yummy meat

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Yesterday, a friend was nice enough to share an article discussing a study that condemns red meat in any amount. It's a horrible report on a study that sensationalizes and contorts results. Most professional studies list constraints and limitations of the study and bring to light possible bias. However, the report did not mention those. It also singled out red meat as a major contributor to death of any kind. Awesome right? Looking at the report, I could also assume breathing would lead to death with the reasoning they used. Actually, anything will cause death.

The report didn't indicate exactly how results were analyzed. From what it seems, the study is trying to force causation from correlation. As easy as it may seem, it is not how research business is done. I have not read the actual study, nor do I intend to. There are smarter people than I who have already commented on the story and say things better than I ever could. One response by Robb Wolf can be found here and another article by Gary Taubes discussing poor application of research can be found here. Why do I reference these people? Simple. They are experts in their area. If you really want to read about the in's and out's of poorly done research and the evolution of it's application to the standard American diet, read Gary Taube's book title Good Calories, Bad Calories. It is about research. It will not dictate how you need to lead your life, but it may affect how you lead your life in terms of nutrition because of the insight it offers. It will also allow you the freedom to breakdown reports such as the one mentioned above and make your own calls on its usefulness.

I'm not going to say much about the report on red meat. I love red meat. I love my uncured bacon. I am healthy, as proven by physical measures and blood tests. My diet allows me to take care of my family, work, and myself. It's more than a lot of people on other diets...and the same diet. I believe the key to everything is knowing yourself (and I mean everything).

Knowing yourself is the most important key. Why? You should base HOW you make changes to your nutrition in regards to YOU. Will you commit to a diet on yoru own or do you need a diet buddy, coach, friend, or family assistance? Will you fall off the bandwagon if you have just one cheat meal? What about two? Do you need to remove things from your diet completely or can you taper? If you start adding "caution" foods back into your diet, will you be honest with your reaction to them or lie  to yourself so you can have those food items again? Do you blame weight on everything but what you eat, such as genetics? Do you like having control of your diet or do you let yoru diet control you? These types of questions should be taken into consideration. Serious consideration. Know the answers, know yourself before you start a diet. If your mind isn't open enough to be intimate with your relationship to nutrition, you're driving in the blind with any dietary changes you attempt to make...especially if you want them to be lifelong changes.

Knowing yourself allows you to identify any bias. The last thing I want to hear as a bacon eater is that it is killing me. So I wait. As angry as I am, I wait and reread reports. And I ask myself if there is anything in the report that warrants a lifestyle change. Does the red meat article warrant a change in your lifestyle? Maybe, maybe not. One thing I've come to realize is that diet is a personal choice. Some people honestly do not mind doing damage to their bodies at the expense of the what they eat. The emotional and mental feelings derived from food choice can be enough to determine diet. I have vegetarian friends. They are fit, they are lively. They are at the totally opposite spectrum of the diet spectrum from me. They are happy with their diet and the results of it. They are smart people and have chosen to eat a certain way. Do I agree with it? No. Is it my place to condemn them for being adult enough to make their own decision rather than let the media determine it for them? Not at all.

I don't want the government or media telling me what to eat. I want honest research and data to be available for me to make my own decisions. When poor reports on poor research are let out, resist any knee jerk reaction. Be smart enough to break down what was done, what results were actually found, and what recommendations are given. Ask yourself is there anything relevant that you need to apply to your life based on what was reported. If not, move on. If people you care about are not doing the same, help them come to their own conclusions, don't make it for them. If they don't know why they are doing something, the choice may not stick later down the road. Most importantly, disuade people from making knee jerk reactions. That at least will allow information to sink in before a decision is made. Dont' let sensationalized media, like this meat article, be such a determining factor. I like to think of it as humor rather than a real story. Maybe it's all a joke.

Dealing with Disappointment

Disappointment sucks ass. Really. In the language of lolcat - rly, srsly. I speak of disappointment because I am disappointed...in myself.

It's Crossfit Open time. Giving myself some slack for recovering from having a baby five months ago, I decided I really want to be in it for fun. Then I got injured. I hurt my back and had to take some time off from training. THEN I got sick and had snot and phlegm draining nonstop.

So WOD 12.1 rolls on by. I told myself if I got at least 100, I would not do the WOD again. I got 104. Not great, but was acceptable. 12.2 came by. I was doomed. My pelvis was still unstable. I was in the middle of a drill weekend. I changed squadrons and forgot my food and water in the midst of rushing to get out of the door at o'dark:30. I had to do the workout by myself, hungry, dehydrated, and tired. 65 would be acceptable. I got 90. I was happy. WOD 12.3 was announced. I knew it would happen - toes.to.bar. Crap. And crap is how I performed. I wanted 9 rounds and fell WAY short with 7+. My coordination was off. I could shoulder press the weight all I wanted, but my lack of toes to bar sucked the life out of the workout.

I let myself down. I can honestly say I am disappointed with my performance. BUT, I have to deal with disappointment like I deal with any failure. Acknowledge it, fix it, and move on. At this point, I'm not sure it is worth repeating. I blamed my problems with movements that hang from a bar on the weight I had gained from the pregnancy. Most of it is gone now and so is that excuse. Rather than mope around, I'm trying to figure out how to overcome such a craptastic showing on 12.3.

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First thing is first - attitude. Despite the performance, a good attitude will help prepare for the future. Beating myself up for a past performance I cannot change only slows down progress. Second - fresh start (aka clean that shit up). Diet, sleep, and workout priorities are going through a rework. Drill weekend eating is not my friend. I have a five month old that wakes up to nurse once at night and I have to pump in the middle of the night. A straight shot at sleep isn't possible. I can meet this halfway by calling it quits on stupid shit that keeps me from getting to bed early and taking naps. Also, I knew toes to bar were my weakness. I need to get logical with the weak parts. Third - maximize rest and fun time. Enjoying life reminds you of what's important. When you're not all ate up about workout numbers and performance, you may just be more relaxed and approach a workout with better emotional and mental capacity. Forth - set aside the bullshit. The next two workouts. I will give blood. I may not be impressive, but I will drain my guts in the attempt to do so.

We have so many plans in place to prepare us for success. We train hard, eat well, and try our best to put recovery on the same plane. Being able to deal with disappointment is equally important. It's more than bouncing back. If you have an ounce of a competitive spirit, it is more than beating up on yourself. It's accepting a shitty performance and letting is spark something bigger.

"strong is the new anorexic"

Awhile ago, I blogged about the strong is sexy thing. I see nothing has changed. An article on the Crossfit Games proves that we still have some forward motion to make. A woman worries about her postpartum figure when surrounded by "obviously Crossfitting" ladies. How about those strong is sexy or strong is the new skinny pictures with ultra-lean women performing some insane feat of strength? 


Just as the larger society we spurn for promoting beauty standards that include stick-thin models, we’ve got our own set of beauty standards. They include very lean, muscular women…very lean. As a matter of fact, all that we’ve done is stick some muscle on the stick-thin model we hate and said "strong=sexy". It’s not any different. I saw a comment on one of those strong is sexy photos. The commenter was associating how hard and unrealistic it was for most women to achieve the heroin sheik look as it was for them to achieve the single digit body fat, uber lean, strong is sexy look. She said "strong is the new anorexic." Bravo to you mysterious commenter, sorry for not tagging your name.

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Hearsay?! Not really. The goal is that there is no standard “look” to the ladies. The goal is that a woman can feel like she belongs to the group whether she is stick thin, beast strong, or showing she eats a sandwich or two. We all point and make fun of people, it happens. I would there is also a time we admire someone who puts health above aesthetics. So there’s a chubby girl. She can outrun and out-lift you. She’s not lean. She is not “obviously” Crossfit. She’s not mainstream. Well hell, I guess she’s nothing? Chances are, if she’s happy with how she looks, she doesn’t give a fuck what category you put her in and why the hell would she give it a thought, her time is too valuable for that.

Thin is not in. Fat is not in. Strong is not sexy. Weak is not sexy. Marilyn Monroe is only one version of what is desirable. Be as healthy as you can be to support a lifestyle you desire. If that means running competitive lifting, just playing around with kids, or being a weekend warrior, pick your poison to fit your life. If you don’t want to push the envelope of performance because you just want to be fit and enjoy the rest of your time. Go for it.

All this may sound like a load of crap coming from someone who wants to be in a figure competition. Let us get one thing straight though - it doesn't take a small bikini, a stage, and a trophy to make me feel accepted. If you've seen my ego, you know it needs no help. I just want to say my part (because I'm on my soapbox) - in the end, we cannot rely on any group to like how we look. We cannot base our feelings of self-worth and beauty on how people react to waist measurements, bra size, or even IQ. There will always be someone that doesn’t like something you got…on the other hand, there will be always someone that loves something you have. The person in the front of that line should be yourself.