coming to light and starting to expose about how backward our food system, the FDA, laws, etc. The fact that giant agribusiness companies like Monsanto are trying to control anything and everything about our food system, getting laws in place to protect THEM, and fighting tooth-and-nail to stop mandatory labeling of GMO foods pretty much tells you that they know what they're doing is not in the best interest of the world, but they must protect their business model. I believe that we all have the right to KNOW what is in the food we eat; and then we can make the choice ourselves as to whether or not we want to eat something that's labeled a GMO. And I also believe that there should be no way that "life" can be patented.
Along the same lines, we continue to perpetuate bad and disproven "science" and allow special-interest lobbies (both food and pharma) to influence our dietary and nutritional recommendations, which spills over into the medical field. The "low-fat" diet that has become accepted practice for healthy eating came into play around 1977, the same time the obesity problem in this country started its rise. Studies and emperical evidence have shown over and over again that the low-fat, low-cholesterol, high-carb diet doesn't work, and is based more on speculation and observation than actual science. This article sums up a lot of these points nicely, but I've done much reading and research on my own. And of course I have been following the low-carb/low-sugar/paleo diet since March 2011 (see some of my earlier posts) and am as healthy as I have EVER been in my lifetime - my "numbers" are all normal to great, my blood pressure is as low as it's ever been (much of that might be due to CrossFit though) and I haven't been truly sick since March 2011. I eat REAL food. I don't feel starved or deprived. I enjoy the food I eat because real food tastes good. I drink real, fully-caffeinated coffee with real cream. I don't count calories. I avoid anything marked "low-fat" or with ingredients I can't pronounce like the plague. Sugar is almost non-existent in my world.
On CrossFit - wow, I could talk for hours, and I'm sure some of my friends get sick of it :) But this is really good stuff for me. My ONLY goal when I started last August was to STOP DOING NOTHING. I wasn't horribly out of shape or unhealthy, but I was pretty sedentary. I am definitely whatever the opposite of sedentary is now. Just to give you an example of the amazing stuff we do in these workouts - today we did what is called "Prowlers", which is basically pushing a 250-lb sled 25 yards up and back, for 6 rounds (alternating with a partner). I was slightly woosy by the end, but by a couple of hours afterwards, I felt FANTASTIC. And that's typical for me now. I can tell that I have more energy, sleep better, am MUCH stronger, and am MUCH more flexible (and I still have a LOT of room to improve there). Sure it's great to be able to lift the big weights and do more situps or pushups or burpees than you did the time before, but this stuff carries over into being able to do things in real life, which is really the goal. When I'm 70 I want to be able to carry my bags of groceries or bags or lift my grandkids (and yeah, with the age I'll be starting to have kids, 70 for young grandkids is pretty likely). The workouts and the community are great and fun, but seeing the results of health and fitness in real life is even more fun.
On self-image - there is a lot of discussion among our CrossFit community on combating and redefining what our society idealizes as the "perfect" body type. My favorite slogan on a T-shirt my friend Caly has is "Strong is the new Skinny". I wish everyone would believe that. And I know that body image issues and wanting to be "skinny" is a much larger issue with women than with men, but the up-and-coming generations of men are getting programmed with the body self-image issues too.
Growing up, I ALWAYS wanted to be skinny. I'd be jealous of the people that seemed to have no problem being skinny no matter what they ate or did. And I admit that I still have a little bit of that thinking - sometimes I'd like to, for just ONE DAY see what it feels like to be skinny. But I've also come to realize that my body is built a certain way, and that being skinny for me is not being healthy. And I've also come to realize (wisdom?) that just like I wish I could be like some skinny person I see, they probably wish they could be "built" like I am. I am able to bulk up and build muscle with relative ease - I've ramped up really fast on Olympic Weight Lifting at CrossFit even in the 8 months I've been going. If I were skinny I wouldn't have that ability.
I love to see the women at my CrossFit classes. I love seeing them working just as hard as the men do, and getting just as excited at a new lifting PR or being a previous time record. I love to see the self-confidence that they have in being STRONG and fit, not necessarily "skinny". A recent WOD article talks about this (it was written for women but I think men can take wisdom out of it too). If I have a daughter someday, I hope that her self-confidence and self-esteem is built on being smart, strong, fit, etc. and not being whatever society's image of a woman's body is at the time.
OK, maybe blogging shorter and more often would be a good idea :)
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