You probably came to CrossFit for one of a few reasons: athletic training for sport or life, work-life balance, and community – but in our experience one of the leading reasons individuals come to Roots – prevention of health issues, either now or to age well.
So naturally, one of the first questions every new member asks themselves in the first few weeks is: “So…what should I be eating?”
The current state of diet recommendations doesn’t help make this a simple answer – there’s keto, intermittent fasting, and counting macros, among many others. We’re inundated with fads and supplements on a modern day landscape of processed and refined foods, quick fixes, and prescription medications that mask the real solutions that give us the control and agency over our long-term health.
You can listen to five different podcasts and get five different dietary recommendations!
One thing is clear, IT’S TOO LOUD in the nutrition space.
CrossFit is the first physical fitness program in which nutrition is an integrated part of its methodology. That’s right, to do CrossFit, we want you to take control of how you fuel your body.
Believe it or not, many of our coaches used to eat a modern western diet filled with processed and refined carbohydrates, added sugars, low protein, and a few token fruits and vegetables.
I can attest to this as my diet at 26 years old and pre-CrossFit consisted of over 350 grams of processed and refined carbohydrates daily, most of which came in the form of sweetened breakfast foods, sports bars, pastas and sauces for dinner. Protein was an afterthought.
I thought I was health-conscious and eating the “right foods” but I could never get the physique that I thought my training and background as a competitive swimmer warranted. Then, in 2007, I read Nicole Carrol’s powerful article Getting Off the Crack.
That article changed my life forever.
It never occurred to me that my diet was part of the problem. Fast forward to my 45 year old self and I can say that CrossFit and its dietary prescription saved my life, changed how our family of four eats daily, and has given us a superpower of health that we are thankful for daily. The change didn’t come overnight and it took real work, but it is worth the effort and fully accessible to every individual.
Motivated by health and performance, we have each put time, energy, and effort into making lasting changes to our diets and we have the health markers to show for it. We know you can too.
Why Nutrition is the Foundation
In CrossFit, nutrition serves as the base of athlete development. All of the physical capabilities layered on top of nutrition are dependent on the quality and quantity of fuel that the body consumes.
“If you have a deficiency at any level of the pyramid, all the components above will suffer.” CrossFit Level 1 Training Guide
In short, you can’t out-train a bad diet.
“Every time you eat, you have a chance to take yourself closer or further away from your goal.” (Read more here.)
CrossFit’s Prescription
CrossFit’s dietary prescription is simple: Eat meat and vegetables, nuts and seeds, some fruit, little starch, and no sugar. Keep intake to levels that will support exercise but not body fat.
CrossFit’s dietary prescription addresses quality and quantity.
Quality: The elimination of processed foods paired with eating foods with high micronutrient quantities means individuals are laying the foundation to avoid Western diseases such as obesity, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, and high triglycerides. It means that individuals are protecting their health now and long into the future.
Quantity: While the first sentence in CrossFit’s dietary prescription relates to quality, the second sentence hones in on quantity to drive performance, and to some degree physique.
Living this prescription takes time, education, and habit formation. And we’re here to help.
What does this look like in real life? It looks like salmon or steak, roasted potatoes, and sauteed green beans as a normal weekday night family meal.
In Practice
Our prescription is simple and many people would say they know what they should do, it’s the actually doing it that is the hard part. We get it.
We believe in incremental change. We’ve seen members change their eating habits over 6 months, and we’ve seen it take 8 years. Wherever you are, we’re here to help.
For most people, an all-or-nothing approach isn’t advisable, or feasible. Imagine if you started CrossFit by coming every day for a week – you’d likely be sore, potentially frustrated, and not come at all for a few days.
Where to Start
We recommend a few ways to start. There’s not a right or wrong choice, just pick one to get you started:
- Clean Out Your Pantry
- Remove the processed, refined carbohydrates and anything with added sugar. Think muffins, granola bars, yogurt with added sugar, and sweetened beverages. You’ll learn as much about food by looking at the labels in your house as you will by cleaning up the options you have at home.
- Join the #800gChallenge
- If you want one change that makes the biggest difference with the least disruption, this is it.
- The #800gChallenge was created by EC Synkowski, a nutritionist and former coach at Roots. The rule is simple: eat 800 grams of fruits and vegetables a day, by weight. That’s it. Keep eating everything else you already eat. No restrictions, just additions.
- See below for more details on the #800g challenge…
#800gChallenge
Why 800 grams? A 2017 review of 95 studies found that people who ate about 800 grams of fruits and vegetables a day had the lowest risk of heart disease, stroke, cancer, and early death.
Roots loves the #800gChallenge because it is a simple, straightforward way to start that doesn’t require you to give up your bread or your morning latte. I’ll share the punch line with you – if you commit to the #800g, the fruits and vegetables start naturally crowding out the processed stuff all on its own.
Watch EC explain it in her TEDxBoulder talk, An Elegant Diet:
Ready to start today?
You can do the #800gChallenge with a food scale and a notebook. But if you want a plan to follow, sign up for EC’s Three Pillars Method app. It’s where I send every member who asks me, “What’s my next step?”
- A 30-day #800gChallenge program with simple daily logging
- Meal ideas and a recipe library, so you’re not staring into the fridge
- When you’re ready, the next steps are built in: protein first, then personalized portions. It’s the same order as CrossFit’s prescription: quality first, then quantity.
Start with a 5-day free trial here. After the trial, it’s $39 a month or $397 a year, and you can cancel anytime.
Full transparency: Roots receives a small portion of each sign-up through our link. I’d send you there either way. It’s the best first step I know.
Talk to any of us at the shop about nutrition. We’d love to help you make a plan.