Eat Clean, Train Dirty

Nutrition - Why it's important to eat clean:

 

There is benefit of vegetables as primary source of carbs

Don't Be Like Mike

Stay Away From Simple Carbs Like Bread and Hamburger Buns

       -Eating whole foods is proven to keep you fuller for longer. Foods like vegetables are packed with fiber, an indigestible component that absorbs water and slows digestion. When in the stomach, fiber dense foods absorb water and hang out in the stomach a little longer than foods not containing fiber. They slow down the process of digestion and are referred to as "slow burning carbs." This more slowly digesting energy evenly spreads out throughout the hours following a meal with high fiber foods.

Eating foods with little fiber, highly processed foods or refined grains such as pizza, cereal, snack bars, bread, etc cause rapid digestion. This means that the carb source or sugar in the food is absorbed very quickly into the bloodstream. This causes your blood sugar to skyrocket quickly and then drop within an hour or two. With a quickly fluctuating blood sugar level, you'll always be reaching for another snack. Your body is still processing the food you just ate but the hormones released during this process tell your body that you are hungry and need to eat again. This is damaging for many reasons and is a prime enabler of type 2 diabetes and various cardiovascular diseases. 

What's wrong with dairy?       

Hormones play a huge factor in mood regulation. As I said above, when you digest food, hormones are released into the body. One of the main food groups that throw hormones out of whack is dairy. Dairy contains high levels of sugar. Yes, most often that sugar is natural but your body does not know how to determine natural from added. Regardless of the source sugar causes the blood sugar spike and a rush of insulin to the blood to relieve the sudden spike.

Insulin is a fat promoting hormone that is released in response to sugar (carbohydrate) in the blood. When insulin is present, it reduces the amount of sugar in the blood by sending some back into the cells to be used as energy. The remaining sugar is stored as fat. The more sugar you take in, the more is being stored as fat. Along with fat storage, insulin spikes also cause sugar cravings, overeating tendencies, poor mood and over prolonged periods of time, cause inability to control blood sugar naturally in the body.

Strike 2 for dairy!

In relation to hormones promoted by dairy, milk is produced by impregnated cows. Cows who are preparing food for their young to help them grow and flourish. In order to do that, estrogen is produced and is a major component in the milk along with some testosterone. When we drink milk we are receiving those sex hormones which we have in normal amounts already in the body. When we consume them from outside sources like milk, it can cause our natural levels to be thrown off. This can be especially damaging to our body composition and mood regulation. Just remember what milk is. Baby cow food designed to plump up the young calf and help it to grow strong. We as human adults do not need to be supported in this way or "plumped up." Therefore, dairy is not essential for us and actually quite damaging.

Have any other questions?

Shoot me an email - Megan@CrossFitPetram.com

-Coach Megan