The longer I’ve been in CrossFit the more I realise how correct Greg Glassman was when it comes to both the methodology of movement and nutrition.
“ Eat meat and vegetables, nuts and seeds, some fruit, little starch, and no sugar. Keep intake to levels that will support exercise but not body fat. “
There is a reason nutrition is on the bottom of the CrossFit pyramid as if your nutrition is off then your performance will be hindered. You can train as much as you want but when you start to plateau, maintain injuries, or feel like you’re going backwards then one of the first things to look at is your nutrition.
I’ve tried various different diets to include fasting, vegan, vegetarian, carnivore, etc.. to see how my body responded on a day to day level in regards to sleep, recovery, digestion, etc… I think we tend to overthink nutrition due to the amount of information that is pushed on social media and the internet but from what I’ve found that works the best for all around health is what is above and keeping it SIMPLE. If it is man made then you can make a fair assumption that it is not going to be the healthiest option.
On the other side of that I also think it’s 100% fine to enjoy a drink every once and a while if you enjoy it or some birthday cake with your family or have a night out with friends enjoying great food. The 80/20 rule is a great rule to follow in my opinion. Eat clean 80% of the time and the other 20% enjoy whatever you like. It’s more sustainable in the long term if you actually enjoy your food and how you eat. The problem comes in when you eat well 80% of the time but it creeps down to 70%, then 60% and so on until you have to dial everything back in again.
I’ve seen a lot on how people don’t want to be on a restrictive diet as that is not healthy. I would personally disagree as I think we restrict a lot of things day to day out of choice without even thinking about it because we know how harmful it is for our bodies. Most of us don’t drink alcohol or do drugs every day of the week as we know how harmful it is. I would call that being restrictive and that is 100% okay if you want to maintain a healthy lifestyle.
We are constantly surrounded by sweet and savory food everywhere we go and we will have to make a choice to not have that food if we want to be healthier. I’m not saying you have to completely cut it out of your life but if you want to feel better, perform better and look better naked then yes you will have to be restrictive. Drinks are a huge factor that we see in people whether that’s alcohol, soda or fruit drinks. Consumption WILL have a negative impact on your health. It’s up to you how much you want to restrict these drinks but you will have to restrict them if your goal is health and performance.
We should really be thinking the majority of the time as food ingested is NOT food digested. Meaning if you ate 150 grams of protein but you have that big juicy steak with alcohol and chips then you won’t be digesting the protein efficiently. Undigested protein in the gut will create an inflammatory response and has been linked to inflammatory bowel diseases.
Here’s an article below you can read and just type in undigested protein in google scholar to find tons more if you’re interested. Between the early 1990s and 2018, the number of adults aged 25 to 49 being diagnosed with bowel cancer increased by 22% in the UK. Maybe we should be looking at our overall stresses and our ability to manage our day to day stresses rather than just take away the things that are the hardest to digest like red meat when they can help us recover from our day to day activity and training.
I personally don’t believe meat is bad for you as much as I believe we have a large amount of the population under high stress without the ability to manage the stress, eating high carbs with protein or on medications that will hinder your ability to digest the protein you’re eating. The more you’re in a sympathetic state while you eat protein the less you will digest that protein.
You can tell you’re not digesting protein well through a few different ways. Are you burping and farting or have stomach cramps or bloating? You’re most likely not digesting the protein. It was a strange thing to not have ANY gas throughout the day when you get this dialed in and I felt like I actually didn’t need to eat as much protein to recover for my training as I was digesting it better.
Looking at carbohydrates as a function it is there for energy. It should be used for your movement meaning the best time you can have this is before or during your training. Besides lactate, your muscles have a preference to use carbohydrates over everything else as a fuel source. It is very dependent on how much you need as it depends on how much you’re moving that day in your training, how intense your training is, how active your job and lifestyle is, etc..
Again, I’m not saying to never enjoy a few or a pack … of bourbon creams occasionally but think about the 80/20 rule.
Also as carbohydrates push you more into that sympathetic state then that will cause you to digest your protein less efficiently which is a big reason I think meat gets demonised in a way because we aren’t looking at that person’s stress or what they’re having with the meat. Overall as Glassman put it, you should have enough to support exercise but not body fat.
When looking at fats as a function we use fats to absorb certain nutrients and support our overall hormonal health. If you have extremely low fat intake for a long period of time you can most likely see a dysfunction in your hormones and your ability to absorb certain nutrients from your foods. It also must be said that fats do NOT make you fat. They have a higher calorie count than protein and carbs per gram but that does not mean they make you fat. They actually are great if you have a very busy schedule as they will keep you full for longer without needing to constantly snack all day.
Overall if you are recovering from your workouts, sleeping well, have energy throughout the day without crashing and you’re digesting the food you’re eating well then keep doing what you’re doing. I can tell you from my experimenting that it always comes back to keeping it simple and eating clean. Some simple ways you can optimise your digestion by controlling your stress around your meals and throughout your day to day life when possible and also avoiding high carb intake with your protein.
If you have any questions throw them our way or if you would like to be held more accountable while getting educated more in depth on your situation then you can use our nutrition program to help you reach whatever goals you may have.
Not currently a member of CrossFit Structure but would like some nutrition advice? Jared is a specialist in sports nutrition to get started book a No Sweat Intro here and come for a no obligation chat about your goals and how we might be able to help!
Aaron Scott
CrossFit Level 3 Trainer
CrossFit Structure Co-Owner