Paleo Nutrition Advice

In almost every Paleo Challenge I’ve run at gyms, there’s usually one or two members that check in at the halfway point with little to no improvement in their weight and measurements.  Their initial story is “I don’t understand, I’m doing it right.”  But a couple quick questions reveal significant progress-halting circumstances.  Lack of sleep, too much stress, frequent alcohol,…  If you are not seeing results, but you are not giving the healthy lifestyle a 100% chance, don’t even think about claiming that it doesn’t work.  Own up to your actions, and if you want to see changes you have to make changes.

The other note I consistently need to repeat is “avoid carbs for breakfast.”  Carbohydrates cause the release of insulin, which is a storage hormone.  If you’ve been exercising, the glucose will get stored in your muscle cells to replace glycogen (the stored energy you just used up to move heavy weights fast).  If you’ve been SLEEPING for 7-8 hours, your glycogen is not depleted, and thus you will store it somewhere else for later use.  I’ll give you one guess where that is…  Correctamundo!  In your fat cells.

Protein and fat for breakfast.  Don’t spike your blood sugar.  Wake up your brain.  Feel satiated until lunch.  For a more detailed explanation on this, check out my other article on breakfast.

“Yeah, but…”
But you go to work super early.
But you workout before eating breakfast.
But Men’s Health said to eat a bowl of oatmeal every morning.

Early work might mean 10-15 extra minutes to pop a couple eggs or leftovers from dinner.  If you wait until you get to the office to eat, you’re unknowingly doing intermittent fasting, which is a stress not intended for newbies.  Imagine a tiny lizard saying “15 minutes could save you 3% or more on your body composition.”  At the very least, try to get in about 5g of BCAA’s and a tablespoon of MCT/coconut oil before your workout.

When planning your meals around your workouts, it’s all about nutrient timing.  The easiest way to address this is with a couple sample meal plans, using macronutrients.  You might hear different approaches to this, so understand this is just what I recommend.  It happens to be based completely on science and I have seen it work for many many many people, but it’s just my recommendation.

And since most people are stuck inside the box thinking about “breakfast” foods and “dinner” foods, I’m just going to call them “Meals.”   Try some fish in the morning and see if your mind focuses up a little quicker that day.  The last meal (formerly known as Dinner) should occur around 2 hours before bed.  And veggies are implied throughout the whole day.

The Early Riser:
Wake up.
Workout.
Meal #1 – Protein, Carbs
Meal #2 – Protein, Fat
Meal #3 – Protein, Fat
Meal #4 – Protein, some Carbs, a little Fat
Sleep.

The Nooner:
Wake up.
Meal #1 – Protein, Fat
Workout.
Meal #2 – Protein, Carbs
Meal #3 – Protein, Fat
Meal #4 – Protein, some Carbs, a little Fat
Sleep.

The Late Bloomer:
Wake up.
Meal #1 – Protein, Fat
Meal #2 – Protein, Fat
Meal #3 – Protein, some Carbs, some fat
Workout.
Meal #4 – Protein, Carbs
Sleep.

Oh, and Men’s Health should be renamed as Men’s Advertising.  I guess it’s cool if you want to know how many almonds Ryan Reynolds ate to get his 8-pack for Blade: Trinity, or one of the workouts the Spartans did to prep for 300 (even though you’d probably beat their times), or how to shave 100 calories off your meal by eating Del Taco instead of Burger King.

I could spend pages reciting all the paleo food and lifestyle guidelines I’ve given before, so I’ll leave you with this takeaway:  You have all the tools and resources at your disposal to make any changes you want.  The commitment level is up to you.  If you’re participating in a Paleo Challenge, there is still time left to make some serious progress.  Everyone else, what the heck are you waiting for?