Food can Make you Sick and Make you Well~Which do you want?

Food can make you Sick and Food can Make you Well

By Annie Berryhill

That's pretty obvious. But there is a sneaky side to food that doesn't at first glance seem like anything good or bad and that is food's ability to cause inflammation.

I discovered the nasty reality of inflammation this last week in my own science lab-body. Like many Crossfitters, we finished the competition season last weekend (at least here in So Cal). For many of us, we did not move on to the Crossfit Games being held in July. So, I must admit, I let off the "gas" of super clean and balanced eating. It wasn't that eating clean was a chore, I just missed some foods that I cut out to stay in the best shape I could for my team.

My post-Regionals week food "cheats"

(listed here with the culprit listed alongside)

All things that I cut out of my eating program for the last few months or so. Unfortunately, eating clean has a bad side effect of making your body react strongly and quickly to the reintroduction of foods that the body happily escaped.

How my body reacted:

Very achy joints, in many places

Chronic, ongoing new pains not related to injury

Lethargy

A touch of being down or depressed

Met-Con (cardio) crap outs ( I even had to WALK part of an 800m run!)

Downward spiral of poor eating choices (mental fatigue)

As I reviewed my week, and saw the glaringly poor choices I had made with food and I know that so much of it is due to the inflammatory process that certain food create in the body.

I am not a doctor, but I researched enough to understand that a high-processed, high glycemic carb laden diet is likely to start the inflammatory reaction in the body. But like the silly human I am, I decided to eat that way anyway, thinking I was safe because I had felt so good for many months. Dr. Sears, Robb Wolf and many others all talk about inflammation and how it actually occurs, as well as the detrimental and silent effects.

It is a new week, a new start. I find myself craving a salad, some meat,  fish oil and my life of clean eating. Not because of vanity, but because I want to Look Feel and Perform as well as I can. It's such a simple fix and it is going to feel so great when my body balances itself out again and I am really looking forward to this. Isn't it amazing how strong the influence of food is? It continues to amaze me!

Have you ever experienced this problem? You may have not even realized it until now. Maybe you need someone to help you figure out where to make some nutritional tweaks  so you can look, feel and perform better too.

I just created a program called Food Journal Review and Consultation which is a quick simple way to have a set of experienced eyes help you to get on track! So, why don't you join me while I tweak my own diet and allow me to help you with yours? Staying on track is a whole lot easier if you have a partner to check in with!

You are DESIGNED to live

LEAN – STRONG – HEALTHY!

Today is a good day to get started

Anne (Annie) Berryhill is a Crossfit Level 1 Trainer, athlete and competitor who owns and operates OC Fitness Revival in Orange County, CA.  

Her services include personal and group training, online nutrition classes and counseling, as well as providing incredible health-improving supplements to help people  to make the most out of what they've got. For more information, contact her via email anne@anneberryhill.com