I think the 1st  Crossfit London paleo party went rather well.  We had 2 to 3 hours of a social combined with soem weighing and measuring fun, great presentations from Rutger, Rachel ( Kirsty’s nutritional therapist mate) and Tom. ( oh and Me!!)

We shared some great Paleo snacks, including 100% chocolate ( which sally spat out but Rosie Loved) some delicious cakey muffiney things by Joanne, burgers from  Tom, muffins from Christina and “Scouse” from Kirsty.

One of the good upshots of this is we have started laying down some nutritional support  from Rachel. As she is in her final year, she can do full scale ( supervised) reviews with you  for just £25. So thats worth grabbing  asap. Rutger is starting a blog, and Tom has a whole lot of  healthy eating ideas on his blog ( so hopefully some links will appear in comments below). Future non lent “parties” will involve booze…..

Fancy spending an afternoon with some Zone and Paleo food experts, a paleo mad chef, and a nutritional therapist? Well we at Crossfit London have hunted down a group of fun food folk whose brains you can pick for free on Saturday (3td March)  at “Kirstys flat” ( 4 minutes from the gym)

This is a food and Fun party so feel free to bring  paleo or Zone snacks for other people along with paleo friendly booze (for those whose lent challenge has not reduced booze to nil) or just a healthy drink.

This is partly  social, but its  also 2 hours of “how to” sort your diet out, great cooking tips ( including kale crisps!!),  nutritional advice , weighing and food storing tips

You can book your place in the class schedule ( its free to  members). We will send the address out on Friday,  but a group of us will assemble at the gym and leave at 1.50 to walk around together. The event goes from 2 till 4!

Hope to see you there. ( or at the gym at 1.50)

Good Luck with the Lent Challenge

The Crossfit London UK Lent Challenge will stretch from 22 February to 7th April.(inclusive)

During this period, our challenge to you is to choose either a wholly healthy diet regime ( the Zone and Paleo diets are popular) or  if going the whole hog is too much for you just now, to decide to add a healthy habit, or loose a bad one, It could be that you will start taking omega 3 every day ( buy it here) or it could be something as simple as cutting out the booze

For those who want to have a bench mark to work from, this sunday will be an optional  weigh, measure and photograph session ( you dont have to do them all) as part of the drop in session. If you want kat to “fat caliper” you, or kate to photograph you while wearing appropriate clothes ( swimming suit?), or for Andrew to weigh and measure you, or steven to (possibly) wave his new infra red  ”fat hunter” toy over you, now is the time to man up and sign up.

Just book yourself into the strength Drop in session this sunday  ( 9 till 11.30)

If you let Kat “fat Caliper” you, you will need to input the measurements  here

http://www.exrx.net/Calculators/BodyComp.html

This and the other measures we take we will given to you in confidence. Hopefully you will want to publish before and after photos once the challenge is over.

There will be various events to support you through the period, including our 1st (free) Paleo Party at Kirsty on the 3rd March ( do make sure you grab a place to get lots of recipes, hints, a session on how to make kale Crisps, and a healthy dose of good old fashioned  gossip) ( Its in the class schedule for the day). We hope to have Rutger, Kirsty’s Nutritional friend, Brie, Me and Kate  doing “party pieces”  covering “strict paleo”, the Zone, good nutritional principals and just enjoying food.

You may join the challenge when ever you like, as long as you “sign up” in comments. Just tell us what you intend to do, and your hopes. ( weight loss, improved performance more energy, “just better diet”, booze less)

As a side note, for those of you who have been following the blood test adventures of Kate, you may wish to get some food intolerance blood tests done to spot whether changing your diet is steering you away, or towards foods that are bad for you,

You can get a food intolerance test done at  http://www.camnutri.com/ and, if you use this code,  you get a 15% discount CLU646

Points.

1) There will be 2 more blogs set up. A daily diary for those who want to report progress and discuss “stuff”. There will also be a “food Blog” for people to post recipes and food ideas on

2) Try and be disciplined as to which blog you post on

3) The diets we are discussing are for most of our members. If you do a sport  like sumo wrestling or extended endurance work, you will need to follow the advice of your  coaches. So  no debates like ” I have to gain 15 kilos for a sumo fight, I wont do it on  paleo? or, “on a reduced diet i wont be able to run 25 miles a day, can some one comment?”, Ill keep  us all focused on the issues.

4) This is ( hopefully obviously) not a religious challenge!

5)  You should of course discuss all dietary changes with your doctor, especially if you are on medication

To find out about our Lent Challenge, Click here.

How is it going. Any Problems  or successes to report? Write below.

Any Recipes of Food ideas, post them here

Hi all, I just wanted to ok our arrangements for the Crossfit London Lent Challenge.

During this period, some will be following strict Zone protocols,  other Paleo. If you dont want to go  the whole hog, you can target a bad habit: Booze, muffins. whatever.

We will open a Blog tomorrow  and get you to record your commitments.

We will then open 2 more blogs. 1 will be a daily diary to record emotional pain, and problems and successes, the other will be a recipe page where we will be able to share food specific tips. Ill be a bit brutal in pushing comments to the right forum. We will get a side box on the site with links to all 3 blogs.

We just wanted to make sure  that everyone was ok with the title “Lent challenge” and that no one felt it was too religious. ( btw, our period is 22 Feb to 6 April… more than 40 days!!)

For those who would like to do this super monitored, you should sign in to  this sundays strength session. Here we can weigh you , photograph you in skimpy swim wear(optional), help you with self applied measurements, and, if katarina and Steven are free,  we will do body fat and sonic gizzmo fat readings. If you are booking into the strength session to do this, can you email me and let me know.

As a landmark event, the 1st paleo (booze free) party will be at Kirsty’s on the 3rd of March, starting at 2, where Rutger will teach us how to make kale crisps!! Andrew and Kate will tighten up your Zone, and no doubt others will share tips and stuff! Its on the system under class bookings ( Kirsty lives about 10 mins from the box)

Andrew asked me after my November strict paleo challenge in aid of Movember to write a few words of wisdom for all of you approaching 40 days of good clean eating.

I had great results from being paleo for that month: no colds, weight loss, some training improvements (I didn’t get that jet-pack turbo charge improvement many people talk about….possibly psychosomatic?) but mostly it was fun to try and I did feel great at the end of the month even if my social life had suffered.

Prep as far as I’m concerned takes two forms: mental and logistical so lets run through a few top tips:

Mental Prep:

1) Don’t drink the kool-aid. Paleo is a framework for eating (i like to call it dairy/gluten/processed free!) – not a diet or religion, and one size does not fit all. It also isn’t the key to world peace and the end of all dietary issues for everyone. Everyone has an opinion on what you should eat – but you’ll figure out whats best for you through trial and error. Some paleo science is dodgy, some things make sense. Just give it a try and keep the proselytising to a minimum.

2) FRUIT AND NUTS: what to do??? Now, I’m looking at all you turbo-charged Rx-WOD ripping boys out there – please don’t worry about how many nuts and pieces of fruit you eat. Chances are you have an awesome metabolism and will struggle to consume the amount of calories you need if you limit these two key ‘bulkers’ in the paleo diet.

If you are like me, and did paleo to trim some inches, 2 pieces of fruit a day and a handful of nuts max is good guidance. But don’t be too strict with yourself. If your colleagues are eating birthday cake – have some dried mango! Its important you feel like you get treats sometimes too.

3) Get ready to cook. A lot. The key to paleo enjoyable is making a lot of things yourself. My first week I ate out and had a shitty steak with wilted salad while my friends ate lasagna and sticky toffee pudding around me. Stay in. Cook. Bring your lunch. Research recipes and blogs to keep the food you eat interesting, engaging and healthy. If you never cook at all, take the week before the challenge to practice cooking for yourself to ensure the sudden transition combined with a sugar detox doesn’t leave you in a sobbing, hunger pile on your kitchen floor.

4) Accept that your social life will change. I wasn’t drinking at all – so I spent a lot of nights in to avoid temptation and harassment. Suddenly I had more hobbies! I wrote music, I trebled the amount of yoga I was doing on top of crossfit, I watched DVDs and I started knitting. Having a paleo buddy (hey Kirsty!) can help as at least you aren’t alone.

Logistics:

1) Get yourself some meat. There is the Athleat meat delivery boxes, early morning visits to Smithfield market to buy in bulk or Markymarket  if you don’t want to get up early – all options to fill your freezer with many meal options.

2) Find a good and cheap local fruit and veg shop. I would travel halfway across London regularly to go to Newington Green Fruit and Veg – Its worth it.  They are open 8am to 10pm 7 days a week and have the freshest, cheapest and most diverse selection of fruit, veg and nuts in London. Set yourself a challenge to try a new vegetable every week – whether its kohlrabi, that weird fractal cauliflower or fresh artichokes.

3) Get thee some Tupperware. You are now that person who leaves the house armed with veggies in boxes. Get used to it.

4) Get a slowcooker! This is one I didn’t figure out until way too late. If you want to be paleo without breaking the bank, but struggle to give ‘off cuts’ the slow cooking they need to be tender and delicious during the week – use your slow cooker! I would put casseroles on before I went to bed (chicken, tomatoes, capers, olives, anchovies, garlic, olive oil, oregano being a classic), spoon it into Tupperware in the morning and boom! I would also put things in the dish at night and store it in the fridge, then pop the bowl in the slow cooker, turn it on when I left for work on low so I’d have a lovely meal waiting at home when I came in post training. I got really smug about this. Try to avoid that part.

5) Figure out what condiments are ok. It was a surprise to me that I could cook with mine according to many paleo recipes – and that a touch a soy sauce wasn’t actually going to derail my progress. I made my own ketchup and salad dressings, and there are tonnes of paleo recipes out there for condiments. Oh, and just FYI – peanuts and cashews aren’t paleo. Learned that after a week of peanut butter for breakfast.

The start of our 40 days strict zone/paleo challenge is hurrying towards us. So it probably round about now that you ought to start thinking and experimenting with the type of diet you want to follow. There is a link on this site to the Zone diet, now Im adding the 1st of many links to paleo sources.

I’d like to begin  with a link to Wikipedia that seems to have assembled an interesting array of views on the subject: click here to  get Paleo info.

As most of you are aware, we have sort of steered clear of dietary advice as the whole area seems crammed with  fraudsters and religious nutters. Some times diets have a valid nuget of truth in them but this nuget can frequently be taken out of context.

So what is our role? Well, its to present you  with the outlines of the  popular diets associated with the Crossfit movement, encourage you to research the evidence that supports them, and to discuss with your doctor if this diet is appropriate for you.

But what are we actually going to do?

1) We are inviting lots of our members to write articles/ views/tips about these diets, so we hope to have this website alight with useful comments, critique. recipes, planning tips etc ( if you have an “article in you” email it  to Andrew@crossfitlondonuk.com)

2) We  are working on a series of “Paleo Parties” . Basically a mini party on  a saturday afternoon where we hangout, have a party but also learn “stuff” associated with the zone and paleo diets. There will be no charge, just you bringing some “healthy” booze and food. During the summer these will be at the gym with a BBQ sizzling in the background. In the winter months, I think we have  Kates, Kirsty’s and Sally’s flat on offer. (im sure others will want to offer too!)

the first “paleo party” will be at Kirstys (its just around the corner from the gym) on saturday 3rd march 2 till 5. you get to practise zone and paleo tricks, cook food, eat food, while drinking healthy  drink ( we may give you the afternoon off the lent challenge).  to keep control of numbers we will get you to register via the booking System ( ill get that done over the next few days). Get the date in your diary.

So, start reading, start researching.

Since the 1st of  January, my inbox has been filled with emails from direct marketing companies about diet regimes and annual gym memberships.

Early January, so it seems , is the time to “snare” the unsuspecting would be weight loser and would be gym goer. This for many gyms is their financial motor: sign up loads of people,  and get their money upfront for services they will never use.

Frankly, I think its an unethical disgrace and a stain on the fitness industry.

Partly for this reason we steer clear of any new member offers and any diet challenges in January. We dont want that type of  money. We focus on training people who want to train. The other reason is that unless you are quite experienced, training in january can be difficult. When it cold and dark, weight loss, especially  for the emotionally vulnerable can be  daunting task.

Maybe there is a better chance if that 1st serious  weight loss attempt is postponed a bit, and  comes with a “history” of success.

For thousands of years, people  have decided to give something up for Lent, so I thought, this year we would play with a 40 days  strict zone/paleo challenge starting on Ash Wednesday (22 Feb) and ending 8 April, mirroring the Lent period.

Ive stereed clear of diet challenges before, for a couple of reasons. The most important being that I could never effectively workout how to measure success: We need to look at  weight loss, fat loss, muscle gain, quality of diet, quality of sleep, quality of training and improvement in blood chemistry.

For various reasons,  I now feel we are near to having an effective ( or much better) assessment  package. Steven has invested in a  sonic body fat measure,  Katarina often uses fat calipers, so can read them well. We are also developing an effective relationship with blood test agencies who can  help us with the chemistry . Perhaps we could  test blood pressure?

What im trying to say is that  a  Zone /Paleo challenge is, of course, about weight, but, its more about how it underpins a better life. How it moves blood chemistry , how it helps you train. How it helps you sleep and recover. Above all, its about what you learn about food, both quantity and quality.

So let me make this the 1st call for interested people. who would like to  get involved in this challenge.

It could  involve body fat measurements, before and after pictures, weekly weighing, and encouragement to get some blood tests done.  You will need to keep a food diary,a training and sleep diary. It will be quite public.

We are open to any ideas: should it be  done  it for charity, should we monitor “other stuff”. But for now, could I have expressions of interest

From a marketing point of view, it may be  as well to book yourself into this sundays Zone masterclass so you can learn how to  Zone properly. I was chatting to a paleo expert on Friday so we may also be able to come up with some effective how to do paleo, while crossfitting,  ideas.

The basics of the Crossfit London approach to  a healthy diet is the Zone. We base all our initial education on the Zone as it appears in the Crossfit Journal No 21.

Download your free copy . You will need to know it really well to get the most out of the Zone Foundation Classes ( thee are lots of tests, with burpee penalties!)

http://journal.crossfit.com/2004/05/zone-meal-plans-crossfit-journ.tpl

The trick of mastering the Zone, and to  getting all its benefits ( weight loss, nutritional understanding, enhanced performance), is being really, really simple. The almost unbearable temptation is to attempt to change it. I’ve seen beginners , from day 1, combine the Zone with intermittent fasting, cheat days , reducing the carb content blah, blah.

The aim of the Crossfit London zone session is to get you  do a months worth of  the basic zone: as its written in the journal .

So when reading issue 21 what do you need to “get” ?

What are the principle messages?

1) the zone has broken down all the types of food into 3 types.

Carbohydrates, protein and fat. ( if you are stupid you may need to repeat these slowly to your self).

2) Every time  you eat, or consume calories ( drink stuff) , your meal must have all three types of food in it . You dont have to scoop all 3 types into your mouth at the same time, but at the same  sitting ( they can be spread over a starter, a main course and  a”pudding” ( gosh you can tell Im over 50!).  The most basic example is this.

If you are inspired by old sayings and you decide that “an apple a day keeps the doctor away”  thats probably a good plan (better than  chocolate bar). However, , if all you do, at that snack , is to eat an apple , you are not Zoning!  A proper snack, would be ( for example) an Egg for the protein, the apple ( which is carb), and some nuts for the fat.

3) Finally, you need to balance the proportions of these 3 types of food. You must eat in a strict ratio  of protein to carb to fat.

How the hell do you do that?

This is the same problem that all economies have. How do you make a medium of exchange that puts a value on different things.  If you go to market with a goat, is that worth 1,2 or 3 chickens. If you sold a chicken and  you got a DVD in exchange,  is that a fair trade??

Advanced economies use currency: The Zone uses “Blocks”

So, how do you match up protein with carbs and Fat: All foods are different. The carb content in bread is not the same as in  an apple: the fat content of meat varies as the wind blows.

Enter the BLOCK.

Rather than say, put some protein and  some carb and some  fat on your plate, we say put , 1 block of protein, 1 block of carb and one block of fat on your plate.

How much of a certain  type of food goes to make up a block is done for you. Issue 21 has columns with types of foods, and the amount of each  you need to use to  make a block (see below).

To really understand that, you measure and practise ( and we will show you how in the foundations class).

But to give you a more practical example, from our apple snack that I mentioned before: a one block snack would be  1 egg, half an apple and 3 almonds

4) So you need to be able to use “cups” and a scale. ( we will show you how)

5) finally you need to understand how many blocks you need. Once again, Crossfit simplified  this into this chart

At the end of the zone foundations class, you will have practised and drilled these concepts ( in  a fun lively environmnet: which will include finger painting  crayoning  and picture you can take home to your mum to put on the fridge).

Then its 4 weeks of practise ( if you want to).

After this  there will be other sessions  where we will discuss in (boring) detail food quality, paleo, intermittent fasting, high/low protein, blood types  but for now, you need the basics.

The obvious question. Is this diet good for you. It could be a wacky fade  diet. it could be ok for some, but not ok for you as an individual ( you may have an illness that means you need to eat in a certain way). Every  diet observation we give you  is based on the assumption that you will take the information and get your doctors input into it, and use the internet and other  research  methods to understand how your body uses food.

Good Crossfitters take  responsibility for what they eat. You too need to take responsibility for what you put in your mouth.

See you at a Zone Foundation class, I’ll be presenting along with the phenomenal Kate . I’ve got all the flashy qualifications: Kate learned her business in the trenches.

See comments below for dates of  the next session ( once a month…ish)