In this quick conversation, we want to learn all about you, your fitness goals and how we can help you reach them.
What Should Be On Your Grocery List?
Making your grocery list is really simple if you follow these couple tips…
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Post workout nutrition is important for many reasons. Today’s discussion however is about what ingredients you might use and a little bit on why.
Generally speaking we prefer to use a PWO drink only because it’s easy to consume in the optimal timeframe, it also is more palatable after a greuling metcon. It’s difficult for most people to consume whole foods during or immediately after a workout. So here are our favorite options.
Protein: pick a whey protein powder that consists of nearly all protein (very low carb or fat content). Natural Whey is available in our vending machine in case you forget yours.
Carbohydrate: pick an available carbohydrate beverage, preferably one that matches well with your protein powder flavor. If you have chocolate powder it may not mix well with lemonade for example. Some of our favorites are chocolate almond or regular milk, coconut water or lemonade several of which are available in our vending machine if you forget yours at home.
Fat: should not be included in the PWO because it will slow down the digestion and absorbtion of protein.
Let us know your favorite PWO combos in the comments below!
Read more about how much protein you should have in your PWO.
Need more information? Sign up for a No Sweat Intro today!
Who should be thinking about post workout nutrition? YOU if…
1. You want to get stronger.
2. You want to lose body fat.
3. You want to recover more quickly.
4. You want to replenish your bodies stored energy more quickly.
Athletes looking to do any of those things should be including a post workout(PWO) in their regular training routine. There are lost of ways to take advantage PWO nutrition some are better than others.
Remember the 3 most important things though:
1. Timing: 15-30 minutes after your workout
2. Should contain protein and an easily digestable carbohydrate
3. DO IT REGULARLY!
Base your diet on garden vegetables, especially greens, lean meats, nuts and seeds, some fruit, little starch, and no sugar.
“You Can’t Out-Train a Bad Diet!” In CrossFit we talk about the Theoretical Hierarchy of Development of an athlete. A “pyramid model” is used to explain the components that are responsible for this development and their importance. The base of the pyramid, representing the foundation and support of this athletic development is nutrition. The foods we eat have a direct impact on the hormonal balance in our bodies, affecting our ability to perform whether it’s in the classroom, at work, at the gym, or anywhere else for that matter. With this pyramid model it is important to note that if there is any deficiency at any level of “the pyramid” all other components above will suffer. With nutrition being the base of the pyramid in which all other great skills will be built upon, it is important for our nutrition to support us along our fitness/health journey.
What is the Paleo Diet? The Paleo diet is based on eating foods that were available during Paleolithic times (Would a Caveman have had the opportunity to eat it?) This style of eating consists of consuming foods that have not been processed. This means eating lean meats, fruits and vegetables, nuts and seeds, and healthy fat sources. This diet eliminates processed foods that in today’s society have managed to find a way into every meal! In the CrossFit community, this way of eating makes sense. Literature shows that Coronary heart disease, diabetes, cancer, obesity and many other chronic diseases have all been scientifically linked to a diet too high in refined or processed carbohydrate. In order to achieve health and reach our maximal level of performance, a clean diet is a must.
What is the Zone Diet? The Zone was developed by Dr. Barry Sears. Dr. Sears describes the Zone diet as a blueprint of how you should compose your plate to get the right hormonal response at every time you consume food. The Zone works by monitoring and balancing our consumption of the three macronutrients; protein, carbohydrate, & fat at each meal. This balancing allows us to construct a powerful drug that will keep our hormones in the zone and control inflammation throughout our bodies. The Zone diet is built upon a block system. Based on several components, a block prescription is derived for each individual indicating the amount of food that is to be consumed at each meal. The block method makes it simple to measure the proper amount of food that is consumed at each meal. * A number of widespread and devastating chronic diseases have a pathophysiologically important inflammatory component.
What is the best diet for me? Ideally, a combination of both the Zone and Paleo diet is recommended. Paleo is a great way to be healthier without measuring. We recommend that you use the Paleo method to ensure you are eating quality foods and the Zone diet to ensure you are eating the proper quantities of these good foods. This combination is “ideal nutrition”. We understand that both of these recommended nutrition styles may be very different than your current way of eating and any change bringing you closer to a Paleo or Zone diet is better than the typical American diet and a great place to start. Inquire to learn more about our Zone Paleo Challenges!
Nutrition can not be overlooked in a persons health, fitness and performance. There are thousands of ways to eat and find success through nutrition. No matter which way we talk about nutrition everyone asks: Can I have ___________? Is _____________ good or bad?
The right question is: Should I have _______? and Is ________ going to improve my performance/weight loss/health? When you ask these questions it’s an instant statement about your goals and seriousness about them. It’s even more impressive when you can ask, answer and execute the correct answer YOURSELF. That’s where we are trying to get to. Independence from others, the ability to see you are in control of your own decisions. Aside from asking the right questions now to answer the common ones.
Can you have __________. Yes, you are a grown adult in a free country you may have whatever you would like. Is _________ good or bad: that question can not be answered without having a standard to measure against. There are many standards about quality of food: paleo, glycemic index, organic etc. But in reality not one of those is all encompassing. Your diet/nutrition is can not be simplified down to one food item for scrutiny, it is the sum of all food items, their quanities over days, weeks, months and years. A ray of sunshine is good right? How about 6 hours worth? A gust of wind isn’t so bad… until it blows for 3 days straight at 100mph. Rain helps plants grow, but 10 inches over the course of an hour might reshape some landscapes pretty quickly. Just like weather a food item can not be summed up in one serving size.
Donuts, fine. Ice cream, fine. Broccoli, fine. Steak, fine. Have what you may but just like CrossFit’s exercise prescription constantly varied, functional movements executed at high intensity. So your your nutrition be constantly varied, natural foods eaten with high precision.
No food itself is bad, but some foods by themselves are.
Brian
We call this discussion… Building the house: Macronutrients and Your Goals! Nutrition is the foundation of improving health and fitness. Proper nutrition is the best way to peak your physical capabilities. There are many different ways to define “quality” food. In this discussion we will forego the discussion about quality and start with a simple way to improve without changing the types of food you are eating. If you are working out but aren’t getting the results you want fast enough you need to start from the base of the pyramid… Nutrition.
Building supplies are needed for a sturdy well put together home. Bricks, boards and shingles are all necessary and in proper amounts. Having not enough boards means a smaller house. Having too many means having a lot of waste that sits around in the yard.
A solid nutrition program always accounts for the bodies building materials… proteins. The primary sources are animal products like meat, chicken, fish, milk, cheese, you know things that came from animals. If having a healthy body is important to you, can can’t neglect the supplies necessary to build AND maintain that structure. Those supplies come in the form of protein.
Supplies don’t just willy-nilly put themselves together into a beautiful dream home do they? Of course not… in our “building the house” example… Carbohydrates are the building professionals. They help put the supplies where they need to go. There are good builders and bad builders, specialists and generalists. For example, you probably wouldn’t hire the roofer to do your drywall or the tile setter to do the framing. If you don’t have enough workers the house will take too long to be built. If there’s too many workers then there will be a lot of builders hanging around doing nothing.
A solid nutrition program accounts for getting carbohydrates. Prioritizes quality ones over poor ones. So what kind of foods are carbohydrates? The good ones are vegetables and fruits, after that grains and finally processed foods. Where are all these foods derived? Plants! If it comes from a plant it’s very likely a carbohydrate, if you can’t tell where it came from… it’s a bad contractor!
At our theoretical build site fats are the fence around the yard, the stop signs in the neighborhood and the sound barrier by the highway. All designed to slow down passerby’s of different types from causing danger to your home. These things help create a buffer so that the yard and house don’t get run over. Imagine a 40′ wall around your yard though with no door… too much protection? Probably. Just like protein and carbs… there’s a ideal amount.
A solid nutrition program takes into account the buffer zone that fats provide. You can plan to get your good health fats from nuts, seeds and oils. Just like with carbs, if you can’t imagine how it came to be an oil… probably not your best nutrition choice.
When building the house macronutrients and Your goals is to have the right amount of supplies, with the right amount of workers and preserve that work. In order to do that we will balance protein and carbohydrate in a way that they don’t affect the productivity at the worksite. Eat protein and carbs at every meal in even quantities and you will make more productive fitness gains easily. Learn more about macronutrients and how to balance them!
So what does a perfect meal look like? Check out this article about how to Eyeball Your Macronutrients
You’re half way through the first weekend of the Nutrition Challenge! Prep Day might be the biggest day in determining the success of any week. A lot of people use Sunday as their Prep Day for the upcoming week, here’s what you need!
Paleo Protein options:
Chicken, Pork, Beef, Fish…
Paleo Carbohydrate options:
Fruit, Vegetables, leafy greens…
Paleo Fat options:
Olive oil, coconut oil, nuts, seeds…
Preparation:
Large quantities of your favorite cooked protein.
Large quantities of your favorite carbohydrates. Cooked or uncooked (depends on how you like them)
Large quantities of your favorite fats.
Packaging:
Make sure your foods are packaged in a way that if you had only a minute before you leave the house for 18 hours that you COULD have all the food you need. The bulk of this preparation should happen on Prep Day, but you should always have enough ready to go for any crazy day.
To learn more about the zone sign up for a nutriton consultation today!
To learn more about the zone sign up for a nutriton consultation today!
To learn more about the zone sign up for a nutriton consultation today!
In this quick conversation, we want to learn all about you, your fitness goals and how we can help you reach them.
