You Are What You Eat
Nutrition is at the base of the pyramid Coach Greg Glassman, founder and creator of CrossFit, designed for the needs of an athlete. It is very true and sadly over looked by most of us that dive into wanting to be healthier, look better or even just perform better. We often seek out the coach at the gym, the heaviest weights, the hardest routine, the newest supplements. But we completely whiff on looking at exactly what matters most: our food choices.
The trend is changing. We are seeing more and more nutrition coaches gaining popularity for their guidance because of how they help people shape and change their lifestyles. We are also seeing competitive CrossFit athletes that even at one point did not care about their nutrition, really start to put it at the top of their priority list. This in turn is changing how these athletes, and day to day people look, feel and also perform within the gym.
There is a saying that goes, “you are what you eat” and it could not be more true. We all need to be eating quality foods, meats, veggies, nuts and seeds, some fruit, little starch and avoiding sugar like its the plague. If you do this, you will be pretty darn healthy! BUT in order to really get what you want, in order to see that 6-8 pack or in order to hit a PR on your next spartan race, half marathon or even CrossFit bench mark workout, you need to know how MUCH of WHICH foods you should or need to be eating. Quantity matters.
Most people don’t know where to start. I don’t blame you. Start by simply measuring what you do eat. Don’t change your habits, do nothing fancy, simply track it. Put it into an app and for 2 weeks get some data. You’ll start to see trends of bad habits, or things missing or things you could do better or you may see you are drastically under or over eating compared to what you thought. It will make you more aware if nothing else. Step two is to research or find a diet to follow. My advice is to start with the zone diet, and there is a great FREE resource on journal.crossfit.com; jump to pages 53-59 where you will have access to the info you’ll need to get started. Start there because it's free and pretty darn easy and yes, it's for EVERYONE! Dr. Sears designed it solely to optimize health. It wasn’t until later when he tested it on professional athletes that he realized it also created the optimal hormone influence for maximizing performance as well! After you do that for a month, see what you think, share your results, tell more people! And if you don’t like it and need something new, then find something else, or invest in a personal online or local coach for yourself!
The big point is that you need to be tracking, and if you are not, you’ll never reach your potential and those goals you HOPE for, will only be hopes. You can’t start living and really reaching for goals until you do all you can to achieve them. Don’t talk about it, be about it.