In case you are wondering who is writing this blog....it is me....Patti, but hopefully I will be able to get others to contribute as it progresses. I decided to start this blog because at Challenge Fitness we get asked a lot of questions about nutrition.
At the beginning of 2010, I made a resolution that this would be the year that I would learn about nutrition, not for the sake of losing weight, but because I want to be healthy. Some of you know that I used to do figure competitions and the diet that I used in order to get lean enough to go on stage consisted of six meals a day of boiled chicken, broccoli, and sweet potatoes, two protein shakes, 1-2 gallons of water, and a dose of some kind of fat burner (you name it, I probably tried it) for three months straight, plus doing daily doubles of 45 minutes of cardio 5 days a week. While I was able to get a nice lean physique with this extreme regimen for the 5 competitions I did, I never felt healthy, I was irritable, had terrible headaches all the time, couldn't concentrate on anything for more than 5 minutes, and turned into a total ditz (yes, more than I am now). Then, show day would come and go and boom, I was up ten pounds and an additional 5% bodyfat in a month. So, I know that if I need to lean out and drop 20 pounds, that 3 months of the above described hell will do it, but although I might look "good" for a short period of time, the truth is that I won't be healthy. So, my goal this year was to learn about how to eat for "health".
I started by watching the movie, Food, Inc., which convinced me immediately to start buying organic everything and to begin scaling back on all processed foods. From there, I have started to do other research including reading books, internet research, talking to people, etc. I try to read books by different authors in order to get different perspectives, understanding that some authors are more "credentialed" that others, while others may just have more "personal experience and experimentation". As humans, we all have to eat to survive, so it makes no difference to me if a person is a certified nutritionist, medical doctor, or gym junkie who has messed with different regimens, we each have our own experience with food. I like to read it all. So far, the books I've read this year are: "Eating Well for Optimum Nutrition" by Andrew Weil, "Master Your Metabolism" by Jillian Michaels, and "The Eat Clean Diet" by Tosca Reno, and am currently reading "The Omnivore's Dillema" by Michael Pollan. I've also watched the movie Food Matters, went to my naturopath and had a food allergy test, followed various blogs, planted a garden in my yard, and just this week attended a seminar put on by Whole9. What I have found is that the information available on nutrition is endless and it can be quite confusing at times because opinions differ based on different research and experiences. So, my intent with this blog is to share things that I have found interesting, true for me personally, have experimented with, etc. as a way to pass on my research and learning. I do not hold out any particular "diet", "program", "eating lifestyle", whatever you want to call it, as the one and only. Food interacts with our body at the cellular level and because of that, each person will have their own reaction to food, therefore, what works for some people may or may not work for others. There are, however, a few basic principles, that I believe apply to all people when it comes to eating for health. These are:
1. Avoid all processed sugar and artificial sweeteners - these are basically like putting poison in your body.
2. Drink plenty of water throughout the day (i.e. 90 to 120 ounces)
3. Eat more vegetables and more varieties
4. Make meals that are comprised of lean protein, lots of vegetables, and some healthy fat.
5. Buy mostly organic foods
6. Do not eat meat that comes from feed lots of fish from farms - free range chickens, beef, pork, etc. and wild caught fish is much healthier.
7. Avoid processed foods all together. Anything from a box, can, bottle, etc. should be limited or preferably eliminated.
I'm sure there are more, but this is what I've got for now.
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