8-Week Paleo Challenge!

So simple...

The time has come: the holidays are over, the new year is still fresh, fitness resolutions and goals are posted in the gym, and bathing suit weather is a not-too-distant few months from now. Some of you may already be fully aboard USS CrossFit, ready and willing to make some change, while others may still have a leg or two overboard, or one on the dock still. You have some exceptional comrades, coaches, and resources — a pretty amazing fleet. By now you’ve realized your ship isn’t meant to sit idle, in fact, it’s a pretty awesome machine. It’s time to dial in your nutrition — the base of your fitness pyramid. All hands on deck, people! 2010 lies before you.

CrossFit Pyramid

If my nutrition posts and seafaring metaphors for making positive change aren’t motivation enough, the Paleo Challenge should be. This will be an 8-week challenge. It’s modeled after other successful Paleo Challenges put on by other affiliates to appeal to your competitive nature and your love of self-improvement. Paleo Challenges at affiliates far and wide have drastically transformed not only physiques, but lifestyles, causing life-long habit-changes that will or have likely prevented many thousands from contributing to the staggering diet-related disease rates in our country.

If you haven’t figured it out by now, eating Paleo is extremely simple: meat, vegetables, nuts and seeds, some fruit, little starch and NO sugar (for more detail see below). Notice I didn’t say easy. Paleo eating will make you leaner and will provide far better fuel to make you stronger — you will see it in your before and after pictures and in your benchmark WODs.

Paleo pyramid

You will probably have to overcome some bad habits, clean out your kitchen cabinets of junk, and plan ahead a little more. You will be amazed at how your sugar cravings wane; at your appreciation of herbs and nuts; at how much more delicious vegetables taste; at how your sense for portions and satiety sharpens. Other than changes to diet, lifestyle factors that will affect body fat loss and strength gain will be how well you help yourself recover from training through rest, sleep and stress-reduction. Eating the best sources of food and supplementing with the right fish oil and how smart your cheat meals are will also contribute.

Without further ado, here it is! Sign up for the Challenge in the gym starting tomorrow through Monday. Check out the Paleo Challenge resources page on 1/17, or sign up for the CFSB Nutrition 101 class on 1/16, here.

• Sign-up: via sign-up sheet at the gym 1/13-1/17 or email remy@crossfitsouthbay.com
• Challenge dates: Monday 1/18 – Monday 3/15 (8 weeks)
• Cost: FREE
• Prizes: Lululemon Gift Certificates $100 for 1st place, $50 for 2nd place
• Preparation: Optional class this Sat 1/16 post-WOD $35 – see Events page or sign-up in the gym
• Resources: Available 1/17: check out the Paleo Challenge webpage for recipes, eating out and meal planning tips and more.
• Questions? ask/email remy@crossfitsouthbay.com

Requirements:

1. Keep a food and body measurements log: You’ll get it by email and submit each week via Google Docs. For any given week, 80% of total meals must be paleo (that’s 17 out of 21 meals if you eat 3 meals/day). Alcohol counts as one non-paleo meal and snacks count as meals. For fire fighters given their rather extreme meal constraints, the requirement is 70%. Measurements will be done every 2 weeks (waist, hip, thigh, calf, bicep in the same spots) — you can request Remy to do this if you like.
2. Benchmark WODs: You must do two benchmark WODs (“Fran” and “Filthy Fifty”) and three lifts (back squat, press and deadlift) before the end of the 2nd week and during the last two weeks. These will be incorporated into the daily WODs.
3. ‘Before’ & ‘After’ pictures: front, side and back view. Men are in shorts, women are in shorts/sports bra taken within 2 days of the start & finish of the Challenge. Pics are kept private with trainers.

How To Win:

• Food logs evaluated to verify 80% each week (70% for fire fighters)
• Of those who maintained this, trainers pick the top two winners based on who changed the most (based on pictures, measurements and benchmarks). Announcement and awards Weds. 3/17!

Each Paleo ‘meal’ should include:

• All of the lean meat, fish, seafood, eggs you can eat
• All of the non starchy vegetables you can eat
• Some fruit
• Moderate healthy fats
• Moderate nuts and seeds
• No grains, breads or cereals at all
• No legumes (beans, soy beans and peanuts are legumes)
• No dairy products (eggs are meat)*
• No processed foods – make it yourself!
• No sugars.  Agave, organic honey, molasses, etc. are all sugars and cause an insulin response.
• No artificial sweeteners.  These are not food and have been shown to cause an insulin response.

*Some people have inquired about milk post-WOD for mass gain. Milk post-WOD only will be permitted (there’s limited fridge space at the gym though ). If you do this, it’s highly recommended that you make it raw or goat’s milk or from grass-fed animals (or all of the above).

And away we go!! Questions? Email remy@crossfitsouthbay.com

The recipe for the week is one that includes a vegetable that should be a staple of your diet — collard greens. Collards are packed to the gill with nutrients and phytochemicals your body thrives on. Raw or lightly steamed they contain most of your daily requirement of VitK, A, C, folate, manganese, about 1/3 for calcium and potassium. They have a much richer, smoky flavor when steamed unlike kale or mustard greens. Please, make your acquaintance…

Curried Collards

5 leaves collards, de-stemmed, chopped
2 T olive oil
1 t curry powder
1 t cumin
1 t tarragon
1 handful fresh cilantro (or 1 T coriander)
1 handful fresh parsley (or 1 T dried parsley)
1 yellow onion, minced
5 cloves garlic, crushed
1 red bell pepper
2 zucchini or 1 small egg plant sliced, quartered

Sautee onions, bell pepper and zucchini in oil on low-med for about 10 min, add and mix well the remaining ingredients, folding for 1-2 min, then add 1/2 c water, cover and simmer for 5-10 more minutes. Enjoy hot or cold.

*Credit for the front page photo: taken from CrossFit Costa Mesa

WOD 01.13.2010

Backsquat 1 Rep Max
500M Row Max Effort

3 Rounds for time:
15 Hang squat clean (135/75)
12 Ring dips
21 Sit-ups

Optional:
Pendlay Row 3-3-3 70% 1RM
Snatch Grip Deadlift 4-4-4 65% 1RM
Heaving Snatch Balance + Overhead Squat 2-2-2 85% 1RM
400M Run Max Effort x 3