Drama! Don’t call me a “clean eater.”

This past weekend was my show in Chicago. I want to preface this post by saying, I dislike drama. I don’t like to focus on the negative but I will today just to clarify my position.
I built my reputation on being healthy and balanced!

Read on:

This weekend a competitor/coach was doing a live feed and pointed her camera at me.
She said something to the effect of “She’s 51. You don’t look like this unless you eat clean.”

My hubs did NOT like that. He said “She’s not a clean eater”.
Then came the “Well. she has to or maybe you just see the bad stuff she eats ” comment.
I needed to just let that go, because it wasn’t the time or place.
I did stand up for myself and said “My nutrition is on point”.

 I am passionately NOT a clean eater. Clean eating did NOTHING for me.

Clean eating from my competition coaches.
7 small meals spaced 2-3 hours apart of turkey chicken fish and spinach or green beans.
I got 2 eye diseases from one bro prep because my  HDL (good cholesterol) was so low my doctor demanded I quit my competition prep.  My immune system was wrecked.

I lost 35 % of the vision in my eye. But hey.. I eat clean.

Clean eating gave me an intense fear of food and led me into terrible cycles of restrict binge.  I was obsessed.

Clean eating gave me zero balance!

IIFYM takes a bad rap in the bodybuilding community for the under educated. This woman is just another  who really doesn’t understand that all food has macro nutrients.  Old school prepping is based on old science.  We look to  new studies for IIFYM and it’s very nutritionally sound. My nutrition is balanced because that is incredibly important to me.
In fact, I learn from the best in the industry every single day and we use science!

But.. you may be surprised to know that the basics of IIFYM require minimums of
fruits, veggies and fiber along with meeting protein, carbs and fat goals.
By nature, IIFYM is more balanced and nutritionally sound than ‘clean eating’ alone.

If you follow my blog, you know how I eat. I eat well. My off seasons are full of wonderful, food that makes me happy. I eat with my family and do not carry Tupperware to functions.

I used to.

I don’t pretend that suffering in my show prep makes me a better athlete.
I don’t post pictures of 30 containers of broccoli and tilapia to show how bad ass I am.

I used to.

I am 100% committed to show how flexible dieting does work for lifestyle and competitors.
I am committed to helping others understand that clean eating is not sustainable and we are our best and most successful when we can choose consistency over perfection.

Oh.. and  yes.. you  may know that I eat very nutrient dense foods in my last weeks because it’s hard to fit other things in.  Show prep is tough so my food is locked down but it’s still flexible and I still like it. I would never step on stage again if I had to eat chicken 6x a day. I would quit the first day.  Truth.

I am 51 years old and I hold my own. I like the way I look. This may sound terrible, but if someone else doesn’t like my physique, I really don’t care. I work to be the best I can be with what I have to work with. I know I have work to do on my physique. My goals are to get better each year. This year, my goal was to bring a better package than last year and also to be more in tune with my health and micro nutrition.  Oh.. and  I didn’t look better on a clean eating/bro  diet. I didn’t.  (age 47/49 were bro prep)
I actually didn’t.

I am a better athlete not because I suffered with my food, but because I am  in tune with what my body needs.

If you want to know.. here’s how I look the way I do at 51.
Hard work in the gym.
Water.
No sun.
Skin care
IIFYM.

I look better with solid nutrition, inner peace, joy in my food, and freedom from food fears.
I look better without deprivation, starvation, blindly following old science with nothing to back it up.
I look better because I wake up each day with choices and goals.
I look better because I don’t beat my self up for eating cookies . I eat what I like.

I look better because I’m balanced.  I look better because I’m happy and I won’t be an example of anything less.

Here’s some hardware.
First place bikini masters, 2nd place Glamour and top 5 in the bikini open.  #IIFYM