carb counting and other stuff...

In lieu of the challenge and all the carb talk, I found it appropriate to share this link. I'm a big fan of Mark's Daily Apple, mostly because I like how he explains things and he posts great recipes! For those of you who are trying to figure out the importance of eating a low amount of carbs, this link should help.

I'd like to thank Pramit, my student who introduced me to a website called Zen Habits. I'm totally jazzed because the guy who runs the site is from Guam (and now lives in San Francisco). Yea. A kindred spirit. In particular, check out this post on eating healthfully. Initially, it may seem that this post and participating in the LBN challenge or eating a ketogenic diet (which is what I'm following right now) contradict each other. In actuality, they compliment each other because the post and the challenge are meant to inspire you to eat better.

As a diabetic, I've decided to commit to a strict ketogenic diet because I really want to get off the meds. Though the challenge ends on October 31st, I'm actually extending my own personal challenge to December 9th, the day before my birthday. On that day, I'm going to take a blood test and if the results are good (as my coach Alex C. says they should), then I'll continue but will modify as needed. Ketogenic diets are not for everybody, but I'm willing to give it a shot if it means I can drop some weight and some meds. It's a day-by-day process and the one thing I don't want to do is repeat what happened after the last challenge. I was good for the five weeks and when the challenge was over, I went back to my old eating habits.

So what's different this time around? I've been keeping a strict journal with calorie, protein, carb, and fat counts. It's amazing how different you feel about food when you actually know what's in it. As I've said before, there is more to the ""Eat meat and vegetables, nuts and seeds, little starch and no sugar" rule. Technically, there is no real "counting" in paleo eating. However, at this stage (for me) I do have to count. As soon as I can wrap my head around counting, then I can stop. Wish me luck!

Finally, here's an article I thought you all might like. It gives advice about how to eat like a dietician.

Today's Small Victories
I've been really great at tracking my food for the challenge. I have MyPlate to thank for the amazingly easy way to track. This weekend I broke down and purchased an iphone. fathlete confession: I'm addicted. I don't know how I lived this long without one!

Warm-up
Row 500 meters
Stretching
Prep for WOD

CrossFit One World WOD
Strength:
20 reps of back squat at 80# less than your 5 rep max. (85#)

Conditioning:
Complete 5 rounds for time of:
5 power cleans @ 75% of your one rep max (70#)
5 handstand push-ups (modified)

Joanne's Final Time - 6:56

Notes (to myself) about this workout: I'm not too jazzed about the upcoming squat challenge. The last time we did this, a gang load of folks got injured because adding 10# a week is just a little much, if you ask me. I'm going to play it by ear and start with the 10# a week. When I feel it's too much, I'm scaling back to 5# a week. Hopefully, that will get me all the way to week eight. The last time we did it, I think I tapped out at week five. I liked tonight's conditioning WOD - short, sweet, but efficient.