A Nutritional Approach

byVince Miserandino

The Paleo/Zone Approach

What Should I Eat?In plain language, base your diet on garden vegetables, especially greens, lean meats, nuts and seeds, little starch, and no sugar. That's about as simple as we can get. Many have observed that keeping your grocery cart to the perimeter of the grocery store while avoiding the aisles is a great way to protect your health. Food is perishable. The stuff with long shelf life is all suspect. If you follow these simple guidelines you will see a huge improvement in your health.

• Protein should be lean and varied • Carbohydrates should be predominantly low-glycemic • Fat should be predominantly monounsaturated• olive oil • canola oil • peanut oil • Avocado• 40-30-30 Carbohydrates-Protein-Fat

If it can be killed or picked, eat it.

• The Caveman or Paleolithic Model for NutritionModern diets are ill suited for our genetic composition. Evolution has not kept pace with advances in agriculture and food processing resulting in a plague of health problems for modern man. Coronary heart disease, diabetes, cancer, osteoporosis, obesity and psychological dysfunction have all been scientifically linked to a diet too high in refined or processed carbohydrate. NO FAKE FOOD!!

What Foods Should I Avoid?

•Excessive consumption of high-glycemic carbohydrates is the primary culprit in nutritionally caused health problems. High glycemic carbohydrates are those that raise blood sugar too rapidly. They include rice, bread, candy, potato, sweets, sodas, any thing with high fructose corn syrup, foods high in sodium (MSG), and most processed carbohydrates. Processing can include bleaching, baking, grinding, and refining. Processing of carbohydrates greatly increases their glycemic index, a measure of their propensity to elevate blood sugar.

What is the Problem with High-Glycemic Carbohydrates?

The problem with high-glycemic carbohydrates is that they give an insulin spike. Insulin is an essential hormone for life, yet acute, chronic elevation of insulin leads to hyperinsulinism, which has been positively linked to obesity, elevated cholesterol levels, blood pressure, mood dysfunction and a Pandora's box of disease and disability. This prescription is a low-glycemic diet and consequently severely blunts the insulin response.

• Here is the Glycemic Index of some common Foods. The glycemic index (GI) is a numerical system of measuring how much blood sugar rises when a food is eaten. The higher the number, the greater the blood sugar response. So a low GI food will cause a small rise, while a high GI food will trigger a dramatic spike. A list of carbohydrates with their glycemic values is shown below. A GI is 70 or more is high, a GI of 56 to 69 inclusive is medium, and a GI of 55 or less is low.

Peanuts 14Apples 38Milk 39Strawberries 40All Bran Cereal 42Carrots 47Orange Juice 50Bananas 52Wild rice 57Sweet potatoes 61White Rice 64Table Sugar 68Whole Wheat Bread 71Popcorn 72Cheerios Cereal 74Shredded Wheat 75Corn Flakes 81Baked Potatoes 85Rice Crisps and Crackers 87

Notice how much higher bread, potatoes and cereals are than pure table sugar....scary.

Keep it simple• Eat a meal or snack within one hour after waking. • Eat every 4 to 6 hours after a meal or 2 to 2½ hours after a snack, whether

you are hungry or not. • Drink eight 8-ounce glasses of water a day. Supplement daily with a highly

purified Omega-3 concentrate (Fish oil)• Don’t beat yourself up for straying here or there. Your next meal or snack

can get you right back on track. • Start every meal or snack with low-fat protein. Next add low glycemic-load

carbohydrates (i.e. vegetables and fruits) and good fats (i.e. olive oil). Remember, a typical serving of low-fat protein fits in your palm of your hand and is no thicker than your hand (about 3 ounces for most females and 4 ounces for most males) A typical snack contains 1 ounce of protein for both women and men. Don’t worry. You’ll be able to eyeball it in no time. If your plate looks like this, you’re on the right track:

What a plate of food look like

• On 1/3rd of your plate, put a piece of lean protein the size and thickness of your palm.

• Examples: skinless chicken, fish, egg whites, tofu.• Fill the remaining 2/3rds of your plate with fruits and/or

vegetables.• Most fruits and vegetables are fine, but avoid things like

corn and bananas.• Add a dash of heart-healthy monounsaturated fat.• Examples: Olive Oil, Almonds, Avocado.• Avoid trans-fats.

Plate Portions

Sample Day

• Breakfast:Scrambled eggs with shredded cheeseRye toast with almond cashew butter, and 1 cup grapes

• Lunch:Seafood/chicken with mayonnaise in 1/2 mini pita pocket sandwich1 small side salad 1 apple

• NOTE: For even better results, you can replace the mini pita pocket or any breads/rice/pasta with a larger salad containing sliced tomatoes, green peppers, and onions, or substitute another piece of fruit. This substitution can be made for any meal that contains bread or refined carbohydrates. You can also substitute 1 tablespoon olive oil and vinegar dressing for the mayonnaise.

Afternoon Snack:2 pc of Canadian bacon/HamApple, hand full of mixed nuts1. Dinner:

Lean piece of meat, medium Salad with mixed veg, oil/vinager dressing, Side of Veg

Late-Night Snack:1-ounce turkey breast (sliced),

strawberries, and almonds

Shopping list

• Trader Joe’s Whole milk, fruits, veggies (frozen and fresh), lean meats(beef, chicken, fish, Canadian bacon, turkey bacon, low sodium cold cuts, shrimp, tofu), string cheese, nut butter (almond, cashew, macadamia), balance bars, romaine lettuce, mixed greens, olive oil, balsamic and red wine vinegar, organic mayo. Trader Joe’s cookies and cracker for you cheat snack.

• Costco• Almonds, walnuts, salad ingredients

My Typical Day

• Wake up 5:20• Meal 1 6:30am• 4 eggs, hard boiled or scrambled or 4 pieces of Canadian bacon, tablespoon of cashew butter, apple or some

type of fruit, 2 mugs of coffee with whole milk and stevia (Whole Foods)• Snack: 9:30 • Apple, 1 sting cheese, hand full of walnuts or almonds (12 or so)• Meal 2 12:00-12:45• Salad with protein: Romaine lettuce, mixed greens, tomatoes, cucumber, feta cheese, olive oil and vinegar,

chicken breast, half can of tuna or chicken salad with organic Trader Joes mayo or leftovers from dinner.``````````````````````````````

• Snack 3:30-4:00• Apple, string cheese, almonds or balance bar• Or• Zone Bar• Or• 4 slices of turkey, piece of fruit, hand full of mixed nuts• Dinner 6:30-7:00• Some lean protein (beef, chicken) salad, and veggie• Bed 9:00-9:30

Sample Breakfast2 tbs Almond butter- banana- 4 pc turkey bacon

Post Workout/Snack4:1 Carb: Protein drink- 2 slices Canadian bacon- mixed nuts

Sample DinnerSalad: tomatoes- feta-cucumber-avacado- steak- baked beans- yam- wine

Six Months

January June

• The goal of the last six months was to break 5 hours at the Patriot Half Ironman Triathlon. I ate Paleo/Zone as much as possible. I Crossfited 3-4 times a week either following the main site WOD or I would program my own workout. I swam, biked, and ran no more than two times each in 6 days. I took at least one complete day off some times two days. My average total training each week was 10 hours. I my longest run was 1:20 minutes, my longest ride was 4 hours and my longest swim was 1 hour.

• My finishing time was 4:52. I was 11th out of 40 men aged 35-39 and I placed 47th out if 318 racers.

• Swim:24:14 Bike:2:36:13 (193 average watts for 58 miles, 22mph average) Run: 1:49:55 8:30 average mile.