Today I am training my back/shoulders and arms, as well as fitting in a morning Bikram class. I chose Sundays as my day to “refeed”, which is body-building code for taking in extra carbohydrate calories to rev up metabolism and maintain some efficiency on carb metabolism during a dial-in phase. I am craving mostly big bowls of veggies at this point, so for breakfast I sat down to a tiny 2oz serving of mint-rubbed tandoori chicken kebob and a 2 cup bowl of asian flavored vegetables: cauliflower, broccoli, and some water chestnuts and bamboo shoots. The watery crunch of the chestnuts adds so much rich texture to this dish, and I can’t recommend it enough.
Since talking to so many vegan and vegetarian body-builders, I have come to realize that we have a lot more lee-way in terms of our macronutrients than traditional body-building authority would have us believe. Couple that with the fact that nutritional science is a constantly evolving, (iow contradicting itself) I think it is best to trust my intuition and reach for my healthy cravings for vegetables. Most coaches would be telling their athletes to grab instant oats and pasta on their refeed days, but those products are so bereft of significant micronutrients, that it just doesn’t make sense to me as a whole foods chefs to focus on the macros and not the quality of those nutrients.
One other measure that I’ve been seriously implementing is practicing my Bikram class on an empty stomach. Not only does this make for a better “vaccuum” in compression poses, but it heightens the thermogenic effect of the series, and I can literally see the change in my body composition between beginning of class and the end of class. For me, this is the best kind of “cardio” routine, as it benefits the joints, organs and glands, stretches out the body, improves alignment and body-awareness and over-all sense of well-being and “connectedness”.
On that note, off to the studio!
Paz y Luz,
~Michelle
