A Day With Jason Khalipa: What Fuels The Champ?

Jason, great video...thanks for sharing! Love all the paper plates, lol. Clean eats, and it's obviously working for you. Do you change the pre-workout snack at all, say if you're doing max effort lifting that day, or does that Think Thin bar carry you through no matter what?

Great vid, beast of an athlete, horrible clothing.

yum

I would seek a Subway sponsorship.

Jason:
What's up with the potatoes/starch and the honey/sugar in the cottage cheese? No question regarding your performance...you're tops...But, curious how you manage your fats with whole eggs and avocado on the same plate? Do you zone? or do you listen to your body for nutrition? Does not appear to be much rhyme or reason behind the video and I want to hear your comments on "WHY you do what you do....not just what you do".

-JD

Jason discusses it in his "interview part 2"

Fun Video!

Cheryl,

The Think Thin bar just happened to be the bar I had that day, sometimes its Detour, Zone, or something similar. This is not my pre-workout meal, typically my breakfast comes before my workouts. In regards to your question about if I change my meal depending on what I'm doing that day, the answer would be no. I eat the same thing typically no matter what I am doing that day.

John,

I really don't have a set system in place, I try to eat Zone friendly but it is by no means perfect. In regards to your comment about the eggs, I typically eat egg whites, if I eat whole eggs than I probably wouldn't have the avocado. As far as the starch in the potatoes and honey go, the potatoes were random typically I'll have something different every night but at the end of the day I really don't care about half a cup of mashed potatoes. The honey at night tastes good, so I eat it with cottage cheese for a little protein. In my opinion this should not effect my performance. My diet is by no means perfect, but it's convenient and doable.

Sorry Solomon, I like to be confortable for our morning class.

Good video, he does what works and it obviously shows in his performance. Now lets see a typical cheat day for Jason :)

Jason, thanks for the clarification. Sorry, from the vid it looked like that was all you ate before working out yourself, so I was wondering how you got through a workout with just a protein bar. I'm still new to the CF gym experience, and not being privy to what the WOD will be before I get there, I try to eat breakfast a couple hours before the morning WOD. That way, I've got something in the tank if we're lifting, but I'm also far enough from the meal that I'm not going to feel like total crap doing a run or something similar.

keep these nutrition videos coming.. they help out alot!!

Jason, do you really want to brag that your bar has zero grams of sugar when it is chocked full of maltitol syrup? This is really a question just for you, as you do what you do and it works. More broadly, how do people feel about "sugar free" products loaded with sugar alcohols?

Sorry Jason, that should have read "This is really NOT a question just for you..."

I'm not sure how Jason or anyone else may feel about it but I was initially concerned about sugar alcohals as any of us are regarding things that go into our bodies. In doing just the bare minimum of research it appears they are somewhat benign.

While ideally most of us would rather not consume any artificial products this sugar alcohal for sugar trade may have some merit. It looks like the trade mainly affects insulin reaction during digestion. None of the journals I reviewed said anything about harmful side effects short of the inability for the small intestine to absorb the product resulting in several digestive issues (if consumed in large quantities over 100g).

I personally consume something like this (and purchased these bars this week after seeing the video) almost everyday as part of my post work out meal. They're fast and easy and while it would be better for me to do a egg white-chicken-peanut butter combo I doubt I'll be breaking the skillet out at the office any time soon.

John,

The digestive issue you mention can be experienced at much lower dosages than 100g. Frequently nutrition bars can contain in excess of 20-30g of sugar alcohols and may upset individual systems. Just watch for that little gurgle, its a sure sign of fun to come!

Honey is delicious. Thanks for sharing a day in your life, bro.

Thanks for the great insight Jason....it definitively helps green-horn Crossfitters as myself to see what the top dawgs are doing for nutrition...Keep em coming!

An observation - the articles and videos recently seem to be all over the place when it comes to nutrition.

Jason isn't that regimented but obviously he doesn't need to be. And there was an earlier article with a highly regimented, measured approach by a body / figure competitor (not sure which). There are the articles on staying in the zone at restaurants...and EC is pretty much paleo yet we know what a man grace monster she is.

When you look at it in total it comes across as a bit wishy washy.

I understand there is no one size fits all. But should the journal focus on promoting a nutrition plan that is "most effective for most people"? And also healthiest? Because of course diet is not all about performance - its also about overall health and avoiding longer term health issues.

Kathleen,

Constantly varied... the journal is no different. When you look at the different athletes, no one is going to be exactly the same. Zone is a good baseline, and that is why CrossFit promotes it. However, it doesn't apply to everyone. I think it's good to see a little insight into the different things different athletes eat, and then you can decide from there what the best approach is for you.

I think showing the actual diets of top Crossfit athletes is probably the best way to promote lasting sound nutrition. Many people need to see Jason add honey to his cottage cheese and eat a 1/2 cup of mashed potatoes, yet know that he won the 2008 CF games. People need to see Pat say "it's a little too much protein, but I'll live." I want to know about reality, and these videos are raw reality. Of course, in order to successfully run loosey goosey with nutrition you should have a solid baseline, and these athletes obviously do. The materials to understand the baseline are widely available, but the information in these videos is much rarer. These videos are the sanity that athletic nutrition so desperately needs.

What both of you are saying (Jeff and Paul) is that you don't have an issue with nutrition related articles being 'all over the place'.

I guess it all comes down to the ability of the individual reading these articles to interpret some 'message' and apply the articles to their situation. As I said (and Jeff supports) - what works for Jason wouldn't necessarily work for everyone.

However, I still find this more recent nutritional guidance in the journal to be somewhat confusing. Doesn't impact me personally as I have my nutrition nailed and it works (Paleo + Dairy not strict Zone). However I think people may have an issue sorting through all of the varied 'examples'.

Kathleen,
Jeff hit the nail on the head. CrossFit is about real world performance. This is a simple presentation of what these guys really do.

If you're just starting out and not sure what to do, just follow the Zone. It's a formula that explains everything you need. Just about everyone starting with an undisciplined diet experiences great initial results with the Zone.

But if you're talking about what it takes to perform at elite levels, the rules change. Lots of people will tell you the diet has to be this or that, but if you look at what the folks who dominate the fiercest competitions actually do, you see the reality. There is no one answer, and the great majority of the top performers don't micromanage their food. They macromanage it.

OK - but as per my original post nutrition isn't all about performance. It is also about long term health. I am not sure that outlining the dietary practices of a couple of the elite crossfit athletes IS the best way to promote lasting sound nutrition. Would be interested in Robb's view.

95%+ of people practicing crossfit may not have the natural genetics that Jason or other elite athletes do and may need to better manage their nutrition to achieve higher performance levels.

I totally agree that Zone along with the good foods / bad foods list is the baseline for Crossfit. Also agree that strict measuring / weighing is not always needed and could prove to be detrimental to those with predisposition to eating disorders (per melissa byer article). BTW really like the travel logs that have been posted - they provide easy alternatives and I find those to be very useful. Again, many (including myslef) are starting Paleo + dairy without zone and seeing great benefits.

In summary I see it as:
If you are just starting CF follow Zone and allow yourself some cheats.
Strict Zone with weighing and measuring is good for those that need to lose weight (or are in competition)
Those that are elite performers, on maintenance, or trying to gain mass, etc. don't need to be so strict. Generally follow good food/bad food.
When you are traveling, you can find good choices on good food/bad food without being strict to zone.

i personaly think that this is one of the best videos made about real world diets, mine consists of very similar foods. Big fan of khalipas and as you can tell he is not trying to lose weight like many crossfiters, im in the same category(about losing weight not performance) and can honestly say that with this type a diet you will not loose much weight. There have been recent studies done about eating eggs whole and how they influence colesterol levels and most of these studies came to a conclution that eggs are not as bad as previously thought, and if you want to gain some mass then you can eat eggs with avacados.

thanks for the vid

"...with this diet you will not loose much weight."

Eugene, the amount of weight you lose is not determined by the quality of foods you are eating. It is directly related to the AMOUNT. Excess of kcal = weight gain, deficit of kcal = weight loss.

If you are a "hardgainer" keep the food quality high, as well as the quantity. That should be your number one priority.

Jason -mate, you need to learn to cook. The content may be good but your food is disgusting...

Keep up the good work bruh

Thanks. I really liked this "day in the life" diet. I use to be so precise with measurements and macros it was insane. Yes, I had great results. But I have been listenting to my needs and find my diet mirrors yours in a sense. And my results are a better much much better sense of well being. Also I drink lots of water. Thanks again as I find you inspirational. Dom