Recently in Nutrition Category

12 days of Christmas No-Equipment WODS FromCrossFit Virtuosity

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Via the blog of Princess Raindrop AKA Boss Arce: she has agreed to be one of my test pilots for the primal/paleo diet - I have been eating mostly this way for two months, during which time I have lost weight and retained performance and I am nearly ready to advocate zone/primal for all. Let me know if you want to join us in this experiment before I roll it out more "officially", probably Jan 1.

"Polly and I attended at talk at Catalyst by Mark Sissons. Mark is the author of the Primal Blueprint, a book about "going primal". Basically reverting back to a diet that more closely resembles what we have evolved to eat - a hunter-gatherer diet. Namely, meats and other natural fat sources (nuts and oil) and carbohydrates coming from vegetables and fruit.

As I see it we have two conflicting evolutionary trends when it comes to food. The first is our physical evolution - what we have evolved to eat over millions of years. The second is our industrial food evolution - how to affordably produce enough food to feed an ever growing population. These two trends don't reconcile with each other and, at some point, in order to achieve optimal health, we have to leave behind the food of convenience that is negatively impacting us physically and financially and eat according to where we've evolved.

I was raised eating rice, bread, pasta, etc. Earlier this year I cut way back on those types of foods and I'll tell you this - life was BORING. Sure I lost weight, got stronger, faster, fitter, ate fat and plenty of meat and tons of eggs and that's all great but I did miss those filling grains. They are comfort foods and it's hard to undo that mind/body connection. Eggs - not so comforting. Meats - not comforting much at all and lots of chewing. I like eating to be brief and intense and I don't like tons of chewing.
- These are the types of things that make it difficult to imagine a life without grains and breads and pasta and BEER. What makes it easier is knowing that it's absolutely the right thing to do for so many reasons, not the least of which is the potential for living really well. I'm not so concerned with living for fucking ever but I would like the time that I am around to be really really good.

- This is why I like the 80/20 rule. 80% primal; 20% not quite. Dairy may be my remaining source of comfort - the 20%".

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WOD 091210

3 Rep Max CrossFit Total:

Best of three attempts of:

3RM Squat
3RM Press
3RM Deadlift (36 second limit)

I suggest starting with 90% of your lifts from most recent CFT. If you succeed, go up to 92.5% and then 95%.

Use the chart under links.

You should be able to calculate a theoretical new 1RM HERE.

This takes a long time and will be run till it's done.

If your CFT is over 4X BW, you may skip the technique drills and get started after the warm-up.

Post loads and total to comments

Athlete-Torturer Masseur, Ed Rockowitz, prominently featured in .com video today.

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WOD 091128

3 Rounds for Max Reps:

Overhead Squat 95/65

Rest 3 minutes between efforts.

Post reps completed on all three rounds.

Followed By:

Every minute on the minute until failure:

95 pound Thruster, 5 reps
Sprint 75 meters.

Post rounds completed to comments.

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If you are paying attention you may notice that today's programming is a little different from what we have been doing. This sort of training (brief intense efforts, both ME and metcon back to back) will become more of a staple after we finish this training cycle in January.

This is my take on old-school roots CrossFit as first envisioned by Greg Glassman in the seminal CrossFit Journal Article, "What is Fitness and Who is Fit" from October 2002:

"One of our favorite workout patterns is to warm-up and then perform three to five sets of three to five reps of a fundamental lift at a moderately comfortable pace followed by a ten-minute circuit of gymnastics elements at a blistering pace and finally finish with two to ten minutes of high intensity metabolic conditioning."

Most of my influences and 3/5 of the top Affiliate Cup finishers use this type of training. CrossFit Central posts mostly metcon, and CrossFit Calgary uses a MEBB-type template of the kind we are using now (40%+ ME).

CrossFit Oakland (Mike Minium, L3)
CrossFit Virtuosity (Keith Wittenstein, L3)
Optimum Performance Training (James Fitzgerald, Winner 1st CF Games)
Catalyst Athletics (Greg Everett)
Northwest CrossFit
CrossFit Central (Jeremy Thiel)
CrossFit Norcal, 4th Affiliate (Robb Wolf)
CrossFit Calgary
CrossFit Invictus

James Fitzgerald AKA "OPT" gives recommendations for PW0R ratios based on body comp:

post wod fuel male:
above 12% - 40g prot/10g carb
8-12% - 40g prot/25g carb
below 8% - 40g prot/40g carb
post wod fuel - female:
above 16% - 30g prot/10g carb
12-14% - 30g prot/20g carb
below 12% - 30g prot/30g carb
eat a balanced PFC meal 60 min after post wod fuel for everyone (P=protein, F=fat, C=carb)

I'm not endorsing this of yet, but it is interesting: not sure where he is getting this from. For now I am still recommending Chocolate Milk PWO for recovery. Yes, that's right, guilt-free chocolate milk!

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When I first pitched the idea of a monthlong dietary experiment with the Zone Diet to my highly dubious wife, here was my basic angle:  "It'll just be thirty days.  We'll do it as strictly as we can and we'll completely blow it out on Halloween."  As it turns out, this is exactly what happened.  So how was it? 

Well, I can pretty safely say it was an unqualified success for both of us, well beyond anything we were expecting or hoping for.  Frankly, it has been astonishing to me.  The most noticeable change has been much higher energy levels, which has translated to much greater intensity in workouts, shorter rest requirements and far better times on the metcons (I knocked 2:30 off the Fran time I set in June).  This has come at no noticeable detriment to strength (Rebecca just matched or exceeded all of her previous strength PR's in this week's OT and CFT) or body composition (we both lost a couple pounds, but nothing dramatic).

There was a period of adjustment.  While I did ok with my 16 blocks, Rebecca started out too low with 11 blocks.  We were both feeling hungry a lot, but her hunger was more intense than mine: it affected her mood powerfully, and she was feeling underfueled in her workouts.  Bumping up a block and doubling her fat blocks fixed the problem right up, though, and her performance took off almost immediately.  The first couple weeks were also annoying with all the weighing and measuring, but (just as everyone said would happen), once we established a stable of recipes we really like that fit zone proportions, it got much easier.  And we've found some really delicious meals.

Halloween was interesting.  True to the original plan, we completely threw the diet out the window for the day.  We went to Rudy's for lunch and had french fries, french toast, and a shake.  We indulged in chocolate, candies, cookies and alcohol throughout the day and evening.  I had anticipated that I might pay a price for this indulgence, but just as I didn't appreciate how beneficial the Zone would be, I also did not appreciate how bad it would be to stop.  I felt awful.  My entire digestive system was in painful revolt, my head was thick and achey, my breathing felt shallow.  By the end of the day, I couldn't believe how eager I was to go to sleep so I could wake up and just eat some...oatmeal.  Lesson learned.

Looking forward, we are definitely staying on this path.  We still cook from our menu of zoned meals, and still come up with new ones.  Maybe with a bit less OCD about the weighing and measuring in the meals we cook, but we both have gotten pretty good about estimating and assembling zone meals of the right size in our heads, even when eating out.

And as always, the emphasis is on quality of ingredients.  Side story:  at some point last month, we went for a hike with my parents that we realized we were underprepared for - we only had a two-block snack of jerky, nuts and fruit in our packs for a full-day hike.  So we stopped off at a Whole Foods and picked up a couple Clif Builder bars, which (as it happens) are just about a perfectly-proportioned 3-block meal.  The trouble was, they didn't feel at all satisfying, compared to the jerky snacks - they just had too much sugar and other bad ingredients.  Another lesson learned.

So now Gita's happy, because the month is over and I'll finally shut up about the Zone after this post (no promises, man), but my final word is this:  try it.  Quit putting roadblocks and silly excuses in your way and just do the damn thing for a month.  Everyone's different, so I can't promise that it will work miracles for you, but I do know that the risk is so low and the potential gain is so great, that you'd be a fool not to at least give it a shot.

As always, let me know if you have any questions or need any help setting your diet up.

So here we are, nearly two weeks in.  How are you doing with the diet?  Still waffling?  Just so you know:  waffles aren't part of a healthy zone diet.  How about those of you that have joined in?  From the conversations I've been having this week, it seems those who are doing it are seeing favorable results from their efforts, and some of the rockiness of the first week has evened out somewhat.

We had our first non-proportioned (ie, "cheat") meal at Alex & Rebecca's the other night - it was amazingly delicious (thanks again, guys), but as I was wolfing down my third helping of jambalaya, I was thinking to myself:  yeah, I'm not measuring it, but it's not that far off, really:  a sensible dose of protein and fat surrounded by a healthy variety of natural carbohydrates.  I mean, when the unhealthiest thing on your table is rice, you're in pretty damn good shape.

And that's the takeaway I'm developing so far with this month's little adventure:  balance.  I don't know if I'll keep weighing and measuring after October (I suspect I will, as I'm liking where this is going), but the diet so far has taught me nothing if not this:  carbohydrates can be a good thing, as long as you get most of them from fruits and vegetables and scale back your protein and fats accordingly.

It was a good week for me, workout-wise.  Yeah, the 115# thrusters on Wednesday were a disaster, but thrusters always are and I feel like I did really well on everything leading up to them.  Although my strength levels seem to be more or less the same, my mood and met-con performance have noticeably improved.  I feel like I made real strides in both double-unders and chest-to-bar pullups.  My weight has stayed pretty flat so far, but if I wanted to lose or gain, it would be a simple thing to just drop or add a block.  I've been sore, but not uncomfortably so.  One odd side effect seems to be an increased sensitivity to caffeine - Rebecca and I both had some unusual reactions to coffee recently.  I'm curious to see if this week brings anything new.

What about you?


Zone Recipe:  Butternut Squash Curry

Here's a tasty fall recipe that makes exactly 15 blocks - portion it out evenly and you've got five convenient 3-block meals.

• 15 oz meat of your choice (I used one of those Trader Joe's "Just Chicken" packs)
• 4 cups butternut squash (1 medium), either diced raw or pre-roasted and spooned out
  
• 1 onion, sliced
• 2 large cloves garlic, crushed
  
• 2 large carrots, diced
  
• 1 parsnip, 9" or so, diced
  
• 1 tbsp olive or coconut oil
• 1 can lite coconut milk
• 2 tbsp Thai Kitchen red curry paste
• 2 tbsp fish sauce
• Cilantro or parsley to garnish (optional)
  

You can really use any combination of squash, pumpkin, yams, parsnips, carrots or other winter root vegetables you want (I'd avoid potatoes), just consult the block charts to get to 14 blocks (the onion is the 15th).  This is just what I used this week.

Whisk the curry paste and coconut milk together and set aside.

In a fairly large saucepan, heat the oil and add the onions.  Saute over medium heat until the onions are soft.  Add the garlic and stir until just fragrant, then pour in the coconut milk and fish sauce.  Bring to a simmer, then add all the veggies and stir.  Cover the saucepan, turn the heat to low, and allow to simmer for 15 minutes or until the vegetables are soft but not mushy (unless you like 'em that way).  Add your pre-cooked meat and let simmer for a couple more minutes to heat, then remove from stove, portion out and serve!

OK, nearly a week into the October Zone challenge, Rebecca and I have learned an awful lot.  If you've joined us, I would love to hear your stories and any tips or tricks you may have picked up.  If you're sitting on the fence, I encourage you to try it:  it's really not as difficult as it sounds!  Here are some of my observations:

Performance.  I have not seen a noticeable performance increase, but it's only been a week.  What I have seen, and saw almost immediately, is a big jump in energy and attitude.  For months now, I've been fighting a tired feeling of dread at the start of workouts - I'd set out on the warmup run and immediately begin a mental argument that would go something like this:  "I feel crappy.  Maybe I'll take it easy today.  No, that's stupid:  I won't get any better if I don't push" etc., etc.  The Zone has cleared that feeling like a bad fog.  On my first day, I realized halfway through a two-mile run that I was actually enjoying myself, feeling fit and pushing my body to see what it could do.

The obvious answer for this is the increase in carbohydrates - my diet has typically been very low-carb (under 100g) modified paleo, and I suspect it was putting me in a state of permanent bonk.  Gita is no doubt laughing at me by now, but I have to concede that more-than-doubling my carbohydrates has indeed increased my supply of ready glycogen, which translates to more energy.  While that may not translate to better performance immediately, I can only think that it will allow me to attack workouts with greater intensity, and thereby reap a greater benefit.  I'd be curious to hear about this from somebody coming to the Zone from the other side (ie, a typical high-carb, low-fat diet).  I'm also very curious to see if gain, lose or stay even eating this way.

The weighing and measuring has been a bit of a pain, but quickly gets better as you get used to it.  We also tend to eat the same foods a lot, so you learn what's what and gravitate to those things that are easy (ie, TJ's makes some chicken sausages that are exactly 3 blocks of protein each).  We've also been making large meals in the proper proportions, then dividing them up into 3 and 4 block tupperwares for leftovers, which makes lunches really easy.

The carbs have been the trickiest part.  Four blocks of broccoli or raw spinach is an INSANE amount of food - far more than can be reasonably eaten in a sitting - so we've been seeking out the denser favorable carbs.  Thank goodness for yams and beans.  That there are people out there who do both Zone and strict Paleo boggles my mind:  they must spend two hours each day simply eating.

Anyway, there are some personal observations after a week.  Are you doing it to?  What have you discovered?  Still hesitating?  Come on in - the water's fine.

Here are a couple of the more successful recipes we've found this week:

Dinner: Sausage, Spinach & Sweet Potatoes (SUPER easy 3-block meal)

• TJ's Pesto or Andouille chicken sausages (3P blocks each)
• Bag of TJ's organic spinach (1C block)
  
• Half a 5-6" yam (2C block)
• 1 clove garlic (optional)
  
• Salt and pepper
  
• 0.5 Tbsp olive oil
• a little butter for the yam

I like to buy a few pounds of yams and roast them in the oven all at once (an hour at 350), then put them in the refrigerator and reheat individually as needed - I just think the texture is better this way.  But you can easily microwave them too:  puncture with a fork and put in microwave on high for 5 minutes, turning over halfway through.  Put a little pat of butter on it and mix with a fork.  Maybe sprinkle some pepper or some cinnamon on top.  Yum.

Cut the sausage(s) and saute in a large skillet in the olive oil until lightly browned.  Empty the bag of spinach over them, lower the heat to medium and cover for 2 minutes or until the spinach is soft and wilted.  Stir to mix.  Add crushed garlic and stir just until fragrant, and remove from heat.  Salt and pepper to taste.  Serve with the yam.

Need 4 blocks?  Serve with a cup of cold milk.

Snack:  Cottage cheese and fruit (2 blocks)

• 1/2c cottage cheese
  
• 3/4c applesauce OR 2 diced peaches OR 5 dried apricots OR use your imagination
  
• 18 slivered almonds (if you don't feel like counting, just two small spoonfuls)
• sprinkle liberally with cinnamon

Just stir it all together in a bowl.  We love this, and have it just about every day.  Easily transportable.  Goes great with coffee.

I'm a huge fan of the egg.  It's a fantastically cheap source of high-quality, readily available protein, and it's extremely flexible in the kitchen - boiled, fried, scrambled, baked or mixed into a frittata, eggs have a place at every meal (and dessert!).

But stand in front of the egg section of your supermarket, and you're overwhelmed with an array of marketing buzzwords that may or may not mean anything - priced accordingly, of course.  So what do these terms mean, and which eggs should you spend your money on?

The Best Option

Well, the very BEST thing you could do would be to not buy your eggs at all.  Get some chickens, and put 'em to work!  This will ensure your eggs are of the highest quality, and come from happy hens (assuming you're not a jerk to your chicks).  I would totally do this, if I had a yard.

OK, OK, so you can't raise chickens.

I get it - not everyone has the time, space and interest to become a chicken farmer.  So that means you're stuck with the rest of us, back in front of that supermarket egg display.  Here's a primer:

• Nothing - no marketing terms at all.  Typically this means the hens are confined to cages too small to spread their wings or turn around.  Avoid if possible.
  
• "Organic" - this means the hens were fed organic feed (ie, food according to organic guidelines).  Also means they weren't fed rendered beef fat or - worse - other chickens, which is good (while chickens are omnivorous in that they just love them some bugs, they do not fare well on other animals, particularly other chickens).
• "Vegetarian" - on the surface, this is silly - chickens are great munchers of bugs, and are not vegetarians by nature.  However, since nobody PUTS bugs in chicken feed, this label is more likely to mean that there were no animal by-products in the chicken feed, which is good.  Still, I'd put more faith in "Organic."
• "Free Range" - this term is basically unregulated, and is essentially meaningless in practice.  All that is required is that the chickens have access to a door that allows them outside.  Since those who raise chickens don't OPEN this door until the chickens are at least 6 weeks old, there is no chicken brave/intelligent enough to actually go THROUGH the door to see what's outside (why would it?  food, water and flock are all inside), so it nearly always goes unused.  A prime example of what Michael Pollan calls "Supermarket Pastoral" style of marketing.
• "Cage Free" - hens are allowed to move about inside their shed, rather than confined to individual cages.  Generally better, but still not great:  in very poor conditions, the stress causes the birds to peck each other, and in order to prevent this the farmers will burn their beaks off.
• "Pastured" - if you can find it and you can afford it, get it.  This means the chickens were raised the way chickens are meant to live:  on fields, under the sun, eating bugs and grasses.  Sadly, this kind of egg is very difficult to track down.  But if you can get it, these eggs will be packed with Omega 3's and other nutrients, and much more flavorful than regular supermarket eggs.  Seriously, these eggs are much, much better for you.  If you frequent farmer's markets, they're often the best place to find pastured eggs.

Have any great egg recipes?  Share 'em in the comments!

Barry Sears's Zone Diet is - by default if nothing else - the official diet of CrossFit.  It is what they taught me at my certification, and it is by far the most popular eating plan of the most performance-oriented CrossFit athletes. Within that population, however, there exists an even more hardcore dietary philosophy, espoused by CrossFit gurus at the highest level and followed by the most dedicated of athletes.

While Zone may be the official diet plan of CrossFit, it only deals with proportions. There is in fact a higher commandment, handed down by Coach himself in one of his earliest Journal articles and posted at CrossFit.com - so ancient that he suggests you use "alta vista" for more information about it.  The commandment is this:

"Eat meat and vegetables, nuts and seeds,
some fruit, little starch and no sugar."

And that's it. As it happens, this is a perfect synopsis of the paleo diet.

What is Paleo?

It goes by many names.  Mark Sisson brands his version "The Primal Blueprint."  Art Devany calls it "Evolutionary Fitness."  But the source of paleo is usually attributed to one man:  Dr. Loren Cordain.  Regardless of the source, however, the core philosophy is the same:  humans evolved over millions of years to thrive on a specific diet of things that could be hunted and gathered.  Then, about 10,000 years ago - an evolutionary eyeblink - the invention of agriculture changed everything.  And as agriculture was refined and industrialized, it became an ever-increasing part of our diet, bringing with it an ever-increasing list of ever-increasing ailments: everything from heart disease, diabetes, cancer, all the way to bad teeth.

The paleo response to this is simple:  don't eat anything that paleolithic man would not have eaten.  You wind up with a menu essentially like the one quoted above.  It sounds pretty great, actually, until you get into the details of what you can't eat:  No grains, sure, but also no beans, potatoes, dairy, alcohol, caffeine, sugar... or salt?!

It's not that simple, really

A couple points that I feel need to be made here, right up front.  While I agree with the fundamental argument of paleo, in common practice I find it to be both naive and drastically oversimplified.  First of all, evolution didn't stop 10,000 years ago.  Yes, it's a tiny fraction of time compared to 2 or 7 million years, but we haven't exactly been sitting on our evolutionary asses all this time.  We've gotten much better at digesting and processing foods that would likely have killed our ancestors outright.  Secondly, as far as I can tell, all the dietary restrictions of paleo are built around a series of intolerances that are not consistently represented across the population - that is, foods that are a problem for some folks, but not others.

A more nuanced take on paleo, therefore, would suggest finding those things that YOU are intolerant of, and cutting back on just those things.  Much better, right?  So, what are the candidates?

The Intolerables

Grains
This is the big one, so lets start here.  You see, the trouble with grains is that they pack a double wallop of dietary disaster.  First of all, they provoke a much larger insulin response than they really should.  This is true of whole grains as well as processed ones, though the processed ones are definitely worse.  Second, grains contain a group of antinutrients called phytates and lectins (most specifically gluten) that, in some cases, cause a severe autoimmune response called Celiac Sprue.  Not everyone has a severe response, but everyone shows some degree of inflammation from consuming gluten.  And the hyperinsulinism and toxicity feed off each other, compounding the damage wreaked by each.  Personally, I find the evidence persuasive enough that I eat very little grains.

Sugar
We've covered this one.

Beans/Legumes
The argument here is that these require some degree of processing/cooking/blanching in order to become edible, and many of the toxins present in the raw plant remain.  It's basically the grain argument again, with the same cast of characters:  beans are high in phytates and lectins, antinutrients that can cause some folks a lot of damage.  The biggest bummer?  Peanuts and Cashews are legumes.

Dairy
I remember some authoritative and self-righteous vegan once telling me that humans are the only species that continues to consume milk after weaning, and the only one that consumes the milk of another species.  I don't know if that's actually true, but I can't think of any counterexamples off the top of my head.  Dairy and all of its many delicious, creamy byproducts are a result of animal domestication and agriculture, and therefore off the menu.  Plus:  lactose intolerance is a real thing, and not uncommon.

Nightshades
This one is so hardcore that it's controversial even within paleo.  Nightshades are a particular class of plant that includes potatoes, eggplants, tomatoes, and peppers.  They contain a high concentration of alkaloids, which can impact nerve function and digestion.  Those who abstain say that they cause a kind of soreness/lethargy throughout the whole body.

Yipes!

Yeah, no kidding.  Cutting all that out would, in a word, suck.  Sure, you'd be safe from just about every autoimmune disease out there, but you'd also be a serious pain in the ass at dinner parties.  Better, in my opinion, to figure out which things really affect you and just limit those.  You don't even need to eliminate them completely - we're not talking anaphylactic shock as a consequence, here.  But at least you would know what digging into that ratatouille really means, so when you wake up aching the next day, you'll know why.  I hope it was worth it.

So how do you know?  Well, there's really only one way:  pick a thing, and stop eating it for a while.  See how you feel.  Measure your performance - does it go up or down noticeably after 2-3 weeks of rigorous abstention?  Reintroduce it, and see what happens.  If it's nothing, then yay!  You're all clear.  If you feel like a racehorse without it and a pile of horse crap after eating it, well:  sorry.  Now you have a story to tell at dinner parties when you have to explain why you're not eating whatever dish the hosts have lovingly prepared for you.  Jerk.

You see, if you've lived your whole life with a mild intolerance to a type of food, you likely don't even know it's there.  If you lived your whole life with a mild allergy to something in your environment, the constant mild aggravation to your system would just be background noise.  You'd be used to it.  Until you went on vacation somewhere else, and got a taste of life without those allergies - you'd suddenly feel phenomenal in comparison!  Same thing.*

Here we go...

So, in the interest of this personal experimentation, Rebecca and I have embarked on a journey of ridiculous difficulty:  30 days without dairy.  This was actually her idea - I swear!  At the end of which time, we shall down some cold, refreshing, achingly delicious organic milk, and pray that we don't feel a thing.

I am not a dietician.  CrossKitchen articles come from my personal experience, observations and research, and should not be construed as professional medical advice.

*Props to Byers for the metaphor.

Elaine Boulder Pull-Ups @ Death Valley

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Understand this: every change in the composition of the body is hormonal in nature. When we eat and when we workout, we are setting in motion a chain of events that culminates with the brain instructing various glands to manufacture and release a specific cocktail of chemicals into the blood. It is therefore vital to our training--regardless of whether our goal is fat loss or muscle gain--to understand just what these chemical concoctions are, and what choices we can make to manipulate them to our desired ends. All of these hormones fulfill vital roles in the body, so none of them are inherently "good" or "bad" - they're all "good" in the sense that without them, you'd die. However, you can have too much of a good thing.

Case in point: Insulin

Insulin gets such a bad rap. It's like the Jabberwocky of the CrossFit community, with articles and lectures and books all dedicated to warning you of its jaws that bite and claws that catch. And we'll get to that, too. But first: what does it actually DO?

What insulin does

When you eat, your stomach and intestines break down the food and glucose molecules (remember them?) are absorbed into the bloodstream. This is what "blood sugar" means - literally sugar in your blood. Now, blood sugar is actually toxic, so in response to this stimulus the pancreas releases insulin into the blood stream to clean it up. You see, although your cells need the glucose for fuel, growth and repair, they can't absorb it without insulin to unlock the gates.

If the cells don't really NEED the glucose, however, or if you just ate way too much of it, then the insulin opens the gates to your body's storage shed: adipose tissue, or fat cells. Simply put, this is how carbs make you fat.

But wait: it gets worse. You see, the insulin receptors on your cells can stop working if they are repeatedly exposed to very high doses of the hormone. Picture it this way: if you are in a room and somebody sprays some very strong perfume, at first you will be overwhelmed by the scent....but gradually, over time, you will become accustomed to it until you can't smell it any more. Now, what would it take for you to smell that perfume again? You either need to leave the room for a while and come back in, or you need to be exposed to a stronger dose. If you never leave the room to reset and simply soak up more and more perfume, eventually you will never be able to smell it, no matter how much gets sprayed right in your face. (Disclosure: I stole this analogy straight from Robb Wolf.) Insulin resistance works the EXACT same way - if you continually spike your blood sugar by consuming high-carb foods without protein or fat (big-gulp sodas are the worst culprit here), then your cells require increasingly larger doses of insulin in order to get the glucose they need, until eventually your pancreas just flips you the bird and gives up. And, since your fat cells are the last ones to protect themselves by becoming resistant, nearly everything you've been eating has been going straight to storage. Congratulations, you're fat and you've got diabetes.

This is a simplified model, but as more research comes out, more and more evidence points to insulin resistance as the root cause of MANY problems, not just the obesity epidemic: lowered immunity, higher cholesterol and blood pressure, even aging itself. Insulin is vital to our health, yes, but too much of it will kill you.

I should note that it works the other way, too. The lower your insulin resistance, the more of that blood glucose is going to go into your liver and muscles, where you want it, and less into your fat cells, where (presumably) you don't. This makes for faster recovery, better muscle growth, a stronger immune system, and a sharper brain. Not to mention a longer life.

So what can I do?

Diet is your best defense against insulin resistance, and there are a number of things that you can do to keep the beast at bay:

• Eat low-carb. Bet you never saw this one coming. Although some folks are genetically predisposed against insulin resistance (Hi Elaine), most of us don't tolerate carbs very well, particularly as we get older and our metabolism slows. You need to find what works for you, but I find a diet of 20/50/30 carbs/fat/protein works really well for me. You can go as high as 40% (Zone is 40/30/30), but be sure your carb sources are from healthy, whole foods and not processed junk.


• Time your carbs. Peak insulin sensitivity comes in the hour after working out, so if you're going to have carbs, have 'em then (but you knew that already).


• Have protein with every meal. Protein stimulates glucagon release, which acts as a check against insulin, and it slows digestion, which prevents an insulin spike.


• Don't eat fat and carbs without protein. This is the worst combination you could ask for - a lot of sugar to spike your insulin, and a ton of calories with nowhere to go but straight to your fat cells. French fries, potato chips, rich desserts...keep your grubby paws off!


• Avoid sugar. Again, pretty self-evident. Sugar is quickly absorbed into the bloodstream and causes a spike in insulin.


• Stay the hell away from High-fructose Corn Syrup. Really. It's bad, bad shit.


• Eat real, unprocessed foods. The glucose in real foods is tied up with fiber, which makes them slower to digest, once again blunting the spike of fast sugar absorption. So if you're going to have bread or rice, make it whole-grain or brown, and if you want something sweet, have an apple.


• Exercise. Resistance makes muscles more sensitive. Especially short-duration, power-oriented workouts. Any idea where you can find those?


• Fast. Remember the perfume analogy? Intermittent Fasting is the dietary equivalent of leaving the room for a little while. It resets the body's sensitivity triggers, ultimately leading to lower insulin resistance.


• Take fish oil. It creates and repairs the insulin receptors on your cells, as well as reducing overall inflammation.


• Eat cinnamon and turmeric. We're not sure why, but they help.


• Don't worry, be happy. Chronic stress and anger are correlated with higher insulin resistance, so put some Enya on the car stereo and quit yelling at assholes that cut you off. Also, get eight hours of sleep of night, go ahead and spring for the mani/pedi and massage, meditate and do things that make you happy.
  

There you have it. Originally, my plan for this article was to cover several hormones, but apparently I have a lot to say on this subject, so I think we'll call it a day with just insulin. I'll cover the medical marvels of glucagon, cortisol, testosterone and other hormones in future installments.

I am not a dietician. CrossKitchen articles come from my personal experience, observations and research, and should not be construed as professional medical advice.

Photo: Tom Campitelli

So now we know that a double espresso before a workout works wonders, but what about afterward?  The topic of post-workout (PWO) nutrition is a hotly-debated one over in the bodybuilding territories of the internet.  Over there, the debate is typically not whether one should have anything post-workout, but rather which super-mega-extreme frothy tanker of aspartame and diheximethylcrapalose* (now in Fruit Punch flavor with real Acai!) will get you totally shredded (or pumped, I guess, depending on your goals).  Bypassing the hype, though, is there anything that sets the post-workout window apart from any other time for nutritional benefit?  Turns out, there is.

The Why
I'm going to geek out on you here for a second.  As you may or may not know, the body provides three separate pathways for generating and burning energy:  ATP/CP, Glycolitic and Oxidative.  In the first, the body burns adenosine tri-phosphate for extremely brief (under a second), maximum-effort movements.  In the second, the muscles burn through their reserves of glycogen at about 90% effort, which lasts about 12-15 minutes.  The final is the domain of the endurance athlete, in which the body combines oxygen from your lungs with bodyfat reserves to allow you to work at about 50-70% for, essentially, hours on end. CrossFit metcons specifically target the second pathway, focusing on intensity rather than strength or volume.  We will focus on strength (Max Effort) sometimes, and will occasionally dip into volume (Murph or a 10k), but the heart of CrossFit is the short, painful metcon (Fran is a classic example).  It is here that PWO nutrition is the most useful.

You see, immediately following a punishing workout, the muscles are desperate to replenish their spent glycogen stores.  The body can supply their needs by mobilizing body fat or by converting protein to glycogen, but these processes take time!  And your muscles are thirsty!  They need their glycogen NOW, dammit!  Here's where the magical non insulin mediated glucose transport comes in.  In the period of time immediately following a workout, we can fly in an emergency shipment of nutrients and amino acids directly to the muscles in a sugar airlift.  It's the most direct line from mouth to muscle you'll ever get, so it's a good idea to take advantage of it.

Why?  RECOVERY.  As you all know, 5-6 workouts a week is brutal, and there's nothing like a bad case of DOMS to wreck your day.  And it's not just about soreness:  faster recovery means you're able to hit the workouts harder more often, thereby providing greater stimulus and growth to your muscles and central nervous system.  Faster recovery means fewer injuries, and less likelihood of illness or overtraining.  Remember:  we do not get stronger in the gym.  All we do in the gym is controlled damage to ourselves.  We get stronger as a result of our body's response to that damage, so it is in our best interests to maximize our recovery by as many (legal/safe) means as are available to us.


The What

Hopefully by now I've convinced you that PWO nutrition is a good idea.  "But what," you're asking, "should I EAT?  Which is better, Gatorade or Muscle Milk?"  The answer, of course, is neither. Sure, you could lay out $50 for a tub of chalky-tasting chemicals specially formulated by marketing agents with a penchant for the letter "X," but why bother?  There are cheaper, healthier and tastier options.

When considering your choices, these are the things you want to keep in mind:  a generous amount of carbs, a small amount of protein, and as little fat as you manage.  Now, normally I'm not a very big fan of the carbohydrate, but in PWO-land all the rules go topsy turvy, so now they're good - and the higher their GI, the better (I know, right?).  As for protein, the ideal ratio of carbs to protein is 4:1, so about a quarter of the carbs.  Fat slows digestion/absorption, so while most of the time I'm huge fan o' the fat, this is not its time to shine.  So what fits the bill?

• Chocolate milk.  As crazy as it sounds, lowfat chocolate milk is just about perfect for post-workout recovery.  It has that great 4:1 ratio and is quickly absorbed by the body.  In clinical studies, it performed as well or better than the highly processed fancy supplements.  If I were to get really nitpicky, I'd advocate one made with sugar rather than high-fructose corn syrup, but whatever.
• Regular milk.  Rebecca's drink of choice.  Organic is better than not.  Lowfat versions have less fat, but whole has more nutrients, so I put that choice down to personal preference.
• Kefir.  This is what I drink.  I have my reasons.
• A sweet potato and a little jerky or salmon
  
• An apple or banana with some skim mozzarella or deli slice
• Applesauce with a little cottage cheese and cinnamon
  
• Lowfat yogurt or rice pudding
• Mix a little unflavored/unsweetened whey with some juice
  

You get the idea.  Eggs, tofu/legumes, brown rice etc are suboptimal, as the fiber and/or fat makes them slow to digest and absorb.  For 30-40 minutes of your day, fat and fiber are bad and sugar is good.

The When
Note that this little trick only works if you've pushed yourself hard enough to deplete your body's glycogen stores.  So your special PWO meal/drink will only be effective if taken immediately after a hard metcon - the harder you worked, the better it will work, and the more immediate the better.  The window is only open for about an hour - after that, your body has returned to business as usual.  This is not to say that nutrition after a Max Effort workout would be bad for you, just that it wouldn't be any different from any other time of the day.

The How
This is not rocket science.  Obtain a portable drink container and/or some tupperware and make it happen, Einstein.  Try it for two weeks and see how you feel.

Personal Observations
For the last month or so, Rebecca and I have been following up our workouts with 16 oz of milk or kefir.  We have both noticed a decrease (not an elimination - this ain't voodoo) in DOMS, and a greater level of energy in our workouts through the week.  It's great stuff.  If you have questions or your own PWO nutrition strategy, please share in the comments.

Note that if your goal is weight loss, you might consider intentionally NOT eating in the hour after a workout.  In the absence of glycogen and and food, the body's response to a difficult workout will be to mobilize fat stores to replenish its immediate energy reserves.  The downside of this, of course, is that you're missing out on the benefits of increased recovery, so you need to be very careful about walking the line between healthy and overtrained - if you push too hard, you'll spike your cortisol and your fat won't be going anywhere.

*As far as I'm aware, there's really no such thing.  Not that any of us would know.

I am not a dietician.  CrossKitchen articles come from my personal experience, observations and research, and should not be construed as professional medical advice.