Nutrition

The Paleo Diet – a short introduction and the rules to the 30 day paleo(eat right not shite)challenge!

“Eat meat and vegetables, nuts and seeds, some fruit, little starch, no sugar. Keep intake to levels that will support exercise, but not body fat.”
-Greg Glassman, founder of CrossFit.

These are the first 2 sentences of Glassman’s “World Class fitness in 100 words” because diet is of primary importance to fitness. Still working on that first pull up, muscle-up, handstand push up? Want to improve your performance on one of the benchmark workouts like “Fran” or “Cindy”? Take a look at what you eat…How you fuel your body will effect your performance more than any other single factor.

At CrossFit Dublin, we encourage you to try Michaels recommendations, which are a elegant summary of the “Paleo diet”. The Paleo diet is based on abook by Loren Cordain which recommends that we eat whole, natural foods similar to what our hunter-gatherer ancesters ate. These foods are high in the beneficial nutrients (soluble fiber, antioxidant vitamins, phytochemicals, omega-3 and monounsaturated fats, and low-glycemic carbohydrates) that promote fat loss, lean muscle gain, healthy skin, and good overall health. It is low in the damaging foods (refined sugars and grains, trans-fats, salt, high-glycemic carbohydrates, and processed foods) that can cause fat gain, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and numerous other health problems. The Paleo diet focuses on the quality of your food, which allows you the freedom to eat to satiety.

We acknowledge that everyone is different and will have personal nutritional needs. One size does not fit all in terms of nutrition. However, if you’re seeking optimum health and performance, you owe it to yourself to give this a try for 30 days to see if it changes the way you look, feel and perform.

Here’s how to start and the rules

This november we will be embarking on a new Paleo(eat right not shite) Challenge! The goal of this is to improve your diet and performance in a fun way that will involve your fellow CrossFitters.

The rules are simple (just like Paleo-eating) .

You’ll score points for:

the number of days you eat a strict paleo diet (5 points per day, for a maximum of 35 points per week)
the number of days you work out in a week (3 points per day, up to 4 workout days per week for a maximum of 12 points)
the number of days you sleep 8 hours per night (3 points per day, for a maximum of 21 points per week)

The rules for eating are:

Eat: meat, fish, vegetables, fruit, few starchy vegetables, nuts, seeds, fruits and healthy fats (avocados, butter, extra virgin olive oil, lard, goose fat, coconut oil).
No alcohol but if you have to keep grapes , Red wine only.
You will want to ensure that all of the ingredients in your meal are free from: grains, legumes (including peanuts), beans, peas, soybeans, tofu, soy milk and flour, dairy products (except full-fat butter), processed sugars, trans-fats and vegetable oils (extra virgin olive oil is okay).
If you buy your meat from a supermarket you should try to choose the leanest cuts of domestic meats and trim away any visible fat. If you have access to grass-fed meat, don’t worry about the fat content of the cuts.
If you’re unsure about any of your food choices, just remember the mainstays of a healthy diet are fresh fruits, vegetables, grass-fed meats, healthy fats (nuts/seeds) and seafood. If the food item doesn’t fit within one of these categories, it’s not paleo (including dairy).
There is more good info and a list of foods in the back of your CFDjournal for you build your shopping list for the week.

More details:

€20 buy-in for each person (we’re adding a new prize structure to include a 1st, 2nd and 3rd place cash prize!)
The challenge begins on saturday 30th october and end saturday 27th november
every one will do a benchmark workout at the start and end challenge to see if our work capacity and performance as improved over the 30 days, this workout must be completed by all participants on that day. We will not be hosting make up days or giving people a chance to have a go at the workout later on in the week.
We’ll be split into 2 teams, as before. (The winning team will get a little prize for kicking arse.) At the end of each week, we will tally the points for each team and post them on our website by the following Tue/Wed.
The Top 3 Scorers will be determined by the top 3 highest overall scores.
Trainers will take part, but are not eligible for the overall prize.
We will have our xmas party at the end of the 30 days on th sat 27th.

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Resources

Whole9 – An excellent resource for those doing a paleo challenge (30 or more days of strict paleo). Written in clear, non technical language, this is one of the best resources for getting started.

The Paleo Diet – Homepage of Loren Cordain, author of “The Paleo diet”, contains an excellent FAQ to get you started but also lots of peer-reviewed literature for those of you who want to dig a little bit deeper in to the topic.

Robb Wolf’s Blog – Author of “The Paleolithic Solution”, Robb is one of the web’s best sources of updated knowledge and FAQ for the paleo diet as it relates to CrossFit and performance. He opened one of the original CrossFit affiliates, and does nutrition seminars throughout the world. He also has an excellentpodcast answering listener questions about the Paleo diet.

PaNu – Paleolithic nutrition blogger Kurt G Harris (MD) on how to get started on paleolithic eating

Everyday Paleo – A blog on how to manage to keep your whole family eating paleo by Sarah Fragoso, a mother of three

Nutrition Lectures – a collection of nutrition lectures on various topics.

Ask us! If you would like some advice, meal ideas, etc. we’re more than happy to help.