I learned trigonometry in high school (OK, barely) and dissected a (bulbous, slightly glazed over, am still slightly traumatized) frog's eye. I learned how to make quiche in Grade 10 Foods class and I know how to tell you in French that your car has run over my foot.
But no one ever taught me basic law, economics, or common sense. I think a third period class on how to whip up a killer spreadsheet and how to gently manhandle an overly demanding boss would have been so much more relevant than say...obscure chemistry or pottery class. But there's no school of common sense, nor any shortcuts on the road to the most spectacular destinations.
I've learned a whack load on this fitness . Some of it may be relevant to you, some of it may be absurdly obvious, but all of it came to me via gritty experience over anything gleaned in a fluffy self-help book.
Salt is The Devil
Before I discovered Crossfit and the Paleo Diet, I paid no attention to my salt intake. Salt, after all, is calorie less. And delicious. And so easily sprinkled over everything. And so I gleefully ate scads of soy sauce and salted my pre-salted corn and paid no attention to sodium on bottles. But when Corey and I did the 1-month Paleo challenge a few months ago -- we needed to cut out all salt from our diet.
And man, what an immediate, incredulous difference. My bloated stomach and puffy cheeks went away almost immediately. My ankles were thinner, my lingering muffin top completely disappeared. I started scouring the aisles of grocery stores for salt free food. It's hard to find it in some cases, but it's so worth it. A can of corn can contain 70% of your daily sodium needs, or 3%, depending on brand. I've cut out about 70% of the salt I used to inhale. I am amazed now at how overly salty "normally" salted food is.
And that awful fold of skin that rubs against the top of your jeans and makes you want to unbutton it and groan loudly and inappropriately with relief if you weren't totally going to get busted? You can blame that shit on salt.
The Official Food Pyramid Might Not Be the Final Holy Grail
(Something doesn't sit totally right with me here)
I won't tell you what to believe, but I would encourage you to consider the notion that the Food Pyramid you learned as Inarguablle Truth in elementary school might be total hooey. Dairy may have ittle place in our "food pyramid". Of all the mammals, only humans drink the milk of another mammal beyond babyhood -- mostly Caucasian humans, according to NotMilk.com.
After cutting out cheese, milk, and yogurt from my life, I realized I didn't need it. In fact, I felt better, so much better, without it. It makes a lot of people sick, and I have come to believe that Dairy's presence on our socially accepted food charts is a direct result of the profitability concerns of the dairy industry rather than of any real indication of healthy eating choices.
If You Work Out, You Don't Have to Watch What You Eat
I used to run 10K, and then reward myself with a cookie. I felt like I could eat more spaghetti if I put in a grinder at the gym. But I've learned that if you work out - you should actually be even more conscious about what you eat. Otherwise you'll end up frustrated and crotchety - wondering why your skirt is busting at the seams when you have run up mountains and completed 7 billion sit ups this week.
The only way to see measurable, tangible results is to combine exercise with a good, clean diet.
I Want Angelina Jolie's Body.
Someone should have told me that no, that's insane, this body is so much sexier. And stronger and healthier and more durable.
Right? Totally.
Choose a Life Partner Who Has Mad Tenacity and Likes to Exercise (Also: cute, lackadaisical bad boys careen from charming to irritating in less than a year)
Actually, they could have taught this in high school and I absolutely never would have listened anyway. I'm just glad to have Corey sweating and pushing and striving along side me now.
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