Rest day. Grocery shopping. Zone diet.

Good day,


Rest day for me. Sunday's my wife works so I am in charge of the house work and the kids and... I get to go grocery shopping.


I love grocery shopping for a number of reasons but the biggest one is the profound awareness that what you put in is what you get out. I like going to Costco because the prices are good and the portions are large. When you are following the Zone diet (Crossfit journal 15 and 21), and consuming 5 x 4 block meals a day, you eat a lot of food. So to be able to purchase in bulk is a great way to economize.


I won't comment too long on the zone diet as there are a thousand great websites devoted to it. Suffice it to say that since starting the diet, I have never felt more attuned to the effects of food on my system. The chemicals and enzymes that make up your food are for all intents and purposes, drugs that affect your system. So if you eat a lot of sugar, additives, colorants, trans fats and the like, you will suffer for it. You will fill your cells with garbage and you will not be able to live a healthy and fun filled life. You'll be struggling to get up off the couch fatty.


In contrast, a well balanced diet that allows for the proper proportions of nutrient rich food will fill your body with vitality and energy that will radiate out in the form of health, mobility, strength, great stress response and...a great sex life. Seriously.


So once I changed my focus from seeing food as a delight to seeing food as fuel (as a fine young athelete at my local affiliate said one day before beating me at the "Buttercup" WOD), the perpective created a deep and satisfying power over my appetite and eating habits. This is very important, following a zone diet can simplify your life and it is empowering. So now when I get to go grocery shopping, I already know that I have to focus my diet on good lean protein, lots of fresh green vegetables, some fruit, grains and nuts, little starch, and no sugar (again, visit the crossfit.com and look at the nutrition section). So, today my youngest and I went to Costco and I bought some fish, some chicken, eggs, big bags of lettuce, broccoli, carrots, asparagus, lemons (for my water as it has an alkilizing effect on the body as does green vegetables) and a variety of berries for after workout carb binges. In fact, I bought too much as my fridge is now a trap if an unsuspecting person were to open the door. Not great for the fridge but by Wednesday, it will look much less full.

I used to eat whenever I could get a break in my workday, which was infrequently and sometimes not at all. One day I will post a vid or some pics of what it is I do every day and you'll see why. And what I ate was certainly not what was good for me. A Wendy's chicken burger combo is not ideal nutrition.

Now, I carry a cooler with me that has tupperware labeled with the number of blocks of either carbs or protein in each tupperware along with a lot of fresh water and my fat blocks. All this is prepared the night before and I spend between ten and fifteen minutes doing this each night. Now, I have what I need after my six o'clock workout, and for the three other meals I eat before supper which I have at home with my family.

SO grocery shopping is where it all starts.