Sorry–again long time no posts.  I have been busier than a one-armed wallpaper-hanger, & none of my occupations at the moment let me anywhere NEAR a computer!  Things are going GREAT with my training, & I will be competing in just over TWO WEEKS at the Pittsburgh Championships!  This is a HUGE show, & I am very excited about the opportunity.  I have been working SO HARD–literally 3 workouts a day, 5 days a week, & 2 workouts over the weekends.  It is really paying off though!  My legs have NEVER looked this good–although I still have a long way to go to get them where I want to be!

I will try very hard to do a better job at keeping you updated on my progress.  My training business is really taking off, & I am so excited about that too.  I have discovered a new love—BOOT CAMP!   I am now teaching Boot Camps at my local gym & I am in love with it!  I have never taught group classes before, so this required me to step outside my comfort zone, but I am SOOOOO glad I did!   I have wonderful ‘troops’ & we are calling ourselves the “Buff-Armed Forces”.  We all should have the right to BARE ARMS! 

I have several things in the works, too, so I hope to be making some big announcements soon.  Stay Tuned!

I was forwarded this wonderful article by my friends at Sun Warrior, & just HAD to share it with you all!  Enjoy!

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Is Your Favorite Protein Powder Causing Cancer or Preventing it?

Protein is something everyone likes to talk about. Plant-based eaters, especially those who consume high raw and vegan diets, often find themselves on the defensive end of these conversations. This is unfortunate, but the tables are slowly turning. It is now common knowledge that cholesterol, found in all animal products, greatly increases the risk of heart disease, often leading to a heart attack or stroke. Eggs and red meat are notorious for being high in cholesterol, so some avoid beef and eggs and look to chicken or fish as protein sources. While lower in cholesterol than fatty cuts of red meat or egg yolks, poultry and seafood still contain substantial amounts of cholesterol. People are best served to avoid cholesterol altogether by eating a plant-based diet.

Most everyone is familiar with Dr. T. Colin Campbell’s landmark work, detailed in his book, The China Study. Campbell’s research dealt with casein, which is the primary protein component in cow milk and cheese. In his study, rats were fed casein above their protein needs, which caused experimental tumors in the rats to grow. The protein needs of a rat are similar to those of a human, about 10–12% of total calories.1 In Campbell’s experiment, the rats were fed up to 20% of their diet as protein. According to the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 2003–2004, protein intake for Americans ranged from 13.4% of total calories in children aged 4–8 years to 16% of total calories in men aged 51–70 years.2 Additionally, the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA) recommends consumption of 0.4–0.8 grams of protein per pound of body weight for exercise levels ranging from sporadically active to very active.3 The high end of this protein range is about 15% of total calories. Considering these numbers, it’s easy to see the relevance of Campbell’s work regarding protein consumption.

Traditional bodybuilding and sports diets, especially those targeting muscle growth, typically far exceed the NSCA’s protein recommendation, often doubling it. One can simply search the internet for “macronutrient ratios” and they’ll find that countless people are eating 30% or more of their calories as protein. Whey protein is a popular product to supplement the diets of those aiming to reach this protein surplus. Whey is the byproduct of the manufacture of cheese or casein. While whey is the more popular of the two, both whey and casein are marketed as protein supplements. All animal-based proteins, including powders made from milk or egg whites, should be avoided because of the cholesterol they contain and their link to cancer.

The trend in sales of protein products indicates people are learning the truth about animal proteins. According to 2008 research from Global Industry Analysts, annual sales of protein ingredients are expected to top $18 billion by the end of 2010. While animal protein ingredients account for 69% of the market, the plant protein ingredients market was the faster growing segment, with a projected growth rate of about 8% through 2013.4 There are several plant-based protein powders on the market—rice, hemp and soy are all popular options. None of these protein sources have cholesterol, but there’s something very special about one of them. One of them has cancer-fighting properties.

While casein can encourage the growth of cancer, certain components in rice protein can help prevent cancer. Sadly, these beneficial elements in rice are greatly reduced, or removed altogether, by the time it gets to the plate. Rice bran is the brown coating between the rice kernel and its protective hull. Brown rice maintains a thin layer of rice bran around the seed, but in the case of white rice, this nutrient dense layer is polished off. This is why white rice is a nutritionally dead food.

Inositol hexaphosphate acid (IP-6) is a potent antioxidant found in rice bran. In addition to its cancer-fighting properties, many experts also believe IP-6 can prevent and treat heart disease, kidney stones and liver disease. The process isn’t fully understood, but IP-6 suppresses the production and activity of cancer-causing free radicals. It also reduces the abnormal rate of cell division that defines cancer and tumor growth, allowing cells to normalize and return to regular, controlled growth. Additionally, IP-6 enhances the body’s potential to kill existing tumor cells by stimulating the activity of the immune system’s natural killer cells, called lymphocytes.5

Arabinoxylan compound is produced by altering the outer shell of rice bran using enzymes from Hyphomycetes mycelia mushroom extract. This compound is a major component in a popular alternative cancer treatment called MGN-3 (known as BioBran® in Japan). More clinical trials are needed, but arabinoxylan has shown promise in improving immune reactions in cancer and diabetes patients. Also, pre-clinical experiments suggest that MGN-3 may also be of potential value in treating AIDS patients.6

Rice bran looks to have a very promising future not only as an alternative cancer treatment, but as a treatment for a host of other diseases and conditions. Whole grain brown rice also makes a fantastic protein supplement. There is a great protein product on the market today called Sun Warrior. Naturally rich in vitamins and minerals, Sun Warrior rice protein provides a complete amino acid profile. Their old world process combines the sprouted endosperm with the bran from raw, sprouted whole grain brown rice to offer a protein with a 98% correlation to mother’s milk and a 98.2% digestion efficiency. Sun Warrior is raw, vegan and GMO-free.

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Interesting info!  As you all know, I am a huge Sun Warrior fan, & more reasons are being added every day!  Click on the link to the right to order.

Be Defiant!!!

Christy

Exercise or Else!

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I don’t think I need to say anything further….this says it all!  (Quite unusual for me, huh?)   

Thanks to my awesome client Janelle Komnick for such a creative and poignant picture, and allowing me to share it with all of you!

Be Defiant!

Christy

Aging Disgracefully–And Proud of It!!!

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On the way home from the gym, my favorite radio station played a tagline that said “Aging Disgracefully—And Proud of It!” I laughed out loud!  Immediately my mind started thinking of all the ways that could be applied, especially to you Defiant friends of mine.   This is going to be part of my slogan from now on!

HOW CAN WE INTERPRET AGING GRACEFULLY?

How can we interpret this ‘Aging Disgracefully’?  What is aging gracefully, anyway?  Does it mean simply sitting back and graciously accepting the ravages of time?   Does it mean meekly succumbing to the degeneration of the body, mind, and spirit without a fight?  Does it mean never lifting a finger to hold off the effects of time–if indeed it is time that is our enemy?  Is it?  Or is it what we do–or don’t do–to our bodies?

Or is it more positive?  Does it mean that we have to accept that youth is ephemeral and that nothing remains the same?  The only constant is change.   Does it mean that you love yourself no matter if you are ‘of a certain age’ or at the prime of your life?  Does it mean that you accept yourself despite a few lines and wrinkles here and there?

My thought is it could be either positive or negative.  As with anything in life, the ‘thing’ is neutral.  It is how you interpret and respond to it that makes it bad or good.  But in the way that the term is consistently used, I interpret it to mean that you accept the inevitable without resistance.

THE MARCH OF TIME

The reason the idea of Aging Disgracefully struck such a chord with me is my own natural Defiant nature. I don’t intend to grow old gracefully–I intend to fight it every step of the way! But by ‘growing old’ I mean old in spirit, too weary to fight the damages that occur to us every day of our lives through our environments, foods, chemicals, stress, and even the natural processes of our bodies. I don’t mean in terms of years. We can’t stop the march of time. We can only make the very best of the time we are given. It doesn’t matter how much time has passed, or how many years we have lived. I bet right now if I asked you to think of the youngest 80-year-old you know, you could think of someone immediately that inspires you. Now, think of the oldest 50-year-old that you know. Not such a pleasant thought, huh?

There are people very close to me who just frustrate me to no end with the age thing. They are so old–but not in years! They are old in spirit and their mental outlook. They couldn’t wait to hit a certain age so they could finally draw social security and get senior discounts. And all they talk about is how many maladies they have, how much they hurt, how old they feel, and how they wish they were younger so they could do things they want to do. In my eternal optimism, I have tried to help by demonstrating exercises–but they refused to try them. By making delicious healthy food for them and teaching them how to replicate it–but they just go though the nearest drive thru. I have been so frustrated I wanted to pound my head against a wall. But I decided to accept it and just be an example by my actions, and not try to force it down their throats. Nobody wants anything forced on them–THEY have to WANT IT for themselves. If your biggest goal in life is to get your AARP card, there’s nothing anyone can do to help you!

AGING DISGRACEFULLY

Here’s how I am aging disgracefully:

There’s nothing graceful about my workouts. Huffing and groaning under heavy weights in contorted positions is definitely NOT graceful. Jumping around like a frog or using cardio machines in ways that the manufacturer never intended is definitely not graceful, and I get more than my share of strange looks. But every one of those exercises keeps me young, healthy, strong, vibrant, and energetic. They are building the muscles, shaping them, forging them in the fire of battle.

Sweat is not graceful. Soaking wet clothes and hair plastered under my ubiquitous baseball cap is not graceful. But that sweat is burning off the fat that stores all sorts of nasty toxins, and makes us look older and feel tired and sick. That sweat is cleansing every pore and excreting toxins out of the body. I read recently that we all need to sweat an hour a day to help the body shed its load of toxins. Don’t go sit in a sauna for crying out loud! Get moving! (Although I must admit that my favorite way to sweat is lying on a float behind our boat in the hot summer sun, getting my tan and Vitamin D on!)

Eating like a horse isn’t graceful. Keeping my kitchen in a perpetual mess through constant food preparation isn’t graceful. But that beautiful, wholesome, raw living food is the key to supple skin, shining hair and fewer wrinkles. It holds the key to brighter eyes, smooth skin, and rosy cheeks. The food is the fuel that builds the full round muscle tone that gives a body a sexy youthful shape. And that food is so pure that it cannot be stored as toxic waste in white adipose tissue, better known as ‘fat’. Instead it is broken down and nourishes every hard-working cell in our bodies.

Being different isn’t graceful. No, I don’t eat like everybody else.  I smile and talk to everyone at parties, without touching the food.  I turn down the offers of alcohol and toxin-laden processed food.  I bring my own food wherever I go.   I irritate the crap out of servers at restaurants.  I stand up for my health and try to educate others to do the same.  I don’t agree with everyone, and I let my opinions be known.   Going along with the crowd and avoiding taking a stand will get you exactly the same thing the crowd is getting.  Is that really what you want?  Don’t get me wrong–I am not contentious, and I try not to call attention to my lifestyle choices, but everybody wants to ask me what my secrets are.  And then they don’t like the answers!  They want the results without the work.  Sorry–life doesn’t work that way!

Being Defiant isn’t graceful! I will not go gently into that good night. I am definitely the one who will be raging against the dying of the light. I am on a mission to prove that we can all be in better shape in our 40’s than in our 20’s, when we didn’t know anything or care, because you could eat pizza and drink beer every day and still look relatively hot. But a few years later, we pay the price for those youthful indiscretions. We know better now. Science is so much better now. We have weapons available to us in the fight against aging that no other generation has had. I AM NOT TALKING ABOUT SURGERY OR MAGIC PILLS! I mean the internet, books, studies, videos, and all the other media that provides us with an overwhelming amount of information. We were not born with an owner’s manual. It is our responsibility to educate ourselves on how to take care of our bodies. Yes, there is conflicting information. Yes, it is confusing. Keep studying. Find what’s right for you and your body. The path will illuminate if you keep shining the light of knowledge.

Being selfish isn’t graceful. What??? Why Christy, whatever do you mean? Society wants us to put ourselves last. Wanting to be healthy, attractive and vibrant is often looked upon as selfish, because you have to spend time exercising, eating right, and focusing on your inner needs and desires. Especially mothers–the more you focus on your family and the less you take care of yourself, the more you are lauded and praised by society while you wither away inside. If you take time for yourself, you run the risk of a lot of disapproval. I feel for you. But remember what they tell you on the plane before you take off—put the oxygen mask on yourself first so that you will be able to help others. Put the ‘oxygen mask’ of exercise and nutrition on yourself now, before it is too late! How can you serve others when you are so sick that you need someone to take care of you?   It is NOT selfish to hold your health in the highest regard, to want to be beautiful inside and out, and to strive to build the best body that you can. What better example can you set?

Shopping in the juniors section isn’t graceful (i.e. appropriate for someone my age).  But if the clothes fit and look great, then who cares how old I am?  A beautiful lady, exactly my same age, commented on the fact that I was wearing a really wicked-cool Bulzeye shirt, denim Ed Hardy miniskirt (with my favorite skulls of course) and funky glittery boots.   She said, “I thought I was too old to wear things like that, but it looks great on you!”  I told her I didn’t see an age limit on the clothes, they certainly weren’t Garanimals, and that as gorgeous as she is she should wear whatever makes her feel good.   She headed out to the mall.  My point–do what makes you feel good, and look good.  Wear the bright color instead of grey or black.    Wear the cool shoes or the racy cocktail dress.  Dress for how you feel, and how you WANT to feel.  Push the limits.  Have some fun.  After all, what do the young do?  They PLAY!!!  Don’t take age seriously, for crying out loud.  Have some fun with it!  Your assignment for today is to GO OUT AND PLAY!!!

BE DEFIANT!

So, in closing, my dear friends, I want you to start ‘Aging Disgracefully’!   And be proud of it!  Fight the good fight.  Take up the weapons at your disposal and defend your one and only body.   Feed it right, keep it moving, and maintain it to perfection.  Fiercely guard your precious health!

Stand up, misbehave, play, have fun, get moving, and most of all–change your history today!

Be Defiant!

Christy

“Aging Disgracefully–and Proud of It!”

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I can’t believe how great I feel, and how much energy I have!  I noticed the phenomenon last night when I had a big salad for my post workout meal along with a simple shake of water, Sun Warrior vanilla protein, cinnamon and L-glutamine.  No sugars at all, and very little fat, just what was in the tiny bit of salad dressing.  And I had energy to burn last night!

Today, I feel almost elated.  I am in a great mood, and feeling very positive.  I think this high-protein and high-fat diet is agreeing with me.  I don’t think I could continue long term, especially with the percentage of fat being that high.  But so far, it is working well for me for the goal of depleting carbohydrates and muscle glycogen.  

Today I have had a spirulina smoothie, two ‘Muscle Mousses’ of avocado, chocolate SW protein, greens, and stevia, a big salad with a handful of almonds, some creamed jicama, Thai cucumber noodles, and some Spicy Cilantro Soup.   Pretty darn tasty if you ask me!  

When I competed before, I was of course on the SAD conventional bodybuilding pre-contest diet.  It worked, no doubt.  But I felt awful.  I was irritable, exhausted, nervous, enduring maddening cravings, had a constant headache, and just generally felt really bad.  I couldn’t WAIT to get off of it and gobble up a cheat meal.  Can you believe that my cheat meal used to be a whole pizza and a whole ‘grocery store birthday cake’–you know, the kind in the bakery with all the buttercream icing?  I could eat both at one sitting.  That used to freak my husband out.  He thought it was so gross.  And it was!  (Looking back anyway.  At the time, it was wonderful.)  No wonder I ended up in surgery having tumors removed, and was fighting diabetes every day.   But I thought I was doing the right thing, especially because my body always responded well to the cheat meal tactic.

Funny, but I am not dying for some kind of cheat meal right now.  In all my previous contests, I had a cake waiting for me immediately afterward, and then it would be pecan pancakes at Cracker Barrell the next morning.  I just don’t have that desperate craving for sugar now.  I will definitely have a good time on Easter Sunday, and will probably eat some of my Mama’s good cooking.   But I don’t think I will blow it out.  I just don’t want to go back to that old way of eating, where I felt and looked so bad.  My face and skin used to look awful too.  But now my skin actually looks better than it has, and several people even commented on that tonight.  Since I have been tanning, it improves my skin alot.  I do struggle with acne, but it goes away when I get good sun exposure. 

Today I had a posing session with Harrison Greenlaw, who coaches the USC bodybuilding club.  He was very helpful, and surprisingly, very complimentary.  My friend who hooked me up said he was very critical and would tell me what my weak points are.  Which is fine, and I was actually looking forward to it, because you can’t grow unless you know what to work on.  I figured he would really nail me on my legs and shoulders, but he said instead that he thought I was pretty symmetrical and had good leg muscle.  (I did measure yesterday and I had gained an inch on my quads over the last couple of months.)  So I walked out of there feeling awesome!

I then picked up some supplies, got my nails and pedicure done, and then had a spray tanning session called Mystic Tan.  I had never done that, and it was weird.  I felt like I was going through a car wash, and I smell funny.  But it worked!  I definitely have a good base to start the ProTan application tomorrow evening.

I worked chest and triceps tonight, in the high rep low weight style.  This is to deplete my muscles of glycogen as much as possible, so hopefully they will be very hungry and ready to soak up some carbs come Thursday and Friday.

Someone very near and dear to me said something very interesting to Michael this weekend.  This person, and their spouse, are wonderful friends who I love dearly.  And I worry about their health so much.   They look like ticking time bombs to me–very overweight, lots of health issues, eat terribly, and drink a lot.  It hurts to see people you love damage themselves like that, knowing what lies down the road.  Anyway, they pulled Michael aside and asked him if I was sick.  They said I was ‘too skinny’, had lost ’so much weight’ and had ‘all these veins showing’.  I had to laugh out loud.  It is amazing that the average person wouldn’t recognize health if it bit them on the butt!   Granted, I am thinner than I would normally be, and when someone is in contest shape they may not look so great in street clothes.  But still, how can someone who is so unhealthy think that I am the one who is sick?  This blew my mind.  For the record, I am so happy ‘all these veins’ are showing!  I love my veins, especially the one on my biceps. 

It is dangerous that our society views someone who is lean and muscular as being ’sick’, but think someone who is overweight is healthy.  The average person is very overweight now, even obese, and yet they are ‘average’.  How scary is that?  Remember when there was a ‘fat kid’ in your class growing up, and everyone else was thin?  Now, it’s probably at least 60% of the kids in any class are obese.  I was one of the bigger, heavier ones in my class.  I was muscular in high school from all the sports, but also a bit overweight due to my country-fried diet.  I weigh about 20 pounds less now than I did in high school.  And all the other girls seemed so thin and pretty to me.  And by today’s standards, they were certainly tiny!

It’s time to take my sick, skinny, veiny self to bed!  HaHa!  I need to keep good sleep up.  Which is hard since I am drinking a lot of water.  I can’t stay out of the bathroom!  I am actually looking forward to water restriction on Friday.  I don’t like drinking water, and prefer to get my hydration from fruit and food. 

Be Defiant!  Challenge the status quo–look lean and strong!

Christy

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And since we got back in town, I have been running around like crazy getting ready to launch our Boat Smart class tonight for the Lake Murray Power Squadron.  I am thrilled to report that the attendance far exceeded our expectations.  We had about 17 pre-registered, and had 26 people in the class!  That is wonderful, and we have many young people too, which is especially exciting.  Our youngest tonight was Braxton, who is about 7 or 8 years old, and after I worked with him for a few minutes, he learned to tie a pretty good cleat hitch knot, so now he can safely secure a boat to a dock.  I videoed him doing it, which I will post shortly.  (Yes, I am playing with my fun new toy still.  I love that Flip Video!)

I am getting very excited about my upcoming Valentine’s Day special Living Foods class, where I will be teaching some of my favorite treats that are easy and fun.  I made the White Chocolate Strawberry ‘Cheeze’cake for the birthday celebrations this weekend, and it was a major hit, even with my family.  And then I brought the leftovers to a Super Bowl party, and even the confirmed non-healthy-eating people there loved it, between their wings, hot dogs, pork BBQ, chili cheese fries and buckets of beer, of course.  Oh well, at least they consumed SOME antioxidants and phytonutrients, among the SAD foods.  I was proud of myself–I resisted onion strings that were sitting right in front of me.  I used to love good onion rings/strings/bloomin’ onions/any form of fried onion, more than life itself, and those were always a big issue for me.  Now I found it rather easy to simply not eat them.  Of course, having two pieces of the ‘Cheeze’cake helped!  On what other diet can you eat two big desserts without any guilt and actually be healthier after eating them?  I can’t think of another one, so that is one reason why I LOVE Living Foods!

There is still time to register for this class.  Please see the Defiant Events Page for more information.

Wow, I have had three workouts since I last posted.  Michael and I did a quick but tough leg workout on Saturday before we left for Georgia.  Yesterday, I rocked a great High Intensity Interval cardio workout with chest & triceps mixed in, designed to burn off some more bodyfat before my big day on Saturday.   And today we had a very efficient back & biceps workout, before we had to run to set up for Boat Smart.

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I won’t go into a lot of detail, due to time constraints, but here is the overview of the workouts:

Legs:

• Warmup
• Leg Press—I got 10 reps TWICE with 475!  Whoo–hoo!  I was grunting big time getting those last two up, but that was the best I had ever done.
• Smith Machine Lunges
• Isolateral Hamstring Curls
• Isolateral Leg Extensions
• Calf Raises on Donkey Calf Machine

Cardio and Chest:

• Warmup on the machine that simulates skating for 15 minutes.  Can’t remember the name of it at this moment.
• Jumping on the rebounder for about 5 minutes.  Great for stimulating the lymphatic system.
• 25-lb dumbbell flyes on the exercise ball, supersetted with the following
• High Bench Jumps, supersetted with Single Leg Jumps, 3 sets
• Pushups with elevated feet supersetted with the following
• Jump Lunges, supersetted with Jump squats, 3 sets
• Pushups with various hand positions
• Side bench jumps, supersetted with side bench lunges
• Abs worked in randomly when I needed more recovery time from the cardio sets

Back and Biceps:

• Two-handled lat pulldowns
• Seated rows on isolateral plate-loaded machine–I got my highest weight ever on these tonight, 82 lbs each arm.  Yay!
• Pullups on assist machine, wide grip
• Rear delt flyes on machine
• Dumbbell bicep curls.  Another personal best.  I got 3 sets with 22.5 lb bells.  The last set, I only got 6 reps each arm, so I dropped to the 17.5 lbs and finished out to 12 reps.  My previous best was struggling with 20 lb bells, so I am pleased with the strength improvements I am making.

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OK, speaking of my big day on Saturday—-It’s my 40th Birthday!  Yay!  I am not having any of this “Over the Hill” party stuff.  Oh, no.  I will be having a ‘Fabulous Forty’ Party this Saturday night at a club called Blue here in Columbia.  If you are in the area, please come by.  We will be rocking to a special night of 80’s music in my honor, since I am a total 80’s chick.   The party will be cranking about 9:30 until we can’t dance any more.  Blue is located behind Wild Wing Cafe in the Vista on Lady Street.   Wear some of your best 80’s flashback fashions and come help me celebrate the big FOUR-OH!

I am actually excited about turning 40.  Is that weird?  I wouldn’t say ‘weird’, I would say highly unusual for most people.  But I don’t think that age is a constraint, or a life sentence to pain and suffering.  It’s a number that tells you how many days you have been on earth.  Big deal.  Doesn’t mean a thing.  Kind of like your scale weight doesn’t tell you what you look like, neither does your age number.  I feel better than I have since high school.  I am literally in better shape than I was in high school, or even in my twenties.  I know a lot more, I am much wiser, and I have learned to savor and appreciate the things that really matter in life.   And number one is health.  Without health, you have nothing.  You can’t enjoy anything else, no matter how much you have.   Having lived with pain and illness for many years, I understand and appreciate how incredible it is to feel good and not suffer every day.  Number two is my family, especially my incredible Soul Mate, Michael.   Every day I give thanks for him, and I know how fortunate I am.  I have seen the other side, and I know what I have now, and I treasure Michael more than anything else on earth.  I am so blessed, so grateful, and so intensely aware that I cannot take these blessings for granted.

The reason most people fear aging is that they feel resigned to accept a fate of declining health and vitality, living out their years in pain and sickness.  Sadly, for most that is the case.  That is their destination, according to the course they are currently charting.  Borrowing an analogy from Boat Smart tonight, you are at the helm of your ship.  You are the captain.  You are charting the course, and you have full control of the direction you are sailing.  Don’t like the destination?  Change course!  I heard a fabulous statement yesterday.  Think long and hard about this:  “Nobody has EVER accidentally eaten a meal.”  

You are in full control over what you eat.  In high school, my sister became nearly anorexic.  She weighed only 85 pounds at one time.  I myself struggled with that for a short while in college, until I discovered weight lifting, which cured me from that forever.  My studies of eating disorders drove one point home.  Eating disorders are often about control.  When all else in someone’s life is out of control, that person can still always, always, control what goes into their mouth.  What they eat is completely under their control, no matter what else is going on.  You cannot blame anyone or anything else for what you eat.  You are in full control.  You may feel that through pressure from others, cravings, stress, etc. that you just can’t help yourself or you have to eat a certain way.  That is crap.  You don’t have to.  It’s just the lazy, easy way out.  You have to defy all those things–Be Defiant!

I don’t know how many times people have tried to justify their foods to me, saying that they would eat healthy, but ‘they have kids, and you know, all the stuff they want to eat.’  OK–that’s crap.  The kids shouldn’t be controlling what the family eats, and by no means should the kids be eating harmful foods leading to disease and obesity.  Their health is the parent’s responsibility.  Hey, the kids are not the ones behind the wheel in the fast food drive-thru.  The kids are not the ones writing the checks at the grocery store.   I know it’s not easy, but be the adult.  Be a parent, not a pushover.  Set the example.  Don’t allow unhealthy food in the house.   The truth is, the parents want the junk food and the kids are an excuse.    Same with spouses.  So many women blame their weight on their ‘meat and potatoes’ husbands.  Because “they have to fix him what he wants for dinner.”  Excuse me?  That’s crap too.   That is called being bullied, if it’s true.  More than likely, it is simply that they want to eat what they crave and take the easy way out of blaming it on their spouse.  And even if he eats poorly, he is not holding them down and shoving cake down their throat.   They can eat whatever they want to.  It’s still somewhat of a free country, and there is no law that everybody at the table has to eat the same food.  Eat what you know is good for YOU. 

Am I stepping on a lot of toes here?   I know I am, and that’s OK.  I had to learn these lessons, too.  It’s not easy.  Been there, done that, got the T-shirt.  You can argue with me until the cows come home about it.  I hear the same things over and over from dozens of people every day.  Come on…..Take control!  Be Defiant!   Stop passing the buck and blaming everything else.  You are in control over every bite and every food that goes into your mouth.  Is it easier just to grab the artery-clogging, diabetes-causing, health-destroying ‘food’ at the drive through that tastes so good?  Well, yes, it is.  For a time.  Until you get fat, or sick, or worse.  Until you change your habits.  Until you feel the improvements.  Until you feel better and look better than you did 20 years ago.  Until you see your kids thriving, with fewer illnesses, ADHD and behavioral problems.  Until your spouse starts seeing you as a hot and sexy babe.  Then how tempting is all that disgusting ‘food’?  How hard is it then to eat natural, whole, delicious foods that nourish your cells and build a strong body and immune system?  You just have to want health more than anything else, make a commitment, and visualize the end result of a vibrant energetic new you, free of disease and beautiful inside and out.

So, remember our Revolutions?  Make another one, right now.  No more excuses!   You are in control.  Stand up for yourself, eat to nourish your precious cells.  Be an example to your family, spouse, and/or children.  Let them see you becoming an incredible being of light and energy, thriving and healthy and beautiful.  They will eventually want that for themselves.  Don’t force anything on anyone.  Nobody likes anything shoved at them.  Simply go quietly about your own way of eating  and let them come to you.

I feel strongly about this because I know how many years I struggled under false notions of what is healthy, and suffered so much because of it.  Now, I am so excited to be reaching the milestone of age 40 in my life, and I just feel that every day I am getting better and better.   It’s such a dramatic shift of consciousness.  I know I can be very blunt about it, but why sugarcoat the truth?   You can be what ever you want to be.  It starts in your mind, and in your attitude.  Get an attitude!  Misbehave.  Challenge the status quo.  And above all, Be Defiant!

Blessings, love and light,

Christy

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Some of the reconnections bring back long-forgotten memories.  Like my friend who used to be our trainer for the basketball teams.  We became good friends because I was always hurting myself, and he had to tape my ankles up–a LOT—so I could still play.  My style of play was somewhat of a cross between kamikaze and the Tasmanian Devil.  Of course, I am approximately the same height as the Tasmanian Devil, which is a disadvantage among the trees on a basketball court.   So I just had to be quicker and more aggressive.   I hurt myself almost every game, diving after loose balls, into the bleachers, into the walls, the cheerleaders, whoever or whatever was in diving distance.  And I would get in and fight for rebounds, since I have always had a great jumping ability.  But I would often land on someone else’s foot.   My ankles were always sprained, and my toes always seemed to be bleeding even through two pairs of socks.  (I have never been able to find shoes that fit right.  I just have odd feet, I guess.)  Anyway, I had forgotten all about the bad ankles and so many fun details of my basketball years, and it all came rushing back. 

Many have asked me if I have always been into fitness.  I totally lived for basketball in high school.  I had the opportunity to play for some small colleges on scholarship, but in 1987 there was no WNBA or any way to make a living playing basketball.  So I took my academic scholarships instead.  I thought often about coaching.  I was an assistant student coach to the JV basketball girls in high school and loved it, but I never pursued it any further.  Those were the ‘glory days’ for sure.  I also was big into track, was a fixture at first base in softball, and did play a little volleyball, but only one year.  We won the state championship though, so that was cool.  I gave it up because I was doing so many horse shows during volleyball season and it was too much.  I loved working out even way back then, and often joined in some of the drills with the football players.  Like those big, heavy rubber jump ropes that weigh like 10 pounds.  I got so good with those that I could cross them in front of me as I jumped.  It was hard to give all that up after high school, so I feel blessed to have discovered bodybuilding and fitness.  I knew I had found my niche!

Speaking of niches, I did get a couple of great workouts in yesterday and today, even though I am STILL fighting this darn detox or whatever the heck it is.  I am still sniffly and stuffy, and it’s hard to breathe.  Yesterday was chest and abs, just a quick light workout with cardio intervals.  And today I worked out with a new dear friend of mine, who really pushed me into a great leg workout.

Chest/Cardio workout (yesterday)

• Warmup on elliptical machine with moving arms
• Hammer Strength Incline Chest Press, 3 sets, 12, 10 & 10 reps with 40 lbs each arm, supersetting with jumping rope in between sets
• Dumbbell flyes on incline bench, 25 lbs, 3 sets of 12, supersetted with step-ups on bench holding 15 lb bells.  (I am proud.   This is the best weight I have ever done on flyes)
• Fly machine, 3 sets of 12 reps, 40 lbs
• Pushups with varying hand positions, 6 sets of 10 reps, each set different.  Between sets, I was doing jump lunges for cardio and some ab work.
• Finished with some squat jumps

Today, I worked legs with higher reps and lower weights.  My friend Colette worked with me, and really helped me get my full range of motion on each rep and control the movement so each rep was more effective.  Hey, even trainers need a trainer!  The motivation, encouragement, and watchful eye on form is so important.

Leg Workout:

• Warmup on recumbent bike
• Squats in squat rack, warmup with 2 sets of 15 reps, light weight–95 & 115 respectively
• Deep squats on Smith machine, 3 sets of 15 reps, increasing weights
• Leg press, wide plie stance, 15 reps full deep range of motion, 295 lbs, 3 sets
• Calves on donkey calf machine, 3 sets of 3 foot positions–12 reps each position, so each set had 36 reps.  Wow!  That burned!
• Isolateral Hammer Leg Extension machine, 3 sets 40 lbs each leg, super slow reps to failure
• Lying Hamstring Curls, 50 pounds, 3 sets of 12, super slow reps

Whew, that was a good workout today!  Longer than I normally do, especially with the slow reps.  But it was great, and I need to really whale on my legs to get some quick growth.  So I am up for working them as hard as I can!  Thanks, Collette! 

My post-workout smoothie was an awesome Apple Pie Smoothie.  Just blend apples, banana, spinach, coconut water, cinnamon or apple pie spice, and Sun Warrior protein for a decadent treat.  I bet you had never thought about cinnamon and spinach together, huh?   I videoed this one, so it will be up soon.

I am so excited about how well my first Living Foods Preparation Class went on Saturday.  I am doing a short presentation at my Network Club tomorrow, and I am going to talk about Living Foods.   And I have another class coming up on Feb. 12th.  For that one, it will be a Valentine’s special:  Decadent Desserts in a Red & Chocolate Theme.  I am going to prove you can eat your cake and have your abs too!  I am also planning to team up with a dear friend of mine who is an Arbonne consultant extraordinaire, and teach her clients ‘How to Eat for Beautiful Skin & Hair’.  That will be a fun class–teaching about which foods specifically promote younger-looking skin and healthy hair.

Thank you for all your kind words and encouragement.  It means the world to me.   Thank you for following along on my journey, and making it more enjoyable every step of the way.  Blessings!

As always, LET IT RAWK!

Be Defiant!

Christy

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Any of you who know me personally know that I eat like a horse, a hungry horse.  And when I get up in the morning, I am at about the same hunger level as a bear waking up from hibernation.   Do NOT get between me and the kitchen when I wake up!  So fasting is a big scary deal to me, like it is to most people.  Plus I am trying to gain muscle, not release weight (except for some bodyfat for my upcoming competitions), so I don’t need it from that perspective.  But digestion is the BIGGEST energy drain on your body.  It is the hardest process for your body to do, and when your body gets a break from it, then it has the opportunity to attack other issues that are dragging you down—like stored toxins, viruses, bacteria, parasites, and of course–that pesky bodyfat.  It also allows the body the energy to heal as well.  Eventually, I would like to work up to a 3 day fast, and then maybe a 7 day.  The people who have done it report incredible energy, feelings of euphoria and amazing health improvements.  But I won’t attempt that until after my competition days are done.

Today was not as tough as I thought it might be.  In reality, it’s not that bad.  You eat your last meal before 6:00 pm and then don’t eat again before bedtime, maybe just some water.  Then you don’t eat again until after 6 pm the next day.  So really, you are asleep for the first part of the fast, so that’s totally normal everyday protocol.   And in reality, all you’re doing is skipping two meals–breakfast and lunch.   How many of us have gotten busy and completely forgotten to eat all day?  See, not that hard is it?  During the fast, drink lots of water.  Most people interpret thirst as hunger anyway.  And an interesting observation on the Raw Divas website is that what we feel as ‘hunger’ is actually headaches, stomach aches, irritation, and other symptoms of toxicity.  This is very common for those who suffer from chronic toxicity, blood sugar and blood pressure disorders.   Or we are driven to eat by emotional triggers or ingrained habits, such as: time of day, stress, needing comfort, being around other people eating, smelling food, nervousness, a ‘reward’ for some type of behavior, etc.

In the not-so-distant past, I had major blood sugar issues, and would ’crash’ terribly.  My husband learned quickly that when I said I ”HAD” to eat, right then, that he better stop the car.  I would get violently ill and upset.  It’s a horrible feeling.  I know many of you know exactly what I am talking about.   That’s why I was on the Atkins-type diet for so long—that was what ‘they’ told me to do.  The doctors, books, media, etc.  They all said it was about sugar, to eat all protein and avoid fruits.  Well, I can tell you for sure that is not correct.   Now that I eat all the fruit I want and avoid the processed foods, all dairy, cooked foods, and animal products, I don’t have any blood sugar issues at all, and haven’t crashed in almost two years. 

My husband was absolutely amazed that I could go an entire day without food, and nobody got hurt and no property was destroyed in the process!  I did a similar fast a few months ago, and it was harder than this one.  My first one, I did get a headache and felt tired.  That is classic detox.  When the body is expelling toxins, the toxins go out kicking and screaming.   Plus, the body does such a nice job of sequestering the toxins to attempt to mitigate the damage, that the immune system doesn’t know they are there.  So when they are released, the immune system leaps into massive action, thinking there is a NEW threat to the body.  This often results in flu-like symptoms as the main way the body releases toxins is by secreting and excreting mucus, as well as through the kidneys, liver, colon, and skin.  Detox is not fun.  But today, I didn’t have any problems at all.  No headache, no coughing or phlegm.  And I even did a hard and heavy shoulder workout beforeI ate, and had plenty of strength and stamina.   Whoo-hoo!  That means I have made quite a bit of health progress over the past couple of years.  It will still take time to completely undo 38 years of eating crappy, but it will happen.  Actually, it’s amazing how fast our bodies repair the damage we so cruelly inflict upon them.

I kept myself busy doing computer work and taking care of last-minute details for a real estate closing I have tomorrow.  Keeping your mind off food is key.  But then I had my nails done this afternoon, and when I told my nail tech what I was doing, we ended up having a salon-wide discussion of fasting, raw foods, and what foods are good.  Since they are Korean, I love to learn about delicious foods that are not common here in the states.  And I had a wonderful opportunity to share the delights of living foods with them.  So all that talking about food for an hour did make me feel hungry, but I just drank a liter of water with the juice of half a lemon squeezed into it, and was fine.  Then I went to the gym, and Michael and I worked shoulders and abs.  I did great and actually felt very energetic. 

After the workout, I made us a great big green smoothie of pineapple, papaya, and kale.  I have to admit, I couldn’t wait for that smoothie!  It’s not good to break a fast with heavy food that is hard to digest, so a green smoothie is ideal.   And that was plenty filling to me.  I did start feeling hungry a little while ago, so I juiced a grapefruit and drank the juice–straight, with no honey or stevia.  That amazed me too.  I used to be so addicted to sugar that there was no way I could eat a grapefruit without soaking it in sugar.  Tonight, the straight juice tasted delicious to me and I didn’t need to add anything to it.  I swear it astounds me how much my tastes have changed, and it’s all for the better.  I enjoy food so much more now.

The rest of the detox isn’t much different from how I eat anyway.  There is just a lot less fat and I have to limit nuts, avocados and coconut.  Uh-oh.  That’s a really tough one for me.   I had already cut way back on nuts, but I usually have avocados every day, and I make my spirulina pies and puddings with young Thai coconuts.  Hmmm…guess it will be spirulina and bananas for now.  But you know, it’s only seven days out of my life, and there are many benefits to be had.  The world will not run out of avocados and coconuts.  They will still be there in a week and I can eat as many as I want.  They aren’t bad at all!  It’s just that on the detox ANY dietary fat is strictly limited.  I will let you know how it goes!

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Shoulder Workout, with Abs:

• Warm up on treadmill for 5 min
• Overhead press on Hammer machine, 1 warmup set, & 3 working sets of 40-50-60 lbs each arm for 12, 10 & 8 reps respectively
• Smith machine front press, super slow eccentric to a very deep position, pause for 1 second and then explode up.   Wow, that really kicked my rear end.   Michael spotted me so I could finish the last few reps.  These were heavy, so I was doing 6 to 8 reps, at about 75 lbs. for 3 sets.  My delts were burning!
• Lateral raise machine
• Cable lateral raises
• Front dumbbell raises, 15 lb bells, 3 sets
• Hammer Ab machine, 15 reps, 3 sets
• Bench Ab extensions, 3 sets of 15
• Bicycles, slow pace for 30 reps, 3 sets

And then I got to go guzzle my smoothie!  It was well-earned. 

I encourage you to try the seven day detox.  Yes, it can be intimidating, but change always is.  You won’t know until you try.  I didn’t think I could for my entire life, and it turned out not to be as hard as I thought.  And you won’t know your own strength until you test it and come out on the other side.  Beverly Sills said, “You may be disappointed if you fail, but you are doomed if you don’t try.”   Very wise words.

Defy your fears.  Defy the nasty toxins and chemicals that build up in your body.  Show them who’s boss and kick them out! 

Be Defiant!

Christy

Sarah and me at my parent's house

Michael and me at my parent's house, Christmas Eve

I spent a lot of time making lovely living foods for the Christmas holiday, and for us to eat while Sarah was here.  I got her hooked on green smoothies!  Yay!  Another one converted who has seen the light!   I made a lovely Rudolph Cherry Cobbler, from Kristen’s Raw, and it is divine.  I also made my Easy Apple Cobbler, and added a Cranberry layer for the holidays.  Yum!   Let’s see, what else?  Oh yes, the delicious Sweet Potato Pie of course.  For dinner on Saturday , I made Jicama Mashed ‘Potatoes’ with Rosemary & Garlic, Mashed Sweet Potatoes, and Living Chipotle Chili, which turned out VERY spicy but yummy.  

Yes, I ate normally at Christmas Eve and Christmas Day dinners.  I didn’t eat any turkey at all this time, though.  After trying it at Thanksgiving, I found I just didn’t like it very much.  So I stuck with the vegetable and fruit dishes, but I had to go in for my mom’s incredible German Chocolate Cake for dessert.  Oh my goodness, it is incredible but that is enough cheating to last me until next Christmas!   But for the other meals, we were 100% raw, and of course had green smoothies for breakfast.  I take my Blend Tec to Georgia with me, and make sure everyone gets at least one green smoothie to help make up for the nutritional wasteland that is Christmas dinners.

I did get a bit sick from the cooked food.  On the drive home Thursday, I was feeling pretty queasy and was glad to be back to eating normally when we got home.  I swear I am going to eat very little outside of green smoothies and salads for the next week to detox.  Plus, it is time for me to start preparing for my upcoming spring figure competitions, so my nutritional program will get much stricter over the next few weeks.

Speaking of salads, we were having one tonight, and I was out of salad dressing.  I make my own, and usually keep some around.   I am trying to really cut down on the amount of nuts and oils in my diet, especially since I can tell I have gained a bit of weight with all the nut-based Christmas goodies I was eating, even though they were raw.  ( I freak out if I lose my six pack! )  So since I couldn’t find a salad dressing in any of my recipe books without either a bunch of nuts or a cup of olive oil, I came up with this one tonight and it was a hit!   The only fat is from the avocado and one Tbsp of coconut oil, so it’s a great low-fat option.   Plus coconut oil is a medium-chain triglyceride which actually helps burn fat! 

Here is the recipe.  Enjoy!

Blend all ingredients together until creamy, adding more purified water as needed for thinner consistency. Has a pretty soft green color.

Workouts:

I did manage to squeeze some really good workouts in last week.  Sarah even went with us to work out on Friday!  Yay!  I was working the smoothie bar at the Living Well Cafe Tuesday morning, and the gym was so dead I told the front desk to page me if someone came in, and I headed out for a heavy leg workout in preparation for the big meals the next couple of days.   Then Friday we did Back and Biceps, I rested Saturday, and today we hit legs again.

Tuesday Legs:

Friday Back Workout:

• Pull ups, varying hand grips, 5 sets to failure each set.  I still didn’t get 10 except on my first set, but I got 8 the second one, so I am getting closer.
• Hammer Strength machine rows, 3 sets of 15, 15, 12, with increasing weights up to 45 lbs each side
• One-armed Cable Rows, 50 lbs, 3 sets of 12 each side
• Close-grip Hammer Stregth machine pulldowns, 3 sets of  10, 8 and 6 reps, increasing weights up to about 80 lbs each side
• Dumbbell Flyes for Rear Delts, 15 lb bells, 3 sets of 12
• Dumbbell Bicep Curls, 15 lbs, 3 sets of 12 reps
• Rope Cable Bicep Hammer Curls, 3 sets  
• Abs

Today’s Leg Workout:

• Warm up on recumbent bike
• Hack Squats, 4 sets, 1 warmup set of 20 with 90 lbs, 3 working sets building up to 270 lbs for 8 reps
• Stiff-legged Deadlifts, 95 lbs, 12 reps, 3 sets
• Bench Step-ups, 25-lb plate in each hand on high bench–wow!  12 painful reps each set, especially the last one!
• Unilateral Leg Extension machine, 3 sets, 40 to 50 lbs each side
• Between sets, calf raises and jumping rope to keep cardio up

These were pretty intense, and we moved quickly to get some nice cardio in there also.    Tuesday I worked out on my own, but Michael worked out with me for the last two.  He’s doing great and looking really good! 

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I worked right up until Christmas in real estate also.  I had a wonderful couple in town to buy a home because they are being transferred here with the armed forces.  The only chance they had to house-hunt is on their Christmas vacation.  We found a good one after looking at 24 homes, and had the inspection done yesterday.  Unfortunately, there were a few serious inspection issues, so I don’t know if this one will hold together or not. 

All my best to you for the New Year.  We will be addressing those New Year’s Resolutions very soon!  But in true Defiance Style, ours will be New Year’s REVOLUTIONS!

Be Defiant!

Christy

My husband’s mother, Sarah, is coming in tomorrow night to stay with us through Christmas.  I am so excited!  Yes, it’s unusual, but I love my mother in law.  She is the sweetest, kindest, most generous person you could ever hope to meet.  We are planning to go over to my family’s farm in Georgia for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.   We have our main dinner on Christmas Eve and then open the family gifts.   Then my sister and her family will go home, so my niece and nephew can wait for ‘Santa Claus’ to deliver his gifts for Christmas morning.   We will all go down to her house on Christmas Day to see what ‘Santa’ brought, and then have a nice Christmas luncheon!

I wish all of you a very Merry Christmas.  Good luck on the final preparations for the big holiday.  Remember to slow down and enjoy this holiday time.  Don’t stress too much.  It will all get done, and it’s all good.  If you put love into everything you do, others will feel the love and it will return to you many times over.  As I was making my dishes tonight I kept that in mind, and tried to put lots of love into each dish, because I love making delicious food to share with my dear friends and family.  And I want the energy to be positive and powerful to nourish body and soul.

I have been making delicious food all evening.  I didn’t really plan it this way, but almost everything I made was green.  I made my world-rocking guacamole (see Defiant Recipes), Spicy Lime Cilantro Soup (one of my all-time favorites by Alissa Cohen), and Spirulina Pie.  I hope Sarah likes all my green things!   

I also made a batch of awesome Sun Warrior Protein Bars, and I wanted to share the recipe with you.  They are high protein, but certainly not low-carb.  They have plenty of energy in them, from the huge amount of superfoods, and can easily substitute as a light meal.   You will need a dehydrator for this.  I highly recommend the Excalibur dehydrator. 

Sun Warrior Goji Bars

• 1 cup dried Black Mission Figs, soaked until soft, reserve soak water
• 1 cup dried Regular Figs, soaked until soft
• 1/2 cup Sun Warrior Natural Flavored Protein
• 1/4 cup Raw Maca Powder
• 2 Tbl Sun Warrior Activated Barley
• 2 cups raw almonds, soaked and drained
• 1 cup raw pumpkin seeds
• 1 cup Goji Berries, soaked for no more than 15 minutes
• Juice from 1/2 large lemon
• 3/4 cup raw honey
• 2 tsp vanilla  
• 1 tsp Celtic Salt–may add more to your taste
• 1/4 cup soak water from figs

De-stem figs.  Process figs in food processor until smooth and creamy.   Transfer to very large mixing bowl.  Process almonds and pumpkin seeds until coarsely ground.  Pour into mixing bowl with figs.  Add protein, maca, barley, lemon juice, and honey.  Mix vanilla and Celtic Salt with the 1/4 cup date soak water and pour into bowl.  With a wooden, or other strong spoon, mix all ingredients together until uniformly distributed.  This will take some muscle.  See you’re building muscle already!

Add 3/4 of the goji berries and stir to evenly incorporate.  Line a small cookie sheet pan (that will fit in your dehydrator) with wax paper or parchment paper.  Spread the mixture evenly, to the same depth as the sides of the cookie sheet, being sure to get into the corners.  This may take more than one pan.  Alternatively, just form into a large rectangular shape about 1/2 inch thick on a Teflex sheet.  Sprinkle the remaining goji berries on top and gently press into the dough with your palms. 

Dehydrate for a few hours until you can cut into bars.   Spread the bars out a bit on Teflex sheets so air can circulate around them and continue to dehydrate for a few hours longer, checking that they don’t become too dry.  Enjoy!

You can play around with this recipe too.   Add raw cacao nibs, use vanilla or chocolate Sun Warrior protein instead, use different nuts, add cinnamon or other spices–it’s up to you and your taste buds!

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I hope you enjoy this recipe, which I just came up with tonight because I wanted to have healthy snack food around the house for the next few days.  Please let me know how it turns out for you.  The maca, seeds, gojis and nuts have lots of protein as well, so these are quite high in protein.  Since I literally just created them tonight, I have no idea of the actual nutritional content.  But if you always use raw, whole foods, nature gives you exactly the correct ratios of nutrients to nourish your body to optimal health.  Don’t worry about percentages!  

Defy all those commercial protein bars filled with all sorts of artificial ingredients and inferior proteins.  Make your own and be healthier!  Everybody wants to look good on the outside, but if you don’t look good on the inside too, then all is for naught!

Be Defiant!

Lots of Holiday Love,

Christy

Speaking of shopping online, have you seen this new company Shop to Earth and Shop to Earn?  You become a member, and you get savings and cash back on your purchases you make online anyway, from over 600 stores.  Even Target, Barnes and Noble, Best Buy, Victoria’s Secret, Home Depot, and other big retailers are available through the site.  And then when you refer people through your website, you earn a percentage of what they buy too.  It’s really cool!  You’re buying the stuff anyway, so why not save money and maybe even make some money while you’re at it?  Plus they have a lot of organic companies in the Shop to Earth side.   I did some of my Christmas shopping this way, and it was easy and saved me some money.  I just found out about it the other day, and so far it’s pretty impressive.  And what is a bigger trend than internet shopping?  I even ordered online from Target instead of going to the store and fighting the crowds.  So I wanted to share it with you!  Please check it out through my website:  www.ShoptoEarth.net/ChristyS.   I would certainly appreciate your support!  

Even with all the holiday craziness going on, I did manage to squeeze in a good shoulder workout yesterday.  I went heavy again, as I am trying to gain muscle and increase my shoulder size.  But on my upright rows, my right anterior deltoid was really twinging badly, so I stopped those for fear of injuring myself.  That’s an important lesson, especially for you macho guys….if you feel pain, stop and rest or do another exercise that isn’t causing discomfort.  Now, by ‘pain’ I don’t mean muscle fatigue or burning–those are good and let you know you are working your muscle properly, even though it ‘hurts’.   No, I am talking about a sharp pain.

Shoulder Workout:

• Warmup with machine overhead presses, light weights for 15 reps, 2 sets
• Overhead barbell press, single reps with 3 seconds rest in between; 3 sets, 9 to 7 reps, 65 pounds.
• Upright rows, 40 lb bar, 2 sets but stopped due to shoulder pain
• Lateral dumbbell raises, 17.5 lb bells, 3 sets, 15-12 reps
• Arnold presses, 15 lb dumbbells, 12 reps, 3 sets
• Cable crossover laterals, behind the back, 3 sets, 12 reps

I was so busy in the Living Well Cafe last night that I had to quickly cut the workout short and go whip up a bunch of awesome Sun Warrior post-workout recovery shakes.  I have a lot of ‘regulars’ already who are hooked on the protein.  The main testimonial I keep hearing from people is how satisfied they felt and how much sustained energy they had after drinking the smoothie.  It was great how busy it was for a Thursday night this close to Christmas.  I hope that means that the New Years Resolution crowd will be as good as ever this coming January, even with the economic woes many are facing.

My post-workout recovery smoothie last night was my favorite, the Vanilla Chai Latte.  So simple, just bananas, almond milk, vanilla Sun Warrior, raw honey, and generous cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice (Apple Pie Spice combo).   Mmmmmm…….it’s so good.   I crave this one.

It’s so critically important to fuel your body immediately after you work out, within 30 minutes at the most.  Quicker is better.   Proper post-workout nutrition is the key to quantum leaps in your fitness level.  A recent 12-week study I read showed that those who failed to consume a post-workout meal suffered a lower metabolism, loss of fat free mass, and had clear indications of muscle loss.  Yikes!   While those who consumed a post-workout recovery meal significantly lost more fat, increased lean muscle, improved their metabolism, and increased dynamic strength.    Wow, now that’s strong support for a great recovery meal. 

The ideal post-workout recovery meal is a balanced ratio of 2 to 1 carbohydrates to protein, with very little fat.  And not just any carbs and protein, they need to be very quick-digesting.   The Vanilla Chai Latte is perfect, because the honey and bananas are two of the best post-workout carbs because of their quick absorption and nutrition content.  And the Sun Warrior protein is already pre-digested because it is a bio-fermented, living food, with a 98% digestability ratio, so it gets into your system and starts repairing your muscles very quickly.  Try to avoid fat and much fiber with this meal, because they both slow the absorption of the carbs and protein, and you want those to absorb as quickly as possible into your system.    You want to invoke an insulin response, because insulin inhibits the breakdown of muscle protein, and helps the amino acids and nutrients uptake into the muscles.  The insulin is very anti-catabolic, meaning it protects the muscle from atrophy.

Your body is always in one of two states:  anabolic or catabolic.   Anabolic means ‘muscle building’, thus the term ‘anabolic steroids’.   Anabolic is good–your body is preserving its muscle mass and building new muscle.  Catabolic means ‘muscle wasting’, which is obviously what none of us want.  Insulin is an anti-catabolic agent, meaning it doesn’t build muscle itself but interferes with muscle breakdown.  And insulin enhances the effect of Growth Hormone and IGF-1 (insulin-like Growth Factor), which are your anti-aging and muscle growth-promoting agents.  It is important to note that the insulin elevation should not be extreme, which would cause blood sugar fluctuation, promote fat storage and lead to insulin resistance. 

This is a very complicated topic, so to sum up, intense exercise causes microscopic tears in the muscle fibers.  It also triggers the release of growth hormone, IGF-1 and other muscle-building androgenic agents.  But those wonderful hormones won’t be able to do their job without the help of insulin, so you must help your body to function properly by ingesting fast-acting HEALTHY carbohydrates along with fast-absorbing protein, immediately after every workout.  You want to increase insulin, but not so much that it spikes dramatically.  Note that sugar is actually detrimental to the process, along with its host of other health-destroying attributes, so ingesting processed sugar or sugary drinks is extremely counter-productive and harmful.  Natural raw honey is a sugar, yes, but it doesn’t provoke the blood sugar crashes and spikes that processed sugar does, plus it is loaded with nutrients.  And bananas are ideal, due to their high concentration of electrolytes, especially potassium.  See my Defiant Recipes page for ideas of post-workout smoothies.

Until next time, Be Defiant!  Defy muscle breakdown by eating properly after your workouts. 

Love and light,

Christy