Nutrition - CrossFit Eastside

Plan B

2007-06-30T12:32:00.000-07:00

We all have a nutritional conscience. The intention to eat good, nutrient-dense food in proper proportions is always there, but things trip us up along the way. For most people, time and work are the most common obstacles. If it's not the lunch hour that gets whittled down to 5 minutes of warp-speed chewing, it's the long-day of long-slow-duration stress followed by comfort food on the couch with the soft and soothing lull of junk TV. It's not a surprise that this happens a couple of times a week, but then you wonder why we don't plan for fire-drill meals on fire-drill days.

What you need is an In-Case-of-Emergency-Break-Glass plan that saves you—but only if there's something of value behind the glass. Otherwise, you're just left with an additional mess to clean up amongst all the other chaos.

So, take steps now to plan for when your plan falls through. Help yourself expect the unexpected. I mean, you know it’s going to happen. Not preparing it for it is giving up before you even begin; it is—let’s be frank—preloading excuses for your lapses. (“Well, I was going to ace my nutrition today…but something Important came up. Really, it’s not my fault; there was nothing I could do about it. Really.”)

What you know is that the contingency plan has to be reasonable, speedy, and, depending on your circumstances, perhaps non-perishable. Come up with some snacks and meals that you know you can keep on hand. Or even parts of meals, with a plan to complement them with things you know you can forage for even under the pressure of deadlines, tight schedules, demanding children, and the mid-afternoon munchies.

That might mean that you keep a can of tuna, sardines, or bag of jerky for your protein and then head for the cafeteria to scare up a garden salad or a random piece of fresh fruit. Or, keep the carbs handy in the long-shelf-life form of a Lara bar or a small quantity of dried fruit.

If you keep some reliable staples on hand as a regular practice, you can always toss together a few blocks of balanced fuel on a moment’s notice. Stock the fridge at the office with some of the following, and you’ll be set for even the unplanned meals and snacks you might need. Keep nuts on hand (macadamias have an excellent fat profile), or even a small bottle of olive oil, to make sure you can get a small fat dose with any meal.

Here are some easy, balanced snack ideas to spark your thinking

deli meat & an orange (or apple or nectarine or other fruit)

sardines, tuna, other canned meat/fish & fruit & nuts

string (or other) cheese & an apple

cottage cheese & a few Triscuits to make the right number of carb blocks for you (ahem, a few crackers, NOT the whole box)

cottage cheese & just about any fruit or berries

yes, this is just a version of above, but worth specifying: cottage cheese, sliced apple, cinnamon, and sliced almonds

plain yogurt & fruit (or blueberries from the freezer)

hard-boiled eggs & dried apricots

milk

frozen berries, protein powder, coconut milk (and a blender)

protein powder (not soy, please) & milk (or juice, or, in a pinch, water)

beef/turkey jerky, fruit, & nuts --Zone Perfect bar (Ok, it’s fake food and full of scary ingredients, but at least it’s macronutrient balanced and ultimately better than that lone leftover Krispy Kreme in the corner of the conference room down the hall. We are talking emergencies here.)

What else?? You guys have been doing this. What works for you? Post your ideas and solutions to comments.

The key to all of this is that emergency eating shouldn't require emergency thinking because that grey matter is already pressed into service by whatever fire drill is happening at your desk. The thinking and planning is something that gets done in advance. So do it.

Mmmm...sardines

2007-06-16T17:35:00.000-07:00

Though some of you (or your lunchmates) may find them unpalatable, sardines make a good, easy, portable snack food. One can of Crown Prince, 2 layers, boneless, skinless sardines in water (readily available at Trader Joe's, etc.) offers 3 blocks of protein, around 3 blocks of fat, and a low intake of heavy metals. Plus, it's durable in a backpack or glove compartment and has a long shelf life. Just add a healthy helping of carbs--and down the hatch!

Benefits of fish oil

2007-06-07T12:23:00.000-07:00

"So, why is fish oil good for you?" The question comes up periodically. The full answer is a really a long one (see Barry Sears's book The Omega Rx Zone), but here's a nutshell version.

Fish oil is a rich source of a category of fatty acids called omega-3s (specifically EPA and DHA). The ratio of omega-3 fatty acids to another category called omega-6s is important to the function of a whole lot of hormonal and cellular processes in the body--including a lot of things having to do with insulin response (and the chain of hormonal reactions that it sets off), inflammation, blood cholesterol management, and immune-system, cardiovascular, and neurological function, etc.

Unless you supplement with omega-3s, pretty much everyone in the U.S. gets way (way!) too many omega-6s and not enough omega-3s. Fish oil is an easy--and relatively inexpensive--way to help restore the balance. The super-short answer is: it'll help you lose weight, control cholesterol and blood pressure, regulate hormone levels, and generally stay healthier.

If you're taking any medications, it's always a good idea to check for contraindications, of course. Especially folks on blood thinners. (On the other side of the coin, fish oil and a Zone-like diet can reduce the need for a lot of medications, especially cholesterol-lowering ones.) In some cases, folks can get their doctors to actually prescribe it (and therefore insurance to pay for it).

Brands we like are Carlson's (capsules and liquid) and Nordic Naturals "Ultimate Omega" formula. You can get them at Super Supplements for a reasonable price. The liquid is a good value, per dollar, but it's less convenient, and some people are squeamish about the taste or texture--though we find it utterly inoffensive. Whatever kind you use, store it in the fridge.

Incrementalism

2007-06-02T09:36:00.000-07:00

Notwithstanding our signature “get some, go again” attitude, you’ve all heard us advise incrementalism in incorporating intensity into your workouts. Take small steps, learn to do it right, hone your technique—and then gradually build up to full-on gusto. When it comes to nutrition, there’s less danger in jumping right into the deep end and dialing in your diet perfectly. And for some people, a sudden break, total commitment, and a cold-turkey attitude about the sins of the dietary past is a remarkably effective tactic.

However, for some of you, easing your way into dietary virtuosity can be a fruitful path. Slower, maybe, but sometimes the tortoise and the hare end up at the same finish line eventually. And even small changes—relatively painless ones—can have a big impact (especially when they begin to snowball).

For those of you looking to make incremental improvements, here is a list of some changes you can begin to introduce. The idea is not necessarily to do all these all at once, but to incorporate them into your life one or two at a time. Once one change becomes a habit and not a hardship or a focused effort, then implement another, and so on.

You can also regard this list as a rough priority guide, in that, if you’re worrying about the exact fatty acid ratio of nut A versus nut B, but you haven’t incorporated any of the items on this list into your life, your priorities might be a tiny bit skewed. Or, if you spend hours debating whether deer milk would count as a paleo food--since, well, technically, Paleolithic Man could’ve hunted down and milked wild does!--but you’re discussing it between drags on a cigarette outside your favorite bar, you might be putting the cart in front of the horse, as it were.

So, here’s some food for thought:

1. Consider taking fish oil supplements. Yeah, they seem expensive at first, but it’s cheap insurance.

2. Learn to identify trans fats and eliminate them from your repertoire of foods.

3. Stop drinking soda (yes, “diet” soda too).

4. Make sure you’re getting some form of protein in every meal and snack.

5. Drastically reduce your intake of straight-up sugars. Yeah, the obvious things, but also fruit juice, “sports” drinks, and unfavorable carbs (see next item). Avoid “food” products containing high-fructose corn syrup.

6. Reduce your intake of starches: pasta, rice, bread, cereals, processed grains. Eat more veggies, especially leaves, instead.

If you’re not doing at least these things, you have lots of room for improvement. Think of it as an opportunity—to improve your health, fitness, performance, appearance, mood, and energy level.

These are baby steps to full commitment to healthy nutrition. But you gotta start somewhere, and, heck, FloJo learned to walk with baby steps, just like the rest of us.

Riddle me this

2007-05-22T09:53:00.000-07:00

If your diet looked like this:

Would you look like this??

All yogurts are not equal

2007-05-11T02:27:00.000-07:00

Yogurt can be a good portable snack or meal that fits into the Zone; the cultures are beneficial; and it’s often better tolerated by lactose-sensitive folks than other dairy products. But don’t let the manufacturers’ claims of “health and goodness” lure you into thinking that anything on the yogurt shelf at Safeway is worth putting in your mouth.

What you’re looking for, as always, is a balance of protein, carbs, and fat.

The first rule of thumb is that any flavored yogurt (and, yes, vanilla is a flavor, although usually not as nutritionally evil as the frooted flavors), is going to be a sugarfest and is to be avoided. Yoplait, for example, despite being advertised as a good food for health, fitness, and weight-loss, has less than one block of protein per serving and 3.5 blocks of carb (see table below). That’s virtually an entire meal worth of carbs, just in a container of yogurt, and with very little of the protein you need. (And it’s got some pretty unpleasant ingredients, from sugar and corn-based sweeteners to crushed beetle abdomens.)

Even the “natural” brands (e.g., item 4 in the table below) don’t look so good when they’re fruity. (Though the ingredients list is little less terrifying.)

So, that leaves us with plain. Different brands have their own flavor, texture, and degree of tartness, so some experimentation can help you find one that appeals to your palate most. The nutritional profile varies quite a bit by brand, so you have to read labels. In most cases, it’s pretty good on its own, which makes for a handy snack or meal, but there’s no room for any carb-containing additions or accompaniments.

We’re currently enamored of Fage 2% Greek yogurt. It’s not too tart, supersmooth, and thick and creamy. And, if we can trust the label, it has a very favorable macronutrient profile. With 2.5 blocks of protein and only 1 of carb, there’s room for about a block of blueberries, strawberries, melon, or just about any fresh fruit you like. Mmm…real food.

Brand	Protein grams	Carb grams	Fat grams	P/C/F blocks (to nearst 1/2)	Ingredients
Fage 2%, plain	17	8	4	2.5 / 1 / 2.5	skimmed milk cream yogurt cultures
Nancy's lowfat, plain organic	11	16	3	1.5 / 2 / 2	milk milk powder yogurt cultures
Mountain High lowfat, plain	11	18	2.5	1.5 / 2 / 1.5	milk pectin yogurt cultures
Nancy's lowfat, strawberry	10	26	2.5	1.5 / 3 / 2	milk nonfat dry milk strawberries honey guar gum carageenan yogurt cultures
Yoplait, strawberry	5	33	1.5	.5 / 3.5 / 1	milk sugar modified corn starch high fructose corn syrup whey protein concentrate gelatin citric acid tricalcium phosphate natural flavor pectin colored with carmine vitamin A acetate vitamin D3

How to eat

2007-04-16T17:37:00.000-07:00

Since you’re here reading this, we’re going to assume that you’ve got one big piece of the fitness puzzle nailed and are CrossFitting regularly.

Now, if you want your performance, health, fitness, energy levels, and body composition to reach—or even approach—their potential, the other, even bigger, more foundational piece is diet. No surprise there.

Oh crap, you mean I have to go on a diet?

Not exactly. “Diets,” in the usual sense, tend not to work. What does work is keeping a close eye on overall consumption (calories in) AND balancing your macronutrient (protein, carb, fat) intake appropriately.

Most of you probably know what this means: yes, you have to get your carb intake under control. (And, duh, you have to get overall intake under control: Calories in/calories out. Basic laws of thermodynamics. You know the drill. As someone in the gym said the other day, sometimes what you gotta do is "Put down the fork, dammit.")

So is this a fad? Do I have to go “low-carb”? Are you going to make me do that Atkins thing?

No, this is not a fad; this is a rebalancing of intake to what the human body needs, wants, and functions best on—and has for millennia, up until the advent of large-scale farming and (over)processing of grain, supermarkets, and (over)packaged, convenient, flavor-“enhanced” “food products.” And what that looks like in this day and age is making sure you consume enough protein and getting a grip on the carbs. You need them—especially if you’re CrossFitting and/or doing other strenuous activity. In fact, you need roughly 40% of your daily caloric intake in the form of carbohydrate. But if you’re not as lean as you want to be, and you’re not just plain eating too darn much food), it’s probably largely about unfavorable carbs. (I know: sigh.) They’re good (addictive, even), they’re everywhere, and, in a lot of cases, we’ve been told they’re healthy (because, hey, they’re low-fat! Oy.).

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Why the Zone?

The best nutrition plan is one that balances macronutrients in a way that promotes all-around health, keeps hormones at beneficial levels, fuels athletic performance, and supports appropriate bodyfat levels.

The best guidelines we’ve found for balancing it all out are those described in the Zone “diet.” Thinking of food in terms of macronutrient blocks is an easy and convenient way to look at it.

A “block” is a unit of measure used to simplify the process of making balanced meals.

7 grams of protein = 1 block of protein
9 grams of carbohydrate = 1 block of carbohydrate
1.5 grams of fat = 1 block of fat

Each meal or snack should be composed of equal blocks of protein, carbohydrate, and fat. (When this is the case, 40 percent of its calories come from carbohydrate, 30 percent from protein, and 30 percent from fat—this is the ratio we always want to keep.)

How many blocks you should eat per day (and per meal) varies according to your build, sex, body fat, and activity level. Most men will need from 15 to 20 blocks per day (of each macronutrient) and most women from 10 to 14 blocks. There are complicated charts and calculators for determining exactly what your personal block prescription should be, but we can do a pretty good job of eyeballing it for you. As with most things, you can try a certain set of inputs (block prescription), stick to it for a while, and then adjust accordingly based on outputs (your body and performance).

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Oh, and P.S., no one’s going to make you do anything, diet-wise. Mistress Krista, general smart cookie and one of our favorite online fitness colleagues, says it well:

Welcome to your new mantra:

You have to do it yourself.

Nobody else will do it for you.

You make your own choices--every time you put something in your mouth, every time you belly up to the bar, and every time you check your fnish time at the end of a workout. No one else can do “Fran” for you (well, not if you want to reap the benefits, anyway). And no one else can fix your nutrition. All there is to do is take couple deep breaths and dive in. You know how to do that.

(Cross-posted from the main CFES site, so as to keep the important nutrition info all together here.)

The foundation of it all

2007-03-06T14:05:00.000-08:00

For all the variety in CrossFit workouts, there's still a foundation of functional movements that we stick pretty close to. There’s always more we can do to refine and master these movements and to increase the power we can produce using them. And doing so always transfers over to improvement at other movements, sports, and energy pathways that we don’t even train directly. Handy, no?

The same can be said of our nutrition, which is necessarily the base for all the rest of it. You can try to tell yourself it's not that important (usually because you're devoted to your habits), but, actually, it is. When it comes to food, the fundamental cornerstones are protein, fat, and carbohydrate, and the challenge is to balance these building blocks (i.e., "macronutrients") in a way that supports high performance and output, maximizes health, and produces favorable body composition.

We can get more precise about it, but ultimately it comes down to these two sentences (written by Greg Glassman):

Eat meat and vegetables, nuts and seeds, some fruit, little starch, and no sugar. Keep intake to levels that will support exercise but not body fat.

Memorize the words, internalize the concepts, make a habit of the implementation.

Movement patterns take time to master, but you can always fix your nutrition as soon as your next meal comes around. It’s entirely up to you. It really boils down to making the commitment and seeking information and support. Our intent with this blog is to help provide that info & support.