I like to think I have the basic tenants of nutrition down. Calories in vs. calories out, carbohydrates are bad for weight loss but good for performance, eat whole foods instead of processed, limit your sugar intake.

Then I read ROAR by Stacy Sims, and my world was rocked.

ROAR is a female-specific food and fitness guide steeped in science and real life application. Dr. Sims, an exercise physiologist and nutrition scientist, has spent her career studying the effects of nutrition and hormones on the female body. Why is this so groundbreaking? Because most of the studies that created those guidelines we all know were done on men! (Seriously- mind blown!!!)

Amongst the many topics Sims covers in her book:

• You are not a small man!
• Hormones play a huge part in performance
• Timing your meals is critical to getting the most out of your workouts
• A pound doesn’t equal 3500 calories (again- MIND BLOWN!!!!)
• People generally fall into three body types: Ectomorph, mesomorph, endomorph. Surprise surprise- each type has different nutritional needs.
• Your gut has a gazillion (my term, not hers) microorganisms partying away to make use of the food you send- and you can change the make up of this little world with the foods you eat. The biggest realization I had- when you eat sugar, you feed the little guys in your stomach that process sugar. They breed more little guys who crave sugar, so you eat more sugar! Another reason to STOP EATING SUGAR!

This book was fascinating and liberating. I highly recommend to all female athletes who want to optimize their performance through nutrition and strength training! Roar is available on Amazon.com and wherever books are sold.