Diet Overview

      I get asked pretty regularly about diet advice.  The first thing I'd like to point out is that almost everyone knows the "basics." Most people already know a well balanced home cooked meal involving a piece of lean meat with a couple sides of veggies is better than a sandwhich made with a fried piece of somthing called chicken and a side of fries with a large soft drink on the side.
     That's the easy part. Almost anyone can look at "fast food" meal and a home cooked meal and guestimate which one is healthier. In fact in a lot of cases it's not a matter of knowledge, it's a matter of actually picking the healthier items...
     The "diet" I seem to be having the best results from is kind of a blend of the "Warrior Diet" by Ori Hofmekler, intermittent fasting (good info can be found at www.leangains.com), and a "paleo" type food intake.
     When I wake up the first thing i do is drink a couple glasses of water (you've just spent close to 6-9 hours depending on the person digesting food, sleeping, and going without water. you need to drink some), then maybe a couple cups of coffee or tea. I go and do crossfit in the morning. After morning crossfit I go to work where I'll usually have something really light. It's usually somthing along the lines of a protein shake and maybe some fruit. throughout the rest of the day it's raw veggies, nuts/seeds, maybe a small sandwhich made from sprouted grain bread, and leefy greens (usually spinach cause it's easy to eat raw. I'll also spread some supplements throughout the day (fish oil, calicium, multi-vitamin, just the basics).  The key throughout the day is I try never to eat to the point where i actually feel full and get to where I'm tired and sluggish. I try to stick to things that are easily digestable (raw fruits/veggies) and usually feel just shy of hungry. In the after noon I work on strength training and low impact cardio. I also work on form for olympic type lifts. After that is the "big" meal. This is usually a large portion of lean meat, and a big mix of steamed and raw veggies ( try to make sure your dinners are colorful with lots of variety) usually chased with a "green" drink. Every day I try to get a good blend of healthy fats from nuts/seeds, fish, fish oil pills, coconut oil, and avocadoes. The night time meal is usually big enough to actually surprise people when they see me eat. 
      Of course, what you DON'T eat can be as important as what you DO eat. So here is a quick run-down of things you should cut out. Just taking out these things will give you great results.
       1) Soft Drinks/energy drinks: no healthy reason to drink them and tons of reasons not to.
       2) Most sports drinks: any "good" they have is counterd by tons of sugar and artificial ingredients.
       3) High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS): check labels, it's in almost everything. And if it has HFCS in it, It's probably bad for you.
       4) Baked goods/pastries: try to avoid things made with refined white flour (including white bread).
       5) Food with long shelf lifes: almost all meat/fruits/veggies are supposed to go bad (jerky/dehydrated fruits are ok but check to see if they have any chemical preservatives).
       6) Most fast food.
       This is the "bare bones" of how I tend to eat. Once this blog really gets up and going I'll do a more in depth write up...