Cross Training diet : Understanding the Zone Diet as a Cross Training Athletes

Every serious Cross Training Athletes is either on zone diet or paleo diet or a mixture of both. That said, some Cross Training Athletes especially beginners may not be on a diet because of lack of awareness or simply not knowing how crucial it is in their Cross Training Athletes workout regimen. The quality of food is taken seriously in zone diet as well as balancing the portions of fat, protein, and carbohydrate.

Zone diet has been praised for its ability to strike the hormonal balance. By extension, this boosts your wellness, energy utilization, blood chemistry, and so much more. Zone dieters consider food as a drug, and therefore they are very careful so that they do not loosely consume food for fear of undesirable physiological changes in their body systems.

What is Zone Diet All About?

Most people believe that zone Cross Training Athletes diet is just about high protein or low carb. The reality is that this diet is much more than this. It balances the following food groups.

• Protein – This consists of natural meats.
• Carbs –Zone diet advocates for low glycemic vegetables and fruits.
• Fat –This is a critical macronutrient that forms part of the zone diet.

When you balance fats, carbohydrates, and protein, you can successfully control glucagon, insulin, and eicosanoids hormones which are usually generated by the human diet. Insulin is classified as a storage hormone, and excess of it accelerates inflammation and makes you fat.

Glucagon, on the other hand, is a mobilization hormone which tells your body to steadily release stored carbohydrates thereby stabilizing your blood sugar levels. This is important for optimal Cross Training Athletes exercises and mental performance.

The last hormone eicosanoids help in controlling inflammation. It is also a master hormone which orchestrates a wide array of hormonal systems in your body.

Zone Living

Zone diet consists of a block of meals. A one block meal comprises one choice from the carbohydrate list which is blue, protein list which is pink in color, and the fat list which is green in color. A two-block meal will have two choices from each of the above lists. A three-block meal will have three choices from each group, and the list goes on and on.

The onus is upon you to mix and match the blocks according to your preference. For instance, when you wake up, you can go for a two-block meal then proceed to three-block meal for lunch and dinner. Athletes are different, and each one will have their block requirements.

The key point in this Cross Training Athletes diet is to develop a habit where you eat at regular intervals so that your hormones are always balanced. When you wake up, an hour should not elapse before you eat. It is advisable that in 4 hours, you eat something in between and always before going to sleep you take a snack.

If you have a digital food scale, it will make your work easier because then you can measure blocks in an easy and fast way. When you put your plate on the weighing scale, press the tare button. This will subtract the weight of the plate and only ensure the content.

Be careful to avoid micromanaging your nutrients. Once you get used to living in the zone, it will be much easier for you to customize your lifestyle.