WARMUP:
INSTRUCTOR LEAD GROUP WARMUP
STRENGTH:
15 MINS. TO COMPLETE
2 SETS OF MAX REPS BACK SQUAT
CHOOSE FROM THESE WEIGHTS: 225,185,155,135,115,95,75,55,35
(GOAL FOR SETS SHOULD BE A MINIMUM OF 5 REPS EACH SET)
WOD:
60-40-20
DOUBLE UNDERS
SITUPS
SHOULDER TO OVERHEAD 45
AFTERMATH:
45 GOOD MORNINGS
COOL DOWN:
INSTRUCTOR LEAD GROUP STRETCH
Sometimes the best way to make a change is through educating yourself. For anyone who’s in the midst of making the big ole switcheroo to eating strictly Paleo or perhaps for a friend who is considering it but hasn’t made the plunge yet, and as we gear up for the Spring Paleo Challenge (yes, there’s another coming! Keep your peepers peeled for deets!). This is a very interesting and useful article from a late December issue of The New York Times Magazine. It’s called “The Fat Trap” and you can read it here.
News You Can Use from Paleo Challenge!
The Big Fat Story: Truth About Fats and Cholesterol
brought to you by Nutritionist Amy Hulbert
I know, it’s mind-blowing, isn’t it? Last week you learned that grains aren’t good for you after all. Today, I am about to tell you that cholesterol isn’t the devil it’s made out to be and fats are not only good for you, they are necessary to good health.
Saturated fats are often lumped together with transfats as the “bad fats” to consume. Suddenly, saturated fats have become “bad” for us when they have been a part of the human diet for thousands of years. High cholesterol numbers have scared millions into taking statin drugs as a precaution to avoid heart attacks, when there is no evidence anywhere that proves statins prevent heart attacks. Statins do however lower blood cholesterol numbers, by stunting your own body’s production of cholesterol. It makes one stop and think; why take a drug that affects something that naturally occurs in the body and has so many side effects?
Your body is brilliant. It manufactures cholesterol because cholesterol is needed for a host of processes. Your body thinks cholesterol is so important that the cholesterol in the waste in your large intestines is recycled back to the liver to be used again. It needs it! Your body manufacturers about roughly 2 grams of cholesterol each day — about twice the amount you might consume in dietary sources. The body will produce less if dietary cholesterol is consumed. Dietary cholesterol doesn’t add to the amount your body already manufactures and has little effect on total cholesterol. In fact, limiting or restricting the intake of dietary cholesterol sends a signal of famine which signals the body to over produce cholesterol from carbohydrate sources. Eating a low fat/high carbohydrate diet is a bumpy road to coronary heart disease.
Here’s the short story: basically, Your body is made up of trillions of cells. Each cell structure is made up of — you guessed it — cholesterol. This allows nutrients to pass through the cell easily, feeding your cells, keeping you healthy and boosting your immune system. Here are some of cholesterol’s important jobs:
Cholesterol is needed to make hormones. That’s right, without the right fats in your system you can kiss your sex hormones goodbye. Cholesterol is vital to proper hormone balance. PMS or low libido anyone? Eat healthy fats!
Cholesterol is needed to make healthy bile. Bile is made of cholesterol by the liver to breakdown fats that are eaten in the diet. Indigestion anyone? Eat healthy fats!
Cholesterol and fat helps lubricates your joints as well as nerve endings and helps receptor sites to receive signals better. This is imperative for brain and body function. Nervous wreck? Achey breakey joints? Eat healthy fats! Fat is required to absorb fat soluble vitamins like Vitamins A, D, E and K
SO . . .
Load your veggies with butter, coconut oil or olive oil for better absorption of the vital nutrients in your veggies. Lose the non fat dairy! Low fat dairy cannot even be considered a food group in my opinion. Low fat milk or non fat milk is made from a powdered milk product to give the “milk” body and fullness. This milk powder is processed through a high pressured pathway that makes the cholesterol in the milk oxidize and turn rancid. Oxidized fats do damage to your arteries, and eventually cause heart disease. In the case of dairy you want to eat dairy in the most natural state possible. FULL FAT RAW dairy from pastured animals is your best bet if dairy is tolerated at all. But, remember, NO DAIRY on this 30 Day Paleo Challenge!
Consuming healthy dietary fats will not make you fat! Fats are the preferred fuel source of the body. Fuel your body!
I don’t make this stuff up. There are several books and multiple studies out there. They are hard to find, as they are never funded the way a study done by the American Heart Association may be funded, but here are some links to save you searching high and low:
Primal Body, Primal Mind by Nora Gedgaudas
The Cholestrol Myths: Exposing the Fallacy That Saturated Fats and Cholesterol Cause Heart Disease by Uffe Ravnskov
Know Your Fats by Mary Enig
Great job! Keep it up! We look forward to seeing you at GymCore this week!