Label Reader

Nutrition is the foundation of all that we do and many crossfitters look at it as fuel for their performance. I look at it as a powerful drug that affects every aspect of our daily lives. I know, sounds dramatic right? I’m certainly no expert, and there is a lot of conflicting information out there. Not all of this information can be covered in one blog either, but I will put links to a few articles that will help build an understanding of how food affects our body and our performance.

Click here to see the CF pyramid of fitness. From this persepective, we see that nutrition is the platform from which all fitness is based.

The pyramid model works in the way that you cannot build upon the higher levels until the level beneath it is strong. You will undoubtedly see results from doing the workouts, no matter what you’re eating, but you will suffer in recovery, performance times and physical adaption times…you will hit a plateau. If you want to understand how this works, you need to understand how food affects the body. This unfortunately cannot be avoided, we need to learn something here!

All food can be broken down into one of three categories of macronutrients: Carbohydrates, Protein, and Fat. Respectively, we want to try to keep a ratio of 40-30-30 of these in each of our meals that we consume. Above, I referenced the idea of food as a drug, that is because it affects our hormones and the way we feel. This will be detailed in the following articles, but in case you don’t have the time, lets start simple. Balance your carbohydrate and protein intake at a 4:3 ratio each meal.

Try to get most of your carbs from vegetables and fruit (thats right, veggies are carbs!), instead of bread, pasta and rice. Until you get more accustomed to eyeing it out, it will help you to read the labels on certain meals. I never imagined my life would come to this either, but the results speak for themselves.

Now get out there and read some stuff, learn about what you are eating! With time you will not be eating mindlessly, but with a purpose. The feeling you get from knowing what you are eating and why you are eating it is zen like. When you know what to eat, it can be quicker than fast food too! Check out the experiment here. What can be more important than our food? Enjoy the adventure!

I have a link on the top left of the screen for starters, but these are highly recommended supplements:

Zone Basics, Meal Plans, Glycemic Index info, Are we Crazy?

Theres definitely more reading out there, but this is a good start!

WOD

For Time:

Run 400 meters

50 Knees to Elbows

Run 400 meters

50 Push ups

Run 400 meters

50 Box Jumps