How Many Carbohydrates Are Too Many Carbohydrates??? Fruit, Rice,Sweet Potatoes,etc????

Great Post on Robb Wolf's site discussing women, carbohydrates, and our hormones. It is definitely worth a look if you are experiencing lost cycles, poor recovery, difficulty losing body fat, etc...

an exerpt:
"When you may need more:
•

• If you are active, especially with a focus on frequent, high-intensity based workouts
• If you start having trouble recovering from your workouts
• If your thyroid is underactive, even with a clean diet and support from medications
• If you have adrenal fatigue
• If you start to lose your period or have irregular cycles (pre-menopause)
• If you’ve been very low carb for an extended period of time
• During pregnancy and while breastfeeding

When you may need less:

• If you have a condition such as PCOS, fibroids or endometriosis
• If you are dealing with small intestine bacterial or yeast overgrowth
• If you are insulin resistant or have diabetes
• If you have a neurodegenerative disease
• If you have certain forms of cancer                                                               

The aticle ends with this summary:
"In summary:

• Lower is not always better when it comes to carbohydrates for females.
• Experimentation and individualizing your diet to your specific needs is key!
• If you’re a female and you’ve been doing very low carb for an extended period of time, you may find benefit with the health of your thyroid, adrenals, liver, and ovaries by bumping them up a bit.
• Carb cycling may be a great tool if you’re not ready for a daily increase in carbs.
• Changes in your cycle may not be related to exercise intensity or body fatness per se, but to inadequate energy intake (including carbohydrates levels) to meet the demands of the exercise.
• Sleep, toxins, stress levels (both physiologic and psychological), and the health of your thyroid (which can also be negatively affected by a lower carb approach), among a multitude of other factors also play a role in regulating your hormones, so make sure to work with a practitioner to get these things sorted out instead of covering the symptoms with medications and upping your carbohydrate intake alone."

READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE HERE TO GET A BETTER UNDERSTANDING ABOUT YOUR CARBOHYDRATE INTAKE AND WORKING OUT AND FEELING FIT.

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"It's Not About That Silly Number!"

This is a really great blog post detailing this woman's paleo and fitness journey. It is about fat and muscle and how they relate to the scale (that some of us look at on a daily basis)and how becoming more muscular is a GOOD thing.
She states: "Being muscular and strong is how we keep our bodies functioning like they should; preventing injury and decrepitude."

It is a good read for those of us who lift weights and hopefully an encouraging read for those of you contemplating lifting weights!

Click the link to read the entire article!  HERE

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"The Ten Things That Happen When You Do Crossfit!!"

This is a great blog post which has been posted and re-posted on Facebook a number of times!
I am going to just give the bullet points and my take on them and then leave you with the link, HERE,  so you can read the authors descriptions.

1. You will find out how truly out of shape you are
-the first time I did an elements class I thought that I would have a heart attack.  I had been doing my standard stationary bike riding and treadmill walking at the traditional gym. I thought I was in great cardiovascular shape. NOT!!

2.  You will realize how fat you and other regular people are compared to real athletes.
-I will never forget the day I had my first body fat percentage done. I think I was depressed for  a week. In addition, I can honestly say that this is when I started to really try to follow the Paleo eating plan.

3.  You will begin learning the lingo and using it without feeling like a dork
-all I can say for this one is I finally know what everything means. I'm not sure if I always feel comfortable actually speaking "crossfit". 

4.  Your friends and family will start Googling the term CrossFit and giving you warnings.
 -everybody who doesn't do crossfit has heard something, or knows someone who is hurt or hurting or, whatever. I just tune it out.

5.  You will get insanely good at counting.
-the games I play to get through 50 burpees is amazing. I count by tens, count up, count down, whatever will get me through. The hardest part is keeping track of the actual number so I don't do less or more.

6.  You'll begin to respect endurance and stamina.
-I have been crossfitting for 3 years and to this day, any person young or old who just keeps plugging away and who doesn't collapse on the floor, is my hero! The only consolation I have that keeps me going is the belief that I am still in better shape than most women my age. 

7.  You will gain weight at first. 
 -this is true. As a result our scale did not have any batteries in it for over a year!

8.  You'll notice an uptick in energy
- I have tremendous energy during the day. Come night time though, I am ready for bed!

9.  You will learn about your mental weakness.
-I have a really hard time being watched when I work out. Therefore, partner WODS or team WODS had, in the past, signaled to me that it was time to take a "rest"day. I have recently found that while I still don't enjoy them, I have come to realize that they are an important tool when teaching me self confidence and to push me to work harder than I had thought I was capable. I am much less apt to put my hands on my knees when someone is watching and counting than when I am by myself.

10. You will learn a lot about your mental toughness.
-this is an interesting one. I cannot remember how many times I am mid-wod and think to myself, "what the f@$k am I doing, this is craziness. I want to quit, I think I may cry!" But, I don't quit or cry and I am proud when I am done. 

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