I had a similar uncomfortable experience the first time I tried really lowering the carbs and going paleo. Months later I’m finally brave enough to give it another go. This time it is a ton more fish oil (30 of the costco variety) and the carbs aren’t coming from calorically-dense nut butter this time…Maybe that also makes a difference for you. I’m still tweaking all of this.

It really has taken a lot of fish oil for me to actually notice something from it…

Also, when counting carb blocks how much do you consider the carbs in nuts/nut butters? I often include them for my fat blocks (in lieu of oils) but am not considering the carbs they contain.

Thanks for any offered info!

I’m doing a Crossfit Strength-biased cycle starting today as well. Training Mon/Tues, Thurs/Frid.

I do Crossfit 4-5X a week. Just recently forced myself to cut down to only 4X when possible. I’d like to do it 7 days a week…haha
I also play soccer 1X per week and sometimes a 30min morning run 2X a week (like to start the day w/ some peace and quiet in the fresh air.)
I sleep 9hrs a night. Sometimes also take a 30min nap.
I’m 39yrs old and find I just don’t recover like I used to.

I do take ZMA at night (2pills) as well as 6g of fish oil a day. Carlsons brand.
Just had my thyroid tested and it was something like 1.35 in the ‘normal range’ of 0-4.5. I don’t know which test it was. Something to do w/ T3/T4 reactive.

I did try the Anabolic (5days no Carb / 2day load) for like 6-8wks, and I might as well have been comatose. My brain had 0 function. And my energy was terrible. Even tried 13-14 days Keto to see if I needed longer to kick in w/ the fat burning.

thx again for any suggestions!

How did the idea of a “Beta” version of the book turn out? I am sure a lot of folks would be happy to pay up the $30 or so up front to get the Beta chapters and then a printed version once it’s finished. We’ll give you some feedback on whether it’s too science-y as well.

Cheers,
Lukas

How are you looking/feeling/performing on this?

B-fast
Two eggs/3 strips of Bacon/ coffee with cream.

Lunch 1/4 pound roast beef with a side of cold slaw with some Russian Dressing.

Dinner, Beer..it had to happen. Grilled Tuna/spinach. Dark Chocolate dipped in Almond butter.

This is a very typical day for me. Not beer everyday and it was just one.

For your situation, the “42 ways” tweaks dovetail nicely with what Cordain recommends. From there it’s just experimentation to see what works best for you.

Keep me posted on your progress and how you tackle this.

It’s taken some time but my performance on WOD’s has inched up. Something to keep in mind here is that there are very different reasons for doing a low-carb approach vs a Zone or conventional approach. I just feel better, look better and enjoy the low carb approach MORE than my relative uptick in performance in longer met-cons. this approach will not win one the CF Games but it’s easy and enjoyable.

Coach Glassman is quite familiar with the CLC approach. Many years ago we talked at length about the relative merits of the Zone vs CLC. He felt that work outputs on par with CrossFit were tough to fuel with CLC, but more strength oriented activities seemed to respond far better to the Anabolic Diet (he referenced Arizona State University…I believe the Track & Field program). I’ve noticed that partitioning the bulk of one’s carbs PWO solves many problems. It emulates the hormonal control of a CLC diet while allowing one to ramp up to the work and intensity of CrossFit.

Thanks for the great input Chris!

My husband uses a whey protein/coconut milk drink as an energy source for ultramarathon events and loves it. So it’s good during workouts too and not just after!

I went on to experiment with variations of the Ketogenic Diet; including Cyclical Ketogenic Diet (CKD), Targeted Ketogenic Diet (TKD) and Set Ketogenic Diet (SKD). This work by Lyle McDonald is a great reference on the subject…
http://books.google.com/books?id=JtCZBe-2XVIC&printsec=frontcover

Dr. Roman Malkov has written (re-written) a practical guide on Carb Cycling…
http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9781578263097

We have had some impressive results at LALANNE FITNESS, from fat loss to increased performance when following The Paleo Diet along with a Cyclic Ketogenic (low carb) Diet. Intermittent Fasting seems to enhance the approach.

Hope this info can shed light on the benefits of ketogenic diets and carb cycling.

ps… Coach Glassman shares an understanding of ketogenic diets. When digging through archives, I came across this…
http://crossfit.com/cf-archives/Archived_workouts/arc_mar/routine010303.html

Keep up the great work…
Hopefully I can get out to a CFN cert. soon!
Chris

Thanks,

Patrick

Which whey protein blend do you recommend?

Thanks in advance.

Great to hear that the book is still chugging along. I’m waiting here with my credit card at the ready for when your operators are finally standing by. Keep it up man!

I just saw that the Garmin-Slipstream pro cycling team (or at least Vande Velde) has gone gluten free:
http://www.velonews.com/article/91925/christian-vande-velde-s-secret

Still on other grains, but it sounds like they’re happy with the impact on recover time and energy levels so far. For anyone in cycling, let alone pro cycling, to move away from bread and pasta is practically blasphemous. Gun for them at the Tour!

http://786456855738864555-a-1802744773732722657-s-sites.googlegroups.com/site/saveusafpt/Home/jeremytinhat.jpg?attredirects=0&auth=ANoY7coHcBZWWrZZJ9BxiDQCK73goszaxEOHOYVh-UdymPB3dupuiP45THs6nFqWIqMykrmv54lDW3Aae4dJFp6tiRaCoti1RN7AVDi2aza4JlxMDtrZdJnkAaaRqLK-_MnOwJW6C8BNjg36BLsee3oKDRMziLf_EG5L5Ho3b7Rlz1Pa9e2i579Qzg-mH3T1Pcnwu0AuSSlEwCCVTmb2R5bbMK-CbKN_mw%3D%3D)

You’ve got a huge melon, so it may take two rolls of foil, but I can have one made for you too. Note the finely manufactured reception antenna to make sure the voices are loud and clear. Regards
Jeremy

When you were taking the 50g carbs post-WOD, how many carbs were you up to every day?

Also, are there any foreseeable problems if you drop too many carbs too fast?

Thank you,
-Mike

I had never heard of this method for leaning out, very interesting. I thought that post WO carbs were the be all end all, but I am going to try this approach. Obviously, you lost some strength when you began leaning out, but have you noticed a significant decline in performance since you eliminated the post WO carbs. For example how do you think that the lack of post WO carbs would effect your Fran or Helen times (or any applicable shorter met con)? When lifting heavy does the bar feel like it weighs a million pounds or do you feel like some of your strength gains have carried over?

Thanks,

Ben

I’ve been following your blog and CFFB for about 6 weeks now. I just looked through the recipes on the performance menu and it seems that most of them have a very high number of fat blocks. Without weighing and measuring I have been eating about the same number of blocks of fat and protein. What would be the benefits of consuming 2-3x more fat blocks? Just to mention, I would like to gain about 5 lbs. (5’4″ 140).

Would you recommend deleting carbs (replacing with 3 fat blocks), or are they necessary for mass gain?

Also, I’m reading Taubes’s book right now. So if it’s the type of calories that matters for fat loss, is the same true for muscle gain?

Where does this put the sweet potato and apple sauce PWO meal? Am I correct in assuming that the protein shake PWO is only good if you want to drop BF? Also, what do you think about the Advocare protein shakes? Thanks in advance!

Liz

I typically have been looking to adhere to the “42 ways…” idea of PWO nutrition in that I essentially take in 70-80% of my daily carb intake after a WOD (typically in the form of sweet potato, raisins, or other starchy carbs) I have even experimented with the often purported idea of chocolate milk (I know it’s refined, but man…it seems to pep me right up!)

So, any thoughts or skepticism about the Dipasquale suggestion? I’m still trying to figure out my nutrition for endurance. BMack and CFE talk about eating whole food for extended endurance events (3+ hours) but I have yet to see anyone else in the CF community even tackle the subject and contradict what Cordain advocates in the “Paleo for Athletes”.

Thoughts?

Do you have a general time for when your book will be out?

Can you provide a quick and accurate weight of your 4 meals.. unless you are using blocks.. are you roughly 5 ounces of meat at each meal, then loaded up veggies and a little fat.

Sounds like a very clean anabolic diet…

Thanks,
E

“Since the presence of fat combined with protein and limited carbs does not decrease the insulin response or the absorption of amino acids and protein as it does with those who are carb adapted”

If I’m not on a low carb diet but want to reap the benefits of AA absorption and not take in large amounts of carb PWO, does this mean a high level of PWO fat will blunt absorption for me and be less anabolic? If so, what type of post workout meal would you recommend?

The PWO whey/cocomilk sounds good….I think I’ll try it. I get that super PWO “gimme a milkshake” hunger and want to feed the beast when the beast is hungry… or the beast get’s angry. GRRRR. See you in Aromas

I am also looking fwd to seeing pictures of yourself in your leopard print thong that i am assured are given to those passing the hallowed Crossfit Coach exam by way of a future means of bribary.

I wanted to get your take on my nutrition surrounding workouts. I have a sensitive stomach and a propensity to puke if I eat too much too close to a WOD. About 2 hours before a WOD, I eat some fruit (apple, orange, blueberries, strawberries), a handful of walnuts, macadamians, and pecans, and take 20-30 grams of a low end whey protein. I used to eat some kind of meat, but I find I can’t consistently keep it down that close to a workout. Within 30-60 minutes PWO, I take 40 grams of Syntrax Nectar whey protein isolate.

I have read that even fast proteins, such as whey isolate, will not break down to free amino acids fast enough to feed your body in the “anabolic PWO window,” and that free form BCAAs are the answer to getting free amino acids into the bloodstream as fast as possible. However I have also read that free form amino acids in powder form (the most reasonable way to consume them in any amounts) are not stable and will not provide the advertised effects. What is your take on BCAAs in general. Do you have a brand that you would recommend?

I’ve learned so much from your blog, can’t wait to read your book(s)

I can not wait for the book! I’m looking forward to getting it in the hands of all my athletes! It’s overwhelming to try to boil these approaches down from a bilion sources on the web, and although I love learning from seminars and videos, it will be great to finally have a tangible reference that I can hand to someone and say, “here, read this. This is WHY I tell you to eat this way!”- and by someone much smarter than myself too!

I could use a little pre-summer leaning.