A couple posts back, Mark commented with several questions. I decided to make a post out of it being many of you have the same questions.

First, I've garnered that carbs are the boogey man here, this is nothing new of course, there have literally been dozens of low to no carb diets popularized in the last 10 years from Atkins/Southbeach/Zone and the like, however usually those have a specific breakdown Zone being the 40/30/30, Atkins the 0/50/50, and it seems as though you guys are somewhere in the middle there, at least from what I've seen from Josh (cause he works with me and can only have 40g (a bite) of carbs a day.

Sure, all 3 of those are lower carb than the Standard American Diet (SAD), but to be more precise, Atkins and South Beach are only low-carb in the beginning and the Zone never even comes close to being low-carb. The induction phase of Atkins starts out at 20g of carbs per day, but goes as high as 120g per day as you progress through the other 3 phases. This results in a diet that is no longer low-carb. The same thing is true with the South Beach diet. For the first two weeks you restrict all carbs that don’t come in the form of veggies, but then you start to increase the “forbidden” foods over the next two phases. Again, you start out low-carb, but eventually move on to carb-land. The Zone differs from the other two in that it never has you go low-carb. It starts with the “magic” ratio of macronutrients and sticks to it.

As for us, we ALWAYS recommend that everyone focus on the quality of their food sources before worrying about the quantity. It is much more beneficial, both short and long term, to eat high quality foods in any amount than to eat some magic ratio of frankenfoods. With that being said, most people have had the idea burned into their brains that it is ALL about the numbers. They also want instant results in this microwave society. To facilitate both of these desires, I gave some of our members numbers to strive for while continuing to stress the quality of their food choices. Getting someone to eat Paleo will naturally restrict most carbs by itself. To give you a point of reference, it would take just under 4 pounds of broccoli to get 40g of carbs in you. I’m not saying you couldn’t eat high-carb while going Paleo, it would just take an enormous amount of food to do it.

Everyone we work with comes to us with a different set of goals and a body that is unique in the way it will respond to the food ingested. Some will respond better and be happier with a higher level of carbs while others will need to go lower than we initially recommended. We at least set a baseline for observational purposes and can adjust going forward to meet the goals of the individual.

Now at this point I should point out that of what I've seen and heard I tend to agree with about 90%, mostly based on the principle that your fat intake is not what is making/keeping people fat, and I love to see you guys pointing out that the crappy carbs are really to blame for a lot of this, although I don't know that I completely agree on all the foods you guys would tend to label as poor choices.

What foods specifically do you disagree with? I am going to go out on a limb and guess that it comes from this group: grains, dairy, soy, or legumes.

Nevertheless my questions come in the form of athletic performance, and overall realistic practicality than weight or fat loss.

There are numerous reports from CrossFitters around the world who all saw their athletic performance go through the roof after adopting a Paleo/Zone diet approach. Here is one such example: Example 1.

John Welbourn (NFL Lineman, Affiliate Owner, CrossFit Football Creator) is also a huge proponent of the Paleo Diet: Example 2.

What do you do with the detractors who say that you cannot perform at a high level athletically without the use of more carbs in the diet, one of the things that all of the studies on diets like atkins have showed is that it's really hard on the body to take protein and fat and convert them into quick needed energy, and say 40g a day will get the average person about 3 pulls on the rower before there OOG.

Most of the studies that I am aware of never allowed the participants to become fat adapted. Instead, they would limit carb intake for 3 days or so and then measure performance. It will take most people anywhere from 2-4 weeks to start becoming fat adapted (i.e. efficiently burn fat for fuel). Here is a study confirming that: Click Here

Not to mention the hard effect high fat and protein diets can have on your kidneys, GI tract, and colon, and the higher cholesterol that goes along with it.

Again, this is based on false assumptions and poor research. If it were true, wouldn’t the Inuit and Masai both need to be disease ridden or long dead by now? I will make it a point to cover these topics in the near future.

In addition where are we supposed to get a majority of our vitamin and nutrient fortification?

Eating grass-fed fat/meat will provide you with all of the vitamins the body requires. How do you think the Inuit lived in the arctic region without any vegetation? There are essential fatty acids and essential amino acids (proteins), but not a single essential carb. I would also like to note that Jennie, Zach, and myself have all had blood work done after eating this way for some time and are not deficient in anything.

Now I agree as well that the idea of 4 to 6 servings of fruits and veggies is nuts, so are you suggesting we swear off a majority of our fruits and replace them with Megamans and Flinstones?

I do not actively recommend any supplements. In fact, I recommend against multi-vitamins. Most are chemically produced in a lab somewhere and their absorption/assimilation rates are horrendous. Eating high quality fats/meats will provide you with everything you need, but feel free to “supplement” with some fruit and veggies if you like.

Because many of the vegetables you endorse are not exactly vitamin/mineral blockbusters, i.e. spaghetti squash

If I were ever touting any vegetables it would have been chard, kale, broccoli, and anything else that is green and leafy. Spaghetti squash is simply used to give more variety, density, and texture to people’s meals. Just trying to enlighten everyone on new ways to be creative in the kitchen.

To sum all this up, do you feel there is adequate enough balance in your approach for needed energy (workouts/normal functioning), as well as being realistic (what % should the average person be consuming because 40g, doesn't seem plausible), and furthermore for overall nutrition how do you reconcile not getting our supposed daily allowances without vitamin supplementation? And most importantly how and when can you cheat (on your diet) without ill-effect, as no one can be perfect all the time.

Eventually, everyone gets to a point where they need to stop analyzing all of the data and just act. Give the Paleo Diet a legitimate shot for 4 weeks and report back to us. If you aren’t feeling better, looking better, or performing better then you will have every right in the world to tell us we are nuts. However, I am confident that this won’t be the case.

As for cheating, I recommend doing the best you can do. I like to refer to the Pareto Principle, otherwise known as the 80/20 rule. Changing a few of your eating habits will provide you with a majority of the results. Some people are successful with that planned “cheat” meal, while others find it more beneficial to just wing it. Either way, it has to be viewed as a lifestyle change and not just another diet. So many people go on a diet to lose weight and then return to their original lifestyle only to gain it all back. This isn’t a temporary solution. We are trying to help people better themselves for the duration of their life.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCFZoqmKf5M&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]

Does this sound familiar?

How many calories did I burn in class today? Am I allowed to eat more today because I came to class?

A few of you have asked me these very questions and I would be willing to bet that almost all of you have wondered the same thing at some point. Let’s take a look at the whole “Calorie In/Calorie Out” idea.

The first law of thermodynamics states:

Change in energy stores = Energy intake – Energy expenditure

Applied to the human body, energy is in the form of calories and it is stored as either muscle or fat. It is from this very equation that people assume that you will lose weight as long as you burn more calories than you consume.

We all know what happens when we assume though…

The idea that overeating and/or sedentary behavior causes obesity is a misinterpretation of this law. This misinterpretation has cause and effect in the wrong place. Simply having a positive caloric balance is not going to cause excess weight gain…even though they are usually associated with each other. In reality, we eat more, move less, and have less energy to expend because we are metabolically or hormonally driven to get fat. (Hmm….what does THAT mean?) What it means is that you aren’t gaining excess weight because you’re eating more….it’s actually the OPPOSITE. You are eating more because your hormones are telling you it’s time to gain weight.

Anyone driven to put on fat by such a metabolic or hormonal defect would be driven to excessive eating, physical inactivity, or some combination. Hunger and inactivity would be side effects of such a hormonal defect, merely facilitating the drive to fatten. They would not be the fundamental cause. Likewise, a lack of hunger and the impulse to engage in physical activity can also be driven by a metabolic hormonal disposition to burn calories rather than store them. It’s all in the hormones!

This can be likened to growing children. Their hormones decide when it is time for a growth spurt, causing their appetites to increase to satisfy the energy requirements. Another obvious example is pregnancy. Women are driven to fatten by hormonal changes. This drive induces hunger and lethargy as a result. (No offense Mariah, you are CLEARLY the exception to this rule!)

A second misinterpretation of the law lies in the assumption that the human body is like a machine, resulting in each of the three variables being independent of one another. The idea that you can adjust your calorie consumption without affecting how many calories you burn is flat out wrong.

The human body is an incredibly complex system and will compensate for any changes in energy consumption or expenditure. Eat too little and your body will conserve energy by slowing down and making you feel lethargic. Eat too much and your body will become more active to expel the excess energy. This is why a severe calorie restricting diet and/or increased exercise does not result in long-term weight loss. Do you plan on drinking 2 slim fast shakes a day and jogging 4 miles before bed? Well then be prepared for your body to compensate by making you more hungry than you’ve ever been while it tries to store as much body fat as possible!

To sum it up, control your hormones if you want to successfully control your weight. This is why it is so important to focus on the quality of your food rather than the quantity. Stop stressing out over calorie counting and put that energy into eating the right kinds of foods, exercising regularly, and getting adequate sleep each day. This will help keep your hormones in check, resulting in long-term, healthy weight loss.

p.s. Can you guess who edited this for me

We have all seen what my nutritional suggestions, combined with CrossFit,  have done for Jennie, Zach, and Bender. Dave, Garth, and Tom have all seen and felt some changes themselves. They did this through exercise and diet though.

Click here for some before & after pictures of 3 of Robb Wolf's clients. In the befores, they were all CrossFitting a few times a week, but not dialing in their nutrition. The afters are the effects of changing what they were eating while continuing to CrossFit. For all of them, the before and after photos are only months apart. This just proves that it works for people outside of the Fort too

The take home message of this post is that exercise alone will not get you the results you are after. You must alter the way you are eating if you want to alter the way you look and feel.

This is a picture of Brian's lunch after yesterday's Team Saturday workout. It consisted of 18 oz. of steak, 6 eggs, and some cheese all cooked in EVOO. Brian is eating Paleo + dairy in an attempt to put on some extra LBM. Well done!

I have added a link to some resources on the left sidebar of this page. Hopefully this provides some additional help. There will probably be some confusion for those of you who came to me for specific dietary prescriptions. When comparing what I originally gave you guys to the Zone, you will notice that protein is about the same, carbs are lower, and fat is higher. Please don't hesitate to ask questions if this is confusing.

The following is an excerpt from the Zeroing In On Health blog:

We get these diseases because our immune systems aren’t up to the job. One way in which our immune systems are compromised is found in the so-called healthy carbohydrates we eat which lessen our white blood cells’ ability to mop up invading microbes. It is clear from these studies that, if you eat ‘five portions of fruit and veggies’ and base your meals on starchy foods, as we are all advised to do, you could lose a major part of your immunity to infection for the whole of the day.

Of all of the sugars, fructose (found in fruit and high-fructose corn syrup) was found to impair the immune system the most.  Steak and eggs just scored another point.