Recently, Mike and I held a nutrition seminar at CrossFit Oakland. It went really well and we covered a LOT of material on food choices, Paleo diet and the Zone. I think we could have easily gone on and on about the topic, but it can be a bit overwhelming for beginners. I've found that it is more effective to keep it simple, especially for those who are eating consciously for the first time. The key is to get new clients to adopt some healthy eating habits from the get go.
As a trainer and someone who's been there, it is incredibly frustrating to come into the gym and bust your ass on the WOD yet never see the results of your hard work. In order to fully experience the benefits of CrossFit training, you've got to provide your body with the fuel it needs. From a medical perspective, changing someones diet is probably the best thing I can do for them. If a client is Xfitting regularly, then they've already done half the work. The next step, and most important change comes with a commitment to a healthy diet. Michael Pollan said it best in the first line of his book In Defense of Food, “Eat food. Mostly plants. Not too much.”
Here is a list of some basic food recommendations. Personally, I feel that it's more important to get the junk out of your diet and focus on food choices before getting into the more technical stuff like counting blocks.
1. Eat REAL food.
-Meaning, only food that you can find & eat in its original and natural form.
-Fruits, vegetables, meat, nuts, seeds and dairy(cheese, milk, plain yogurt)
-If it has a label on it, chances are its not real food.
2. Eat protein with every meal.
-Something that once had a face.
-Grass feed animals are preferable.
-Dairy is okay.
-Beans, seaweed, nuts and quinoa are not protein.
-Again, Face=Protein
3. Eliminate (or Limit) Gluten from your Diet
-Wheat, flour, barley, oats, spelt, rye, millet, quinoa (am I forgetting any?)
-Beware: a lot of foods have gluten added to them, remember to read labels, especially meats.
-Gluten is a protein that has been linked to a lot of disease including, but not limited to; auto-immune disease, Celliac disease and inflammation.4. Take Fish Oil
-Improves brain function
-Prevents heart disease
-Reduces inflammation and joint pain
-Facilitates fat loss and recovery
5 comments:
These two statements seem to be in opposition:
>Eat food. Mostly plants. Not too much.
and
> Eat protein with every meal.
> Something that once had a face.
Pollan is probably more concerned with the ecological impact of eating than he is with sports nutrition and optimal health. Eating in the Zone/Paleo way may indeed be good for you, but it has ecological repercussions. I would bet that the Paleo diet is not really in line with Pollan's vision of eating. Does Pollan do muscle ups? How much does he deadlift?
If you want to be in good shape, there's unfortunately only one real answer: Eat meat and f*ck the planet.
Sorry for the bad language. You may need to censor it.
hi connie. i wanted to attend your FUEL seminar, but had a conflict i couldn't blow off. do you know when you're going to do another one? good work this morning, too!
Personally I recommend taking out the "or limit" clause (crutch) for the gluten/grain products and adding a probiotic supplement with the fish oil to improve digestive health.
Oy, and tomc let the sustainability cat out of the bag...Paleo/Zone nutrition is actually surprisingly "sustainable," though this is extremely dependent on one's ability to answer the question "Do I know where this food I am eating came from?" In most cases, someone who eats grains cannot answer that question. It really depends on which pair of rose-colored lenses you're wearing when you look at the world.
Connie
I love your list. I am stealing it. Hope that is ok. Love ya!!
Robyn
p.s. I welcome you to critique my diet anytime if you want the practice: smrtgirly.blogspot.com
Protein comes mainly in vegetable form, not so much in meat form - Its just food industry propaganda, the truth is meats give you energy because they contain the vitamins that veggies don't give you.
Eating wild-caught salmon (if you really hate meat, and just choose one) is arguably the most healthy pick.
Oats also contain gluten, FAKE meat and almost all processed foods are more likely to contain gluten than real meat. Many foods with "gluten free" labels actually contain barley, too, so always read the ingredients list. Gluten is not a problem for people who do not have the allergy, but it still is not an easy-to-digest food, it cant hurt to avoid it.. But the people who avoid gluten often avoid (cow) milk, too, for the same reason.
Milk is actually NOT very healthy or good for you, that was also food-industry propaganda. If people were meant to eat milk, lactose-intolerance wouldn't be so prevalent, and native americans wouldn't be allergic.
Eating healthy is more about a balance between Real fruits, veggies, pure meats/homrone-free eggs, and avoiding anything your allergic to than fallowing some list.
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