CrossFit Works » Nutrition

Creating a Framework for Understanding Supplements

Jen — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 17:13:35 +0000

Incorporating lateral movement and change-of-direction into the training

As health-conscious, performance-oriented people I think we all wonder about supplements. Should we take them? Which ones? How much? Which brand? Why? Why not? It would be simply wonderful if there were a simple answer to any of these questions. If only there could be a definitive guide. A definitive guide on supplements would end up having more in common with a definitive guide to marriage or a definitive guide to child-rearing. It isn’t possible. Supplement use, like relationships or kid-rearing, just depends on so many individual things.

We can establish a basic framework to use for choosing whether or not we might want or need nutritional supplements in our lives. Especially for those of us who believe in an evolutionary or primal approach to nutrition, the first questions should be:

1. Does my body have a requirement for this stuff?

2. Why is my food not fulfilling that requirement?

A primal diet approach is founded on the working assumption that if you can get nutrients from your food it is better than getting them from a bottle. Science backs us up here basically because our knowledge of nutrients, their presence in food, and their action in the body is still infantile. Even now we are identifying new compounds in our food and teasing out what those compounds do in our body to keep us healthy and alive. We simply don’t know enough yet to bottle what is naturally occurring in food because we don’t know what is naturally occurring.

If we can agree on the premise that food is better than bottles and pills we have to have a solid reason for choosing bottles and pills over food. There are some very good reasons actually such as: our food is grown in depleted soil so that it is difficult to find food that has decent levels of nutrition. Another reason might be that we choose to do something lifetstyle- wise that creates an enhanced demand for particular nutrients above and beyond what our food can provide. Competitive athletics would be an example. Living in an urban environment surrounded by environmental toxins might be another.

Ahhh. Already we see a Situation. In order to take charge of your health, wellness, longevity and performance you have to know things. Food things. Nutrition things. Body things. Interestingly enough, we denizens of western civilization often think that hunter-gatherers or other primal cultures had some sort of innate instinct telling them what to eat. Not so. Not so. These peoples valued, stored, experimented and handed down food and health wisdom. They prioritized this knowledge.

So, perhaps, as you explore your health, you decide that you need some nutritional supplements. Might it not make sense to begin with a supplement akin to food? Particularly if you are looking for increased wellness and not disease treatment?

Let’s use an example near and dear to the heart of CrossFitters. Your fish oil. We now have a proliferation of CrossFit-associated companies selling fish oil. Specifically, refined, processed, concentrated, separated EPA and DHA. This is not squeezed straight out of your stinky sardine and into a bottle with a clever, performance-oriented name. Things have to happen…

EPA and DHA are the mother compounds for the production of anti-inflammatory prostaglandin hormones. Fish oil has a specific ability to produce a valuable effect in your body. Many of you have used fish oil and clearly experienced the benefits. There is another, supplement that people have been using for hundreds of years, that is a lot more like squeezing your stinky fish straight into the bottle for you. That is Cod Liver Oil. Whereas Smarter-Wiser-Prettier brand Fish Oil has only EPA/DHA, Cod Liver Oil has EPA, DHA, and Vitamins A and D. The amounts of these nutrients in Cod Liver Oil are obviously different than in concentrated Fish Oil. It is difficult to use Cod Liver Oil to correct major deficiencies in the body because the nutrients are present in ratios that balance in the body. Cod Liver Oil is more akin to how real food nourished you. You could also eat one of the favorite meals of my Gaelic ancestors, whole cod’s head stuffed with seaweed, oats and cod livers. This would be cheaper and much much more nutritious than Smarter-Wiser-Prettier brand Fish Oil. However, it might not immediately put the brakes on your lifestyle-induced excess inflammation. So, you might choose Fish Oil, you might choose Cod Liver Oil or you might eat cod livers.

Tracing the whole food vs whole supplement vs refined supplement line of reasoning will be part of what we cover in the upcoming Primal Plan nutrition course. No, we won’t eat cod livers, but we will learn how to make some more palatable whole super foods.

The Seasonality of Eggs

Jen — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 19:06:04 +0000

I’ve had some questions about why we don’t have as many eggs for sale as we have in the past. There is sometimes a little undertone that someone (or some chicken!) is not doing their job properly.

Even us nutrition-conscious CrossFitters sometimes lose touch with the fact that a food so ubiquitous as the Egg, is actually a seasonal food. Chickens that are not kept in a concrete bunker with their beaks chopped off, dosed with antibiotics and kept under artificial light, do not lay as many eggs in the winter as they do in the summer. It has to do with the number of hours they are exposed to light and dark. The human reproductive system actually operates in the same manner, but we’ll leave that out of the discussion for now. Food production is affected by so many things that most of us denizens of Trader Joe’s forget about too often. For example, my kids and I used to love the frequency with which we would find a double-yolked egg in our carton. Tragically, Mark (the farmer of our eggs) lost the double-yolk laying chicken to his neighbor’s uncontrolled, trespassing dogs. I encourage you all, when you are inconvenienced by a change in your local food supply, to inquire as to what caused the change. Many of the Tucson area local farmers are affected by such things as a neighbor’s dog or an unexpected cold night. Rather than be exasperated by the unpredictable change, use it as a chance to try something different, or simply to appreciate the abundance of alternative foods that we all live with every day. No broccoli at the Farmer’s Market? Well get yourselves one of those enormous, luscious pale green cabbages then.

When we do have eggs, try your very best not to overcook the precious yolk. Overcooking the yolk ruins the perfect fats that are in it and renders the sulfur-bearing amino acids less available. Those amino acids are what your body uses to build our most potent anti-oxidants and detoxifiers like glutathione. You can’t take glutathione as a supplement because it doesn’t survive our digestive system, but you can ingest plenty of the precursor nutrients like those found in raw or slightly cooked egg yolks.

Check out this description of one farmer’s approach to raising chickens:

” …this pasture was the field that had been, a day or two before, occupied by the cattle, which were now behind us in another demarcated area of green grass. In addition to enjoying the grass that has been courteously mowed down for them by the cattle (chickens don’t like to eat grasses that are too high), they peck through the cow pies, eating the larvae of flies that lay their eggs in the dung. This disinfects the cow pies breaking the cycle of bovine stomach parasites , eliminating the need for synthetic worm medicines for the cattle. Their pecking also breaks up the cow pies and spreads them out over a larger area. This means that the manure recycles into the soil much more readily. Otherwise, the nitrogen in the manure would concentrate in certain spots, creating overly rich bunches of grass that cows refuse to eat.” -Full Moon Feast, by Jessica Prentice.

If you are interested in learning more about these sorts of food issues join us for the upcoming nutrition class. More information at www.primalplan.com.

Food Journals

Jen — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 16:52:10 +0000

This week you should be seeing some random pieces of paper hanging on the gym walls. Closer inspection should reveal that these pieces of paper are food journals. The competitive crossfitters at CrossFit Works will be hanging their food journals. Why would they do this you might ask?

Performance CrossFit with a little partner workout

A few really good reasons.

There is a tendency to focus on the work that happens in the gym and how it contributes to performance. We want to know how many times a week someone trains, do they do two-a-days, what is their squat program etc… I receive a boatload of questions about certain people’s training. Including things as crazy as “what kind of ab work could get me abs like so-and-so’s?”. Someone needs to start asking me what these athletes are eating!!!

It is important to me that all the people in the gym realize that food is the foundation for your body composition and your performance. It is also important to realize that there isn’t one magic answer to what to eat. What you should see on these food journals is a fairly wide spectrum in eating styles and amounts. You might be able to look at some of them and see that there are changes to be made that would help, but you also will want to remember that someone whose goal is to add 10lbs of muscle will eat in a VERY different way from someone whose goal is to cut 8lbs of body fat. Right now we have athletes preparing to compete in Olympic Lifting who will have to make particular weight classes. This is certainly not the easiest thing they have ever done. It means a major focus on food! Ironically, if your goals are simply to feel better and stay healthy, your major focus should also be on food!

I beg you all to keep a food journal. It is something that should be done on a regular basis if you really are interested in the connection between your food and your health and especially between your food and your performance. So, along with all the glamor and fame of competing at CrossFit, the competitive athletes will also hang up their food journals. In solidarity with them, I encourage all of you to tape up your food journals. They can even be anonymous. Just use this opportunity to buckle down and do this. Perfection is not expected. None of us are perfect. Just start the investigation process. If I see one that says “Fruity Pebbles” I will know whose that is, and if it says “Doritos and a sandwich” I might be able trace that one too. Seriously, this process is the most important step in understanding your own health and performance.

When you keep a food journal, record what you ate, about how much and when. You also want to record beverages. A serious investigation of food, performance and health would also include supplements, where you ate, how the food was prepared and your bathroom experience. Digestive function is paramount (although it is completely understandable if you leave that for your private food journal!). For specific body composition and performance goals, it becomes important to provide detailed measurements of food quantity. I encourage you to keep the level of food journal that matches your own personal goals. The tape will be on the counter…

Why the Epsom Salts?

Jen — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 17:28:44 +0000

What’s the first place to stop after two days of studying with the CrossFit Football crew? How about after the Tough Mudder? What about The OC Throwdown? First stop is the pharmacy for a couple giant bags of Epsom Salts, chemical composition Magnesium Sulfate.

Magnesium is an sadly neglected mineral. Lots of old school coaches go on and on about bananas and potassium. Every person in the world thinks they should be taking calcium supplements and most of us think we should avoid salt (sodium). Who talks about magnesium? Shockingly, magnesium is the mineral perhaps most powerfully correlated to critical health issues. Blood pressure and heart malfunctions are related to magnesium levels. Bone density and tooth decay are strongly correlated with magnesium levels. Neurological functions are connected to magnesium levels. Magnesium plays a role in muscle cramping (including menstrual cramps).

Magnesium is found in high concentrations in all organs which possess electrical conductivity, especially the heart and nervous system. Calcium and magnesium are antagonists in the electrical conductivity of the body. Without sufficient magnesium it becomes impossible to remove the calcium from a cell (where it has caused a cellular contraction). This buildup of calcium in the cells results in “hyper excitability” or prolonged muscular contraction. Twitches and tics are one example of this effect. Our stress response also uses large amounts of magnesium. Migraines are also shown to have a relationship with low magnesium levels. Our bodies metabolic processing of a single glucose molecule requires 28 molecules of magnesium. We also use magnesium to process the phosphates in soda and processed meats. If you take iron or calcium supplements you also increase your use of magnesium to bind to those minerals (this is an example of how taking a “supplement” can actually create a nutrient deficiency). Production and function of serotonin (your relaxation neurotransmitter) is also dependent on magnesium. Sweating depletes magnesium levels. Large scale studies in the 1940s and 1950s in Deaf Smith County Texas revealed that extremely high levels of magnesium in the ground water (their drinking water) was the reason that residents of that county had excellent teeth and minimal osteoporosis relative to their Dallas County neighbors. Flouride (added to water supplies) actually binds to magnesium rendering it less bioavailable to us. Low magnesium levels in the small intestine allow for increased absorption of aluminum, a toxic metal related to neurologic degeneration.

Why would we be deficient in magnesium? What if we eat an excellent diet?

Based on the preceeding paragraph it is clear that chronic stress can produce a deficiency in any nutrient used to combat that stress, including magnesium. Excess ingestion of calcium, phosphates or sugar can also deplete magnesium. Poor digestive health can impair absorption of magnesium.

Magnesium is primarily found in fruits and vegetables and bones (bone broth). Artichokes, tomato paste, almonds, pumpkin seeds, beet greens and dried figs have high magnesium levels. Halibut is the protein source with the on eof the higher levels. Unfortunately our current agricultural practice of dumping NPK fertilizers on our crops and soils lowers the magnesium content of the soil and consequently, our food. If you don’t eat adequate fruits and vegetables, or if you eat food from farms that do not follow sustainable farming practices, you will not be supplying your body with adequate magnesium.

What are we to do? Don’t despair. Easily absorbable magnesium supplements are available reasonable cheaply. My favorite is Natural Calm which is magnesium citrate (available at Sunflower and Whole Foods). If magnesium citrate gives you chronic loose stools (it is a smooth muscle relaxant remember) it might be that you have enough magnesium in your body or it might mean that you aren’t absorbing it correctly. Some practitioners advocate use of magnesium glycinate for people who don’t do well with the magnesium citrate. Epsom salts are magnesium sulfate. Dump about 5lbs in a nice hot bath and climb in. Your body will begin to sweat, opening your pores for you and once the water cools down slightly you will quickly transdermally absorb the magnesium. Magnesium sulfate has the added bonus of extra sulfur for you. Both magnesium and sulfur are used in the body’s detoxification pathways.

Even the scientists conclude that magnesium supplementation has benefits for athletes. A 2010 study in the Journal of Biological Trace Elements concluded that total and free testosterone levels were increased in athletes supplemented with magnesium. In 2009 the European Journal of Applied Physiology found that, in animals, supplementation with magnesium sulfates (Epsom salts) improved forced swimming. The process for this increased performance was elevation of glucose levels and attenuation of lactate levels.

A nice Epsom Salt bath is the first stop for the wise athlete.

Primal Plan 8 hr Nutrition Learning Lab

Jen — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 16:39:27 +0000

At last. An opportunity to spend many hours talking about food, nutrition, health and wellness! My friend Ryan Koch and I are going to lead/teach an eight hour “class” on the evolutionary approach to food, eating and wellness. Ryan and I share a belief in the wisdom of the diets of our long-ago ancestors. We share a fascination with researching the eating and other lifestyle practices of the world’s healthiest peoples. We also share a willingness to try things out on ourselves (and our families). Ryan and I do have quite different personal health experiences, and different personal emphases in our nutrition work, so that means you will have the chance to be exposed to a wider range of applications of this nutrition work than if only one of us was teaching. Ryan is absolutely going to give you new ways to think about your health and your body and I am always about the practical side of things. This class is not going to be a Paleo-dogma lesson. We are not going to turn down any food wisdom. In this day and age we need all the wise food ways we can muster.

The class will take place on four Sunday evenings, from 5pm to 7pm, beginning Feb 5th. The group will be small enough so that we can certainly include individual needs and interests. You can learn more about the class, and about Ryan, at Primal Plan (www.primalplan.com). Call 520.623.6200 or email me, jen@crossfitworks.com if you have any questions.

Diet Soda: Subtitle “ecologically novel chemosensory signaling compounds”

Jen — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 01:32:30 +0000

I don’t think I have EVER heard better academic speak in my life!! ”ecologically novel chemosensory signaling compounds” simply means that diet soda is not PALEO!! It means the compounds in diet soda are new (“novel”) to the human body and that they perform some type of activity through our chemical processing/sensing pathways. It means our body is absolutely affected by whatever is in diet soda and these effects are new to our body. I wish I was the one to have made up that phrase but it was the authors of a study on artificial sweeteners published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition in 2009.

I have had numerous requests to discuss diet soda and its impact on health. It is not a topic near and dear to me because, well, diet soda so clearly violates every nutritional principle that guides my work. Usually the answer to the diet soda question is something like, “obviously diet soda is god-awful”.

However, I am rethinking this answer because there are a zillion people out there who simply do not prescribe to the idea that the human body was designed (Divinely or otherwise) to function best on real food. There are people that appreciate that a female mosquito must have blood, and not Gatorade, for her life process to continue properly, but who do not see the human body in the same regard. Humans are tricky, adaptable omnivores after all and we can survive under a multitude of conditions. There are people out there who use the opposite food theory that Paleo-eaters use. I think it is fair to describe most Paleo-eaters as people who want you to prove without a doubt that a newly invented food is ok for them to eat before they eat it. Lots of folks in the world take the other approach: if something is said to be edible they want you to prove that it is bad for them before they will stop eating it. This diet soda discussion is out of respect to the second group. I’ve organized some bullet points. Yes, I was a scientist.

every time you eat or drink something that is not positively contributing to the process of nourishing your body…you aren’t nourishing your body. Keeping a plentiful supply of vitamins, minerals, macronutrients, and phytonutrients going into the human body is a tough job. Every single study ever conducted (ok, I haven’t read them all) shows that modern humans are deficient in one or more nutrients. Diet soda offers your body NOTHING. BIG FAT NOTHING. It does fill up your belly so that you don’t put in something nourishing though.
every time you put something into your body that your body cannot use to repair, nourish, rebuild or otherwise help itself, your body must make the effort to get rid of that thing. Your body will use its overworked, overburdened detoxification pathways to expel the unusable stuff. If we can agree that Diet Soda is not used to rebuild, repair or nourish you then we can agree that your body has to at least put a little effort into expelling it. Trash collectors and garbage men aren’t free. It is hard work. There is a metabolic price to be paid. You might have a fat metabolic bank account which can afford that metabolic price, or you might not.
your body is constantly working to maintain homeostasis in your life-sustaining systems such as blood pH, oxygen levels, blood pressure, and hormone levels. If you are continuously adding a substance to your body that shifts the levels of one of these life-sustaining systems then your body will make a heroic effort to return that system to the proper condition. The acid in soda is associated with gastric distress, especially in kids. Drinking soda can result in heartburn or stomach aches as over time the body is unable to correct the pH of the stomach and small intestine in the face of all the excess soda-acidity.
anytime you add enormous slugs of a nutrient to the body you have the potential to set up deficiencies. What?? How can adding too much of something create a deficiency? For example, phosphorus is a necessary mineral for bone health. So are calcium and magnesium. If there is a huge amount of phosphorus in the gut, the body will neutralize it by binding it to calcium and magnesium salts. These salts are not bioavailable, so your soda-derived phosphorus glut has deprived you of calcium and magnesium.
our understanding of appetite hormone regulation is still in its infancy. However, we do have studies that show that artificial sweeteners have a different effect on appetite than real sugar. Animal studies show that artificial sweeteners cause higher caloric cravings than real sugar. If animals are allowed to eat as much as they want (like humans can) those fed artificial sweeteners scarf down way more rat chow than animals fed real sugar.
Comparisons of the brains of women (from MRI) while they ingested Splenda (an artificial sweetener) showed that the pleasure/reward connection was stimulated by Splenda and sugar, but more completely by the regular sugar. Researchers hypothesized that the partial stimulation by the Splenda induces cravings in order to complete the pleasure/reward cycle.
Two or more servings (one can) of diet soda per day by women showed a 2-fold increase in kidney function decline with age.
A 2010 study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition showed that, even after controlling for other factors, there was an increased risk of pre term delivery in women who consumed diet soda during pregnancy.
an 8 yr study showed that diet soda drinkers had higher rates of obesity than drinkers of regular soda!!! For each can of diet soda consumed per day the person’s risk of obesity increased by 41%!! This long study clearly demonstrates that if weight loss is your goal switching to diet soda will hurt you rather than help you!!!!
A recent 9 year study with 2,500 participants concluded that diet soda drinkers had a 61% higher risk of vascular incidents (stroke and heart attack) than non-diet soda drinkers. This study controlled for smoking, blood pressure, cholesterol and total caloric intake. Drinking regular soda did not increase risk of a vascular incident. Only diet soda.
A European study concluded that drinking 2 or more diet sodas per day was associated with a 70% faster increase in waist size compared to non-diet soda drinkers. In other words, people who drank diet soda got fatter 70% faster than people who did not.
Aspartame (Nutrasweet, Equal) is associated with pancreatic damage. The pancreas is that poor hardworking organ that secretes insulin and attempts valiantly to control your blood sugar.
The friendly-sounding “caramel coloring” in soda is 4-methylimidazole or sugar reacted with ammonia and sulfites. It is a carcinogen according to The National Toxicology Program.

If you would like more information on diet soda and the associated “ecologically novel chemosensory signaling compounds” usually called artificial sweeteners, you can always spend some time on Pub Med. Searching via Pub Med allows you to skip over any journalistic interpretation. Sometimes you can’t see the articles without a subscription to the Journals, but you can usually read the Abstracts.

Focus on Food: Hepatorenal toxicity from GMO corn vs your Latina ancestors

Jen — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 20:42:08 +0000

Don’t forget, regular schedule Tue, Wed and Thur of this week. Keep checking for updates to the class schedules that will begin on Tuesday January 3rd.

While we are taking this scheduled break from our strength and conditioning training we may as well use this opportunity to focus on our food. It is so easy to get complacent about our food supply. So hard to change it. We are all so busy. And is there really a serious threat to our health anyway? Sometimes I know you are all out there thinking, “Is real food that much of a big deal? I think I’m fine with this moderately good diet I have going on.”

You might be fine. Research is complicated. I’m still going to bring new research to your attention. One of the benefits of having this website is that I get to choose the articles I high light and I get to write my own thoughts on them. It doesn’t mean you shouldn’t read other articles or have different thoughts. Today’s article is just a reminder to not get complacent about what is going on in our food supply. To be sure, there are a million unanswered questions about the effect of Genetically Modified crops on the ecosystem and our health. Recently, a little study was released that gave us some more questions to answer. If you’d like to read the entire thing you can do so here. And if you don’t even want to read the entire conclusion I have highlighted the conclusion’s conclusion.

CONCLUSION:

“Patho-physiological profiles are unique for each GM crop/food, underlining the necessity for a case-by-case evaluation of their safety, as is largely admitted and agreed by regulators. It is not possible to make comments concerning any general, similar subchronic toxic effect for all GM foods. However, in the three GM maize varieties that formed the basis of this investigation, new side effects linked to the consumption of these cereals were revealed, which were sex- and often dose-dependent. Effects were mostly concentrated in kidney and liver function, the two major diet detoxification organs, but in detail differed with each GM type. In addition, some effects on heart, adrenal, spleen and blood cells were also frequently noted. As there normally exists sex differences in liver and kidney metabolism, the highly statistically significant disturbances in the function of these organs, seen between male and female rats, cannot be dismissed as biologically insignificant as has been proposed by others [4]. We therefore conclude that our data strongly suggests that these GM maize varieties induce a state of hepatorenal toxicity. This can be due to the new pesticides (herbicide or insecticide) present specifically in each type of GM maize, although unintended metabolic effects due to the mutagenic properties of the GM transformation process cannot be excluded [42]. All three GM maize varieties contain a distinctly different pesticide residue associated with their particular GM event (glyphosate and AMPA in NK 603, modified Cry1Ab in MON 810, modified Cry3Bb1 in MON 863). These substances have never before been an integral part of the human or animal diet and therefore their health consequences for those who consume them, especially over long time periods are currently unknown. Furthermore, any side effect linked to the GM event will be unique in each case as the site of transgene insertion and the spectrum of genome wide mutations will differ between the three modified maize types. In conclusion, our data presented here strongly recommend that additional long-term (up to 2 years) animal feeding studies be performed in at least three species, preferably also multi-generational, to provide true scientifically valid data on the acute and chronic toxic effects of GM crops, feed and foods. Our analysis highlights that the kidneys and liver as particularly important on which to focus such research as there was a clear negative impact on the function of these organs in rats consuming GM maize varieties for just 90 days.”

Corn is one of the grains that I am not particularly careful about avoiding. We eat carefully selected and prepared corn in my family. Corn tortillas are the sure fire way to get all sorts of meat and eggs into my children. A polenta-ish creation is also acceptable. Corn is gluten-free and is not particularly high in phytic acid. The problem with corn is that it simply is not very nutritious and it has been bred to be nearly unrelated to its ancestral plant. Corn is my very favorite example of why foods need to be grown and prepared according to the customs of our ancestors. Corn is indigenous to the Americas where it was grown in a form that was chewy, low in sugar and tough all around. Our Latina ancestors prepared corn always by grinding and soaking in an alkaline solution. They used an ash or calcium carbonate mixture (known as “lime” but not having to do with citrus) to soak the corn. This is called nixtamalization and you can buy really cheap nixtamal at Food City (no it isn’t organic). This process results in a nutritionally superior corn product because the indigestible hull is gone and the scant vitamins, including the B family, become bioavailable. Those of you patient enough to sit through my nutrition lectures, know that while our Central and South American neighbors rarely suffered from pellagra (a B vitamin deficiency) with their corn-based diet, our poor white southern relations had a rampant affliction from pellagra in the early 1900s with their corn-based diet. The difference? No one every taught our Appalachian folks to properly prepare corn so as to make it at least marginally nutritious. Grits, cornmeal, corn bread and johnnycake are not made from corn that has been nixtamalized, thus they are essentially nutritionally useless. A properly prepared tamale, however, might just offer you something more than deliciousness. Thank goodness!!

High Five Max – a story of a Gift.

Jen — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 00:58:55 +0000

Carl, Chris G., Mark L. and Ben T. and I want to wish our entire community a very wonderful, peaceful, joyful holiday season. Below you will find a description of our holiday gift to the CrossFit Works community. Before we tell you about your present, I want to take a moment to share with you all the story of one of the most amazing acts of giving that I have ever heard told. This is, after all, the season of giving right? I have spent the greater part of this past year “listening” to the story I want to share with you all.

Most of us do not really make any personal sacrifice in the act of giving during our holiday season. Many of us don’t do much giving outside of the holiday season, or if we do, it is not usually a significant personal act. The story I want to share with you all is the story of a woman who in her most deepest heartbreaking moment decided to spend the rest of the year giving. She gave emotionally and physically of herself multiple times per day so that babies around the country could have the gift of health. This is a story about a woman who lost her first son when he was eight days old. In the moment of that loss she decided to continue to collect her breast milk and ship it, via a milk bank, to babies around the world. You all may not realize that human breast milk is the only food that many sick babies can consume. It is also used by cancer patients and other ill adults. Human breast milk is the ultimate Paleo medicine. I know that for those of you who have not breast fed a child it might be difficult to appreciate this act. When a woman pumps to collect breast milk her hormones are the “mothering” hormones. It can be a physically draining, emotionally powerful act. I spent seven years doing volunteer work with women who just weren’t sure they wanted to “have to” breast feed their children because it was “so hard”. Women with every resource available to them choose every day to bypass the “hard work” of breastfeeding. To read about a woman who set out to do this for one year after the passing of her tiny little son, reminds me that we all have such deep reserves of strength and sometimes we under estimate what we can offer to the world.

You can read all about this amazing woman and her gift at her blog here: High Five Max. Since not all of you know how important, and rare, human breastmilk is, here is an excerpt from the nurse at the milk bank:

“I can’t imagine her grief and am humbled by her milk donation under these circumstances. I hope it’s a bit of consolation that her Max’s first gift of milk was about 200 oz. This will provide up to 600 feedings for preemies and medically fragile babies. It’s no small gift; preemies depend on human milk to protect against necrotizing enterocolitis. Babies fed formula instead of human milk are 400% more likely to develop this gut infection that can lead to immense suffering, the need for surgery, the need for intravenous nutrition which can cause organ damage, long term disability, or death. Most of our recipients are preemies or medically fragile babies in theNICU for whom donor milk is life-protecting.”

Some of you in the CrossFit Works community have a little connection to this powerful Gift-Giving Woman. If you have done yoga at Yoga Oasis, you have been a part of the community in which this Gift-Giving Woman teaches and studies. And, her own Balancing Monkey Yoga Studio is located inside a CrossFit gym in Hawaii!!! Isn’t it sort of amazing to know that all around you are incredible people doing powerful inspiring things and you might be connected to them when you least expect it? This powerful Gift-Giving, Milk-Giving Woman is an embodiment of the Santa-myth for sure.

So, now for your present!! We didn’t do Secret Santas. Didn’t have a holiday party where we asked you to dress up and eat too much. We know that within this CrossFit Works community we have all types of religions, cultures and spiritual leanings. We have left-wingers, right-wingers and centrists. There are a million things that separate us. What we do have in common is a belief in eating real food. There is an organization that is all about real food. All about providing raw materials for people to improve their health. About teaching people. Kindred spirits. On behalf of the CrossFit Works community, we have given the gift of “A Flock of Hope”. A flock of goslings, ducklings and chicks will go to a family either in our own country or somewhere else in the world so that they can eat…more…eggs!! Happiest Holidays to you all!!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Gluten-free because gluten makes you miss things!!

Jen — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 14:55:31 +0000

“What is gluten-free?”

“Why does everyone want to be gluten-free now?”

I hear these questions quite often. My usual answer is an abbreviated explanation involving the inflammatory nature of this grain-protein. Quick mention of the insidious gut-destruction. When I try to whittle it down to a real elevator-type answer it sounds something like, “research shows that gluten, which is a protein in wheat and other grains, has multiple undesireable effects on the human body and most people feel much better, heathier and energetic when they stop eating it”.

There is another reason to avoid gluten. If you are stuffing yourself with gluten all the time you are missing out on the nutritious foods. Fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, meat, fish, and eggs. Perhaps the real down side of a gluten-packed diet is that those gluten-laden foods are not all that nutrient-dense and when you eat bagels, you aren’t eating as much eggs and spinach.

This issue is becoming more significant as grocery stores are filling up with gluten-free breads, cookies, cake mixes, cereal and crackers. I see myself falling prey to it with my son’s school lunches. If I pack a true Paleo lunch for him it is a nutrient power house: olives, macadamia nuts, cold chicken, toasted seaweed, grapes, a carrot-cabbage slaw, leftover salmon, frozen blueberries etc… If I get behind in my food prep and run to the store I could end up with gluten-free bread, gluten-free tortilla chips, gluten-free crackers, gluten-free cookies. I am still happy to have kept gluten out of his body, but those gluten-free foods are not nutritious. How is he going to keep growing, not get sick, and out lift me on a diet of rice bread and cookies made with potato starch?

This short article is a helpful primer on what the label “gluten-free” actually means. It is also a helpful answer to the “are oats gluten-free” question.

Do you need a protein supplement?

Jen — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 15:55:36 +0000

How do you know if you need a protein supplement? How do you know if the one you use is the best one?

The answers to these questions can be long and complicated or they can be quite simple. If you eat a diet that contains high quality protein (meat, poultry, eggs or fish) multiple times per day and you live a regular lifestyle (in terms of activity) you do not need a protein supplement. Regular activity means that you participate in sports or fitness programs for general health reasons. An example of a fitness program that is for general health would be coming to CrossFit Works two or three times per week and doing class. If you are content with your body composition or if you would like to lose body fat you do not need a protein supplement.

You might want a protein supplement if your present body size is smaller than you want it to be. If your goal is a mass gain effect, a protein supplement might be beneficial to you. However, it is important to keep in mind that real food (an egg or a piece of chicken) will produce the same effect with associated vitamins and minerals and possibly be less expensive.

You might want a protein supplement if you are training for pure strength gains such as you would do on a powerlifting program. However, if you are a novice or early intermediate lifter you will make fast, impressive gains simply by lifting and eating well. If you are a relatively new to lifting you do not need a protein supplement to get stronger.

You might want a protein supplement if your training is of unusually long duration or is for competition. Extremely long endurance work or multiple workouts in one day can create a demand on the body that can be difficult to meet with food. If you have placed your body under a level of stress with physical activity your body will not be ready to digest food so a protein supplement might be beneficial.

My usual approach for people who think they might benefit from a protein supplement is to begin with real food. First, add in some real sources of protein at the same time you were contemplating drinking a protein shake. If real food does not help you achieve your goals then you can branch out to a protein supplement.

Real food is preferable to protein supplements for the following reasons:

1. You can vary your real food so that you are not exposing your body to high doses of a processed partial food.

2. Protein supplements are highly processed. Whey protein is frequently a by product of cheese manufacturing. Cheaper casein powders are chemically extracted with acids and then exposed to ultra-high temperatures. Side effects of this processing can include formation of MSG and residue of the solvents used for extraction. There are whey proteins from grass fed cows, extracted at low heat with their protein structures still intact.

3. The three most common sources of the protein in these supplements are dairy (whey/casein), egg white and soy. Each of these foods has benefits and risks. Dairy proteins for example are powerful growth stimulants (good for building muscle), but excess growth is also a factor in diseases like cancer. Egg white protein is highly allergenic. Soy is laden with complicating factors. Mainstream health suggestions (like at the Livestrong website) suggest there is no cause for men to be concerned about ingesting soy protein. However, research suggests that the phytoestrogens in soy might be problematic for men (and for different reasons, women). Higher intake of soy is linked to lower sperm counts.

4. The additives to many protein supplements are simply unnecessary and can contribute to the body’s toxic burden. Remember, whatever your body doesn’t use to build you up, it has to get rid of via one of the detoxification/excretion pathways. Ingesting something like Red #237, means your liver and detox systems have to work to get rid of that chemical somehow. Your liver and kidneys are your primary detox and excretion organs. They don’t need more work.

If you are considering using a protein supplement first evaluate whether or not you might derive just as much benefit from real food (without some of the drawbacks). If the answer is “no” and you really feel like you will benefit from a protein supplement, then forge ahead.