Mea culpa maxima. My apologies for the intermission between posts. I have reasons for this abeyance so allow me to explain.

One of my dearest friends in New York suddenly lost her sister. My own family has sustained enumerable medical exams. There have been squabbles in my own relationship about health. Caught in the middle and trying to stay above it all, I have been depressed. I mean like William Styron depressed. Per usual, I want no sympathy. Clinical depression is something I have worked with for decades and just until this past month, I had been moving along at a nice clip. Who knows what triggered this precipitious slip? That’s immaterial.

What I can tell you is that I have experience profound lethargy. I also felt that if I couldn’t deadlift a Herculean amount of weight, why bother showing up to CF. It was dark.

All I know is that this past month by expectations of where I should be at 35 were vastly incongruent with my reality. And, in this vain, I have elected to lower my antidepressants. I am a firm believer that food is a healing agent and these chemicals that have been in my body for a decade are nothing more than a band aid.

I reached out to Marcus at CrossFit Oahu about stopping meds (and HE IS NOT AN MD nor DOES HE CLAIM TO BE) and he wrote:

To be honest I think your Coaches are right. In my opinion antidepressants are more of a crutch than a remedy. Therapy, good sleep, lots of water, healthy eating and exercise are the things that will help you the most. I am not an MD though and would never tell you to stop taking medication that a doctor RX. Do you have the option to workout early in the morning? If so you could probably go to the early class and then take your meds after? Also, if you drink a fair amount of alcohol I would probably cut back (I just took 60 days off). This is going to help you mental state tremendously. A “detox” can work but only for a short period. Here is what I would do if I were you.

2 week detox
1. eat meat, nuts, seeds, veggies, eggs, some fruit only. Eliminate any sugar outside of fruit (including juice)… don’t eat any gluten
2. Go to CrossFit at least 3 days a week
3. Cut out the alcohol. If you drink then stop for two weeks.
4. only drink water…. eliminate caffeine, and sugary drinks. Non caffeinated tea is ok too

After you do this you should loosen your restrictions so you dont binge like crazy. This will also give your body time to lower your insulin tolerance and clean our the gluten in your system.

Tips:
1.Grocery shop every sunday and buy what you need. Prepare foods that can last you all week and cook them up that night (chili, chicken soup, stuff for a salad,ect…). Freeze some of it for later in the week.
2. throw away anything that is unhealthy
3. sleep in a cool, quiet, dark room for at least 9hrs a night. (if you toss and turn it might be time for a new mattress, pillow, ect…)
4. Try some other form of exercise (maybe yoga) once or twice a week.
5. buy something like all natural peanut butter and bananas to eat when you have serious cravings. That should help tame them.

I can say I am seeing the light on the other end ( move to the light, CaroleAnn) but never would I imagine that looking so deeply into yourself and working on life changes would demand both brawn and soul.

Uncategorized CrossFit, CrossFit Oahu, depression, william styron

Sometimes levity is needed.

Please do not tarry. Run and click on this video of a monkey and a  Bulldog doing Tabata sit ups.

With a breath of fresh air, please see Bulldogs preparing for box jumps.

Uncategorized box jumps, bulldogs, monkey, sit ups, Tabata

After penning a post on Fall for TwilighLightEarth, I thought about writing more seriously about the Paleo Diet. As much as I adore doing humor pieces, there is a part of me that also feels its compulsory to write more seriously about our personal health and how to ameliorate. I guess you can say I want to wax a little more spiritually on health.

So I tweeted about my intentions to write about the Paleo diet and living a clean life. Soon thereafter, I receive a tweet from @onearmstrength telling me his is psyched to my musings on the Paleo Diet. I ask his experiences with the Paleo diet. Michael reports he is doing CrossFit and lost approximate 55 lbs from the Paleo diet and CrossFit. I was incredulous. Michael also stated that his starting weight was 355. I’ll be damned.

But, as with any CrossFit story, that is not nearly the end of Michael’s tale. When Michael was 15, worked on on a machine in South Dakota. With his machine not passing safety regulations, one day while reaching over the machine, he lost his balance. And, he lost his arm.

Michael’s story continues with a battle with depression, eating poorly, then eating well. He eventually became a spin instructor. But that too did not last for long. Spin bored him. And the weight creeped back on. I will defer to Michael’s words:

I’m down to 300lbs+- now and started working out with CrossFit WODs. I eat mostly Paleo consisting of meats, veggies, fruits, berries and nuts. I eat no sugar (except on cheat days) and add no additional salt to any of my food either. Usually the salt that’s added is fine. No starches either. I’ve found that switching to Paleo from eating all the “bad stuff” was a challenge the first two weeks or so. Headaches, being rude, and just over all not feeling well. After the two weeks, my energy has gone up, I feel better and much easier to get along with. After the years and years of eating the wrong way, I’m so glad I found CrossFit that introduced me to the Paleo diet.

Find Michael at One Arm Strength. Tell him I said, “Hey!”

Check out Michael’s new PR. I admire this man madly and deeply.

Now for a little entertainment, watch this ass clown do a back squat. Please leave responses.

Uncategorized CrossFit, onearmstrength, paleo, paleo diet, Twilightearth

It bears repeating that I feel stuck around my commitment to CrossFit, the Paleo Diet and simply getting up in the morning.  I have a strong support network from sea to shining sea with CrossFit Oahu now bearing witness to my trials as I blog for Life as Rx’d along with the darlings of CrossFit New England.

I want to share a great note from Marcus, coach at CrossFit Oahu and proprietor of Life As Rx:

PALEO TIPS

Uncategorized Agave, CrossFit, CrossFit New England, CrossFit Oahu, gary taub, Good Calories Bad Calories, marcus dedina, paleo, paleo pancakes, robb wolf

Good Day Life as Rx Readers!

I am hovering at a 18 lb to 20 lbs lost since the beginning of September with my participation at CFNE. And, October was a bitch of a month. The goal I set, to attend CrossFit at least 3x/week, was a wash. Feeling the initial glow of dropping over ten pounds led to a false sense of security. So while I tightened my belt literally, figuratively I loosened the tethers of my discipline. I thought I was Giselle.

Therefore, I thought I could do less work and skim through October with a 20 lb weight loss. MADNESS! I know. Bottom line: for 3 weeks in October I attended either one or 2 sessions a week. At the third week of this month, with a note from Ben, king of CrossFit NewEngland, I fell back to planet Earth with a resounding thunk. Personal excellence is not about achieving a goal quickly.

Personal excellence whether it be fitness, making a lot of money or being a good parent is all about the consistency with which you pursue said endeavors. And, damnit, it’s pretty hard to be committed day in and day out. So, in an effort to bring myself back to my initial goal of becoming stronger, fitter and leaner, I have enlisted CrossFit coach Mat Frankel to coach me privately. And, let me say, despite a pretty face, Mat is task master. I take very seriously my goals and asked Mat to help me.

Here is Mat:

During the past few weeks, Mat and I have worked on my goats (those activities I detest most): running, running, running and my self defeatist attitude. I also have adopted a more generalized approach to CrossFit these past two weeks: I have been participating daily in sports/activity that allows my CrossFit training to be put to the test. I attended Zumba classes, Hip Hop classes, rock climbing and am preparing for a November mountain biking trip. Somehow, adding these activities have rejuvenated me and my commitment to fitness.

This picture was taken at New York Fashion Week in Bryant Park 2 years ago. I was a guest of Sunny Chung from The Seoul Metropolitan Government whom I had worked with at press tour in Seoul, South Korea. I look at this picture and I remember thinking on that particular day despite my rotund girth, I was still pretty. However, I also remember thinking how I had settled to be a chubby but amiable girl for the rest of my life. I had completely let go of fitness and thought, “That part of my life was over.” I mean I was hanging out with Asian Government officials, meeting celebrities, making a good salary…the only thing missing was that I was out of breath walking but hey, “Who cares?”

Strangely on that day, I was backstage of Michael Kors’ Spring Line Debut, looking at models garnished in exquisite clothes, bumped into Michael Kors and Heidi Klum, and never once did I feel a twinge of “I am not at my best.”

In fact, a few weeks later, I attended a party with Sting (by the way, Sting and Trudy are gorgeous, lithe creatures. And, I had the pleasure of seeing Sting with a full beard and fedora on) and the The New Jersey Housewives. I recall being outside waiting to show my credentials to security, when this hot mess of a middle aged woman walked through the line and entered the townhouse. She had on loose flax pants which appeared to be falling off her ass, SNEAKERS with striped long socks and a dashiki with a faux Kenti cloth print. Her glasses were coke bottles, she was overweight and her hair was of steel wool. Turns out, this woman was a head gossip columnist for a well known little gossip rag: you may have heard of it? Page Six?

Time for a tune up.

Uncategorized CrossFit, CrossFit Oahu, Life as Rx

Mahalo! (Warm regards, readers!)

Greetings and Salutations! I am Amanda Beals, I write a blog America Peals, live in Boston, love Bulldogs and have taken a year off to pursue becoming an elite CrossFit athlete at 35 years old. I have returned from 5 years in New York where I went from a competitive athlete to an overweight, depressed, single woman in her thirties. Oh, I am also a stand up comic.

A few months back I contacted Life as Rx’d because I flat out am a design whore.

As Oscar Wilde once said, “You would be a fool to not judge a book by its cover.” I heart Life as Rx’d t shirts and asked Marcus Dedina (CF coach and media guru for CF Oahu) if I could do some social media work in exchange for t-shirts because bartering is the way this girl operates. A snobby reason that I like Life as Rx’d shirts is that their grammar is tight. No run off clauses with inappropriate verbs and designs of horses’ heads with flames shooting out of their skulls.

Marcus and I struck up a deal and I am going to be posting a few times a week from the Northeast where I obsess about money and Tom Terrific.

By the time this post is completed, you will undoubtedly have seen the “way” before pictures (don’t be silly, I didn’t give the direct link to my photo; you will have to work for that)posted on CrossFit New England. 

If you have ever lived and worked in Manhattan, you know NYC is a supernova. It is truly one of the greatest cities in the world. Everyone should at one point in their life live in New York, or at the very least read E.B. White’s Here Is New York.

New York seduced me. I was performing regularly at stand up clubs all over the city. I met Margaret Cho, Judith Friedlander and even, Danny Bonaduce, who is gross, tweaked out of his mind and a horrible comic. He is just simply really red looking.

To truly be immersed in the world of NY comedy, there is a sub culture of drinking, drugs and sycophancy. I am not moralizing or offering any value judgment. You are either doing comedy, drinking nightly and bearing witness to Bacchanalia or you don’t get stage time.

I didn’t do drugs but I did drink. I drank 5 nights a week at least 1 rum and diet coke. Such drinking led to promiscuous eating. I said it. PROMISCUOUS EATING. “Hey, I crushed tonight!” “I’m going to reward myself with the club nachos!” Or, “Wow, I got an applause break (I’m that funny), so definitely deserve a trophy of the Comix’s sliders with curly fries.”

Now, I am committed to health. It’s all one ever has.

Perhaps, one of my most favorite comics is also the one with the most amount of tragedy in his life. He is recovering drug addict, drinker and is astounding brilliant. His career has spanned decades. And if you ever met him, you know you are in the presence of comic genius. Yet, in his pores, you see all the sadness of a man who watched life and health pass him by. I bring this up because I bumped into him not long ago and saw him drinking. It broke my heart.

Ate 2 apples, 8 raw almonds, gulped some fish oil, drank 8 plus glasses of water and am getting ready for some chicken and brocolli. Now, it’s time to watch Curb Your Enthusiasm.

Uncategorized America Peals, CrossFit, CrossFit New England, CrossFit Oahu, Life as Rx, Oahu