Nutrition 101: The Basics

Many of you have been asking me "so what should I be eating?"  Well to keep it simple, try to keep your regular foods to lean meats and veggies, nuts and seeds, some fruit, little starch and no sugar. One way to think about it is to consider this way of eating as the perimeter of the grocery store diet. Typically that is where you will find all your fruits and veggies, lean meats etc. Food should be perishable! 

So what should you avoid? Pretty much everything you find in the middle (aisles) of your grocery store. Try to avoid high-glycemic carbohydrates, i.e. rice, pasta, bread, cereal and you should be pretty good to go.

How much should I be eating? At every meal try to get roughly 40% of your calories from low-glycemic carbohydrates (leafy greens, broccoli, apples), 30% from lean proteins (chicken breast, turkey breast, fish) and 30% from good fats (olive oil, nuts, avocado). It is important that at every meal to you include protein, carbs and fat to balance your insulin levels. This will help keep you from feeling hungry an hour later and increase your energy levels rather than experiencing the feeling of 'crashing' after a carb heavy meal.

This is a very basic overview but hopefully will give you a good starting point.  We will get into more detail later especially concerning the specifics of the Zone Diet and Paleo Diet.

Here is an article  from the CrossFit Journal about the glycemic index, it's got an handy list of low and High glycemic foods to help you make better choices.

 

Breakfast: 3/4 cups egg beaters, 1/2 an apple, 2 slices turkey bacon, 1tsp fresh salsa, 1/2 avocado and a cup of coffee.