Too many tests!

Hello!

Here I am!

Just Hanging out!

Snuggling-my favorite activity!

Lexis first night sleep

After her first bath

Her favorite sleeping position

The car ride home!

The 2010 CrossFit Games Finals are less than 10 days away. If you don’t have your tickets yet, it’s still not too late to be part of CrossFit Games history. If you can’t be there in person, all is not lost: the Games will be streamed to the web in real time via our free live webcast.

This production will be unlike anything CrossFit fans have seen before. You’ll get over 30 hours of live HD coverage and analysis (in SD if you don’t have sufficient bandwidth to stream full HD). Three JumboTrons and a dozen 55″ plasmas will broadcast the feed throughout the Home Depot Center to optimize spectator experience. Thirteen different cameras will bring you live action from every single heat of every single event, putting you right on the arena floor with the athletes. Slow-motion instant replays and highlight reels will showcase our sport as the footage is broadcast to fans all over the world.

You will be there when Event Director Dave Castro reveals the events one hour before they occur. We’ll also take you behind the scenes into the athlete staging and warmup areas. You’ll see candid interviews with the athletes, teams, coaches and special guests, plus regular debates and discussions at our Analyst Desk hosted by Pat Sherwood, Josh Everett and Caity Matter Henniger.

CrossFit is working with NEP Screenworks and Level3 to bring you the highest quality production possible. We now have a world-class team experienced in covering the highest quality sporting events and bringing them to the web. NEP has a mountain of broadcast experience, and CrossFit will be utilizing a full production truck that’s part of the fleet that delivers X-Games, NFL and Major League Baseball broadcasts. Level3 brought the Superbowl and Olympics to the web. The sweat, emotion and drama of the CrossFit Games have never been seen like this before.

Join us for a 30min live Preview Show at 6pm PDT on Thursday, July 15. Full coverage will commence on Friday, July 16 around 8:45am. We’re just putting the finishing touches on the new player. In a couple days, we’ll give you the links to the player and the updated viewing schedule. It’s going to be epic!

A. Grains provoke an inflammatory response in the gut

Lectins are hardy proteins that do not break down easily, and are resistant to stomach acid and digestive enzymes. They migrate through your digestive tract largely intact, and disrupt the intestinal membrane, damaging cells and initiating a cascade of events leading to eventual cell death. (Translation: lectins destroy the cells that line your intestines, leading to small “microperforations” or tiny holes in your intestinal lining.) These holes allow intact or nearly intact proteins, bacteria and other foreign substances to cross into the bloodstream – where they do not belong. As the immune system notices foreign substances in the body, it responds and attacks. The immune response can manifest in an unlimited number of conditions (not just in the digestive tract!) commonly referred to as “auto-immune” in nature.

It’s important to note that these cautions are not just critical for those with a diagnosed Celiac condition. These negative downstream effects happen to everyone who eats grains, to various degrees.

B. Grains spike insulin levels

Grains pack a whopping amount of carbohydrates in a very small package. As most grains are also heavily processed (yes, even whole grains) they are broken down into blood sugar (glucose) in your body very quickly. A high amount of ingested carbohydrate broken down very fast leads to a spike in blood sugar. The body, demanding homeostasis, then releases a massive dose of a hormone called insulin to pull blood sugar levels back down. This is often referred to as an “insulin spike”.

When too much blood sugar is present in the system, your body quickly runs out of places to store it as useful energy, and will store any excess as body fat. In addition, when too much insulin is present in the system, the cells in your body become desensitized to the hormonal “message” insulin is trying to send. Since the message isn’t getting through, your pancreas is prompted to release even more insulin when your body doesn’t need it. Finally, chronically high insulin levels lead to a condition in which your body has trouble releasing the energy already stored in your cells. This is a bad place to be. If (via a diet high in carbohydrates) this pattern continues, insulin levels continue to rise, fat stores continue to grow and the body becomes completely incapable of responding to its own directions.

C. Grains have an acidifying effect on the body

A net acid-producing diet promotes bone de-mineralization (i.e. osteopenia and osteoporosis), and systemic inflammation. Grains are one of the highest acid-producing food groups. By replacing grains and grain-containing processed foods with plenty of green vegetables and fruits, the body comes back into acid/base balance (and a more positive calcium balance). Recent research out of Tufts University has also shown that a more alkaline diet preserves muscle mass. We like muscle mass.

D. Grains are “empty calories”

All grains – things like oatmeal, pasta, breads and cereals – have two things in common. They are calorically dense, and nutritionally meager. A small portion of grains packs a whopping amount of calories, almost all in the form of carbohydrates. All those calories, however, contain a miserly amount of vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients (also called phytochemicals). Compare the calories, carbohydrates and vitamin profile of two large slices of whole grain bread (100 grams) to one cup of chopped, cooked broccoli (184 grams – nearly twice the mass). (Nutritional stats from NutritionData.com)

Note that we’re not saying there is nothing good to be found in grains. They do contain vitamins and minerals in various proportions and amounts. But the serious down sides of grains far outweigh any potential health benefits. Bottom line – there is NOTHING found in grains that you can’t get from a better source with NO down sides (like vegetables, fruits, nuts and seeds).

I have watched so many people come through the gym who are completely hooked/addicted to soda. After all of the diet changes that we implement I feel soda is one of the last things that people actually ditch.

So here are few things to consider—if you are still having a daily dose of soda: Even if it is sugar free, it is pumped full of chemically derived artificial sweeteners, which have been proven to have the same effect on your blood glucose as regular sugar.  But that’s ok, because they’re calorie free, right? Wrong! Even if they may have no calories, the artificial sweeteners still illicit a response from your body the same as you eating regular sugar. This drives your blood sugar up, creating an insulin spike, creating a blood sugar crash!

I can think of some other uppers and downers that are way more fun, then having a can of soda ! So, once your blood sugar crashes, what happens? Oh, that’s right, you crave more sugar.  Your body receives a message that you are low on carbohydrate–and hungry or not–you decide to eat more carbs to fill the void.  It is a vicious cycle that ultimately leads to you never getting off the sugar! This cycle is a hard one to break, so get on board and do something about the sugar attacks and ditch the soda! Cold turkey it, and substitute for mineral water, tea or black coffee! As if the constant roller coaster effect isn’t enough for you to end your soda habit…here are a few more interesting tidbits I found in the post on blisstree.com:

Below you will find what soda does to your body in the first sixty minutes of consumption.

* In The First 10 minutes: 10 teaspoons of sugar hit your system. (100% of your recommended daily intake.) You don’t immediately vomit from the overwhelming sweetness because phosphoric acid cuts the flavor allowing you to keep it down.
* 20 minutes: Your blood sugar spikes, causing an insulin burst. Your liver responds to this by turning any sugar it can get its hands on into fat. (There’s plenty of that at this particular moment)
* 40 minutes: Caffeine absorption is complete. Your pupils dilate, your blood pressure rises, as a response your liver dumps more sugar into your bloodstream. The adenosine receptors in your brain are now blocked preventing drowsiness.
* 45 minutes: Your body ups your dopamine production stimulating the pleasure centers of your brain. This is physically the same way heroin works, by the way.
* >60 minutes: The phosphoric acid binds calcium, magnesium and zinc in your lower intestine, providing a further boost in metabolism. This is compounded by high doses of sugar and artificial sweeteners also increasing the urinary excretion of calcium.
* >60 Minutes: The caffeine’s diuretic properties come into play. (It makes you have to pee.) It is now assured that you’ll evacuate the bonded calcium, magnesium and zinc that was headed to your bones as well as sodium, electrolyte and water.
* >60 minutes: As the rave inside of you dies down you’ll start to have a sugar crash. You may become irritable and/or sluggish. You’ve also now, literally, pissed away all the water that was in the Coke. But not before infusing it with valuable nutrients your body could have used for things like even having the ability to hydrate your system or build strong bones and teeth.

This will all be followed by a caffeine crash in the next few hours. (As little as two if you’re a smoker.) But, hey, have another Coke, it’ll make you feel better.

*FYI: The Coke itself is not the enemy, here. It’s the dynamic combo of massive sugar doses combined with caffeine and phosphoric acid. Things which are found in almost all soda.

We all are aware that athletes often have better health than sedentary individuals. However, when training volume and intensity are increased, the cells of the body are at greater risk for the harmful damage produced by free radicals. Studies have shown that both strength and endurance athletes produce more free radicals than untrained individuals. Aerobic metabolism in particular can create a large amount of free radicals, especially in endurance athletes. In these athletes, the body’s natural defenses against these harmful substances are also up regulated but still may not be able to counter their negative effects. With this said, some recent research has investigated whether dietary antioxidants can help this situation by blocking the actions of free radicals in the cell. Most of the research has focused on vitamins C and E and although the data is mixed, it is pretty convincing that these two powerful antioxidants, when taken in moderate doses, can help to prevent cell damage in response to free radicals.

With the beneficial effects of antioxidants demonstrated in athletes, researchers have begun to examine other antioxidants for their protective effects. This has lead to investigations of natural substances such as green tea, grapes, red wine, pine bark, and other “phytonutrients”. Collectively, these foods tend to be high in polyphenols, namely flavonoids, tannins, and catechins. These compounds may have antioxidant capabilities that may rival those of the conventional vitamins but as opposed to the vitamins, may offer other benefits as well. Green tea, for example, not only can reduce oxidative damage and prevent some cancers, but can increase metabolic rate and fat burning (1,2,3). In addition, ginkgo biloba can decrease oxidative damage, increase cognitive performance and mental focus in healthy adults, and in some instances, increase sexual performance (4,5,6). Although few studies have been done to examine the use of these substances in athletes, products such as green tea and ginkgo biloba may prove valuable to the athlete for both their antioxidant benefits as well as their numerous other functions.

Tip: 500-1000mg of vitamin C and 400IU of vitamin E is a good first step in antioxidant protection. In addition, the daily ingestion of 1-3 cups of green tea may provide both antioxidant benefits as well as cancer-fighting and thermogenic effects. In addition, ginkgo biloba, grape seed extract, and pine bark extract may all promote similar antioxidant effects with a host of other health benefits.

Kelly, just wanted to say thank you, diet made a big difference, its really cool i can adjust my intakes and what i eat and see results in about two weeks, i really got to know my body. THANKS A LOT!  Blake