On Nutrition:

Why as humans must we pay so much attention and detail to our diets? Is it to help our training goals, to better ourselves, for longevity, or is it a combination of all of these? Being Crossfitters, most of us understand that a proper diet plays a big role in our day-to-day. A proper diet gives us the energy to get through a given day and still have enough left over for the workout when we get home. Nutrition plays a pivotal role in the effectiveness of our training regimens. It also gives us the proper nutrients we need to survive. So, what do I mean when I say a “proper” diet? Here is the FDA’s Dietary Guidelines version of a healthy diet:

-Emphasizes fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and fat-free or low-fat milk and milk products;
-Includes lean meats, poultry, fish, beans, eggs, and nuts; and
-Is low in saturated fats, trans fats, cholesterol, salt (sodium), and added sugars.

Is this correct? Dare I say no and go against 30 years of Government say so? If this is the proper diet, why are 34%1 (though I find this number low but its counting for just obese and not people who are “over-weight”) of Americans obese? Not that this is directly correlated, but there has to be something to it. Bottom line, we eat too many dense carbohydrates in the form of processed grains, breads, cereals, starches, and sugars and not enough protein or fat. In fact, there’s an increasing awareness that excess carbohydrates play a dominant role in chronic diseases like obesity, coronary heart disease, many cancers and diabetes. This understanding comes directly from current medical research.2 Break this diet down and it comes to a caloric split of 70% Carbohydrates, 20% Protein, and 10% Fat. All this needs is a bit of readjusting and some basic understanding. We want to turn this around to 40-50% Fat, 30-40% Protein, and 10-20% Carbohydrate all in the form of whole foods, nothing processed. In doing this, we let our body become a fat burning machine by making it rely on fat for energy and less on carbohydrates and concentrate on the major concern of insulin regulation. (It should be noted that there is also credit that needs to be given to the Zone Diet, created by Dr. Barry Sears. This diet has helped many to achieve amazing results through proper nutrient timing and hormonal regulation. The caloric split of this diet is 40% carbs, 30% fat, 30% protein. A diet that one could say is moderate in every way: Not too much fat, not too much protein, and not too much carbohydrate. I think this diet is good for people who need to learn proper quantities to eat, but unless you want to be a slave to measuring and eating 5 times a day it may not be the right path. It is also more of a maintenance diet in that it gives you just enough of every nutrient to live. One major problem I find is that you can eat anything on this diet as long as it’s in the right quantity to manage and regulate hormones. Not the path we want to go down since it’s these foods we want to get away from. I would argue though that “Paleo” food in “Zone” proportions would be a great way to tackle this diet as you rid it of any processed foods only making it that much better for you. To learn more about the Zone Diet click here . To learn more about the Paleo Diet click here.)
Insulin is a hormone released by the pancreas in response to increased levels of sugar in the blood. It causes most of the body's cells to take up glucose from the blood (including liver, muscle, and fat tissue cells), storing it as glycogen in the liver and muscle, and stops use of fat as an energy source.3 When insulin is absent (or low), glucose is not taken up by most body cells and the body begins to use fat as an energy source.4 So what causes increased levels of sugar in the blood and what does this mean? Too many carbohydrates, especially in the processed form cause secretion of insulin. By causing repeated insulin spikes and releases our body builds up resistance to this hormone. Once one becomes insulin resistant is when a whole slew of problems can begin to set in. These problems include obesity, hypoglycemia, diabetes, Insulinoma, Metabolic Syndrome, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, and Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome just to name a few. By keeping this regulated we fuel our energy from dietary fat and fat stores and create a healthy and lasting lifestyle.
There is an ongoing trend that dietary fat is what is causing us to be fat. Simply put, eating fat in turn will make me fat. As we have just seen, this is not the case as long as we control insulin. There are two types of fat: good and bad. The good fats are saturated, polyunsaturated (in small amounts), and monounsaturated. The bad fats are trans and hydrogenated. So, in our newly structured diet of 40-50% Fat, what kind of fats should we be eating? Plain and simple would be good fats: olive oil, coconut oil, nuts, avocado, and real butter. Those that are rich in saturated and monounsaturated fats. Fats to stay away from include vegetable oils, soybean oils, sunflower oils, corn oils, any hydrogenated (partially or the like) and trans fatty acids. The reason being is the polyunsaturated fats outweigh the monounsaturated fats and in the long term can end up causing health issues due to immune system suppression.
Let’s talk about saturated fat for a minute. In the past few years, saturated fat has been given a bad rap. Common misconceptions are that saturated fats increase the risk of heart disease and stroke, and negatively affect cholesterol profiles. Studies have shown that replacing fat for energy instead of carbohydrates the number of small dense LDL particles decreases.5 This comes from a good article posted by Men’s Health and a study that I have also read about in Gary Taubes’ book – “Good Calories, Bad Calories”. (Check out the link if you would like to know more about Saturated fats and why its good for you.) Our body likes fat. We are able to survive off fat. By this justification, it should be the mass amounts of carbohydrates that we consume to blame for bad cholesterol profiles and heart disease and not fat in our diets.
To complete the 100% of our daily diet, we must consume plenty of protein (30-40%) and an amount of carbohydrates that supports the kind of work we are doing. By protein I mean of the animal variety. “If you are fighting for survival in a 3rd world country then yes, beans and rice count as protein. Here t most assuredly does not. You need chicken, beef, fish, pork lamb, turkey…are you picking up what I’m putting down? If you think beans, nuts or Tofu count as protein then you are sadly mistaken.”6 Protein must also be eaten at every meal, which is especially critical if you are trying to lose weight. Good sources of protein would be: chicken, beef, fish, turkey, pork, eggs, and some milk. If you choose to use milk as a protein source do so in small quantities if your main goal is weight loss. Milk has lactate in it, a natural sugar, but much the same effect as processed sugar. Whole fatty milk should be the milk of choice. Why? Skim milk has no fat and since it has lactate this will create an insulin spike causing the body to store that lactate (sugar) as fat. Point: whole milk = good, skim milk = bad. As for carbohydrates, we must choose whole naturally occurring vegetables and fruits high in fiber: broccoli, cauliflower, onions, spinach, tomatoes, peppers, apples, oranges, berries. You get the idea, things that will keep insulin regulated. I hope I am driving that point home about insulin regulation. As for the comment about eating enough carbs to support the kind of work we are doing, here is what I mean. Majority of us are not marathon runners. Instead, we work behind a computer screen, take care of our kids or do something that is not overly exerting. Since we are now using fat as energy, fewer carbs are the norm. It’s hard for someone to eat an entire plate of broccoli but the good news is that in an entire plate there is only something like 15 net carbs. Point being that if we are getting plenty of fruits and veggies high in fiber, our carb count will be low and it will be hard to over-eat on any of them.
If you don’t get anything else from this writing, here are a few take home points I would like to address that are a must for a healthy diet and lifestyle:

-Eat protein at EVERY meal
-Want 40-50% Fats, 30-40% Protein, 10-20% Carbohydrates
-If you choose to Zone, you want 30% Fat, 30% Protein, 40% Carbohydrates in Paleo foods
-Eat protein at EVERY meal
-Eat whole naturally occurring fruits and vegetables
-Eat 3-6 times a day accordingly
-Eat protein at EVERY meal
-Fat is your friend: your main energy source
-DO NOT eat processed foods, grains, cereals, breads, starches, sugar

If you would like to get geeky on some of this nutrition stuff here are a few links you can check out:

-www.robbwolf.com
-www.modernforager.com
-www.marksdailyapple.com
-www.theiflife.com

Other info:

“Good Calories, Bad Calories” – Gary Taubes
“Mastering the Zone” – Dr. Barry Sears
”The Paleo Diet” – Dr. Loren Cordain

References:

1. http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/07newsreleases/obesity.htm
2. “Glycemic Index”, CrossFit Journal November 2002
3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insulin
4. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insulin
5. “What if Bad Fat is Actually Good For You?” - http://www.menshealth.com/cda/article.do?site=MensHealth&channel=health&category=heart.disease&conitem=a03ddd2eaab85110VgnVCM10000013281eac____
6. Robb Wolf