Nutrition is a funny subject – it is very simple and yet very complex at the same time, resulting in a lot of confusion and a lot of people simply giving up ever trying to figure out how to eat properly. However, I think I have a way to look at things that will help clear some of the confusion up.

I call it Primary and Secondary Food Filters. Primary Food Filters are the “rules” that cover general nutrition principles and Secondary Food Filters are “rules” that dig into more specific aspects of what you eat. The problems start to crop up when people hear about and focus on Secondary Food Filters before they have a Primary Food Filter in place.

Here is an example to explain what I mean…

The first Primary Food Filter I teach people is the 123′s of Nutrition:

1) Eat every 2-3 hours

2) Eat a lean protein with each meal

3) Eat fruit and/ or veges at each meal and avoid refined carbs

Those are general rules that are pretty easy to apply and not very confusing. If you ran your current eating habits through that filter you would have a very good idea of the overall effect of what you are eating. If you are not meeting 1 or more of those rules then you need to work on fixing that.

A Secondary Food Filter would be things like eating Gluten Free, Organic Foods, Whole Grain or something else that filters food choices based on a very specific aspect of the foods. The problem is that when you don’t have a Primary Food Filter in place the Secondary Food Filters can actually encourage some bad choices.

For example, a milkshake is “gluten free”, you can make a cake that is “organic” and Fruit Loops are “whole grain” but those foods still are still not good for you. You’d be better off eating a meal that broke all of those rules – a chicken breast with a piece of bread and a salad.

Again, the problems arise when people are sold on and focus on Secondary Food Filters before having a Primary Food Filter in place. Once you have one in place then you can start to add Secondary Food Filters to dial your nutrition program in even more but don’t put the cart before the horse, so to speak. Unfortunately most nutrition programs are promoted and sold on Secondary Filters, which is why it seems every time you turn around there is a “new” nutrition program that you need to follow.

So, when someone asks me if they should eat gluten free (which seems to be the big buzz right now) I ask them how their overall nutrition program looks. Most often I get a blank stare back – they have no idea, they just have heard that they should avoid gluten and start to filter their food choices based on that. Get your primary filter in place first before worrying about the secondary stuff.

Share on Facebook

Mountain Bike Nutrition & Supplements

The Warrior Diet has been the subject of a lot of controversy in the fitness world. From the first time its creator Ori Hofmekler first started writing about it several years ago nutritional experts have been lining up to take shots at it and discourage people from trying it. It was, and still is, nutritional heresy.

What is it that makes it so controversial? In a nutshell, the Warrior Diet has you use controlled fasting during the day and controlled overfeeding at night. In other words, skip breakfast and eat little to nothing all day and then follow that up with a large meal at the end of the day.

This breaks every rule in the book – everyone knows that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, you shouldn’t let yourself get hungry and eating a big meal before bed is a sure way to get fat. I sure believed the naysayers and steered clear of it.

However, over the last year or so I keep coming across smart people whom I respect who use or advocate the Warrior Diet. After reading more about it in the excellent training book The Purposeful Primitive I had to admit that my curiosity was piqued and I wanted to give it a go.

Several things about the diet make a lot of intuitive sense to me. I’ve never been hungry in the mornings and would gladly skip breakfast if I wasn’t told I needed it. I naturally don’t like to eat during the day, preferring to stay focused on my tasks and not have to stop every few hours to eat. I also prefer to eat a big meal at the end of the day and only skimp on it because I’m told it is bad for me. All in all, it seems like if I just ate the way I wanted to without external influences I’d follow something similar to the Warrior Diet.

So, I bought the book and spent a few weeks implementing it. In the book Ori makes a compelling argument for the need to fast during the day and how ancient warriors and hunters would subsist on a similar eating pattern. In fact, the term Intermittent Fasting is becoming more popular as more research identifies the benefits of controlled under-eating and the Warrior Diet is simply a type of Intermittent Fasting.

You are allowed to graze on things like fresh fruits and vegetables and eat some light protein sources like yogurt or kefir during the day if you get hungry but you can’t eat a meal until the 2-4 hour overfeeding period starts at the end of the day. As you do it longer you can eat less during the day and have a shorter overfeeding period but I stuck with grazing a bit during the day and letting from 5-9 pm be my overfeeding period.

While I was apprehensive at first I was surprised at how quickly I adapted to diet. I thought that hunger would be a huge issue but in reality it was not a big deal. If I got hungry I would eat half an apple, some carrots or some nuts and be good to go. My energy levels were pretty good and I actually enjoyed not having a post-lunch urge for a nap or having to think about how long I’d be gone and how much food I had to bring with me when I leave the house.

After a couple of weeks, though, I went through a period where I was training hard and riding almost every day. I found that I simply was not able to keep up with my energy demands and that I was crashing later in the day. About that time I read John Berardi’s excellent Special Report on Intermittent Fasting and learned a few more approaches to the concept, including fasting 1-2 days a week or following a 16 hour fast/ 8 hour feeding schedule. I didn’t want to have to go back to eating “normal” a few days a week and so I decided to try the 16-8 plan and simply shorten the fast.

I kept up my morning fast and started my eating period at lunch instead of dinner. I put my own twist on it by sticking with “live” foods from lunch until dinner and saving my processed “dead” foods for a small window around dinner. So far this plan has worked pretty well for me, although I will say that I would recommend planning your training for later in the day during your feeding period. If you do train or ride in the morning then eating a small to moderate protein smoothie with kefir/ Greek yogurt, fruit, whey protein and juice (avoid milk) beforehand will help keep you from crashing.

Overall my experience has been good and I now see an alternative eating strategy that lines up better with my normal rhythm. While the “eat every 2-3 hours” approach is very effective for those that can adhere to it, the truth is that a lot of people struggle to really take advantage of it. Intermittent Fasting and the Warrior Diet may offer another way to achieve nutritional success that would be worth looking into.

- James Wilson -

Share on Facebook

Mountain Bike Nutrition & Supplements

A while back I was lucky enough to get two members of the Precision Nutrition team on the phone to talk about nutrition for mountain biking. We discussed some basic nutrition strategies, some race day strategies, supplement recommendations and dispelled some myths about carbo loading and sodium bicarbonate (baking soda). Definitely worth checking out if you want to learn more about how to maximize your training and riding through nutrition!

You can find out more about Precision Nutrition by clicking on this link:

http://tinyurl.com/mtbpnlink

Download this episode (right click and save)

Share on Facebook

Mountain Bike Nutrition & Supplements

Here is a new feature I’m trying out, let me know what you think…

-James Wilson-

Share on Facebook

Mountain Bike Nutrition & Supplements

I have noticed a trend on people’s food logs in my facility – breakfast either breaks the 4 main habits I look for or is practically non-existent. Breakfast is one of the most important meals of the day. In fact, on days you don’t train it is the most important meal by far (your post workout meal is almost as important).

Read more…

Share on Facebook

Mountain Bike Nutrition & Supplements

In this edition of the MTB Strength Coach Podcast I cover…

- Gear Review: The Yeti ASR-7 is one of the new breed of long travel trail bikes and I’ve spent the last year thrashing mine around Western Colorado. Here is my take on this much-talked-about bike.

- Nutrition Tip: The 123′s of Mountain Bike Nutrition are the steps I use in my facility to help riders get their diet dialed in. While nutrition is a very complex subject, 80% of your results will come from these 3 things.

- Training Tip: Are you a Cook or a Chef? What the heck does cooking have to do with training? Learn why you’re probably better off just following the recipe…

You can click on this link to download the MP3 file and subscribe to this podcast.

If you like this podcast please take a minute to go to ITunes.com and rate/ review it.

-James Wilson-

Share on Facebook

Mountain Bike Nutrition & Supplements, Podcasts