Oats and Fruit

I am looking forward to changing my diet now that I am not preparing for a competition.  It's funny when I talk to people and tell them I am trying to add muscle, most believe that means you can "eat whatever you want, and as much of it as you want".

It really couldn't be further from the truth.

To gain lean muscle mass, and avoid gaining a great deal of fat, you still need to eat a clean diet of the same foods you eat during a competition prep, but just not as strict and a few more calories, but not much.

Above is the change I will make to my breakfast now. It is the same serving of steel cut oats and flax seed. I have added one thing though , on the left is cut up figs (still a few on my tree!) and on the right is currents.

Yup, that's it, I added some fruit. Fruit is typically removed from a competition diet as it is sugar, plain and simple. When you are trying to lose weight there are a few things you do, reduce caloric intake, and reduce saturated fats and sugars. 

One of the first things I ate after my competition was a banana and I thoroughly enjoyed it! I have also been hankering for some fruit on my oatmeal and now I get that too. 

I will strive to stay close to a very clean diet for the next few months, but will enjoy some meals out and meals with my family that I haven't been able to enjoy for the last couple months.

Sign of Change

This is my wonderful fig tree in the backyard. David and I planted this when it was very tiny, almost 18 years ago. It was the very first thing we planted in our barren yard when we bought our home.

You may have noticed that it appears to be growing sideways,  in fact, it is. It hasn't always grown like this, but this summer, as it was loaded with fruit it started listing and leaning and it is almost on the lawn at this point.

Figs are one of the most nutritious fruits you can eat. They contain 250 mg of calcium per 100 grams, compared to whole milk with only 188 mg!

As a token of honor, figs were used as a training food by the early Olympic athletes, and figs were also presented as laurels to the winners as the first Olympic medals.
 

The Romans regarded Bacchus as the god who introduced the fig to mankind. This made the tree sacred, and all images of the god were often crowned with fig leaves. The first figs of the season were offered to Bacchus, and at festivals in his honor, devout females wore garlands of dried figs.

Pliny, the Roman writer (52-113 AD) said, “Figs are restorative. They increase the strength of young people, preserve the elderly in better health and make them look younger with fewer wrinkles.”

The Persian King Xerxes, after his defeat by the Greeks at Salamis in 480 B.C., had figs from Attica served him at every meal to remind him that he did not possess the land where this fruit grew.

Figs are mentioned in Homer’s Iliad, as well as the Odyssey; by Aristophanes, Herodotus and Cato; and the fig is reported to have been the favorite fruit of Cleopatra, with the asp that ended her life being brought to her in a basket of figs.

It is very sad to me, I have climbed this tree, used the leaves to cook many dishes, gathered figs twice a year and savored the wonderful sweet fruit.

We have enjoyed the stunning scarab beetles that eat the rotting fruit and will dive bomb us, and the hundreds of crows that will sit menacingly atop the tree, eating all the uppermost ripe fruit. It will be gone by winter.

It has made me contemplate change and life. Things don't always turn out the way we want, or they take a "turn".
 

I don't want to lose my fig tree, but it now gives me an opportunity to plant a new one, placed in the correct setting according to everything else in the yard, and ensure it will thrive.

 

It has made me realize that I too can make changes, and I will thrive. I have felt change simmering for a long, long time now.I mean that I think I need to take some serious time off from competing.

I mention it now and again and everyone says "oh, it's just because you are close to your competition" or you will change your mind afterward" maybe yes, and maybe no.

I would actually like to see just how big and muscular I can get. I mean serious big. Now that would be a big change. I am a tiny woman, with wide shoulders, If I could get everything else "big", it could be rather frightening!

I will decide with the fig tree, when it decides to leave me, I will make my decision. Until then, I am hanging in there, maybe a little sideways like my tree, but I am there .