Week 12 - Ninja Goddess Returns
Conversation yesterday morning.
Rachel: I am a Ninja Goddess
Kevin: Why are you a Ninja Goddess
Rachel: Because I just am
Sorry I didn't make a post about Week 11. I was in a bad place last week. I gained what looked like a pound. It wasn't really a pound. It was about six ounces. I made some bad choices earlier in the week and was beating myself up about them. I only lost about 6 ounces this week, but that's because I made some bad choices yesterday (just yesterday) and they're showing up on my body temporarily. I am not too worried about them. Anyway, I was going to whine and complain and beat myself up. In fact, I went to the team message boards and did just that. I talked about all of my past failures where have managed to lose a few pounds and go back to bad habits. I questioned my ability to keep going. I got it out of my system and realized that dwelling on it was not going to do any good. Every day is a new day to wipe the slate clean and that's what I was going to do. Today I wipe the slate clean from last night too.
This month's workouts are becoming tougher. They look much more like what I was doing before I started Lean Eating. I'm doing more real squats and deadlifts now. Although we're not doing real pushups yet, I always do real pushups instead of the modified ones. It has been a tough week workout wise. I'm glad though. It is a little scary to wonder what's coming. If it's hard now, what will it be like in two months?
I am becoming a veggie ninja. I am really starting to do my job and make sure I have my five servings a day. I am becoming much more creative with vegetables than I was just a month ago.
The past two weeks the habit was to make "smart carb" choices. Most daily lessons are about what constitutes a smart carb and how to prepare them. The lessons were also about eating real, whole foods in general. There is just so much crap out there and for many people it's hard to know what's good for you and what is hype.
I also found myself reading some of the old articles on the Precision Nutrition blog. The average person eats about four pounds of food every day. What is in those four pounds? How many pounds does a value combo from McDonalds weigh? How many calories are in one? Can you eat an entire one? Some guys will put away two in one sitting. Now imagine eating two thousand calories worth of apples in one sitting. Imagine eating four pounds of only vegetables. You wouldn't be able to do that, would you? Our bodies seem to know exactly how much fresh food we need to eat.
Today's engineered food supply is designed to override all of our satiety mechanisms that are naturally in our bodies. Think of how a toddler eats. Small children don't stuff themselves. They eat as much as they need to maintain their activity levels. It's only after years of being told to clean their plates by their parents and a steady supply of factory-made foods that cause us to keep eating beyond what we need.
It is amazing that we are given these bodies that know very well what they need to function. It's too bad that we do everything to ignore what our bodies try to tell us. I suppose that's partially because the food industry works so hard to make sure our bodies care more about what hits the sweet spot taste-wise. What Precision Nutrition and Lean Eating is all about is learning to train your body to take what it needs the most and understand just how much it needs.
This week in Lean Eating the lessons really resonated with me because I sometimes feel disgusted by what passes as "health food" in the stores today. Lean Eating reminds us not to be fooled by lables. (As far as I'm concerned, if it has a label, you should probably not eat it.) Look at all of the factory made food we consume and convince ourselves it's good for us.
We drink heavily processed soy beverages filled with thickeners, sweeteners, and flavorings.
We eat cereals, breads, and pastas and convinced they are good for us because they contain "whole" grains. There is nothing whole about flour (wheat that is pulverized into another form and then mixed with other ingredients), rolled outs, or corn-based cereals.
We drink, "sports drinks" that are just flavored sugar water in birzarre colors. Most of the time water will do you just fine.
Eat eat "protein bars" that are piles of sugar and calories and have a long list of mysterious unpronounceable ingredients on the label.
We eat heavily processed soy-based meat amalgams put out by chemical companies convinced they're good for us because they're not meat.
We eat sugary granola bars and tell ourselves they're good for us because they contain fruit, even though the "fruit" is made from a little fruit juice in a sugary gel substance.
There are going to be times when sometimes we do have to eat food that is simply the lesser of two (or the least of many evils). The goal is to keep to the principle of "Good, Better, Best." Is the food you are about to eat a good choice? Is there a better choice available? What is the best choice? Sometimes the best choice available isn't that good, but it's better than the alternatives.
Looking for an even better week this week. I am a ninja goddess. I can do this!
Rachel: I am a Ninja Goddess
Kevin: Why are you a Ninja Goddess
Rachel: Because I just am
Sorry I didn't make a post about Week 11. I was in a bad place last week. I gained what looked like a pound. It wasn't really a pound. It was about six ounces. I made some bad choices earlier in the week and was beating myself up about them. I only lost about 6 ounces this week, but that's because I made some bad choices yesterday (just yesterday) and they're showing up on my body temporarily. I am not too worried about them. Anyway, I was going to whine and complain and beat myself up. In fact, I went to the team message boards and did just that. I talked about all of my past failures where have managed to lose a few pounds and go back to bad habits. I questioned my ability to keep going. I got it out of my system and realized that dwelling on it was not going to do any good. Every day is a new day to wipe the slate clean and that's what I was going to do. Today I wipe the slate clean from last night too.
This month's workouts are becoming tougher. They look much more like what I was doing before I started Lean Eating. I'm doing more real squats and deadlifts now. Although we're not doing real pushups yet, I always do real pushups instead of the modified ones. It has been a tough week workout wise. I'm glad though. It is a little scary to wonder what's coming. If it's hard now, what will it be like in two months?
I am becoming a veggie ninja. I am really starting to do my job and make sure I have my five servings a day. I am becoming much more creative with vegetables than I was just a month ago.
The past two weeks the habit was to make "smart carb" choices. Most daily lessons are about what constitutes a smart carb and how to prepare them. The lessons were also about eating real, whole foods in general. There is just so much crap out there and for many people it's hard to know what's good for you and what is hype.
I also found myself reading some of the old articles on the Precision Nutrition blog. The average person eats about four pounds of food every day. What is in those four pounds? How many pounds does a value combo from McDonalds weigh? How many calories are in one? Can you eat an entire one? Some guys will put away two in one sitting. Now imagine eating two thousand calories worth of apples in one sitting. Imagine eating four pounds of only vegetables. You wouldn't be able to do that, would you? Our bodies seem to know exactly how much fresh food we need to eat.
Today's engineered food supply is designed to override all of our satiety mechanisms that are naturally in our bodies. Think of how a toddler eats. Small children don't stuff themselves. They eat as much as they need to maintain their activity levels. It's only after years of being told to clean their plates by their parents and a steady supply of factory-made foods that cause us to keep eating beyond what we need.
It is amazing that we are given these bodies that know very well what they need to function. It's too bad that we do everything to ignore what our bodies try to tell us. I suppose that's partially because the food industry works so hard to make sure our bodies care more about what hits the sweet spot taste-wise. What Precision Nutrition and Lean Eating is all about is learning to train your body to take what it needs the most and understand just how much it needs.
This week in Lean Eating the lessons really resonated with me because I sometimes feel disgusted by what passes as "health food" in the stores today. Lean Eating reminds us not to be fooled by lables. (As far as I'm concerned, if it has a label, you should probably not eat it.) Look at all of the factory made food we consume and convince ourselves it's good for us.
We drink heavily processed soy beverages filled with thickeners, sweeteners, and flavorings.
We eat cereals, breads, and pastas and convinced they are good for us because they contain "whole" grains. There is nothing whole about flour (wheat that is pulverized into another form and then mixed with other ingredients), rolled outs, or corn-based cereals.
We drink, "sports drinks" that are just flavored sugar water in birzarre colors. Most of the time water will do you just fine.
Eat eat "protein bars" that are piles of sugar and calories and have a long list of mysterious unpronounceable ingredients on the label.
We eat heavily processed soy-based meat amalgams put out by chemical companies convinced they're good for us because they're not meat.
We eat sugary granola bars and tell ourselves they're good for us because they contain fruit, even though the "fruit" is made from a little fruit juice in a sugary gel substance.
There are going to be times when sometimes we do have to eat food that is simply the lesser of two (or the least of many evils). The goal is to keep to the principle of "Good, Better, Best." Is the food you are about to eat a good choice? Is there a better choice available? What is the best choice? Sometimes the best choice available isn't that good, but it's better than the alternatives.
Looking for an even better week this week. I am a ninja goddess. I can do this!
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