Nutrition
PALEO LIFESTYLE
•Keep it simple and eat lots of lean meats, fresh fruits, and vegetables!!
The Paleo diet is all about eating real food. It’s about feeding your body with quality food that would have been available to people of the Paleolithic era. This means eating lean meats, fruits and vegetables, nuts and seeds, and healthy fat sources like olive oil and avocados. Processed, sugary foods and fast food lead to obesity and heart attacks and were not available back in the Paleolithic times.
The ground rules are as follows:
All the lean meats, fish, and seafood you can eat
All the fruits and vegetables you can eat
No cereals or grains
No legumes
No dairy products
No processed foods
The seven keys of the Paleo diet according to Loren Cordain, Ph.D.
Eat a relatively high amount of animal protein compared to that in the typical American diet.
Eat fewer carbohydrates than most modern diets recommend, but eat lots of good carbohydrates from
Fruits and vegetables, not from grains or refined sugars.
Eat a large amount of fiber from nonstarchy fruits and vegetables.
Eat a moderate amount of fat, with more good (monounsaturated and polyunsaturated) fats than bad (saturated) fats, and nearly equal amounts of omega 3 and omega 6 fats.
Eat foods with a high potassium content and low sodium content.
Eat a diet with a net alkaline load.
Eat foods rich in plant phytochemicals, vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants.
The seven keys optimize health, minimize the risk of chronic disease, and cause excess weight to melt away. This is the way we’re genetically programmed to eat.
Paleo Web Sites
www.paleodiet.com This site is loaded with information from people who endorse Paleo, ranging from doctors to athletes, to the average person.
www.earth360.com This site contains scientific information from Dr. Ben Balzer on hunter/gatherer diets. Plus links to interesting books etc…
ZONE DIET
What is the Zone Diet? (Click this link to read more)
The CrossFit dietary prescription is as follows:
Protein should be lean and varied and account for about 30% of your total caloric load.
Carbohydrates should be predominantly low-glycemic and account for about 40% of your total caloric load.
Fat should be predominantly monounsaturated and account for about 30% of your total caloric load.
Calories should be set at between .7 and 1.0 grams of protein per pound of lean body mass depending on your activity level. The .7 figure is for moderate daily workout loads and the 1.0 figure is for the hardcore athlete.
What Should I Eat?
In plain language, base your diet on garden vegetables, especially greens, lean meats, nuts and seeds, little starch, and no sugar. That's about as simple as we can get. Many have observed that keeping your grocery cart to the perimeter of the grocery store while avoiding the aisles is a great way to protect your health. Food is perishable. The stuff with long shelf life is all suspect. If you follow these simple guidelines you will benefit from nearly all that can be achieved through nutrition.
The Caveman or Paleolithic Model for Nutrition
Modern diets are ill suited for our genetic composition. Evolution has not kept pace with advances in agriculture and food processing resulting in a plague of health problems for modern man. Coronary heart disease, diabetes, cancer, osteoporosis, obesity and psychological dysfunction have all been scientifically linked to a diet too high in refined or processed carbohydrate. Search "Google" for Paleolithic nutrition, or diet. The return is extensive, compelling, and fascinating. The Caveman model is perfectly consistent with the CrossFit prescription.
What Foods Should I Avoid?
Excessive consumption of high-glycemic carbohydrates is the primary culprit in nutritionally caused health problems. High glycemic carbohydrates are those that raise blood sugar too rapidly. They include rice, bread, candy, potato, sweets, sodas, and most processed carbohydrates. Processing can include bleaching, baking, grinding, and refining. Processing of carbohydrates greatly increases their glycemic index, a measure of their propensity to elevate blood sugar.
What is the Problem with High-Glycemic Carbohydrates?
The problem with high-glycemic carbohydrates is that they give an inordinate insulin response. Insulin is an essential hormone for life, yet acute, chronic elevation of insulin leads to hyperinsulinism, which has been positively linked to obesity, elevated cholesterol levels, blood pressure, mood dysfunction and a Pandora's box of disease and disability. Research "hyperinsulinism" on the Internet. There's a gold mine of information pertinent to your health available there. The CrossFit prescription is a low-glycemic diet and consequently severely blunts the insulin response.
Caloric Restriction and Longevity
Current research strongly supports the link between caloric restriction and an increased life expectancy. The incidence of cancers and heart disease sharply decline with a diet that is carefully limited in controlling caloric intake. “Caloric Restriction” is another fruitful area for Internet search. The CrossFit prescription is consistent with this research.
The CrossFit prescription allows a reduced caloric intake and yet still provides ample nutrition for rigorous activity.