Linds like her choco moo – a LOT!
This is one of the best weeks of the year to spend quality time with your Zone friends, and all while NOT ending up in a pile of sweat on the floor. And, as a by-product, you just may learn something!
On Monday, we have Kristine Salmon, D.C., coming to talk to us about shoulder and lower back stability. This is a very important topic to all CrossFitters. Overhead lifts are hard on those joints! You can learn how to work them in order to maximize your lifting, better your all-round CrossFitting, and improve your posture and overall health. For more information, see the link on the events page. Don’t forget to sign up in the office if you’re interested in the seminar.
Wednesday brings a fun social night to wish our boy Scoots good luck as he heads to the Games next week! After the 6:30 class p.m. (ie. at 7:30 p.m.) we are going to head out to the Bard and Banker Pub and lift a pint to Lucas. Scoots, we are so proud of you! We know you are going to go down to LA and compete like a super star, all according to your “plan”.
We will also be lifting a drink on Wednesday to Adam and Tanya who, sadly, are leaving us! 🙁
Thursday, our friends at CrossFit Taranis are offering a special presentation by Dr. Chestnut, who is an educator and author, and specializes in genetic nutritional requirements. A donation to the Taranis Games athletes fund is the price of admission. You can email susan@ crossfitvic.com to reserve a place! See our events page, or visit the CrossFit Taranis website for more info.
On Friday, we are wishing some of our Zoners farewell (for now…). BonBon, Will and Jenn Poole are moving on to bigger things! Come and say goodbye to them, and bring a yummy item to share. We’ll be gathering at the gym on Friday night at 6:30 p.m.
Next Week-
Monday will be the nutritional and hydration seminar by Kristine Salmon. Hope to see all of you there!
Questions, comments, event ideas? Email brigit@crossfitzone.ca
Question of the day: What is YOUR food routine? 3 meals a day? Eat every two hours? Do you follow a specific diet or program? What do you think is important when fueling your body? Do you always get your fish oil? Post in the comments what you do, and your reasoning as to why. Thanks!
Today’s Workout
Buy-in: Step-ups – 3 x10 per leg
- use a small or medium size step (knee at 90* bend when foot on box)
WOD: Squat, Hop, and Row!
This is a 10min Amrap of:
- 1500m row, then in the remaining time:
- 8 squat clean (75/115)
- 8 barhop burpee
Zone 4 – scale bar weight to 65/95
Zone 3 – scale bar weight to 55/75
Zone 2 – scale bar weight as needed
Zone 1 – scale wod as needed
Cash-Out: Record your score in Myfrantime!
When I first started Crossfit in January, I followed Sure Slim diet planning – Zone balanced meals of specific low-glycemic foods in measured portions three times per day. This worked well for me and I was able to shed 35 lbs of fat over four months. Once I was happy with my body fat levels, I started to eat more meals per day, still following Zone guidelines and Paleo food choices. I did this to allow me to have more energy in the gym while maintaining my body composition. Lately I have been experimenting with slow carbs like beans to avoid feeling hungry during the day while keeping an eye on body fat levels. Night time is the hardest to follow a good eating plan, I find. Black decaffeinated coffee is my friend. I also use fish oil daily to help with recovery plus drink tons of water. It’s an experiment in progress and I’m always learning.
Brandt, that weight loss is awesome! Congrats.
I eat three meals a day and snacks so I’d say I eat every three hours. Always try my best to have protein at every meal. Basically try my best to follow Paleo eating since that is when I feel I’m at my best both emotionally and physically. Also drink lots of water and take Nutrasea liquid fish oil. Before workouts I have a smoothie (usually for breakfast) and use an egg based protein powder. I find I have a better workout and my recovery is faster than when I don’t have the smoothie.
I eat food
jer-i am happy you are off the all cat feces diet, it was tough when you used to breath on us
good work brandt, it is always good to see someone succeed at their plan!
nutrition is something i struggle with and has definitely been something i am more aware of as i try to do my best at the zone. the big things i do are:
try to get protein with every meal
stick away from white carbs
daily fish oil (this is important for me as i have never eaten fish
i also supplement with vitamin d as i tend to get a little bummed in the winter
my weight has increased since i started crossfit but i am strong (which is the new skinny) and i am the happiest i have ever been.
my big issue is that there are lots of goodies at work and i have to learn how to say no!
I’ll be coming to the seminar tonight… I forgot to sign the sheet this morning
Lots of fat (heavy on the saturated and monunsaturated – as little polyunstaturated fat as possible). Moderate proteins. Low carbs (avoiding grains and legumes entirely – relying on mostly non-starchy vegetables, with some taro, sweet potato, potato, white rice on occasion). Only 1 or 2 meals a day. “Eat like a predator, not like prey”.
I WOD fasted sometimes. Or with minimal food.
Watch hydration (perhaps not as well as I should – and I’m having a long-running disagreement with “someone” about whether drinking coffee counts. I say it does. “Someone” says it doesn’t because caffeine’s a diuretic — which is completely irrelevant, but, whatever!)
Vitamin D – tons. Multi-vitamin. selenium. magnesium. I do pop a few branched chain amino acids and creatine pills to help me recover from WOD’ing.
Fish oil occasionally, but I don’t worry too much about it because I’ve been eating wild, cold-water fish at least once a week (and quite a bit of it).
If anybody’s interested in an easy “paleo” or “archevore” diet 12-step post, have a look at http://www.archevore.com/get-started/
My diet has changed quite a bit in the last year – the last six months in particular. I do my best to follow Paleo (chocolate not withstanding). I will NEVER eat gluten grains, corn, soy or MSG – all poison.
Recently I have experimented with fasting, and I’m shocked to say I think it’s brilliant. It’s made me realize how conditioned we are to say/think “breakfast time” or “lunch time,” so I’m trying to ask myself “am I hungry?” I feel it’s working. I never weigh myself, but I can say I’ve seen some HUGE differences in how my clothes fit. At times fasting has resulted in me feeling very light and clear-headed.
Water in fact is VERY IMPORTANT, and coffee DOES NOT COUNT (see above post!) I try to think to drink more than I need and drink when I’m not thirsty and this results in getting just enough. Fat is brilliant – the more the better! I love that the combination of Paleo and fasting has really gotten my mind off “when do I get to eat next?” or worrying I’m going to feel hungry. I have WOD’d fasted and that’s brilliant too.
Awesome subject, and neat to see different people’s food routines.
My routine involves ~5 meals per day plus a post-workout fueling if I trained that day. All meals have meat or sometimes whey. Most meals have veggies. The first three and post-wod contain carbs from sources other than the veggies. I eat a ton of yams, and more recently have been experimenting with rice and potatoes and a bit of dairy to see how I do. Strength is my main focus right now, not body composition, hence more carbs to create an anabolic-friendly environment.
I am very paleo/Robb Wolf influenced in my approach (though I am playing with rice/potato for now), which to me boils down to emphasizing food quality. I agree with Kath about avoiding gluten if at all possible (though I can’t say no to a cold beer now and then). But beyond an emphasis on food quality, nutrition is very personal and will depend on goals, tolerances, etc. The important thing is that we are aware, that we have this conversation in the first place, and that you track your food and your mood to see what works and what doesn’t!
And I failed to mention I have an addiction to chocolate whey powder mixed with almond butter.
Here’s my specific program:
The ‘I like to have a fun life’ diet:
Buckets of coffee, 1 dark chocolate bar per week and a glass or two of red wine. Thai food and/or sushi at least 2 times per week.
In heavy running weeks – 100 miles – 5000+ calories per day.
Daily fish oil – 3000mg
Bison burgers.
Almond butter and agave on rice bread/cakes.
Most importantly – gluten free since August of last year.
I believe that timing is key for any type of training – For WOD’s stop eating 1 hour before class but continue to drink water/NUUN. For long runs – last meal is 2 hours prior.
i have problems with whey about 8hrs after i take it. i am going to try and go to the egg white protein. anyone else have issues with whey?
for those who gave up gluten, did you have personal physiological reasons for doing so? and if so, how did this improve your body function?
wow great comments gang! pretty cool to get a view into people’s food intake and what works for them. i’m pretty relaxed with my food, especially right now but things that have worked for me when getting a bit more serious about body comp are:
not eating after 10pm (which is early for me 😉
reducing simple carbs and bread but keeping rice and potatoes
snacking on fruit and avoiding treats like cookies and too many chocolate almonds…
that being said, chocolate is a daily staple (and in pretty large quantities), but no coffee, alcohol, or any drink that contains calories (NUUN is my friend too)!
aside from that, lots of chicken, beef, eggs, and a protein-berry-fish oil shake every morning! good times 🙂
Rob – in my world, “fun life” and “100 miles” of running don’t belong in the same post!!!
(but I’m very happy for those who do love it!)
I do agree wholeheartedly with the dark chocolate, red wine and coffee (but would also add liberal doses of whisky too).
Gluten destroys my digestion. I grew up thinking that stomach pain was normal, turns out my body just hates bread and pasta and noodles… who knew? I suspect that people who eat bread and get stomach cramps while running could avoid the pain if they cut the gluten.
Tisha and I are Robb Wolf fans. Grains, legumes and dairy… no thank you.
We probably eat more pork than most large Chinese families eat.
I tend to run pretty well on a lot of fruit, fat and protein. And I ran out of fish oil a week ago and have been sore since… coincidence? maybe…
It seems like a lot of people swear by fish oil. Any recommendations on brand? Liquid vs softgels? Where to buy?
For the past 5 years I have followed a fairly balanced mix of Zone / paleo until recently. Kind of need a break about not stressing over what I am eating. I am about ready to get back on the paleo train.
I try to stay away from wheat (gluten), rice and potatoes etc as much as possible.
I know that my body performs and feels much better on a high protein diet and very light foods like fruits and veggies.
I try to take fish oil regularly. I usually take a schwig every morning and night. I am sure it is anywhere from 2-4 tsp daily.
Chris, we are ordering a brand called MightyOmega, It is capsules. Give it a try! Right now I am using Nutrasea liquid. You can get Nutrasea almost anywhere… Popeyes, Thrifty’s. Lifestyles.
Chris, I like the liquid nutraSea stuff, because you can take a large amount in one spoon full instead of 12 pills.
Chris, I use Nutrasea in liquid form and the best prices so far I have seen have been at Popeyes. If I am ordering a few things and meet the free shipping then I just get it from their website. It doesn’t taste bad at all, it’s lemon flavoured.
Re: Gluten Free
I was having stomach issues during long runs and my wife is already GF so I gave it a shot. No issues since and I don’t miss wheat at all. (But I can’t claim that it’s due to being gluten free…)
I’ve also read Gary Taubes who says that sugar is evil, fat is good (simplified)
One of the unexpected benefits of GF is that I won’t eat Timbits, cookies (unless they are rice), muffins, etc. So the simple carbohydrates – those that hit your bloodstream like a hammer – are mostly out.
What exactly is the deal with fish oil?
Jim and Kath- There was a study that came out last year that found coffee actually had a net hydrating effect, and therefore could count towards your daily fluid intake. I never read the study and have no idea how credible it was. I just heard about it from my thesis supervisor who was pretty stoked. Anyway, I just wanted to fuel your argument 🙂
Well played, Janine!
To settle the coffee disagreement:
If your body is accustomed to the amount of caffeine you ingest (i.e. if you drink the same amount of coffee/red bull/tea every day) then there is no diuretic effect. You can count 3/4 or the full volume of caffeinated beverages to your liquid intake.
I am vegetarian/flexitarian and paleo mystifies me. I take an Omega 3-6-9 complex and multivitamin, as well as an iron supplement if I’m feeling low (and D in the winter- helps tons!)
b – I find my reaction to whey differs depending on timing. Immediately post-wod it is all good, but when I have it other times of day my throat feels a bit itchy. It is not uncommon to have some issues with whey. And the gluten thing, all I can say is try going grain free and see for yourself.
Felix – the very short and incomplete answer is that fish oil is a source of EPA and DHA, omega 3 fats. It is pretty widely accepted that supplementing EPA/DHA has a whole host of beneficial effects, from anti-inflammatory (reducing inflammation caused by irritants in the diet and from training) to preventing cancer/neurodegeneration. This is way oversimplified but google it.
To add to the UNsettled coffee disagreement: I would not count coffee towards daily fluid intake. I have no study to back this up but a) you should all be drinking litres and litres of water anyways and b) limiting one’s caffeine intake should be another goal for those in pursuit of health/low cortisol/healthy adrenals. And don’t get me wrong, I enjoy my cup of joe in the morning…
Janine – I’ll give you money for the link on that study.
My diet is mainly protein and calorie dense foods. Certain health issues restricts the amounts of veggies, fruits, nuts, other high fibrous foods I can eat so I am seriously lacking in that department. But I just got a vita-mix so I’m going to be going veggie smoothy crazy! I have always had issues gaining weight so hopefully I will be able to pack in a ton of kcals in the juice.
“Eat meat and vegetables, nuts and seeds, some fruit, little starch and no sugar.”
Although I also do some high fat dairy (Greek yogurt, some cheese, heavy cream etc.), avoid proceesed food like the plague, and try to consume mostly things with one ingredient (contains: broccoli!)
It it grows, or eats something that grows, I will eat it! Grok on 🙂
My typical meal is about 40% veggies, 30% meat and 30% wild/brown/black rice. This includes breakfast. I grew up eating “full” meal for every meal.
A lot of people seem to have a lot of problem with rice. But to me, evidently Asians have been living long and healthy life on rice forever. Makes me wonder the real difference between eating and not eating them.
Personally, if it’s there and has nutritional values, I might as well eat it. By cutting out some food, I might be missing out on good nutritions.