CrossFit Roots recently held a nutrition talk and food tasting with Nicole Christensen and Colorado Kitchen Collective’s Abby Knowles. Did you miss out? Read on for a summary of the nutrition tips they discussed from knowing what to eat, calculating macros to drive performance, and how to be successful in changing your nutrition habits.

Want help in jumpstarting your healthy eating? Colorado Kitchen Collective is offering all Roots members 10% of their prepared meals through the month of October. Click HERE to go directly to the CKC Market menu and use the code ROOTS at checkout.

START

MAKE YOUR PLATES OF: 

MEAT, VEGETABLES, NUTS & SEEDS, SOME FRUIT, LITTLE STARCH (and NO sugar). Eat 3-4 times per day. Start with a palm-sized serving of protein, a hefty serving of vegetables, and starch or fruit. Add 2 thumbs worth of fat. 

Repeat forever. 

DRIVE PERFORMANCE

CALCULATE YOUR MACROS: 

1. Determine your activity level

.7 – sedentary

.8 – moderately active (CrossFit 3+ times per week)

.9 – active (CrossFit 5x per week)

1.0 – Perform or die (CrossFit 5+x per week)

2. Take your activity level and multiply it by your bodyweight

PROTEIN (g): __________ x ___________ = __________ g

3. Take your grams of protein and multiply by 1.4 to get your daily grams of carbohydrates.

CARBOHYDRATE (g): __________ x 1.4 = __________ g

4. Take your grams of protein and divide by 2.2 to get your grams of fat. 

FAT (g): _________ g / 2.2 = __________ g

5. Enter these numbers into a food tracking app such as MyFitnessPal. 

NOTE: grams of a macronutrient are NOT the same as grams by weight of a food!

HOW TO BE SUCCESSFUL

MEAL PREP

  • Make it yourself.
  • Order it. 
  • Split the difference. When you know you have a busy week coming up or will be coming home on Sunday from travel, stay ahead by purchasing food that keeps you on track.  

EAT THE SAME THING EVERY DAY

  • Not joking.
  • Especially for the first two months. 

CUT OUT EVERYTHING WITH ADDED SUGAR

  • Read labels.
  • Any form of added sugar must go. 
  • Example: one Nature’s Best granola bar has 14g of added sugar. That’s 11 pounds of added sugar in one year. 

PLAN HOW YOU’LL EAT ON THE ROAD

  • Bring a cooler.
  • Airport >> land >> grocery store >> hotel
  • Rotisserie chicken, strawberries, avocados

WRITE IT DOWN

  • Track what, when, and how you ate for every meal for the first month.

ACCEPT THAT THIS IS DIFFERENT

  • Complaining never helped to adopt any new way of doing something.