Kb Swings and People Saying it Better Than Me

On Sunday, July 15th, I started my 60 day to a pull-up self challenge. As of last night, I have followed through with my additional 100 Kb swings (35#) in the evening (5 days in a row! Someone STOP ME!). Seriously though, adding 100 Kb swings to my day takes 5 minutes. I'm thinking next week I might bump it up to 200 Kb swings, you know, because I can spare 10 minutes. I just realized that the end of the 60 days is going to coincide with my 2 year anniversary of CrossFit. How awesome would it be to get my first pull-up (ever in life) before that anniversary? I think it is yet another powerful motivator. Rest assured, I will video my pull-up when I get it, and post it for the world to see.

My eating during those five days was mostly spot on as well, and yesterday I just felt skinny (relative, for me). I felt so skinny that I proceeded to get dinner out at our favorite BBQ place, but I didn't eat until full. It took considerable strength, but I stopped at 2 small ribs and a few bites of greens, satisfied, but definitely not anywhere close to full. When we got back home, I took 5 minutes to do my Kb swings, and then I proceeded to drink many, many, many bottles of hard cider. Why? Because its delicious and I was feeling skinny. Some drunken popcorn was consumed. I woke up feeling not my greatest. Weird.

Today I'm back at it with my morning continued fast, I've only had some BCAA's, and I brought a protein packed lunch to eat post workout. I'm going to a wedding tomorrow, and I'm wearing that short dress I posted a pic of a few weeks ago for that other wedding I attended, I don't want to feel all gross. I plan to keep my alcohol consumption to a bare minimum as well, luckily it sounds like the event will be ending fairly early.

I read a real eye-opening piece yesterday on Mr. Nikoley's blog- Free the Animal (linked to the right). It was about grains, vegetarians vs. vegans, and nutrient density. He really does a great job of explaining the most hated phrase/comment/criticism that anyone who has ever thought about/tried/adopted a paleo diet hears "but whole grains are healthy and essential, how could you possibly eliminate those from your diet and call it healthy?" I tried in vain at first to explain to people that grains contain things that errode your stomach lining so that you leech out any nutrients you are recieving. I explained that many people have gluten sensitivities and don't even know it, and by continuing to eat gluten, your body may not be performing at its best (like how I had bad allergies until I ditched the gluten). I also explained that grains (especially refined ones) spike your blood sugar and then that results in an outpouring of insulin. The spike of blood sugar and crash of insulin pattern can be related to many, many issues (google hyperinsulinemia side effects).

BUT...that usually wasn't enough to convince people of why I chose not to eat grains. I still got the blank stares, and the "I could nevers!"

So in his last post, Nikoley does something phenomenal. He breaks down a mostly grain based diet (vegetarian) and compares it to a diet containing meat (specifically paleo) and shows you what exactly you are getting on a NUTRIENT level by eating what you eat. If you don't take the time to click over there and read it (well, well, worth it) the gist is that basically grains contain no nutrition.

There is absolutely NOTHING one can get by eating grains that they can't get by eating something else, and usually that something else is nutrient packed. Don't believe me? Then why is your loaf of "whole grain bread" fortified with vitamins? Pretty sure eating a spinach salad would get you more nutrition, for much less of the caloric energy. Huh. Food for thought. I hope.

His post is here:

http://freetheanimal.com/2012/07/grains-vegetarians-vegans-and-nutritional-density.html