Slow Ride, Take It Easy: Stop Working So Hard at Cardio 🚲

Take all your efforts down a notch, it's the weekend after all.

ISN’T IT IRONIC

Sigh…one more box on the ladybits checklist: approximately one-third of women under 50 are iron-deficient.  Symptoms (fatigue, brain fog, poor sleep, what else is new) can often mimic other conditions, so it’s not always accurately diagnosed, but unaddressed it can lead to long-term depletion and anemia, and create problems during pregnancy.  Routine bloodwork only tests hemoglobin levels but won't actually detect a deficiency unless testing for ferritin, so ladies, if you have symptoms that are otherwise unexplained, it’s worth asking your doctor for this specific test.  To supplement through diet, iron-rich foods include meats, beans and leafy greens.  But before you hit that salad bar…

DON’T KALE THE MESSENGER

You asked, I’m answering: it's time to retire the ubiquitous kale salad.  Seeing as I am largely responsible for its early origins, it feels fitting to be the one to kibosh it for you.  Unless you’re chewing every bite 50 times, your digestive system is doing a lot of extra work for very little benefit, all while you’re likely feeling bloated and gassy.  Cute!  Kale is indeed a nutritional powerhouse but unlike more watery greens i.e. romaine, spinach, and watercress (hey-o!), its indigestible sugars make it hard to break down raw, requiring a lot of effort.  True that when cooked, it loses some antioxidants and vitamins, but cooking it down means you can eat more of it, reaping greater benefits with less discomfort.  When it’s raw, your best bet besides lots and lots of chewing is massaging. Although that reprinted recipe above was clearly not fact-checked (it’s missing a few ingredients like, oh right–the KALE. #kalefail), it’s right there in writing, circa 2010. (Along with a link to the new company using our defunct biz’s url.) Massage it.  Work it. With feeling.  It needs acid, salt, and elbow grease, and I can promise you this happens in maybe 1% of restaurant salads.  So if you must, here is the actual original recipe to make at home. Otherwise, skip it and give your system a rest.  Toot toot.

HERE'S A TIP, MAKE THE CHANGE

Speaking of doing less work, you have perfected your HIIT workout just in time for me to tell you that now you can ease up- Zone 2 cardio is your new best friend.  The zone refers to your target heart rate, in this case aiming to reach only 60-70% of your max for an extended period of time (think breathless walking rather than a gasping run).  This rate strengthens the heart and increases mitochondria, which can prevent injury and improve metabolic flexibility. For the average fit person, the recommendation is for 80% of your workouts to be in this zone, and 20% in high-intensity zones.  And Z2 can be a downright pleasure as opposed to torture.   Instead of logging miles or multiple sessions of high-intensity exhaustion and burnout including plank jacks, burpees and other Navy SEAL leisure activities, you can cycle for the duration of an episode of, say, Love Is Blind or your favorite podcast. 

Yes, a Z2 workout requires a heart rate monitor but honestly, if you’ve been doing cardio all this time without one, you’re missing out on some meaningful personalized data.  If you prefer the Bentley option, then you can go top shelf, but I’m generally a fan of skipping the fancy branding when an equally effective budget version is available, no big Whoop.   But this is just a bite-sized overview of a big topic, so I encourage you to read more.  And do less. 

Be well, and also have fun,

xo
Erica

Photo by Sandro Gonzalez on Unsplash