Nutrition

Some feel the cause of (and the solution to) the rising rates of cardiovascular disease, obesity, diabetes and possibly other chronic medical conditions are based on the current Western diet. One of the diets we’ve found to be successful is the Paleo Diet. The idea of being healthier by eating foods similar to what our ancestors ate is known as being Paleolithic.

THE PALEO DIET
The basic idea of the Paleolithic Diet is to eat as similar to our ancestors as possible. Our genetic makeup is designed for those foods, so to be in the best state of health we should eat accordingly. By examining what humans ate more than 10,000 year ago we can create a dietary theory to follow today. This Paleo Diet is in stark contrast to the average American diet. The main differences are based on the intake of carbohydrates and fat as explained below.

First, let us examine carbohydrates:
The carbohydrate rich diets that we eat today would have been completely foreign to our ancestors. Think about where do most of our sugars and starches come from? The answer is grains. Foods like corn, rice, wheat, barley and oats are all types of grains. History indicates that the grain we eat today was domesticated from wild grasses. This occurred between 10,000 and 3,000 years ago in various parts of the world. Before this time here was no farming as we know it. People lived as hunter-gathers. In this lifestyle humans ate a lot of meat and whichever wild fruits and vegetable they could find. They did not have access to grain. And remember, our genetic makeup is 99.99% identical to those people. Because humans did not have ready access to grain until recently (in a genetic time frame), our bodies are not well adapted to grain based diets. In the Paleo Diet, carbohydrates intake is minimized to represent this idea. The carbohydrates that would have been available were nuts and berries, fruits and vegetables. There were no processed sugars or plates of pasta. To eat a Paleo Diet, these must be decreased significantly.

Next the fats:
Hunter-gathers did not have domesticated livestock. The meat they ate was from what they could catch. There were no livestock in pens, hogs in confinement lots or turkeys in huge barns. Studies show that animals that run free and are not commercially raised have a different composition of fat. “Free range” animals have higher levels of omega-3 fatty acids and lower levels of omega-6. This means that less of the human fat intake would have been of the omega-6 type and more of the omega-3.The average American diet has about 10 times as much omega-6 fatty acids as omega-3. This ratio would have been closer to 3 to 1, or maybe even 1 to 1, in the prehistoric period. Today, we can get more omega-3 fats by eating nuts, deep sea fish and free range meat. A lower ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 is a key component of this diet. It is recognized by many researchers as a more healthy balance of fat intake.

Protein:
Anthropological research shows that the Patheolithic people ate more meat than the average American. Meat is a good source of protein and fat. Increasing the amount of protein intake is an important aspect of the Paleo Diet. Because of the way our bodies use protein, the actual source is not critical. But because fats are so often found mixed the protein, some thought must be given to selections. Free range meats, because of the more favorable fat profile are preferred over other sources.

THE ZONE DIET

While the Paleo diet will make you amazingly healthy, if you want to take your fitness performance to the next level, you need to take your diet one step further. By measuring how much you eat, you can balance your hormones exactly to become stronger, faster and more powerful. We have found that the Zone Diet gives an athlete a massive increase in their fitness level. The amount of food required to increase muscle, maintain immune function and give you energy depends on your lean body mass. Typically, you will need between .7 and 1 grams of protein per pound of lean body mass.

This Body Fat Calculator will help you find your lean body mass and protein requirement in both grams and “blocks”. One “block” of protein is equal to 7 grams. Find out more on food blocks here. Once you know your protein requirement, you can easily figure out how much carbohydrate and fat you need. The ratio of these three macronutrients (protein, carbohydrate, fat) is very important to get the best results possible. The best ratio of macronutrients is laid out by the Zone diet, and should be 40% carbohydrate, 30% protein, and 30% fat. Your protein, carbohydrate and fat consumption controls all of your hormonal systems (insulin , glucagon and eicosanoids ). Balancing these systems will help you reach ultimate health. You can even take the Zone Diet a step further and tailor it to your specific needs. Serious athletes may need to increase their fat consumption. Many people run better with slightly less carbohydrates. Take the 40-30-30 Zone Diet as your base and experiment to see where you feel best. It will be slightly different for everyone, but this is an excellent place to start. Schedule a meeting with a trainer to get more help on how to make the Zone perfect for your body! While the Zone diet does focus on lean protein, low glycemic carbohydrates and good fats, it’s primary focus is the ratio of protein to carbohydrates (quantity). The ideal food choices are better laid out by the Paleo diet, and combining these two methods will give you the absolute best nutrition program in the world. (Zone info Courtesy of CrossFit Performance)