CrossFit advocates a specific diet.  When we say diet, don't think weight watchers or fat cleanse or any 2 week diet fad out there.  Our diet is a way of eating that gives you complete control over your body, your muscle growth, your body fat, your energy levels.  Our diet is a performance based diet.  Wouldn't it be nice if there was a pharmacy where you could go and get a pill to lower your body fat percentage, or get a pill to give you more energy.  Well, there is.  It is your refrigerator.

At CrossFit, we advocate the Paleo/Zone diet.  Paleo foods in Zone proportions.  The first step is to go Paleo.  Eat only what a caveman could have eaten.  This mainly means no sugar and no starch.  And that means no bread.  No bread, no bagels, no pasta, no rice, no chips, no potatoes.  And yes,  Twinkies and donuts are included in that list.  It doesn't matter if the bread is whole grain organic super bread grown on a commune in Humboldt and made with purified water filtered through crystals or wonder bread made with child labor in China.  Your stomach isn't politically correct, it breaks all starch down to sugar. Sugar means insulin and too much insulin is the cause of an army of medical conditions.

After you have gone Paleo for a while and watched your body fat drop, your energy levels stabilize, and your performance ratchet up, start eating in Zone proportions.  The Zone is 40% carbohydrates (not starch), 30% protein (preferably lean), and 30% fat (nuts, olives, and avos, for example, not the deep fried platter at the local sports bar).

There are many ways to tweak and play with the Zone and Paleo diets.  Only experience will find the best for you.  Start with the basic prescription outlined above and go from there.  Talk to any of the trainers at the Cage, we are all constantly experimenting with ourselves to find the perfect performance diet.