Nutrition and Supplements
Supplements: I don’t see supplements being necessary for those that train lightly and infrequently, but you may get more into this as you start to see results. Most people do. Supplements do help when you’re actually training hard (sweating, sore the next day…) but I’ve found that good nutrition from whole food and limiting alcohol and sugar will take you further.
Multivitamins
take it everyday with food
Vitamin C
immune support, antioxidant, helps build collagen for tissue repair. Take as often as youd like, its water soluble… but 1000mg 2x a day is reasonable
Fish Oil
· Anti-inflammatory, good for joints, and just good healthy fat to add to your diet. Take with meals
Magnesium
Helps prevent tightness and knots in muscles. Magnesium Citrate is the most bioavailable form and can be bought at Vitamin Shoppe cheap, 200mg/day.
Whey Protein
fast digesting amino acid source to hold you over until you can eat some real food. Take 15-25g within 30 mins of resistance training. It’s not necessary to have a shake always, but you should definitely eat within an hour after training otherwise your body will break down muscle protein to repair the muscle groups you trained.
Creatine
use sparingly, when you’re run-down. Creatine Monohydrate has been around for 20+ yrs and is perfectly safe as long as you’re adequately hydrated, but it will just make you bloated if overused and youre not actually training hard. Some recommend cycling, but I just use it when im sore all over and need a little something.
Nutrition
The “paleo” model provides a good outline: meats and vegetables, nuts and seeds, some fruit, little starch, no sugar. http://www.crossfit.com/cf-info/start-diet.html
The exclusion of dairy and legumes is a little extreme as both are great non-meat protein sources. Greek yogurt is also good post-workout. Chicken and fish are best, 6oz-8oz per serving, but if pork or beef is on sale then fine. You still have my shopping list from when I house-sat for you? That’s pretty much what I eat everyday. I don’t count calories and Im not concerned with my weight. My ability to perform across all modes of physical training and what I see in the mirror tells me all I need to know about my body composition.
The overall theme is Fueling for Performance; eat food with nutritional value, no shit. Meals should contain protein, carbohydrate and fat from unprocessed REAL FOOD. No doughnuts. No hot dogs. Don’t skip breakfast, it should be your biggest meal, and drink plenty of water.