CrossFit – How Should I Eat?

The CrossFit dietary prescription is as follows:

Follow the “Zone” diet, which concentrates on regulating your insulin.  The basic ratio of carbohydrates to protiens to fats is 40-30-30.  Carbohydrates should be predominantly low-glycemic and account for about 40 % of your total caloric load. Yes, fruits and veggies are carbs, try to stay away from your highly processed refined flours and grains such as pasta, breads, chips, and any sugars.

http://www.zonediet.com/

Also learn how to get started on the zone diet by checking out CrossFit Journal # 21

Try to eat real food. Foods that aren’t processed. This is the basis of a Paleo diet. Click here for a good introduction to the paleo diet . We basically aren’t much different then our caveman ancestors, but our food has changed drastically. Stick with foods that are grow from the earth, or animals that eat the things that grow from the earth. Think of foods that go bad quickly, these are real whole foods. A granola bar isn’t whole food, it’s processed. Raspberries good – swedish berries bad. With a paleo diet, you are more concerned about the quality of your food.

The essentials of the Paleolithic Diet are:

Eat none of the following:

· Grains- including bread, pasta, noodles

· Beans- including string beans, kidney beans, lentils, peanuts, snow-peas and peas

· Potatoes

· Dairy products

· Sugar

· Salt

With Paleo you Eat the following:

· Meat, chicken and fish

· Eggs

· Fruit

· Vegetables (especially root vegetables, but definitely not including potatoes or sweet potatoes)

· Nuts, eg. walnuts, brazil nuts, macadamia, almond. Do not eat peanuts (a bean) or cashews (a family of their own)

· Berries- strawberries, blueberries, raspberries etc.

Try to increase your intake of:

· Root vegetables- carrots, turnips, parsnips, rutabagas, Swedes

· Organ meats- liver and kidneys (I accept that many people find these unpalatable and won’t eat them)

By following these simple rules you will see quicker gains with your fitness and your recovery, and you will also feel much better! Don’t get me wrong I still polish off a tub of ice cream now and then, but all that sugar makes me feel bad, and I don’t do it again for a while. When you are shopping at the grocery store, just try to stay to the outside of the store and you will find most everything you need to eat well.

Eating healthier doesn’t take any longer, it just takes smarter decisions. You body will thank you.

CrossFit Nutritional Lecture Video Library

Nutrition Part I, Robb Wolf …[wmv][mov]
Nutrition Part II, Rob Wolf …[wmv][mov]

Nutrition: Teeter-Totter Pt I, Nicole Carroll .[wmv][mov]

Nutrition: Teeter-Totter Pt II, Nicole Carroll ..[wmv][mov]

Perfume Analogy, CrossFit Nurition Seminar …[wmv][mov]

Zone Multipliers, CrossFit Nutrition Seminar, Robb Wolf…[wmv][mov]

Zone Chronicles, Pat Sherwood …[wmv][mov]
Zone Chronicles: LAX, Pat Sherwood …[wmv][mov]
Zone Chronicles: Normalcy at Home, Pat Sherwood …[wmv][mov]
Zone Chronicles: New Jersey …[wmv][mov]

Insulin Resistance, CrossFit Nutrition Seminar …[wmv][mov]

Refined Carbohydrates, Robb Wolf, CrossFit Nutrition Seminar …[wmv][mov]

Pat Sherwood on the Idiot Suit …[wmv][mov]

I will try to update this with some of the great articles on nutrition from the CrossFit main site or wherever else I can find them. I would suggest that you don’t look at eating this way as a “diet” is is more about making “healthy lifestyle choices”.