The Zone Chronicles: Post-Workout Nutrition Part 3

Good stuff Pat! Totally shocked when Andy said how old he ways! Goes to show what smart training and good nutrition can do!

I absolutely love these videos! Pat....you are great!

Great video! That appeared to be the best group of diets yet. Very solid and precise nutrition by all three. There has been so much talk about chocolate milk, but many people could benefit far more from raw milk (as mentioned). I know it is difficult to get in some areas.

Good to see Greg A is still rockin in the community somewhere. I wonder where a lot of those early CFers are like Nicole, Brendan, Annie, an Eva. It'd be cool to see videos of some people who've been doing this a long time to see what crossfit is like over many years.
Great vid! Love the nutrition stuff. Thanks Pat!

Can anyone tell me what supplement Andy Hendel said he uses for his knee? Alterra?

@Brian
i heard 'Voltarin' - just your average anti-inflammatory

When they said i take like 8 grams of fish oil per day it's not very specific so please if you know how many EPA per capsules they take it would be very appreciate. If they take 8g: 8 Capsule of 180 EPa= 1800mg of EPA per day but if someone take 3 pills a day with 500mg or 700mg of EPA does it make the same thing? Thanks in advance!

From my limited knowledge, yes, you are looking for the total dose of EPA and DHA as opposed to the volume of 'oil.' High quality fish oil has more EPA/DHA and less impurities, the lower the quality the less EPA/DHA and more impurity and filler. In the book Toxic Fat, by Dr Barry Sears, it is outlined that for a healthy person to maintain wellness a dose of 2.5 grams of EPA and DHA per day, 5 grams for overweight/obese/type2 diabetes/heart disease, 7.5 grams for chronic pain and 10 grams for neurological disorders. He explains at length the science and rationale behind his therapeutic doses and has apparently seen no side effects. Thus if you take a suggested therapeutic dose with low yield, cheaper tablets, you are exposing yourself to large amounts of impurities (13 tablets of 180 EPA strength to hit your 2.5 grams!) Hope this helps (PS, get the book, totally worth it!)

As always, great stuff Pat. Keep it coming. Side note, great to hear from Greg A. aside from him just smoking some crazy workout.

Grew up with Greg A. too. The Annie vs. Greg A. Fran video is my go to video when I show people what CrossFit is. That and nasty girls ;)

I agree wih everyone...........Greg A rocks!

Thank you for the information but it's not why i was asking:P haha! i know for the epa/dha dosing and quality and i take 3 pills a day with 500mg of EPA and 250mg of DHA. I want to know was all these athletes are taking! What ratio of epa and dha they take and how many pills per day!

Seeing Greg is like seeing your favorite celebrity that has quit acting and just pops up every now and then to do an interview and you start remembering all the great films they did. Anyway I have a question for Pat or anyone that has seen a direct increase in performance and or general health and wellness from vitamin D supplementation. I am always very suspicious of any supplementation, but after I hear enough concrete evidence I will give it a try. That being said the only supplements I take are multi-vitamins, fish oil, and post work out whey protein. I am on the fence about vitamin D and would like some input.

I heard Andy Hendel say that Spencer does the Warrior diet... Anyone have any insight into this? I am very intrigued.

It seems that the Warrior Diet goes exactly against the theory of the Zone Diet - maintaining stable blood sugar levels.

I don't think any of them really pay much attention to the EPA-DHA ratio. I feel I can safely say they do the same thing I do, which is just add the EPA & DHA per serving, then figure out how many servings I need to take over the course of the day to get the quantity I'm after.

For example, when I'm home I take the fish oil liquid from Carlsons. A teaspoon has 800mg of EPA and 500mg of DHA. I don't worry about that ratio, I just consider that every teaspoon is giving me 1.3g of what I'm after. I usually take 10 teaspoons over the course of the day.

When I'm traveling I don't take the glass bottle of liquid with me, I take a bottle of fish oil pills from Nordic Naturals. (there are plenty of good brands, this is just what my grocery store has) Two of these pills contains EPA 650mg and DHA 450mg, so I just consider that every two pills is giving me 1.1g of the good stuff.

I take 6 pills in the morning when I'm traveling and another 6 at night. So my fish oil intake is lower when I'm traveling because I don't like carrying around tons of fish oil pills.

I hope that helps!

I would be lying to you if I said that I saw a direct increase in performance once I started taking a vitamin D supplement. However, I do believe the data that the overwhelming majority of people are low, and I know it is a key player in many important processes in the body. So, I figured what the hell, and started taking it. I don't know if it is helping, but it is certainly not hurting and it is inexpensive. I'm sorry that was not more scientific, but it is just based on my experience.

Hope that helps!

I haven't personally supplemented with Vitamin D yet, but I'm a physician and routinely screen patients for low levels of Vitamin D. A large number of them are deficient and have made clinical improvements in mood/anxiety once they normalize. Most of us don't get enough sun exposure for it. A lot of my primary care physician colleagues are having similar responses since they began testing and we've been amazed as to how many people are deficient. It might not be a major performance enhancer but is key for general health.

Thank you for the input Pat and Robert, I will most likely buy some on my next trip to the store.

Side note, I am in physical therapy school and because I have been reading and watching the crossfit journals for some time now my eye for human movement and the ability to spot deficiencies is through the roof. It makes learning the information and techniques so much easier. Thanks crossfit!!!

Thanks a lot Pat! It's a lot of fish oil to take! What is the reason for taking this quantity of fish oil if 2.5g for a normal person is enough to maintain wellness? And what are the benefice on her body because i just take 2.25g of fish oil per day and i want to know if it's good or not enough? Thanks in advance!

I have a lot more bumps and bruises than the average Joe, so I take more fish oil than needed for general wellness. I had skeletal traction just above my right knee, a broken pelvis required plates and screws, I have been in 2 motorcycle accidents, etc, etc. I have been rather hard on my body, so I have more joint pain and random aches than I should at my age, or maybe at any age! haha. I find high dose fish oil makes me feel better.

What is the warrior diet? Is it basically back in the "warrior" days they would not eat until the sun set? So eat all your food in the evening? Interesting...anyone have any input on this subject?

I work as a paleo / zone nutritionist, and have recently done an experiments with a group of clients which confirmed what Greg said that food quality (paleo) plus Zone improves peoples lives.

I had a group of Zone clients and non Zone people switch to paleo Zone - food quality plus zone proportions - either hand eye or blocks. I had people who were stuck with weight loss start losing again. Lots of health issues resolved as well.

As Greg said - quality of food can make a huge difference, it also did for me, niggling health issues disappeared when I went from a Zone Diet that included small amounts of grains and dairy to a paleo zone diet (no grains legumes or dairy).

I've written up a few results in people's own words on my blog:
http://paleozonenutrition.wordpress.com/2010/09/01/6-week-paleo-trial-results/

I've also been looking at Vit D levels in clients and asking people to get tested. My observation - people in mid autumn were borderline low. Those that started supplementing 2000 - 5000iu per day maintained. Those that didn't supplement or supplemented too little had falling Vit D levels.

As a result of my observations and typical questions clients asked, I wrote a Q & A post about Vit D, what levels too look for and how much to supplement, hopefully this might be useful for some:
http://paleozonenutrition.wordpress.com/2010/07/28/vitamin-d-ideal-levels-and-how-to-know-if-you-are-taking-the-right-amount/

I refuse to believe that a diet for the masses works. Thus, I refuse to go along with the 'community' in terms of diet. Everyone is different and my diet includes a better ratio than 40/30/30.

The guys talking in the video actually don't do 40/30/30. I don't know any nutritionist working around CrossFit, or even Barry Sears himself who would say it's the perfect ratio for everyone.

Most people end up working out what works best for them, many drop carbs and add fat for example. I trained as a Zone Diet Instructor - and I personally follow a roughly 25% calories protein, 20 - 25% from carbs, 50-60% from fat, because that's what works for me. Most Cross Fitters following Zone would work out their protein requirement - than play with carbs and fat to suit their training regime, health and fat loss goals.