CROSSFIT PROVIDENCE NUTRITION: The goal is to eat real, unprocessed, organic food. Follow the non-measured Paleo approach as best you can. This is a lifestyle, not a diet. More on the Paleo diet below...
Simply put (from CrossFit.com): 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.
Joining CrossFit Providence is the start of a new healthy lifestyle. Exercise is important, thats what we do best. But proper nutrition and rest are essential for optimal health. For optimal nutrition, try the Paleo method. This approach involves cutting grains and dairy from your life, and focusing on quality meats, good fats and healthy vegetables and fruits.
For some people, cutting grains and dairy completely out of their diet is just not possible. Keep in mind we are talking OPTIMAL nutrition. Not everyone wants to be optimal, and that's okay. We are practical people and understand how difficult it is to eat well 100% of your life. So your goal should be to eat 80% of your meals as Paleo. This will leave room for parties, the holidays, happy hours; all those difficult times.
Some people have adopted Paleo plus dairy. This is a great alternative. Just make sure your are eating organic dairy.
What would this look like as a shopping list? Here is an example list of what you might buy to start eating like this:
Refrigerated departments (or buy from specialty stores):
- fruit
- vegetables
- fish and shellfish
- eggs
- fresh meat (quality meats from whole foods, trader joe's or a farm source)
Store Interior:
- coconut milk (try for Thai Kitchen - no preservatives)
- thai curry paste
- water chestnuts
- olive oil, preferably first cold press
- tuna, or tuna in olive oil
- other canned fish in olive oil or water, preferably no salt added
- tomato paste/sauce (must not have flavorings or natural flavors, nor salt)
- unsweetened applesauce ("natural") spices
- green tea (or loose at the HFS)
- espresso
Health Food Store:
- seeds
- nuts (raw, but not cashews or peanuts)
- nut butters
- dried fruit (raisins, apricots, cherries, dates, etc. use in moderation)
- organic fruit and vegetables
- unsweetened coconut flakes
- coconut oil
- honey (optional, raw unfiltered only)
- nut flours
What Types of Food?
From Crossfit.com: 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.
I mentioned about eating real food at the beginning, this is of paramount importance. Food is the most potent drug you will put in your body, so don't skimp here! Lets break down the CrossFit dietary perscription a little further.
"Eat meat and vegetables nuts and seeds, some fruit"
We suggest consuming quality grass-fed meats and pesticide free vegetables. Consuming grass-fed meats ensures that the animals were not kept in cramped dirty feed lots and fed among other things, corn, soy, M&Ms (yes, M&Ms!), potato chips, hormones, antibiotics, dead animals' remains and GRAIN! It was only about a hundred years ago that we began this practice; before industrialization these animals for thousand of years had subsisted on a diet of vegetables and leafy greens. What we listed above are not the things cows and other animals are meant to eat by nature, but what their growers-producers force them to eat. The result is grain-fed meats have a much higher content of saturated fat, and disproportionate levels of Omega 6 and Omega 3 fatty acids. Since this is the meat most of us buy in grocery stores, it's effect on our collective health has been devastating.
The same is true for the vegetables that we eat. The biggest study ever of organic food was completed in 2007 [1]and found that organic fruit and vegetables contain up to 40% more antioxidants than conventional equivalents. The more we have fought against the environment, the more we have damaged the food, cheapened it's nutritional value, and destroyed the land and waters around it.
Here are some great resources:
Eat Wild- Source for finding local farmers who produce grass-fed meat, eggs and dairy products.
Rhode Island CSA's- Community Supported Agriculture allows you to pre-pay for you portion of a farm's yield. Meet the people who actually produce your food and do your part to keep local family farms viable.
PVD Wintertime Farmers Market - Located in the Hope Artiste village, a great source for farm fresh food during the cold New England winter.
Urban Greens - Urban Greens is a local (as in about ¾ of a mile from us) food co-op that is currently operating as a buying club where Rhode Island families take advantage of volume discounts on local and natural food. In the not-so-distant future, Urban Greens will be opening a cooperatively-run, community-owned market in Providence's West Broadway neighborhood, fully stocked with affordable, natural, and organic foods, bulk items, and local produce. The market will be staffed with friendly and knowledgeable community members and guided by the values of equal access, support of local agriculture, economic development through community partnerships, and social entrepreneurship.
"little starch and no sugar."
Starches and sugars have the nasty habit of spiking a hormone called insulin in the human body. Insulin is released into the body when we eat, and it's job is to store energy in the cells. One of the goals of the Zone and Paleo eating plans is to keep these spikes from happening. Ever feel sleepy after eating a spaghetti dinner? Ever experience the mid-afternoon swoon at work when you came back from the sub shop? Insulin is to blame. Our goal is to re-train the body to use fat as a fuel source rather than simple sugars. This rule gets us a long way towards accomplishing this goal.
"Keep intake to levels that will support exercise but not body fat."
More useful links:
CrossFit Journal on Zone Eating