Day 5 - Nutrition and Health?

Since my parents diagnosis, I began reading topics on ways to protect the brain.  One recurring theme is reducing the inflammation in the body, this is done two ways.
 1. Eat, drink, ingest less things that cause inflammation
 2. Eat, take, drink, foods, supplements, beverages, that help reduce inflammation.

This is also the nutritional advice I have learned since starting Crossfit.

Before I go on, there are a lot of people that feel strongly that their diet is how everyone needs to eat, and there are people who think those people are insane and need to keep their opinions to themselves.

Look, should we all eat healthy? YES,
Should a 5 year old be drinking 20oz of arizona icea "tea"? NO

But should the person that eats well look down on those who dont? NO.
Should the parents of the kid drinking nothing but garbage beverages be criticized? UM..........

Anyway, if you want to eat healthy, reduce chance of illness, and get in good shape, great.  If you are not concerned about this and enjoy the way you eat now, also great.  I am not here to judge, but I do feel we should all try to be as healthy as possible, and we should all try to have our families be as healthy as possible.

What foods cause less inflammation?

Real foods, food that came from an animal, or a plant. 
Once you start adding chemicals, preservatives, colors, etc to natural foods, you increase the risk of inflammation inside the body.

What foods, drinks and supplements help reduce inflammation?

Foods - Berries, olives, nuts (not peanuts, they're not nuts), garlic, some fish, and many others
Drinks - Natural Teas, water (try to drink half your weight, in oz. of water, 210lbs = 105 oz of water/day)
Supplements - Omega 3 Fish Oil, Vitamin D, Vitamin C, Potassium, Omega 3 Fish Oil (no this is not a mistake, fish oil, specically omega 3 EPA and DHA, have some many benefits it should be taken by everyone. It reduces inflammation, helps protect the brain, can help with auto-immune disease.

This is not a cure all, so many factors contribute to illness, but if simply eating right could help, why wouldn't you want to do it.

With all of that, I did also squat today.

I am a creature of habit, I like routine, and before I started this challenge, my rest days were Thursday and Sunday, now those are my active rest days.

Today, being Thursday meant no condition work out, but did not mean no squat.

So,, instead of getting up at 5am for a 6am class I got at 6am and was in the gym around 645 (yay extra hour of sleep).  On days when I do not do any other work besides the squat, I don't simply walk in, put the weight on the bar, squat and leave (although it would be nice to be that physically ready at all times). 
What today and most of these days consist of is
~5 min Aerobic warmup (run, row, jump rope)
~5 min Dynamic stretching
1-2 minutes - Muscle Activation - squat holds with a band around my knees
              *This is becoming a favorite of mine and should at least be tried by everyone
Rack the bar
1-2 sets of 5-10 reps with the Empty bar
135 x 5-10
185 x 3-5
210 x 1+