GoddessAthlete’s BodyBlog

I just finished competing in the NPC Nationals, where almost 200 figure girls were after only 6 pro cards.  With so few "winners," how can you ensure that you win your next competition?

This is exactly what I asked myself as I went into the competition….what could I do to ensure that I won?  That question became tougher to answer as I stood on stage and had girl after girl get called to the center stage while I was still on the perimeter.  With almost 40 girls in my class, all of us looking top notch, choosing the "best" could not have been easy.

 while I didn’t place in the top 15 or even the top 20, I still won my competition.  My winning came from the daily nutrition and exercise discipline, the hours spent refining my routine or my diet, the courage it took to step on stage with so many great physiques and to still have a smile on my face regardless of my placing.

When you put your all into what you do, you cannot help but win…..I may not have walked away with a trophy but my win came before I even stepped foot on that stage.  My win was my daily committment to improving myself and being the best that I can be.  Being on stage was just a way to display my hard work. 

So, before you step on stage for your next competition, remember that you have already won!  Who you became in your journey to get there is the prize!  Stepping on stage is just for fun! 

I’m so excited!!!  I will be having Goddess Athlete Clothing available soon!  I’m starting with T-shirts and warm-ups and then who knows what is next!!  My whole philosophy is "Define Yourself" (both physically and in being the person that you want to be so that you can inspire others to be themselves!) and I want my clothing to remind women to embrace their potential and be the person that they want to be….still working on how to incorporate men into this…. 

 Just wanted to share this with all of my friends here!  You all inspire me to keep doing what I do!

I just want to thank all of you who helped make me a winner for Round #1!  It’s because of all of you that I do what I do.  I train people like each of you every day, hoping to inspire them to see and live a healthier life for themselves.  And when they find success, I feel great, because I got to be a part of it and witness transformation before my eyes.  This site provides me an opportunity to see and be a part of even more transformation and it inspires me every day to do what I do.  I love what I do and I thank you all for allowing me to watch and be a part of your transformations….your success is success for all of us! 

Hi, everyone!  I’m writing today to let you know about a new feature that I’ve just added to my website www.GoddessAthlete.com.  Go to http://www.goddessathlete.com/newsletter.html and subscribe to my FREE newsletter.  Not only will you receive my newsletter, but you will be notified when I run training specials or add pictures, videos (Fitness Tips with Chrissy) and events to my website, making it easier for you to get the information you want!  Thank you for your continued support and I look forward to helping you all DEFINE YOURSELF!

Have a happy and healthy weekend!

Due to many questions about my dietary approach, I’ve put together the following blog.  I hope that it clarifies some of your questions.

My choice on diet has a lot to do with how a human would live without the conveniences of modern society.  While certain foods (beans, grains, for example) might be fun to eat and have some nutrient value, without the ability to cook and process them, they would not be edible (you would break your teeth).  Unfortunately, the ideas of a few people and the glamorization of the media often wrongly influences the public.  It is overeating and refined sugars and grains that are the problem with most people’s diets.  The ideas that carbs, especially from fruits, are bad is just plain WRONG.

CARBOHYDRATES
The myth that carbohydrates will make you fat has everyone in a panic.  Unfortunately, nothing could be further from the truth IF you choose the right foods.  While carbohydrates contain the same number of calories as protein, carbs are much more easily digested, absorbed, and used in the body, so if you consume too many carbs at one time and they are not needed for immediate fueling needs your body will start storing them as fat. 
That does not make them bad though.  Carbohydrates are your “GO” foods.  They give you energy to do much of your daily activity and are the sole source of energy for your nervous system.  Ever wonder why people on low carb diets are lethargic and can’t think straight?  Their body and brain are not getting the fuel that they need. 
Now you SHOULD panic about processed carbohydrates.  Any kind of refined sugar is NOT healthy for the body and you would be wise to reduce and eventually eliminate this from your diet.  Be warned that MOST packaged foods contain refined sugar, which is why it is best to consume as few things as possible from a package (can, box, bag, jar, etc.).
However, without adequate carbohydrates, you do not have the optimum fuel that your body needs, you can’t burn fat as easily, and your body goes into a state of ketosis which can be very dangerous to your entire body especially over time.
Where should you get your carbs?  The best sources are from fruits and vegetables.  If you are sensitive to carbs, start with low glycemic fruits like apples and pears.  You will notice, though, that your body will not respond to these carbs in the same way that it does to grains.  Grains make you look puffy, but fruits and vegetables will not.
When you decide to eat higher glycemic carbs such as sweet potatoes, bananas, and raisins, it is best to consume them AFTER working out when your body needs to replenish the sugars stored in your muscles (known as glycogen) AND consume them with other foods that have protein and fat in them to slow down the absorption of sugars in your blood stream (and reducing the chances that too much energy will be available in your system at one time and stored as fat).
PROTEIN
Your body can use protein as energy but carbs are the preferred source.  Many people over-consume protein because they believe more protein will help build larger muscles and fear that carbs will make them fat.  This is very taxing on the body as it causes the body to become more acidic and places a heavy burden on the kidneys.  Proteins are for GROWING (both for muscle building and cellular repair).  Some cells in your body (like the ones in your digestive tract) are replaced every 3 days.  Other cells are replaced every few months or even years.  Protein is vital to this process.  However, too much is NOT good.  And just like any other nutrient, if you consume too much of it, it will be turned into fat.
So why do high protein diets work?  Proteins tend to be very filling so people consume fewer calories.  Many people go crazy finishing off an entire box of cookies, but I have never heard of anyone devouring an entire cow!  Also, carbohydrates attract water to them and as you decrease your carb consumption, your muscles become glycogen depleted and will lose the water that is attached to it.  Thus, the number on the scale decreases, but that is NOT because you lost body fat.  You lost water weight. 
When you are planning your diet, please don’t go about it blindly and just follow those that are loudest and act like they know the truth.  Investigate physiology and how the body is supposed to work.  Fad diets (high protein) may produce some external visible results, but do you know what it is doing to your insides?  Remember that health is more than what you see on the outside.
Contact me at www.GoddessAthlete.com if you want some individual help on how to refine your diet and DEFINE YOURSELF!

DON’T LET MARKETING GIMMICKS KEEP YOU FROM LOSING WEIGHT

                I’ve heard it from my clients a hundred times.  They’ve counted their calories, they’ve been faithful to their workout regimen, and still the scale does not show them favorable results.  Some of my clients get discouraged at this point and blame their genetics, their metabolism, or some strange idea that they can gain weight just by looking at food.  For many of them, however, the answer is much simpler than all of these ideas.  They have been fooled by marketing campaigns and nutrition labels that bet on the fact that you aren’t like me and read ALL of the information on the product.  And even if you do read the whole label, there are definitions of the descriptive terms on food labels that you may not be aware of.

                In fact, marketers bank on the fact that you WON’T read the fine print, look at serving sizes, or know what “free,” “lean,” and “reduced” actually mean as it pertains to food labels.  Food packaging and advertisements sell that the food is healthy, will help you lose weight, or help you gain muscle.  As I tell my clients and college students, the front of the product lies to you and seduces you, the back label MOSTLY tells the truth.

Big FAT Lies

                FDA’s standards for food labels state that something can be considered “free” (of fat, trans fat, saturated fat, calories, carbohydrates) if it contributes less than 5 calories per serving.  That’s right!  Your “fat-free” foods can still contain fat.  Your “calorie-free” foods can still contain calories.   Now a few calories here and there might not seem like a big deal, but add them up and you will find that even as few as an extra 100 calories a day will make you gain about a pound of fat each month.

                My favorite examples of foods that are misleading are “non-fat” cooking sprays like PAM or the I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter spray.  PAM clearly states on the front label that it is “for Fat Free Cooking,” which leads you, the consumer, to believe that it contains no fat.  Then, you turn the can around and it says in the Nutritional Facts that each serving contains no fat or calories.  Now, if you are trying to lose weight or get ready for a competition, this seems like an excellent addition to your diet plan because there is no fat or calories in this product.  Right?  Wrong!!! 

In the ingredient list, the first ingredient is canola oil which only “adds a trivial amount of fat” according to the manufacturer.  How can it be fat free if FAT is the first ingredient in the product???  Then you look at a serving size of PAM, it is 1/3 of a second spray.  Now, if you are an Olympic 100m sprinter, 0.33 seconds is an eternity and can differentiate the gold medal winner from the competitor in last place, but for the average consumer, I can almost bet that the average spray on your pan to make eggs or to coat your baking pan is about 3 seconds.  Now, a one second spray has 7 calories in it, which is almost a full gram of fat (wait, what happened to the no fat, no calorie claim?).  This means you just added almost 3 grams of fat and 21 calories to your diet.  Again, it might not seem like much, but all of those calories add up!  Your fat free cooking is no longer fat free.

Now on to the “I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter” spray.  I just got done competing in a figure competition and this spray was tremendously popular among the competitors.  They had their protein pancakes with so much of this spray on it that I thought it was going to run off of their pancake and down their arm (which I suppose could be useful to help them oil up before going on stage).  They find this product very satisfying while there are dieting and trying to cut fat out of their diet.  What they don’t realize that this product could also be sabotaging the body they have worked so hard to attain.

In this product, the second ingredient is fat, and while 5 sprays contains less than one gram of fat, think about how many sprays you put on your foods.  My clients, like most people, tend to go a little overboard when they think they are consuming something that won’t add many calories or fat to their diet.  And 5 sprays become 15, and they have just added another 3 grams of fat and 27 calories to their daily intake.

Take Control of Your Food Intake

While it is the marketer’s job to sell you the product (even if that means bending the truth), you don’t have to be a victim to crafty marketing pitches.  With just a few changes in the way your approach eating, you can take control of your food intake so that your nutritional plan supports your weight loss goals.

If you are anything like me, I LOVE to eat, and I snack all day to keep my metabolism high and blood sugar levels steady.  However, almost  everything I consume is fresh.  Fresh fruits, fresh veggies, lean meats and eggs.  The marketers can’t fool you with these foods because there are no labels.  What you see is what you get.  You can get on free internet sites like www.nutritiondata.com or www.fitday.com and track all of your food.  You can even enter your favorite foods from restaurants and the website will tell you EXACTLY how many calories, carbohydrates, fats, and proteins you are consuming.

This way, you know what you are eating.  You don’t necessarily have to cut out your “fun foods” ( I don’t like using the phrase “cheat foods” because of psychological topics we will explore in another article), but you can monitor how much of these foods you include in your diet so that they don’t sabotage your efforts in the gym.

Chrissy Zmijewski, MSW, CPT, PES has degrees in psychology and social work and is the owner of Goddess Athlete, providing  one-on-one and online nutrition, training, and contest preparation coaching.    Check out her website at www.goddessathlete.com or email her at chrissy@goddessathlete.com.

Many of you have been asking me how I continue gaining muscle and yet stay so lean.  What’s my secret?  It is no magic pill (in fact I don’t use thermogenics); it is simply a well-designed meal plan.  I will be coming out with a book on it soon, so I don’t want to spoil it all now, but I will provide some information to help you all make gains (building muscle or losing fat) FASTER and HEALTHIER!

I hope to help you redefine what "healthy" actually means.  Many articles about what is "healthy" quote the parts of studies that validate their ideas.  For example, many people talk about how alcohol in moderation can reduce the risk of death from heart disease.  What these articles don’t tell you is that the research is ONLY true for people over 60 years old who already have an increased risk for heart disease (Nutrition Concepts and Controversies, pg 101). You aren’t being given all of the information, so unless you do hours and hours of your own research, how could you possibly make a truly informed decision?  The truth is that you cannot.  It is my hope that my endless hours and years of research can help you make healthier nutritional choices so that you are truly fueling your body in the best way possible. 

Now, before you continue reading, I ask you to read with an open mind.  Some of the information that I present may contradict ideas you have had all of your life.  I have had all sorts of reactions from presenting the information that I’ve found, but remember, many men defended with their life the belief that the world was flat, and now, no one (that I know of anyways) believes that this is true.  As many of you know, it is my mission to revolutionize the health and nutrition industry.  Regardless of the reactions I get, I want to present you with research that affects you and your daily choices.  Take what you want, and just leave anything you don’t find useful now.  Maybe it wil be helpful in the future…..

Are you ready?  Then buckle your seat belts, here we go! 

WHAT IS A FOOD?

While this may seem like a silly question, everyday people consume products that they consider foods, products that are full of toxins, chemicals, preservatives, and artificial sugars and flavors.  While they may taste good, the insides of the body do NOT agree.  I’ve had bodybuilders argue with me that they can consume whatever they want because they still stay ripped, but what is going on inside their bodies after years of a diet full of saturated fat clogging their arteries.

Foods are products that are in their natural state (fruits, vegetables, and meats), full of vitamins, minerals, and phytochemicals.  Notice that I didn’t mention of few of the traditional food groups.  This was intentional.  I do not consider grains or dairy the best things to eat. 

Why? 

Ask any competitive bodybuilder what they do a month or two before the show, and they will tell you that they cut out grains and dairy from their daily meal plan.  Grains cause cellular edema (otherwise known as inflammation or that "puffy look").  There is a reason that I look lean and hard all of the time.  Besides having low body fat, I do not consume grain products that cause cellular edema.  On stage, I get critiqued for not being "full" enough.  I actually take this as a compliment, as that "full" look is due to an allergic reaction within the cells from the grain products that most people carb up on (pizza, cookies, rice cakes, etc.) before stepping on stage.  Additionally, our overconsumption of a protein in grains called gluten (which is found in vitually everything from shampoos and toothpaste to salad dressings, crackers, and gum) has caused numerous problems and has increased the incidence of celiac disease in our society.

Dairy causes more problems than it does good.  Look at it this way, Americans eat the most amount of dairy of any country and we also have the highest rates of osteoporosis.  How is that possible if milk "does a body good"? Interesting, huh?  Additionally, we are born with an enzyme called lactase that helps digest the milk sugar (lactose).   As we stop drinking breastmilk, our bodies stop making this enzyme (as is true in all mammalian animals) because we  move onto eating solid foods.  It’s not a wonder why many people, especially Asians and Africans, suffer some intestinal distress from consuming dairy products.  You may say, that’s not me.  Do your research, allergic reactions can vary from gas, diarrhea, acne, crohn’s disease, sinus infections…….need I go on?  Don’t just take my word for it, though.  Look at the credible doctors who have studied these subjects at www.mercola.com, www.nomilk.com    Even the Physicians Committe for Responisble Medicine (www.pcrm.org) is asking the FTC to review the health claims made by milk advertisements. 

Ok, so you may be wondering, what DO I eat then?

My diet is simple.  It consists of fruits, vegetables, meats, and nuts.  I could go into the why, but that will be covered in my book.  If you need more information now, check out the Paleo Diet at http://www.thepaleodiet.com/  It’s somewhat different than what I promote, as it is typically high in fat and protein, but every BODY is different and any diet plan that tells you exactly what to eat is short changing you.  Your body doesn’t need the exact same things as someone else’s and what works for one person may or may not work for you.  Some people may need a high fat and protein diet, while others may need a high carb diet.  There is no “one-diet-fits-all.”

WHAT DO I EAT?

Well, that depends on my activity level, the time of year (I eat more fat and protein in the winter and fruits in the summer), and what kind of training program I am currently doing, but I’ll give you an example of today’s food:

Pre-workout

1 asian pear, 5 dates (high carb fruit)

Post-workout

Shake: 2 bananas, The Ultimate meal Protein shake (made from spirulina, pea protein, sprouted grains)

10 dates, 1 Tbsp hemp seed (very high in protein)

Morning snacks

1 fuji apple, 1 asian pear, 6 tangerines, 10 dates

Lunch

young coconut (water and the flesh)

huge salad-romaine lettuce, mixed greens, kale, cilantro, parsley, dill, grated sweet potato, mushrooms, spirulina, bell pepper, raisins, lemon juice and 1.5tsp olive oil

7 oz sirloin

Snack

10 dates and 1.5 tbsp nut butter

Dinner

Another huge salad-I mean HUGE.  My salads probably weigh about a pound, which is alot, considering they are MOSTLY leafy vegetables!

7oz sirloin

There you have it.  I eat ALOT of food.  In fact I eat all day long!  Right now, my calories are over 3000, and my carbs are at 500-600g, which would leave most of you gasping.  But I can do this because of the KINDS of carbs I eat.  Believe me, if I did this many carbs with grain products, I, too, would blow up like a balloon.  But the more natural foods do not cause that kind of reaction in most people’s bodies.  And if you put my foods into any diet program, the vitamins and minerals are through the roof.  You may say the same thing about your foods, but how many products do you consume that are fortified?  IT’S NOT THE SAME AS EATING FOODS THAT HAVE THE NUTRIENTS IN THEM NATURALLY.  The body can assimilate nutrients from foods better than fortified foods.

So, where do you go from here?

Do I expect any of you or my clients to eat all whole foods all of the time?  Absolutely NOT!  Even my husband, who agrees with this information whole-heartedly, eats processed foods (breads, rice, etc).  I am not writing this in order to get you to give up your dairy, grains, and other processed foods, but to make you more aware of the effect of these products on your body and your health.  Without awareness, your choices aren’t well-informed.  Once you have the information, you can choose what to do with it.

First of all, if you are new to healthier eating, you may need some guidance, to make sure that you are getting all of your vitamins and minerals.  While it is highly likely that you are getting most of what you need, especially if you choose a variety of foods, there are certain nutrients (calcium, iron, and folate for example) which you need to ensure that you are getting enough of to maintain ideal health. 

But, make sure you add more fruits and vegetables to your diet slowly, as they contain lots of fiber and adding too much fiber too quickly can cause uncomfortable side effects (mainly gas and bloating).

Just remember the phrase that I use with my clients: “Fresh is best.”  Incorporate more fresh fruits and vegetables in your diet.  Choose fresh cuts of meat and fish over packaged items.  Your body will thank you for it!

And email me (chrissy@goddessathlete.com) if you have questions regarding this post or if you want to be on the mailing list when my book is complete.  I wish you the best, and I hope that this information can help you refine your diet so that you are feeding it as optimally as possible and achieving your fitness goals quickly and health-fully!

And to get more information, please check out my website at www.GoddessAthlete.com