CrossFit CFT

Chuck E. Cheese and the Zone

So, I discovered this past Sunday at my 4 year old's birthday party that there really is no way to follow the Zone at Chuck E. Cheese. You can definitely eat yourself sick there however. You know what's sad about that? The pizza's really not that good either. It would be one thing to go somewhere and really blow-out your diet on really tasty food; aint gonna happen at Chuck E. Cheese though. But to blow it on mediocre crap really sucks.

Now, going into this party I knew that I wasn't going to follow the Zone. Knowing this, I made sure to eat a good breakfast before we left and I also got right back into the Zone afterward. This helped to reduce the bloated feeling that comes with too many heavy carbs (pizza crust...and lots of it). I also drank much water afterwards; yes, I had coke while there

The most interesting thing about this adventure (besides my daughter bashing her face on the table and bleeding from the mouth and nose) was the next morning when Jennifer asked me if I was doing the Zone with my girls. I had to reply that no I wasn't but that my wife and I intend to move the kids in this direction. We both commented that; yes, its hard to do special diets with kids.

Upon reflection; I'm thinking the only hard part about getting the kids on the Zone is laziness (on my part). My kids eat the crap they eat because I give it to them. We have gotten in this habit of quick, easily heated foods that overload our kids with carbs and sugar (because that's the stuff we ate). As a result, they run around like banshees and then get tired and grumpy. This is not their fault if we choose to give them crappy food. The only time we can't control what they eat is when they are at school or visiting with friends.

Anyway, I now feel guilty for feeding my girls pizza, loads-o-juice, milk shakes and cereal. I will now be looking to see if there is a Zone for Kids book and changing our routine with the girls. I'm sure they will buck the system and complain from time to time; but I'm also sure that this will diminish with time. Wish me luck!

Best of luck Keith. The greatest thing about your thought process is that you took a stand and did the Zone yourself. After seeing the positive results, you're motivated to help your children. It's not always this way in households, as what we typically see is parents forcing their kids to eat well but they themselves eat junk.

You're leading by example and that's what children need. After all parents are supposed to lead from the front, and children mimic what they see.

The Zone diet is the way our students should be eating in school cafeterias. Instead we see soda machines ready to take your kid's money and ability to function. If more parents took an active stand in their children's diet, I believe we would see an increase in grades and a decrease in violence. The main roadblock in this theory is that most school's follow the Government's misinformed FDA guidelines of a "healthy eating plan" or "Pyramid" which consists of high-carb, little protein, low-fat. Isn't ironic that your car runs on refined oil (gasoline) and what humans burn for fuel is fat which when melted becomes oil? Obviously the emissions are different but you get the point.

And one more thing, why the hell are school's teaching square dancing? Shouldn't P.E. teachers be teaching students how to exercise properly? If children know how to work out properly they may be more inclined to do it. Even those that feel they can't may find hidden athletic abilities or be late bloomers. Coach Burgener did this very thing with his high school P.E. class and turned out some great athletes. There is also a likelihood that those students will continue training with CrossFit and be more productive citizens, not some sorry excuse for a human trying to sue McDonald's b/c they couldn't stop themselves from eating Big Macs 3 times a day.

Keep up the good work.

Keith,

Found an article to give you a little info and motivation to get the kids on the Zone.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2009-04-06-obesity-preschool_N.htm?csp=usat.me

Coach,

Thanks for the reply and for the article link! I never would have thought that American Indian children would have the highest rate of obesity; that really blew me away!

Zone morning for the girls.

This morning my girls had a hard time waking up; so breakfast was a little late for them today. They started with blueberry nutrigrain bars. In the past this would have been it; breakfast done! Today, I figured this was their carb blocks for the morning. Both of them wanted juice after finishing their cereal bars but daddy said, "Nope. First you have to have your protein and fat." I gave them both a small bowl of cubed ham and a small spoon of peanut butter.

Because they both did as I asked, I did give them each a small glass of juice. I know the food choices weren't the optimum choices but at least they ate a balance of carb to protein and fat.

The best part is the girls didn't fuss whine or give me attitude!

Wish me luck tomorrow!

Today the girls had peanut butter on banana slices and ham. They did very well again; no fussing, whining or otherwise agitating their father!

I am back on track with the Zone now and am feeling much better; I am still a bit more tired than normal but I'm sure this will level out with time and improved sleep habits. My wife reminded me that I only had four hours of sleep Saturday, drove to Bowling Green (and back) to visit with mom and dad all day Easter Sunday, slept poorly that night, and was awakened by my youngest daughter Mon. night. Combine this with the recent food splurges and you end up TIRED! Really TIRED! It's funny how these things will creep up on you and smack you dead in the face!

So, I am currently (according to the Zone.com body fat calculator) at 20% body fat and should be eating 14 blocks (total) a day. Well, I have been scarfing down about 16 blocks a day and am thinking of adding a one block snack to that prior to working out (for a total of 17 blocks on CrossFit days). I tried that today when at 10:30 I was heavy lidded and thinking about a nap and it seemed to work rather well. Normally, I have breakfast at 7:30 or 8 am and don't eat again until 12 pm or until after CrossFit (1 pm); I think this may be too long.

Coach has suggested adding a fat block to help with energy; I will probably do this with breakfast, mid-morning snack and lunch just to keep my energy up during the middle of the day and cut it back to regular blocks after that to settle in for the night. We'll see how that affects me.

Uh oh; its dinner time! Later!

Keith,

Let me know if adding the Fat block is helping. If not then we'll adjust the other blocks. Due to budgeting for a family sometimes we can't always choose the best sources for Carbs. Just be aware that the denser the Carb the higher your insulin will rise. And what goes up must fall.

Lower density Carbs such as Broccoli and Spinach are good choices to add to those higher density Carbs. So taking half that Nutri-grain bar and adding some fruit like grapes or an apple might keep things in check. This has been my experience and it's been a suggestion from Robb Wolf. He also suggests adding Yams or carrots to his Carb blocks to help bring up the number of blocks. For example, three cups of Broccoli is one block of Carbs. Well, if someone is eating four blocks a meal, no one wants to eat 12 cups of broccoli. That's a recipe for disaster. Mix it up. Not all Carbs are equal.

Choose wisely my young Padawan.

Yes Master

Hey, speaking of veggies; I found a great way to add veggies to my evening meal at work! Birdseye has a line of steam in the bag (in the microwave) veggies that have no added sugars and very little sodium! Usually around 15 to 25 mgs sodium is all. They also have veggies in various sauces but man the sodium content skyrockets to 250 mgs or so! Anyway, one bag is about two blocks (they say one bag is three servings) and they only take 5 minutes to prepare! How awesome is that? So, tonight I'm having corn, asparagus, and baby carrots; yum! With that I will have my four ounces of chicken and an apple and three handfulls of peanuts; BAM dinner is served!

And adding the fat block seems to have helped; I'm not nearly as tired this week as I was last week.

This weekend I worked at the Lone Wolf Horror Show and Tattoo Convention at the Airport Marriott on Elm Hill pike. Nutrition was a challenge as plenty of crappy food was available and time was short.

I did manage to take a cooler with good choice food and I did manage to eat those foods MOST of the time. I did enjoy one bad meal a day with my friends however . I have learned from this; coke is crack. Just when you think you can have just one---nope. The brain starts its little, "Oh, its just one." and, "just one today won't hurt." The next thing you know; bam, you're smoking crack again.

O.K., so that's the negative part. Here's the positive part; I stayed in the Zone with easy to do meals MOST of the time. I had my own veggies from Birdseye; apples, oranges, pears, chicken and peanuts.

Now to get off the crack again.

Cupcakes from Heaven

So, I arrived home from work this evening and discovered a cupcake with my name on it. Boy, did it look good; know what else? It tasted really good too! That's right, I ate a cupcake and it was the best cupcake EVER! Yep, the best ever. Why? Because it was decorated with love by my oldest daughter, Olivia who only wanted to make her daddy happy. I ate it without hesitation and with the utmost of joy and appreciation!

As far as my crack (soda) addiction; I am on the wagon again! So far so good; as a matter of fact, it was much easier to kick it out of my daily routine than it has been in the past. As a matter of fact, I had completely forgotten about falling off the wagon until I saw my last post!

I will add pictures of the cupcake later...after I resize them to fit.

So, I spoke with Polo the other day about hunger issues. I have been eating 4 block meals and 2 block snacks for quite some time now...but lately, I would feel less than satisfied after my meals. I physically felt full but still somehow hungry! Coach suggested adding a snack between breakfast and lunch (I was going 7 hours without food there) and upping my fat to 5 blocks per meal/snack. So far so good. The hunger monster is at bay!

That is so cool Keith! Good job on recognizing the issue and getting it taken care of! Being hungry is no fun! You are doing so well lately, good job on being the first PR on the new PR board!