After viewing the video on obesity and food choices posted on our Wod section today, I started thinking about addictions.

In the video chef Jamie Oliver is discussing at length the obesity epidemic in this world, and more specifically in American children. The video is hard to watch at times. You feel guilty about all the crap that you eat. You feel angry that all these poor children and families are killing themselves at each meal and each snack. But I overwhelmingly felt inspired to do something. Nothing can be accomplished on a large scale unless it first starts with one person deciding they’re going to change how they eat. So where should I start?

Well, I guess the first step is admitting I have a problem …

Food has become an addiction. It has become something more destructive than drugs, alcohol, and crime combined. What are we doing to ourselves? What the hell happened? I have to confess that I am not perfect. I love sugar. I have a hard time going to Trader Joe’s and not grabbing a container of cookies. This is my addiction. I can eat healthy all day and then at the end of the night I hear these evil cookies beckoning me. I know I need to stop. I want to stop…but I can’t. Is this not an addiction then? Knowing full well that something you’re doing is destructive but continuing to do it anyways?

Here’s a definition I found-

An addiction is a persistent behavioral pattern marked by physical and/or psychological dependency that causes significant disruption and negatively impacts the quality of life of an organism.

I’m not delusional in thinking that I’ll be able to rid my life of all dietary vices, but I know I could do better and I know I could influence others to do better too. If I have a cookie or two every now and then I’m not going to throw myself off a cliff, but I need to be aware that as a health and fitness professional I can make a difference for others.

Can you make healthier choices in your diet? Can your changes affect others lives for the better? Then do it! Not sure where to start? The greatest thing about the CrossFit community and almost every CrossFit affiliate website is the access to nutritional information. Watch the video of Jamie Oliver, read The Paleo Diet Book, check out the different CrossFit sites and talk to your trainers there.

Then tell everyone you know what you’ve learned. Tell them often and persistently. You might ruffle a few feathers, but that’s the price you’ll have to pay in trying to help people. 

Would you rather hurt their feelings and have them in your life or continue to tell them it’s ok to shovel those fries in their face and then attend their funeral when they die about 30 years before they’re supposed to? Does that sound harsh? I hope so. Because I’d rather be part of saving someone’s life in some small way than an accomplice to their slow suicide by food and inactivity. Let’s call it an “Intervention” of sorts. If someone was killing themselves with drugs or alcohol wouldn’t you try and help them? So be part of the solution and lets see how many addictions we can kick together.

When I was a kid I always enjoyed sports and recess and gym class was where I felt the happiest. I tried all  kinds of sports; swimming, running,soccer, tennis, softball, gymnastics. But my favorite pastime was when my dad would come up with crazy obstacle courses for me and my brother. We had a big backyard and would run to a tree, climb the tires of the playhouse, slide down the firemans pole, then maybe run around the block. I think the reason I love CrossFit so much is that it reminds me of these childhood joys. I think the saddest thing about growing up is that many adults lose that joy of running and jumping and just being active and alive in their bodies. What’s even sadder to me is seeing kids who no longer even grow up with this joy. Their communities have cut gym class or after school activities, and are instead feeding them junk food and video games. Some could say their parents are to blame, or maybe it’s just our culture in general that has shifted to sitting in front of a computer for entertainment. This is our nations greatest tragedy.  I don’t know how to solve this problem overnight, I don’t know how to get every parent to value their health and their childs health, and I sure as heck don’t know how to get everyone away from their computer screens, but I can make it my mission to help as many people as I can find.

Playing around on the pullup bars with my fellow Bulldog CrossFitters yesterday made me really feel this joy again, and it’s a joy I experience almost everytime I step into a CrossFit box anywhere. I want everyone to feel this way.  To feel how amazing it is to truly be alive, to be strong and healthy and use your body the way it was intended to be used. I may be only one person, but if I can share this with even a small fraction of people who have been missing it or never had it, then I’ve realized my purpose. Bulldog Bootcamp & CrossFit makes me feel like I’m that little kid running around in my backyard again, and that is a joy I hope to share with people for the rest of my life.

Woke up this morning and was very aware of the right side of my back. Doing the CrossFit Total or any heavy lifting always gives me a new, wonderful soreness. In case anyone reading this doesn’t know what CF Total means, it’s just the name of a very basic CrossFit workout. Your total is the sum of 3 major lifts: the BS(Back Squat), P(Shoulder Press), and DL(Deadlift). After warming up you have 3 separate attempts at each lift to find your maximum effort at 1 repetition. I’ve done the CF Total once before and ended at 495 lbs. Yesterday I got to 525! I’m pretty happy with that considering I’ve not been training much since I messed up my wrist in December. Glad to be edging close to the 300# DL mark. Attempted 285 on 3rd and final lift, but knew if I didn’t have a solid core going, I’d be paying for it in lower back pain for a week. Next time…

6am Grant Park Bootcamp Thurs 2/25/10

Neal and Jen in attendance. Lots of snow and slipperiness going on so we ventured to Millenium Park where they seem to work extra hard to clear the snow and salt it properly. Cannot say that about our usual routes around the ice rink and parking garage areas just off Randolph.  Here’s the workout:

Under the Bean & Thru the Snow!

First mini-wod

3-15-3 Ascending and then Descending Ladder by 3’s

Military Count(means double)

Pushups, Arm Haulers, Flutters

2nd mini-wod

Mountain Climbers, In ‘n Out Squats

Run 150 meters in the snow between each set.

3rd mini-wod(courtesy of Gio and previous days CF WOD)

10-1 pullups

5 squats

1-10 angry situps

50 meter hill run in between each round

Tune-up exercises: 3-way Knees to Elbows-Hanging from bar, pull kness straight up to elbows and then alternately from side to side as well. 1 minute.

2 max time hangs-Either with a flexed arm or straight arm, hang from bar for as long as possible. 2 rounds.

Neal and Jen did great this am and pushed each other to really go at a hard, constant pace. Neal’s pullups are getting so good I’m just hoping he decided to come into the CrossFit Box in Oak Park and learn the kipping pullup. I think he’d pick it up fast! Jen is improving every day. Her posture and depth in her squats is getting better and better every day. And like I tell my BC’ers “It’s called Bootcamp for a reason. It’s not super-happy-fun camp, unless you love burpees and the like.”

Ready for warm weather and glad to be doing what I love everyday! Bulldog Bootcamp & CrossFit is the shit!!

Guess what?  I have my own blog.  Stay tuned.

Michelle Larson