nutrition

Food Prep is Key

I’m fully anticipating this week being a little crazy.  My client has some pretty insane deadlines for the end of the month and items keep getting added.  However, there are a few things that are non-negotiable to me: SLEEP (7 – 8 hours!), FOOD, & EXERCISE.  Regardless of what is going on, I need these to get through the day.

Over the past 3 years, I have learned meal prep is key to not eating out and/or binge eating.  I’ve become quite the snob when it comes to eating out as I prefer my own cooking and if we are going out it better be something to die for!

With a lot of trial and error, I think I’ve become pretty efficient with food/meal prepping.  It was definitely a struggle at first, but at some point I realized that I didn’t have to make complex recipes and FAT is critical to making a delicious meal.  The only thing required for the week were basics and doubling everything now that the husband has realized the benefits! Also, making large dinners guarantees leftovers!!

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Digestion: The basics to help fuel your daily grind

With all the stress I have in my life, the last thing I thought I was effecting was my digestion.  Hell, for the past few years I’ve completely shifted what I ate and how I thought about food.  I thought I was doing a pretty damn good job of eating the right foods to provide my body the fuel I needed to perform optimally. Enter NTA and a wrench in my daily grind…I have come to the realization that over at least the past 2 years I have been “thriving” off of cortisol and epinephrine (adrenaline).

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Recovery Journey

Adrenal Fatigue – Part 3

I have been doing CrossFit for 4.5 years with varying degrees of dedication.  I would consider myself one of the “weaker” females in my gym.  My 1-rep max deadlift hovers around 155# (that is this year) and has seen little improvement.  The weak deadlifts have always been blamed on my running habits – quad dominant and weaker hamstrings; oh and my inability to activate my glutes.  Well in April this chick hit a 200# sumo deadlift. SAY WHAT?! My body felt great that day, there was no “knot” above my right glute and that damn bar went up when I lifted it.

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The Crash

Adrenal Fatigue – Part 2

Adrenal fatigue does not appear overnight.  There are subtle things that can fester over the years.  There can also be one event that will throw your adrenals over that threshold into fatigue.

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No Training Plan

Adrenal Fatigue – Part 1

I’m 1 week out from the Island Man Triathlon today.  Last night I had planned to do a bike and run today, since it would be only my 2nd time this training cycle to test that out.  I know, I am probably screwed next week. Oh and obviously I haven’t swam in 2 weeks, AHHHHHHHH.

Anyway, I went out with the intention of biking for an hour.  I got back just under that and covered 15.1 miles.  The bike ride was a relatively easy-paced, I didn’t kill myself knowing that I needed to be in top-notch shape next Saturday.  Got back to my car and got ready for the run – there is absolutely no urgency in my transitions, which will probably put me dead last with all my friends next week.  9:30 minutes passed and I headed back on the trail for a 2-mile run.  Now this is what DOES NOT MAKE SENSE to me – 1st mile was 7:57 (WHAT?!) & 2nd mile was 8:05!  How is it possible that my miles after a bike ride are faster than if I had just gone out for a 2-mile run?! Okay, I know I don’t push myself on most runs, but I felt like I was a 200# person running today – my legs felt so heavy and my quads were screaming!  Other than making myself run, I was not pushing myself to hit a certain mile-pace.  So what the hell is going on?!

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Taking Control

3 MONTHS DOWN. FIRST WORKSHOP COMPLETE! Now I just really need to grasp an understanding of digestion, blood sugar regulation, & fatty acids…

This past weekend was the first workshop for the NTP program and wow was it a whirlwind.  Leading up to the weekend I was extremely anxious, I didn’t know what to expect.  Basically, it was the first day of college all over again, you were going to a place where you knew absolutely no one with the only exception being that we all had the same interest, health.

I’m not going to lie, I was close to having a breakdown Saturday night and dropping out of the course all together.  After two days, I wasn’t sure how I was going to get through another day of randomly being called on to answer a question I didn’t know the answer to; remembering everything I should have learned by now regarding digestion, blood sugar regulation, and the other foundations; or being able to find the proper points for the functional evaluations.  It’s just wayyyy too much to learn in 9 months!

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