CrossFit is a transformative lifestyle. It consists of a system of exercises prescriptions powered by customized CrossFit nutrition. The intensity of the workouts requires that you have a diet that can power you through and help you recover. Many experts and nutritionists provide suggestions on the nutrition profile and healthy diet. However, the expert's advice and the nature of your diet depend only on your goal, physique, current health, lifestyle, and experiences. Nevertheless, the best approach is to go with the standard diet and to deactivate the necessary things to achieve your specific goals. CrossFit Nutrition Guidelines Generally, CrossFit diet guidelines stipulate that you should have a macronutrient split of carbohydrates, protein, and fat in proportions of 40%, 30%, and 30% respectively. The foods you should focus on are fresh fruits, whole foods, vegetables, and lean proteins. Even if you are a fan of processed foods, avoid them in your CrossFit journey. The Zone Diet   This diet structure offers the required carbohydrates for energy, protein to maintain and build the body, and fats to help you with nervous and hormonal systems. There is so much nutrition in the zone diet, but the overall goal of this diet is to help you consume a balance of nutrients. Paleo Diet This diet structure focuses more on whole foods as your body system is not designed to consume the processed foods. Instead, the body thrives on natural foods, which have been a source of nutrition for thousands of years.  Therefore the paleo diet primarily comprises plants and animal products. The Problem of High Glycemic Carbohydrates Glycemic index refers to the insulin response to foods. Compared to carbohydrates, fats and proteins naturally have a low glycemic index.  However, simple carbs have a high glycemic index because they can be easily broken into sugars, therefore, causing a spike in insulin level. The focus of CrossFit nutrition is on low glycemic index carbohydrates such as whole grains and fibrous vegetables. This class of carbohydrates is absorbed slowly into the body thereby causing a moderate insulin response that the body can tolerate. CrossFit Diet for Weight Loss and Muscle Gain Since overweight people have higher insulin resistance, it makes most of the carbohydrates consumed to be stored as fat. So, if you want to lose weight, make sure that your diet is low on carbohydrates. In a low carb diet, the absorption rate of protein and fats is slower than other nutrients. This makes you feel fuller for longer. The result is that you will be able to repress your hunger hormones and will not be eating as much. If you want to build muscle and increase your performance, lower your fat intake, and increase your carbohydrate and protein consumption. Even though low fat isn’t healthy to a CrossFitter, combining it with high-calorie levels will help you enhance the muscle mass and performance. Concerning nutrient timing, ensure you get carbohydrates and protein immediately after your workout. If you are already muscular and lean, your insulin sensitivity will be high at this time. This also means that the nutrients you will consume will get shuttled to the muscle cells for recovery. Lastly, the call is still to avoid processed foods and high glycemic carbs in your CrossFit nutrition.    
KUNAL JHAVERI | 03 Aug 18
Fat loss is an important health goal CrossFit training schedules inculcate to the benefit of both beginner and elite athletes. People trying to lose body fat at times go for intense metabolic resistance training as well as high-intensity interval training. While these may seem excellent fat burners, the reality is they achieve very little. According to the experts in CrossFit diet, the most important requirement is to switch onto different strategies such as strength training, metabolic resistant training, and bodybuilding among others. Proven fat loss training regimes are guided by a set of rules which must be followed to the letter if the athlete is to realize the end results. Just to give you a brief on some of the top rules, below is a summary of the top four. Give Nutrition a Priority Training without nutrition may not avail much. If you are serious about hitting your target of stripping off body fat, a CrossFit diet must be one of your focal points. Take time for grocery shopping, meal prepping, doing dishes, cooking, and keeping a food journal. Some people think that this is time-consuming while they waste most of their time web surfing, doing social media, or watching TV. Set adequate time to handle your nutritional needs. Certain diets such as paleo diet are worth following because they give you the right balance of food choices that will support your training goals. Get Stronger When you mention getting stronger, people’s mind switches to performance enhancement and building of muscles. Little do they know that getting stronger is also relevant for fat loss. The goal to aim at in fat loss is burning as much fuel as you can, so as to have that perfect CrossFit diet applied. Through resistance training, you can lift more weight and this means more fat burning. When you spend your time training to get stronger, you get the opportunity to do most of the other forms of training as well such as conditioning and metabolic resistance training at a much higher level thus getting rid of unwanted body fat. Schedule Wisely When designing your weekly training plan, it is important to look at the different training styles and how they affect your system. For instance, spinal compression is occasioned by deadlifts, heavy squats, and farmer’s walks. Joint stressors are workouts such as heavy barbell training, high impact jumps, and sprints. Nervous system stressors can be found in power training, low rep training, and training to failure. Lastly, there are metabolic stressors which are occasioned by lactate work. This involves doing workouts that last anything between 30 seconds and 3 minutes which produce lots of lactic acids. Rotating Strategies Just like it is with many goals, having an effective program will yield results, but after some time you will hit a plateau. This is where it pays to vary your strategies. For metabolic resistance training, you can use moderate weights when doing moderate reps while at the same time alternating between lower and upper body exercises. For strength training, you can use more of traditional strength training methods which allow you to lift heavier weights. The trick here is to periodize both your CrossFit daily workouts.
KUNAL JHAVERI | 25 May 18
Have you just completed an early morning CrossFit workout and you are feeling somewhat tired, sweaty, and very hungry? Well, this is a common feeling after you give your morning exercise everything you have. At the back of this, all is the awesome feeling of successful training. To come back to your normal self, you need to bring in your post-workout recovery nutrition. Consuming carbohydrate and protein is important after a physical exercise because it boosts your recovery and makes it a lot quicker. The quality of the breakfast needs to be up to scratch if you are to benefit fully. Training in the morning is excellent because it takes your body through a cycle of energy combustion without much food to accompany the process. Because of this, immediately after you must replenish the little your body had before the CrossFit workout. As a rule of thumb, get at least 0.6 grams per kilogram of bodyweight of protein into your post-workout meal. This means if you are 75 grams in bodyweight, you should then take 45 grams of protein. Below are three breakfast recipes that are delicious, healthy, and full of nutrients which you may want to include into your post-workout meal. Magic Smoothies Smoothies are fun because they are easy to make, hydrating, nutritious, delicious, and easy for your body to digest. You have plenty of options, and you can always do a mix and match of your favorite ingredients as long as you maintain the needed nutritional profile. In your recipe, you can include frozen blueberries, bananas, almond milk, coconut milk, a handful of seeds and nuts, vegan protein, and some ice cubes. The advantage of vegan protein is that it forms key building blocks for body restoration and it is easy to digest. On the other hand, coconut and almond milk are excellent sources of healthy saturated fats which you will certainly need to power you through your CrossFit challenge. The Omelet of Champions This is again easy to prepare and contains loads of protein. To make your omelet truly unique, enrich it with nutritional powerhouses by combining tomatoes, courgettes, tofu, eggs, spinach, avocado, raw vegetable salad, and if you can, strawberries. Protein Pancakes Pancakes can be a healthy meal if only you pick healthy ingredients. For instance, instead of the regular flour, use rice or bucket wheat flour. You could also replace part of your flour with protein powder scoops. To make your pancake, put together eggs, flour, water, and some milk. If you want your pancakes to be thinner, ensure your mixture is also thin. When your pancakes are ready, feel free to serve them with frozen berry, Greek yogurt, or a smoothie of your choice. The key element to a post-workout recovery CrossFit diet is that it should contain all the nutrients required to balance the meal. Don’t trade anything for the quality and sufficiency of the nutrients.
KUNAL JHAVERI | 14 Apr 18