CrossFit prepares you for the unknown. It makes you stronger, faster, more agile than you thought you could be. Get the most out of your CrossFit training. Provide your body with the nutrition it requires for well-fueled workouts, muscle building, and speedy recovery.

A snapshot of the Paleolithic diet looks like this: meat and vegetables, nuts and seeds, some fruit, little starch, no sugar. This represents what our Paleolithic ancestors lived and thrived on for almost 4 million years before the advent of agriculture 10,000 years ago. Archeologists and other scientists observe that people of the  Paleolithic era enjoyed strong, tall, lean, healthy bodies with powerful athletic abilities. There was no heart disease, tooth decay, obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, cancer or other ailments of today. Life spans were shorter than today but our ancestors lived in world in which they were prey for large animals and where accidents and infections happened without modern day conveniences such as emergency rooms. For 4 million years there was very little variation in what people ate. Digestive systems did well with the foods that were available and evolved to favor the ratio of macronutrients they provided.

            Then, 10,000 years ago grains and legumes were introduced into our ancestor’s diets. Agriculture allowed people to settle in an area without migrating. It allowed larger groups of people to live together and it allowed for the storage of food for the first time. Along with these benefits came a 4-6 inch loss in average height, tooth decay, anemia and infectious disease. Source Later, the further introduction of refined sugars and flours brought today’s modern diseases: diabetes, obesity, cancer, and vascular disease.

            If we eliminate grains, legumes, and refined sugars from our diets we find that our bodies return to the state of vibrant health enjoyed by our Paleolithic predecessors. The paleo diet strives to recreate the nutrition that early hominids thrived on.

            Cave men and women were hunter-gatherers. They ate a diet high in saturated fats with adequate protein and few carbohydrates. They would have needed to work hard to forage more than 100 grams of carbohydrates in a day. Compare that to the average American diet of snacks, sodas, grains and sugars that totals well over 300 grams of carbohydrates a day. This disparity in levels of carbohydrates is one of the key differences between paleo and conventional diets, and is the key factor in the difference between vibrant health and disease.

            What many people would consider a healthy breakfast of oatmeal with skim milk, berries, juice and coffee with a teaspoon of sugar totals 70 grams of carbs. Or, a piece of toast with butter, a half of a grapefruit with sugar and yogurt. Healthy, right? That breakfast is also over 70 grams of carbs. And that’s just breakfast. What about the banana for a mid-morning snack (30 grams of carbs) PB and J for lunch with carrot sticks, pretzels and a chocolate chip cookie, which totals over 85 grams of carbs. It’s noon and you’ve had about 185 grams of carbs. There is still the mocha at 4:00 (50 grams) and lasagna and salad with dressing with a glass of wine for dinner (50 grams). If that’s all you eat in a day, you’re at 285 grams of carbs. At that level you can plan on steadily gaining weight. If you have a soda (60 grams) or a cup of ice cream (35 grams) or chips and salsa (35 grams) you’re up over 300 grams of carbs. At that level you can plan on, blood sugar highs and lows and high levels of insulin production, a state called hyperinsulinemia. Your hunger cycles will be dictated by your blood sugar levels rather than by your body’s actual nutrition needs. The high blood sugar levels and resulting flood of insulin will begin to lead to diabetes as the cells become less and less sensitive to insulin and require more insulin to balance blood sugar levels. Furthermore, hyperinsulinemia causes blood vessel damage and hardening of the arteries. The body will try to repair the blood vessel damage with the substance made for just such an emergency situation: cholesterol. Now you’re beginning to develop high cholesterol and clogged arteries. How can this be? Look back at what you had to eat in your day of health eating. The only cholesterol you had was in the butter on your toast, in the meat in your lasagna and in the ice cream. Research has shown that there isn’t a link between dietary cholesterol and cholesterol levels in the blood. Your body produces cholesterol as needed to repair blood vessel damage. High carb intake and the resulting blast of insulin cause blood vessel damage. Cholesterol in the blood produced to repair the damage clogs arteries leading to heart attack and stroke.

            The original Paleo folks ate carbs when they found them and primarily fueled all their activities on the saturated fats and proteins that made up a larger percentage of their diet. They consumed large amounts of cholesterol-rich animal fats but didn’t suffer from vascular diseases because carbohydrates made up only 10-25% of their diet. Being able to survive on carbohydrates for a time provided an evolutionary advantage for hunter-gatherers during times when hunting was scarce. But, you can look at your average American on her average American high carb diet and see that our bodies have not evolved to thrive on carbohydrates. (See article "The Truth About Fats and Cholesterol.")

            When we return to the ratio of macronutrients consumed by early hominids, we return to the strength, body composition and vitality they enjoyed as well. With the paleo diet we are not trying to eat exactly like cave people did. Luckily we get to leave out the bugs and the saber tooth squirrels. Instead, we use the Neolithic foods available to us to reconstruct the nutrition of Paleolithic times.

Keep in mind that eating this way 6 days a week, or 80% of the time will be hugely beneficial. Don’t feel like you have to give up special treats forever so that you don’t die of a heart attack. Support yourself in eating well through the long run and likely you’ll find that high-carb treats don’t feel quite as satisfying or as necessary. Also, you don’t need to be resigned to a lifetime of carb counting. Use the guidelines below to choose foods. Use fitday.com to check your macronutrient ratios from time to time. Use the menus and recipes given here to get started, and soon you’ll find a rhythm and harmony in eating Paleo. The food choices are varied and delicious. There may be a challenging period in the beginning while you transition off a high-carb diet. Use the 12 steps on panu.com to help guide the sequence and importance of each step of the transition. Soon, your cave man or woman body will begin to emerge and you’ll enjoy the body composition you want, endless energy, strength and vitality.

For basic maintenance consume:

Carbohydrate intake:  100-150grams/day (slightly less for weight loss and more for frequent vigorous exercise)

Meal frequency:  as needed, 2 or 3 meals a day is usually all that is needed

Macronutrient Ratio:   20-25% Carbs / 15-20% Protein / 60% Fat (approx)

 

What to eat lots of:

• Meat including beef, lamb, pork, ham, bacon, clams, crab, shrimp, chicken, turkey, rabbit, venison, buffalo, fresh water and salt water fish, organ meats and whole eggs.
• Saturated fats in the form of butter (ideally from pasture-raised cows), whole cream, various cheeses and unsweetened yogurt, coconut and coconut oil, avocado, lard, tallow, schmaltz.

 

What to eat generous portions of:

• Non-starchy vegetables such as broccoli, kale, all lettuces, spinach, chard, collard greens, asparagus, brussle sprouts, okra, cauliflower, celery, cucumber, tomato, peppers, onions, garlic and mushrooms.
• Nuts and seeds like almonds, macadamia nuts, pecans, walnuts, brazil nuts, pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds.

 

What to eat in smaller quantities:

• Berries such as blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, blackberries and goji berries can be eaten daily.
• Sweeter fruit can be enjoyed a few times a week such as apples, oranges, grapefruit, bananas, pineapple, grapes, peaches, nectarines, mangoes, dried fruit.
• Starchy vegetables including carrots, beets, jicama, parsnips, potatoes, sweet potatoes, and turnips.
• Cold-pressed oils and fish oils including extra virgin olive oil, macadamia nut oil, avocado oil, cod liver oil and skate liver oil.

What to avoid completely:

• Grains of all kinds in all forms including brown and white rice, wheat, corn, rye, oats, barley, kamut, quinoa, and spelt.
• Legumes including peanuts, all beans, peas, and green beans.
• Sugar including white and brown cane sugar, turbinado, rapadura, beet sugar, honey, molasses, maple syrup, brown rice syrup, agave nectar (some sweeteners can be added back in after stage I.)
• The sweetest fruit should be avoided including watermelon, cantaloupe, and honeydew.
• Juice made from fruit or starchy vegetables should be avoided.
• Grain and seed oils most importantly corn oil and canola oil, but also including safflower oil, sunflower oil, almond oil, walnut oil, and peanut oil.
• Alcohol in the form of beer, lager, ale and wine is to be completely avoided. Hard liquor may be enjoyed in small quantities.