I absolutely love being a woman.  I think it’s a blessing and a privilege all in one.  We have so many options available to us that men don’t have:

Officer, I honestly didn’t know I was going that fast. (batting eyelashes and smiling sweetly)

But professor, I did pass it on time. (Staring intently while blinking slowly—think Indiana Jones)

Oh thank you, I could have lifted it myself. (Feigning injury while lifting a tissue box)

With all this benefit, you know at some time, though, we need to “pay the Piper” as they say.  And nature has us, ladies, paying a lifetime debt through EMOTIONS.  Our emotions can make or break us on any given day.  Sound familiar?

“I have no idea what I want to eat, but I don’t want that.” (translate that into: no matter how you try and dress up that chicken and broccoli today, pizza is going to win.)

“There is nothing wrong with me, I just feel so blah today.” (read that as: I have a workout planned and I am going to do it, it’s just not going to be pretty.)

“Honestly, I just want to cry and get it over with.”  (sounds like: cycle is on the way and for some reason, chocolate is not an option to fix this mess.)

Having mood swings is normal and par for the course but for some of us, they have taken over and become almost crippling.  Scattered thoughts, highs and lows, goals that change by the hour, low self esteem one day, can conquer the world the next day seem to pepper our weeks.  Although they may seem like the norm for you, they are not and are fully holding you back from all that you could be because you are too busy trying to figure out who you are that day instead of actually getting ahead with your performance. 

So how can you begin to optimize your emotions so you can focus more on your performance on the court and less on your performance off the court?  Regulate your blood sugar.  You are a hot mess because your blood sugar is all over the place.  Some of this is caused by your diet (my endurance ladies are far too carb dependent, my power athletes are afraid of carbs), some of it by your lack of supplementation and the rest by your own personal biochemistry.   Your primary focus as an athlete who wants to perform at their best is to make yourself as insulin sensitive as possible, work at your hardest and then fully recover for the next time around.  So let’s look at the things we need as our foundation to make this happen.

NUTRITION FOUNDATION

BUILDING BLOCKS

You only need to go back into Menu Planning to see where I am going to go with this for you ladies. 

Protein at every meal

Fruit or veggie at every meal

Good fat every day

Starches appropriate for your activity level

And variety

Where do you miss the boat?  Good fat.  No matter who I talk to you, I can typically rip you apart for your lack of good fat in your diet.  Fat is the precursor to hormonal health.  It’s what makes you happy, satisfied, pretty, tight and so on.  Fat feeds the brain and keeps you sharp and agile.  Fat is where it is at!  I cannot sing fat’s praises enough.  If you have been around me long enough you knew I was going here.  I am a true advocate of good fats, more specifically Omega 3’s.  Fatty fish and flax being my two favorites, get them in your diet starting today.  Contrary to many of y’alls beliefs, peanut butter is not a great good fat.  It’s ok, but I wouldn’t count on it to change your body composition or make you feel good about that day.  It’s not that good of fat—sorry.

FINISHING TOUCHES

Most of what hampers us without us even knowing it is our reproductive cycle.  We have been trained since our young days to accept mayhem and chaos in our system as being normal.  Periods that show up when they want, last as long as they want and can be as heavy as they want is being sold to us as being “normal”.  And if you are not willing to accept that, then the only answer is to go on a hormone.  No one asks how you feel on that hormone, how your skin reacts, whether your hair changes texture or anything.  You should just shut up now and be happy because we fixed your hormonal complaint.

Ummm…no, not cool.  Your reproductive health is *your* health.  When all is working well there, you are working well.  Having a week out of your month barreled over in pain is not cool and then telling you the only way to fix that is to either stuff you with a hormone (without checking the rest of your hormones to see how much they liked that), give you some Midol or take out the organ itself.  None of these options seem all that appealing so one of the best ways to help yourself here is to find a doctor who will listen to you and is willing to work with you to fix this issue long term.  When you find them, you now need to help them out by keeping accurate records of when and how your periods manifest and keeping up on basic supplementation so that you may have eliminated all “leaks in the boat”.

Since we have such major demands of our bodies and our bodies have their own set of demands, the likelihood of us keeping up with all them through food is dismal.  Supplementation with vitamins and minerals becomes imperative if we want to thoroughly keep from depleting our resources.  Always talk with your doctor before you begin to take anything but here is a list that you can bring with you to the doctors so you are not just huntin’ and peckin’:

Calcium—the ultimate fat burner

Magnesium—if you are a hormonal hot mess

Fish oil—makes you uber insulin sensitive

Zinc—you need a swagger too

Multivitamin—spend quality money here.  No Centrum!

Vitamin D—must, must, must talk to doc first

BCAA’s—not mandatory but oh so beneficial!

To me, these all go without saying so do your homework and find a doc that knows you for you and then get to fixin’ those ‘mones!

I’M TOO TIRED TO RECOVER

Exhaustion is what I hear about the most from my clients.  Whether man or woman, feeling like a wet noodle seems to be the thing right now.  For the ladies, though, it is always that you are doing way too much.  It’s not just the endless workouts or the working out 7 days per week that’s the problem, it’s also the fact that you go home to another full time job known as your family.  So your downtime consists of laundry, bathing kids, cooking, cleaning and etc.  You never fully recover.  You are in perpetual motion yet you cannot figure out why you do not get better at what you are doing.

MUST have one day per week rest—may be active but not intense

MUST master the art of pre and post workout nutrition

Fight for one hour a night of mental down time

WISHFUL THINKING

I have given you a lot to think about here and I hope that there is not too much that you need to do to get in line with your foundational needs because you only have a week to get it done.haha!  Next week we add on from here and get into how this affects your performance.  Look for more this afternoon about Menu Planning as we wrap up that series.  As always, be productive, be beautiful! )