Soy Lecithin

How often do you read the nutrition labels of your food? Well, it shouldn't be too often because real food shouldn't come with labels or packaging. Unless you are buying meat from the grocery store.


If you do purchase foods with labels, always take a few seconds to read the ingredients and read the macronutrient breakdown. To refresh your memory, macronutrients are carbohydrates, protein, and fat.

More Is Better???

The simple answer... NO IT'S NOT!


Now I know this doesn't have anything to do with nutrition directly but rest and nutrition work synergistically (my big word for the day). People are always saying that more is better. If I run more, I'll lose weight more quickly. If I lift weight on consecutive days, I will lose weight AND get stronger. We hear that time and time again at CFK. I sent a linkto the proceeding post, which can be accessed below,  to an athlete a few weeks back. She read it, understood the concepts, and implemented it. She told me that she has already lost weight by cutting down on the amount of training she does. And she was all smiles saying so. Rightfully so. There is proof, at our own facility, that rest helps.


Check out the rest of the post for an explanation as to why less is better. Or check out Dutch Lowy's site here and scroll down to the third comment by Stefan.

Coconut Water

Coconut water happens to be one of the healthiest drinks around. This drink has been very popular in tropical nations and has been consumed for centuries. Its consumption is slowly, but surely, increasing in the Western world.

Coconut is a wonderful food because it contains so many vitamins and essential minerals. It’s naturally sweet making it very palatable.

Anti-Inflammatories

I know we all get sore after a workout or a few workouts in a row. Every now and then we get repetitive strains or injuries that are a little more severe. A number of people have asked me what the best anti-inflammatories to take. I always say none because anti-inflammatories slow the process of soft tissue repair. So what are viable options you ask?


Dr. Robert Silverman, a chiropractor and human nutritionist, recently did an interview with an editor from Charles Poliquin's team. In it he discusses the importance of staying away from NSAIDs (non-steroidal anti-inflammatories) and what he recommends to use instead.


If you are serious about training and trying to keep things as natural as possible, give it a read. Heck, give it a read anyway.


Click here!!! or read on...

Elite Fitness Nutrition Guide

The following guide is courtesy of my friends at Cape CrossFit in Cape Town, South Africa.

The guide explains the importance of nutrition and how it can impact your performance and health. It focuses on the Whole30 style of eating and touches on a few special topics like dairy, eggs, and grains/legumes.

Now one thing to remember, following a Paleolithic, Whole30, Primal, whatever style of eating affects everyone differently. Find what works for you and stick with it. This may mean playing with your diet for 3 months or so but when you find what works for you, your gains will be evident quickly.

Elite Fitness Nutrition Guide

So You Like To Weigh Yourself Eh?

STOP!!!


The topic of weighing yourself comes up much too often at CrossFit Kingston. "I want to lose 'xx' pounds of weight". "I stepped on the scale this morning and I weigh more than I did yesterday. Did I eat too much? Am I not training enough?" Those are just some of the questions I've encountered in my time coaching. My reply every time is that you do not, I repeat, DO NOT need to weigh yourself. Especially every day. Your weight fluctuates daily. Unless you're going to box, compete in an Olympic weightlifting or powerlifting meet where you need to make a certain weight or you are doing a workout that requires you to lift weight at a percentage of your body weight, there is no need to step on that scale. Hide your scale. Throw it away!

Transitioning To Paleo

Some people at CFK have asked me about transitioning from a Western-type diet to a Paleolithic/Primal way of eating. I found this article from Straight To The Bar on how to transition to the Paleolithic style of eating. Enjoy!

I won’t go into detail on what the Paleo diet is, since that’s covered elsewhere. This article is about how to transition to it rather than what it is. However, it is worth briefly pointing out that there are a number of variants that loosely fall under the banner of Hunter Gatherer / Ancestral / Paleolithic / Primal living. The differences, where they exist, are pretty subtle and certainly not worth worrying about if you are planning to transition from some other eating plan to this one.