CFI Whole Life Challenge

I will be participating in the 8 week CrossFit Impavidus Whole Life Challenge!  It is going to be a lot of fun for sure.  Very Short version:  The goal is to eat correctly while still working out and being active.  A lot of people think that by only working out they are going to get the results they want without changing their nutrition.  Well you COULD do that but your results will take a lot longer to get and you more then likely will not achieve the goal you have.  It is a combination of eating right and working out.  It doesn't matter how much you workout, you can't out train a bad diet.  In addition to working out, mobilizing is very important.  I myself am guilty of not mobilizing as much as I should but have recently started (from the beginning of the site) following Mobility WOD.  In fact, that is the next cert I plan on getting.  It is something that I know I need to work on as do may others.

So our baseline WOD was

800m run
Time: 2:49

1RM Shoulder Press
135#

10 AMRAP (reps)
30 Single Unders
20 Squats
10 Sit-ups (no abmat)
Total: 611

In 8 weeks I plan on having improvement in all three.

THE RULES

What to avoid

Grains/starches (corn, soy, bread, rice, pasta, potatoes) - Quinoa and wild rice are grains. Quinoa contains saponins, a concentrated source of anti-nutrients which increase intestinal permeability and lead to "leaky gut" which in turn may promote low level, chronic inflammation. Quinoa also contains phytates which inhibit the absorption of nutrients such as iron and zinc. Wild rice also has similar gut irritating qualities. It comes down to whether or not you can OWN it. If you are not sure, the best answer is always avoid it until you are clear. 

Sugar - ANY caloric, natural (honey, agave, cane juice, evaporated cane juice, maple syrup, Truvia, etc) or non-caloric artificial sweetener (aspartame, nutrasweet, sucralose, etc.). Stevia is fine for this challenge, just be sure you are not preserving a sweet tooth you’d be better off without. Unwire your palate from sweet! There is also some research that says that there is an insulin response just from the taste of sweet. Gum and mints are not OK - artificially sweetened or not, they are a violation. There is a reason that people dip and chew tobacco. The mouth and gums are a highly permeable entranceway to the bloodstream. Whatever you chew in your mouth ends up in your system.

Alcohol, soda, juice -. No soda - it's either sugar or artificial sweetener, so lay off. No alcohol. No juice allowed. It's just liquid sugar, people. If you choose to drink any of these, portions for 1 point are:

• 1 oz. liquor, 16 oz. beer, 4 oz. wine, 1 mixed drink
• 12 oz. soda
• 8 oz. juice

Dairy - Only butter is permitted. No milk, raw or not, yogurt, cheese, kefir, etc. If it is made from the milk of any animal and is not butter, it is not allowed. That's the rule.

Diet or processed foods - nothing artificial, nothing processed in anything besides traditional cooking or preserving methods (curing, cooking, drying). If it required a lab, it's not OK.

Food points - multiple violations in 1 item 
Combo items such as coffee with milk and sugar, pizza, grilled cheese sandwiches, baked goods and pastries, pasta with sauce and cheese, etc count as 1 point even though there are technically multiple violations contained within. It is the item, not the combination of parts. If you want to put your cake into your plate of pasta, go ahead.

A single instance of the item is 1 point, repeated instances are additional points (a single cafe mocha, a single piece of pizza, one piece of cake, pie, bread, etc, 1 drink). Size? Can you own it? Is half a cake one piece? Can you say with a straight face to yourself that you only had one piece of cake?

Workout 
Minimum of 10 minutes active recovery DAILY. It's about focus and habits, not killing yourself. Work out, active recovery, yoga, hiking, jogging, etc.

Mobilization 
Any kind of stretching whatsoever. 10 minutes minimum.

Weekly Challenges
Every week we will introduce a new weekly challenge. If you successfully complete that challenge, and report that you completed the challenge when you report your score on Monday, you will be awarded 10 extra points. You will only get one opportunity to report the completion of the weekly challenge.