Most of you are aware now that excessive carbohydrates, or any carbohydrates from refined sources, are bad for you. This article does a great job explaining why. However, when it explains to benefits of “high fat”, don’t mistake this for hot dogs and ice cream. Plant source fats are ideal, as are those from high quality, organic, free-range meats and wild caught fish. Below is an excerpt from a Los Angeles Times article, be sure to read the whole thing.
“Fat is not the problem,” says Dr. Walter Willett, chairman of the department of nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health. “If Americans could eliminate sugary beverages, potatoes, white bread, pasta, white rice and sugary snacks, we would wipe out almost all the problems we have with weight and diabetes and other metabolic diseases.”
It’s a confusing message. For years we’ve been fed the line that eating fat would make us fat and lead to chronic illnesses. “Dietary fat used to be public enemy No. 1,” says Dr. Edward Saltzman, associate professor of nutrition and medicine at Tufts University. “Now a growing and convincing body of science is pointing the finger at carbs, especially those containing refined flour and sugar.”
Check out this really informative post, recently done by our friend Nathan, from CrossFit Adventure. The post, along with the video, explains some of the dangers of soy products, especially for youngsters that are being fed soy based formula.
Brian O. (a.k.a Boie) and James – Sadie Hawkins 2010
This Sunday, Jan. 23rd we will have an open gym session at 9:30am. Open gym sessions allow for you to come in and do the workout posted, or work on any particular skill or exercise that you feel like you need to improve. James and I will be participating in the workouts as well. This will also be a great opportunity for any Sweat Shop women doing the Femme Fit competition to come in and see how it feels to do a few of the event workouts in succession.
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Wednesday’s WOD:
A.) 15 minutes to work up to a 7 Rep Max on Overhead Squat
B.) 4 Rounds
25 KB Swings (53/35)
15 Ring Dips
403m Run
Our good friend Nathan will be giving a nutrition presentation that I strongly recommend Sweat Shop members attend.
Nutrition topics will cover how fats are healthy, balancing hormones and blood sugar, and modifications to the Paleo diet to make it more practical. Included will be your keys to success in living the healthy lifestyle you’ve wanted to reach the goals you’ve made for yourself.
The presentation starts at 6:45pm at CrossFit Burn in Pacheco on Tuesday, January 18. The presentation will last 60-90 minutes with a Q&A session to follow. So bring your notebooks and bring your questions!! Location can be found here.
If you haven’t heard, Femme Fit 2011, a competition for women of all levels is going to be held on Saturday Feb. 5th at CrossFit Sweat Shop. With tons of support and gear from Title Nine, as well as workout programming by Mike Jenkins (MJ), this will without a doubt be an extremely fun event! For those that have never done a competition, I can say from personal experience, that I’ve never walked away from an event, and wished I hadn’t done it. Even the ones where I don’t perform that well (which is most of them). More importantly, I leave each event more motivated, more confident, and more excited than ever to improve my fitness and continue to surpass my goals!
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Legitness of the Week
Overhead Squat PR’s
Donna C. 85×3
Lones 105×3
Mike B. 120×3
Donna D. 100×3
Monica 65×3
Justin 145×3
Melaney 70×3
Christin 75×3
Eric 145×3
Valerie 55×3
Joe W. 130×3
Aaron 235×3
JB 220×3
Deadlift PR’s
Lones 260×1 Deadlift (New Sweat Shop Record)
Patrick 455×1
Jessica 205×5
Lucinda 140×5
Monica 140×5
Joe S. 243×5
Dustin 180×5
Boie 319×5
Jon B. 270×5
Josh 400×5
Helen 35:29 “Murph” Rx’d
Jim D. 33:10 “Murph” Rx’d
Justin 8:54 “Helen” C2B (Sweat Shop Record)
Jessica 5 consecutive C2B pullups Goal Achieved
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Friday’s WOD:
“Inspired by Hiroshi”
15 Burpees
then 2 Rounds of:
15 Squat Cleans
15 Ring Dips
I saw this clip a while ago on NBC. Although the staff and people that eat at this place are entertaining, it’s astonishing how fixated people are to unhealthy food. Even more intriguing, is that the restaurant has warning signs that their food may kill you…. and yet people continue to eat it. I’m sure many of you have had arguments around why people eat unhealthy. The most common excuses I hear are income and culture. When I see this clip, however, I feel people just don’t want to be told what to eat and do it out of rebellion….
What do you guys think? Is eating a “Quadruple Bypass Burger” in your culture or heritage?
Post thoughts to the comments section.
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Tuesday’s WOD:
4 Rounds
Perform as many rounds as possible in 4 minutes:
12 KB Swings
10 Box Jumps
8 Pushups
6 KB Squats
My recent delivery of locally-grown, organic fruits and veggies.
For most folks, the hardest part about eating healthier is the burden of having to make repeated weekly trips to the grocery store. Even more burdensome, having to survive to trip through the “Tenderloin” also known as the Walnut Creek Whole Foods parking lot. For those of you who still struggle with this, check out Farm Fresh to You. Farm Fresh to You is an Community Supported Agricultural (CSA) group that delivers organic, in-season fruits, veggies, and nuts grown from their farm, straight to your doorstep.
Although there are several CSA’s in the Bay Area, Farm Fresh is unique in that it allows you to:
Pick and choose which fruits and veggies you want included or excluded in your delivery (simply online)
Choose from various quantities of food in your delivery
Choose the delivery frequency that fits you best: weekly, every other week, every 3rd or every 4th week delivery.
Farm Fresh also requires no commitment. Try it out once to see if you like it. I’ve been happy with my deliveries thus far. It makes eating healthier much easier and cooking way more exciting!!
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** Don’t forget to sign up for the upcoming grass-fed beef delivery from Prather Ranch. 1 Large box is $240. Delivery will be sometime in mid January.**
If anyone is interested in getting some equipment for their home, let me know, as I will be placing an order early next week. Jump ropes, leather gymnastics grips (for pullups), rings, wall balls, pullup bands or anything else you can find on the Rogue site. Check their site, or just ask me for my advice if you have any questions about which items may be best for you. If you’d like something be sure and let me know, no later than Monday. I’ll be placing a different order in the future for bumper plates, kettlebells, dumbbells, and iron plates from a different company.
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Tuesday’s WOD:
4 Rounds
10 Overhead Squats (115#/75#)
12 Burpees
30 Double Unders
100m Farmers Walk (45#/25# bumper plates)
Red Bull, Monster, Rockstar. You see these energy drinks everywhere. Grocery stores, gyms, gas stations, and even school vending machines all have them. Unfortunately, these drinks are quickly getting in the hands of teenagers at an alarming rate. A recent study found that 31% of teenagers in the U.S. drink energy drinks. This is 4 million more kids than 3 years ago. Not that ANY of you “smart” and “health conscious” Sweat Shoppers actually drink this kind of stuff, many people simply don’t realize what is actually inside these potent “energy grenades”. Check out some of these nutrition facts on the popular energy drinks:
These crazy high numbers don’t even include the other stimulants in the drinks that interact with caffeine. Stay away from these drinks and especially keep your kids away from them.
Still not convinced?? Check out this video on ESPN’s E:60 of the dangers of energy drinks in sports.
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Wednesday’s WOD:
3 Rounds
3 Minutes: Row for calories
2 Minutes: Box jump for REPS
1 Minute: Power Clean for REPS
“Rest” 4 Minutes (200m must be completed during this time).
When choosing food items, don’t let terms like “natural”, or “all-natural” persuade you into thinking it’s better than other products.
Excerpt from GOOD
My lust for it isn’t diminished at all by the recent news that Ben and Jerry’s will be removing the label “all natural” from their ice cream because it includes some factory-made products. Hell, I like the stuff so much that if you told me it was made from toxic sludge and orphans, I’d be cool with it. But it does raise an interesting issue: What do “all-natural” or “natural” even mean on a food label or elsewhere? Spoiler alert: absolutely nothing. In any context, “natural” is so vague, all-encompassing, and subjective that it is pretty much meaningless.
Here’s one for any of you that still eat McDonald’s and other fast food. If you’ve seen Fast Food Nation, you’ll know that the McDonalds chain’s offerings have got a whole lot of icky ingredients. Although thinking about it is pretty gross, check out the Happy Meal art project by Sally Davies that provides evidence that Mickey D’s food contains some sketchy stuff. In this project, Davies takes a Happy Meal-sized burger and fries, puts it on a plate in her living room, and takes a photo of it every day…… FOR 137 Days!!! Check out the pictures here. You’ll notice that day 1 and day 137 look scarily similar.
What’s even more entertaining is the response from the McDonald’s representative. She states that because the meal did not compose, it’s a representation of how “good” the quality of food at McDonalds is. HA!! You all can be the judge of that. I don’t think my tummy would enjoy something that can resist decomposition for 137 days! Would love to hear your comments below!!
Look, food preservatives are everywhere. Without them, tons of food would rot before it even reached the grocery store shelves. A world without preservatives would be a hungry one, and one without much variety. However, many preservatives can cause more trouble than they’re worth. Cancer, allergic reactions, and digestive problems are all associated with preservatives. You have the choice to pick which foods you want to eat. If you stick to local meat, fruit, and vegetables, preservatives should be easy to avoid.
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Wednesday’s WOD:
A.) As Many Rounds as Possible in 18 Minutes:
7 Deadlifts
7 Burpees
7 Pullups
7 Box Jumps
