Prep is going well. Training is always good I hit a PR today in the gym with DB Snatches-70lb! Things seem to be coming along like usual–leaning out from the top down. I have seen some nice measurement changes the past several weeks but minimal scale change. This is a good thing (I tell myself over and over and over ) I am predicting a typical big scale drop soon. That seems to be what happens with me during my prep. I think I am just living for all day cheats again LOL. Man, I think I am spoiled.
This show is going to be a ton of fun-especially since it is here in Atlanta. This will be the first show that my girls will get to see me in, as well as other family members and a ton of friends. This will be the most in-house support I have ever had–sooooo exciting. That just makes me work that much harder!
8 weeks! You can do ANYTHING for 8 weeks. Especially since I still haven’t even started Cardio yet :shhh:
Ok so I have been on a kick to check out some new stuff for the pantry to replace the HFCS that we have EVERYWHERE and get the girls STAMP of Approval. I went to several Farmer’s Markets and even the Kroger ‘healthy’ section to check prices. I am amazed at all that was out there. In case you were unaware, there is a replacement for everything…ritz bitz, gold fish, cereals..you name it. Now, I have some of the pickiest kids ever and they are loving it. Slowly but surely I will have it totally out of my house. I am not going to freak when they are out and have something with this in it, but not having it as an option at home is going to be a great start for all of us. They loved the PB Puffins, Archer Farms Organic Strawberry Fruit Strips, 365 Organic Quak’n Bites (like gold fish) and Trader Joe’s Mini Peanut butter sandwich crackers. Funny story, Scott took the girls out of town on Sunday and they had to stop and get gas. While inside Jamison (my 4 year old) asked if she could have a pack of crackers and Scott said sure. So they are standing in line and she yells out ” oh, dad does this have High Fructose Corn Syrup?” Scott said the lady behind him looked shocked and then laughed and said ” That is awesome” My oldest is getting a kick out of finding things in our pantry that have it. LOL
On a similar topic, we have been pulling artificial sweeteners out as well. Several of our clients from LBC have dropped the splenda, diet drinks, and Crystal light flavor packs out and are noticing significant drops in their weight. This is something worth trying for yourself to see how sensitive your body may be to these items.
What is this? It is derived from cornstarch, usually a combination of 55 percent fructose and 45 percent sucrose. Treated with an enzyme that converts glucose to fructose, which results in a sweeter product. Used in soft drinks, baked goods, jelly, syrups, fruits and desserts.
Now do you realize 1. how bad this is for us and 2. how many products that you have in your pantry that probably contain this? I have been doing a lot of reading this past week on HFCS. No it isn’t new, but I was just shocked to find out all of the foods that it is in. I think that when it comes to me eating certain things, I tend to overlook some of the negative health habits, but now that I see how much of this is in my kids stuff….well, there really is no turning back. I am now revamping my pantry and I can tell you, the girls aren’t to excited. LOL.
In case you are unaware: Fructose is metabolized to fat in your body far more rapidly than any other sugar. It has been linked to diabetes, Obesity, and Metabolic Syndrome. Fructose also contains no enzymes, vitamins or minerals, and it leeches micronutrients from your body. Unbound fructose, found in large quantities in HFCS, can interfere with your heart’s use of minerals such as magnesium, copper and chromium.
(this was taken from our forum..www.leanbodiesfitness.com) To add even more fuel to the fire, HFCS is almost always made from genetically modified corn, which is fraught with its own well documented side effects and health concerns.
GMO corn will radically increase your risk of developing corn food allergies. You can bet dimes to dollars on this one and become very wealthy if someone is crazy enough to disagree with you and take you up on this bet.
The problem with corn allergies are that once you have a corn allergy from GMO corn you will have an allergy to even healthy organic corn products.
On top of that, if you read through the Organic Consumers Association article linked to above, you get a feel for just how bad corn crops are for your waistline and the environment. On average, Americans eat over 14 tablespoons of sugar every day, and a growing portion of that is in the form of corn syrup. Aside from contributing to obesity, the more than 76 million acres of corn grown each year in the United States is hurting the land. Each year:
* Corn crops are sprayed with 162 million pounds of chemical pesticides
* Producing, packaging and transporting these pesticides contributes nearly 3 billion pounds of greenhouse gases to the environment each year
* About 18 billion pounds of synthetic fertilizers are used on corn crops every year, contributing 35 billion pounds of greenhouse gas emissions
After reading all of this plus so much more, I have decided to take this out of my kids diet. I know that all things in moderation are ok, but I am just not going to have it as an option in the house. From what I have read and seen there are a tons of alternatives in the whole foods sections. Now I just need to hunt down the ones that my girls will eat. If you don’t realize how much of this is in your pantry..check out this list http://www.accidentalhedonist.com/index.php/2005/06/09/foods_and_products_containing_high_fruct
And here is the latest commercial trying to reassure us that HFCS is fine.
I have been slacking on the blogging lately. Life has taken over…. lol
Contest prep is definitely underway. I am just under 10 weeks away from Nationals here in Atlanta. Am I nervous…yes :) Just plugging away and trying to get the weight and measurements to drop. I feel like each prep at about this time, everything seems un-reachable. So I am going to just try to do what I am suppose to do and come out on the other side….hopefully with a better mindset.
Life has been crazy busy…having my girls playing soccer this year has kept us on the move constantly. I some how am now helping to coach my older daughter’s team. This is something I swore I wouldn’t do….but I am actually enjoying it. We had our first game last weekend and it was a tie. I definitely can count that as cardio and am surprised that I had a voice the next day LOL.
I am sure Erik is going to do a write up on this in his blog eventually, but I thought that I would write about it as well. Ok, so during contest prep I have come to find out that salad ( a filler and something that keeps off hunger for me) tends to upset my stomach. So we have come to remove it totally just during prep time. Now with taking out the greens a question came up from Erik about wondering what my PH was and maybe that needs to be addressed. Having a higher protein intake and veggies going down…where does that leave me? Having a more acidic environment in your body can have some very negative effects like:
Cardiovascular damage, including the constriction of blood vessels and the reduction of oxygen.
Weight gain, obesity and diabetes.
Bladder and kidney conditions, including kidney stones.
Immune deficiency.
Acceleration of free radical damage, possibly contributing to cancerous mutations.
Hormone concerns.
Premature aging.
Osteoporosis; weak, brittle bones, hip fractures and bone spurs.
Joint pain, aching muscles and lactic acid buildup.
Low energy and chronic fatigue.
Slow digestion and elimination.
Yeast/fungal overgrowth.
It is very easy to test your PH level on ph strips, both orally or with your urine. There are many things that you can do if you test strips come back on the acidic side. You can alter your diet a bit to include things like greens+, adding uncooked spinach or green veggies into your diet. Another thing that you can do is take out sweeteners like splenda or sweet n low and replace them with Stevia which is an alkaline. Also, eliminating sodas…(that is NOT happening with me LOL ) because they are extremely acidic. You can check out the chart bellow for more foods and where they fall on the acidic/alkaline chart.
so I took my ph today and am actually going to do it first thing in the morning to see if it is different because I was pleasantly surprised to see that my PH was in the normal range. I think it surprised Erik as well. But I still think this is a good thing to check out for yourself if you can. The PH strips can be either ordered online or found at a local pharmacy.
A friend from our forum www.leanbodiesfitness.com was talking to me the other day about having a family and being involved in this type of lifestyle. She brought up some really great points about how she has read several things lately about people saying they need to take a ‘break’ from this dieting to just be “normal” and have family dinners and not be so restrictive. Her point to me (hopefully I am expressing this right) was that she didn’t understand this concept. Why can’t THIS lifestyle and even competing, be incorporated into your family instead of being viewed as something that has to take away from your family. I totally agreed with her. I think that if you are dieting down-whether for a show or for just personal satisfaction-you need to find a way to make this a part of your entire life…not just something separate that you can’t incorporate with your family. Why can’t you have dinner with your family. Can’t you incorporate similar foods that you are having to eat with your family meal. I mean, do your children not eat chicken, beef, pork…..whatever and other similar things that might be on your ‘diet’? Does it mean you can’t make Mac N cheese for them and just not partake in it? I think that they can learn good eating habits by watching you. In my house, the girls know that at breakfast we can have pancakes but we are getting eggs too. They even like some of the recipes that AmyP puts together LOL. I think that it is also important to see that mommy or daddy workout! In my house, this is just like anything else that needs to get done…lifting. My oldest daughter is at an age now where she is asking more about food and what it does in the body. Again, these are awesome situations to teach them the ‘healthy’ way to look at food. I don’t think that dieting down needs to separate you from your family. It is just like anything else…there has to be balance.
I hit a PR today in the gym with DB Snatches-70lb! Things seem to be coming along like usual–leaning out from the top down. I have seen some nice measurement changes the past several weeks but minimal scale change. This is a good thing (I tell myself over and over and over 
) I am predicting a typical big scale drop soon. That seems to be what happens with me during my prep. I think I am just living for all day cheats again LOL. Man, I think I am spoiled. 
