Hey y’all!
I’m prepping for the upcoming Crossfit Nutrition cert this saturday. Then from Tues to the following monday I’ll be at a seminar…I’ll do my best to answer blog posts and email but I’m frankly getting crushed by the volume of questions. I started answering stuff at 6am this morning and did the last one about 20 min ago…I totally dig doing this stuff but I need to figure out my FAQ and get some flow charts for people to figure out their blocks (a super common question) and how to self diagnose problems (how do I gain weight, how do I lean out, what if I’m still hungry, etc). I think a video format would be good for that…I’ll just jabber about these topics, perhaps some chalkboard action for illustration then provide some links for further resources. I want to help as many people as I can with this but I’m getting crushed with the same battery of questions…need to get that figured out.
I WILL get back to you via email or the comments, but it may take me a few days so I can get some other stuff done.
AXE
Robb, In open software development before a project is released, sometime teams “swarm” on bugs. That means everyone travels to a location, gets into a room and kicks ass. It is the equivalent of an Amish barn raising, but with more pizza and Red Bull. If you want to do something like this (with out the insulin spiking) before the October weightlifting cert. I am sure I could get some people to come over and help. Not just anyone but people who write professionally. You do a great service with your website and would love to be able to help in any way.
Hey Amigo!
I REALLY appreciate the offer…I’ve had several others as well, but this is something I just need to get in and hammer out. It will get done, it’s just going to take some time and I’ve been skinny on that of late!
Thanks again
No question Robb. Just a quick shout to say thank you for all the work you’ve done with your blog. I’ve probably learned more here than I have at any other resource. Straight to the point and easy to comprehend.
Have a good trip and enjoy the cert(s).
Robb,
Great idea of video on FAQs, working on nutrition vids for our site now. I’ll pm you some free software to help with presentations.
You are super for even trying to answer them all. A video blog or clips WITH chalkboard action would be the-coolest-thing-ever!
A few nutritional questions for the guru:
I’m looking into purchasing some macadamia nut butter, but it looks like the other ingredient is cashew. Even though macadamia nuts have a great monosaturated fat profile, would I be better off staying away from this product because a cashew is a legume?
My diet is dairy-free, but I tried raw cow’s milk for the first time and it was delicious! My stomach did not give me any symptoms of lactose intolerance. I’ve read that raw milk still contains the beneficial enzymes for digestion, whereas pasteurized milk kills everything.
Are these two foods I should add or refrain from? Thanks Robb!
Ben-
the Mac/cashew butter is awesome, no worries there. If you feel good on the raw dairy, no worries but it DOES pack a larger than expected insulin response…If you are looking at gaining muscle it might be a good adjunct, otherwise you might use it sparingly.
Hang in there Robb, your work is much appreciated! Good luck at the cert & seminar!
Hi Robb. You are the nutrition guru and everyone loves you! How about that! Anyways, I heard Susan Summers, thigh master queen, on the morning show I listen to this morning. She has a new book coming out that talks about cancers and artificial sweeteners in our diet. I immediately thought of you and wondered if you’ve read it or heard about her book. She sounded like she knew what she was talking about. I actually called in and told the show to check out your blog, that you have a book coming out (no pressure) and that you address this in your nutrition certs and Susan Summers knows what she is talking about. Then this idiot ER doctor called up and started bagging on her saying that 12 diet sodas a day is harmful, but 1 a day wasn’t bad, you know, the everything in moderation type of attitude…total bull shit as far as I’m concerned. I’m not sure people fully grasp that fake sugars are POISON and even a little can cause serious damage in the end. Anyways, I just thought I would mention this. The more people that talk about it and publish about it, maybe the poison will be banned or used for the gas chambers instead of used in foods that our children may be eating. Take care and take a day off would ya! You deserve it.
Jennifer!
Thanks for the support and shout-out! Suzanne Summers really did an about face on her food…she basically said “I was wrong, low carb is the way to go…” and ran with that. Pretty solid actually. Thanks again for the kind words and support
This is probably the only dumb question on the site, but how would one email robb?
chris!
robb at norcalsc dot com
2 Questions, the first one is completely unimportant, but I was curious:
1. Following a strict zone leads athletes to their best performances, so do you think Michael Phelps could have swam even faster if he followed the zone/paleo?
2. When eating eggs, should the egg yolk be avoided?
Brandon-
1-This was a hotly debated topic on the CrossFit message board. Here is my thought on this. Phelps has competed in 2 Olympics…Dara Torres has competed in 5, could have competed in 7. A good chunk of that she has been a Barry Sears Zone athlete. A smart diet improves not only performance, but also recovery AND it helps maintain ones longevity…whether that is lifespan or athletic career. Unless Phelps changes his diet this will all just be conjecture, but yea, I think he could be even better.
2-Get Omega 3 eggs (both costco and Trader Joes have these at low prices), then eat the yolks. Standard eggs are Ok…these are just better.
Hey Rob,
I have greatly enjoyed reading through your responses to comments and learnt loads from them….
I have a simple question for you; What is your opinion on Magnesium Supplementation for those Following a Paleo Diet? Is it necessary and if so how much should I be shooting for as to not put things out of whack with calcium or to get a good effect?
Chris-
I think supplementing 200-400mg of chelated magnesium is fine. It shold help with calcium retention so you are good to go there.
Hey howzit Robb and CFNorcal Crew,
Just wanted to say thank you to you all for a great seminar on nutrition! You really opened my eyes on it because it was such a gray area in my health and fitness world.
For anyone thinking about taking Robb’s seminar, I highly recommend you go. He’s awesome and very informative. He’s dialed in BIG TIME!
Thanks Robb again for taking my health, longevity, and fitness to another level.
Aloha
Chad
Chad!
Glad you had a good time…it’s a big day and a boat-load of info. I just want to make that whole presentation better and better…I have some ideas in mind to streamline the whole process further.
Hey Robb, I just wanted to echo Derek that I’ve learned more here than anywhere else – including Devany’s site. I can’t stress enough how significant is is that you’ve gone open where he’s opted toward closed.
Umair Haque makes some great points about this, and I think you’d find him interesting reading if you ever find a spare minute or few: http://www.bubblegeneration.com/2007/08/research-note-open-beats-closed.cfm
CrossFit is thriving where others are failing, not just because it’s devestatingly effective, but because it’s so open, and the community and sharing and quality-enhancing feedback loops that are associated with that kind of turbocharging.
The work you publish here, in response and in conversation is amazingly helpful. The interviews, analysis, tweaks and feedback from the FtM series and your response to comenters questions are soooo good.
Can’t wait for the videos, flows and FAQ. Have already decided to buy the book when you get it out.
Keep on truckin’ man.
Steve-
Thank you much for the kind words. It is interesting…the open source model just seems to beat the pants off of the closed models. There are some serious crossfit haters on the net but the reality is that it has changed the face of fitness (for the better) and has done it by largely giving away all the goods. If you want a cert or some personalized instruction, this is where money enters the equation but one can obtain a stunning amount of information and help…for free. Interesting.
I think Art made a big mistake going closed. I love that guy but he can be so cranky and anti-community at times. Had he thought about any of this open source stuff back in 95…the beginning of the net in a more modern form…his ideas we totally revolutionary. Now the message is largely out and precious little is available to further the cause. He expected is first talk to sell 1000 seats! He had no view of investing in the enterprise and growing it up. He knows so much about markets I think he talked himself out of the possibility that he could succeed in the endeavor. Bummer…he has flashes of GENIUS that would be nice to access and discuss more openly.
I’m fired up for the FAQ, video and other goodies…things are mellowing out at the gym since we have brought on new trainers and brought them more up to speed. I really want to make this site a solid information source.
Hi Robb. After reading you article on 42 ways to skin the zone I was left with a much better understanding of the issues associated with the zone diet and it’s a brilliant resource for anyone looking to eat paleo/zone/paleo+zone.
Some of the advice i give to my fellow students on training and nutrition when they are having problems comes from this website, CFJ and PMJ so for that im very grateful! (hey, no one knows everything!) However I was a bit confused by the nutrient cycling section whereby you dropped back to the base zone every 5-7 days during mass gain. I was hoping you could point me in the right direction of some reading that explains the beneficial effects of this plan on protein utilisation and metabolism.
Thanks very much for you time! Joe
Joe!
The drop back to base zone encourages the body to be thrifty with calories and not just fritter them away as waste heat. We have an amazing capacity to just up-regulate out metabolism and the net effect is we shed more heat, not grow! I’ve gone from 165 lbs to 180 lbs and remained reasonable lean using a protocol like this over the past 2 months. It works!
What a wealth of knoweage. I am sure this weekend has changed my life and hopefully many others in the near future.
I figured as I was going to jump straight into the pelo zone I would most assuradly wanted the blood screen. My chiro had no problem writing me a script but the lab has a lot of questions.
They don’t know what a basic blood screen is, wanted to know if the c-react was quantitative or qualitative, and didn’t know what was meant by liver enzymes.
Hope you come out with that Nor Cal blood panel soon. Thank goodness I took good notes!
Cheers (two shots of tequila on an empty stomach)
Jesse
Hey Amigo! Sounds like they are making htis a challenge. That C-reactive protein should be quantitative, the liver enzymes are just the standard ALT, AST, ALk-phos that come with damn near ANY blood test…funny they are hung up on that. I bet they call it a “General” panel…I can see where it threw them off! Don’t forget the LDL-particle size!
Sorry to harp on but I just found a better link. This really nails it.
http://discussionleader.hbsp.com/haque/2008/09/where_is_the_chrome_in_your_st.html
‘…a radically different vision for a better kind of business… One where the value that’s created is authentic, durable, and meaningful to humans; one where your “unfair advantage” isn’t simply just the flipside of my disadvantage’
‘What shared resource have you invested in – or should you invest in – to expand the pie sustainably for everyone over the long-run?
If the answer’s “none,” it’s likely that you’re living on borrowed time.’
He’s practically describing CrossFit as a business model. I was shocked that Art went closed, really shocked, given his economic specialty. It’s practically suicide and in total contrast to what you’re doing here.
What I meant to say above, and probably didn’t make clear is that we get more via your public Q&A with people than we could easily get through one-way prose. My eating and results have improved measurably just by using my similarities with your questioneers as a starting point. I’m sure others are doing the same.
Not that you abandon the book or anything, but the blog is potent because of the level of interaction you (/we) bring to it.
Dude, don’t put so much pressure on yourself. Free (top-quality) information is what were getting here so I’m sure we ALL understand that you’re a busy person and can’t do everything! The site is kick-ass, just so you know.
Thanks Amigo!
I really enjoy doing all this but it’s getting a little overwhelming!
Hey Robb,
I’m a newbie to your blog. I just listened to you on the CF radio show from Oct 12th (i think). Great stuff. I’m about to finish my university degree in nutritional medicine, and I found it awesome to hear a like minded individual (a cross fitter none-the-less) discuss the same issues with health and nutrition that I’ve been studying for the past few years. Especially seeing as you’re on the other side of the planet too (I’m in Melbourne, Australia). I’m about to finish my studies and get working in the real world, spreading the word of health, nutrition and crossfit. I’m relatively new to the crossfit world, having trained with Crossfit Victoria for about 8 months. I’m booked in for my Level 1 Cert for Feb ’09 in Sydney. I would love to do a Nutritional Cert with you guys, but with the way the aussie dollar is at the moment (~50c to your $1) it would cost me a fortune. I WILL get there though. I plan to help people through use of the principles of the paleo/zone way improve long-term health and performance. Crossfit is about to go ballistic over here, people love it (I’m a CF junkie myself) . Anyway, I just wanted to thank you for the inspiration and vicarious assurance that my beliefs are sound.
B.
Bjorn-
We have had requests for several locations in Europe as well as Aus/New Zeland. We will get out your way before too long!
Robb, we met you at Santa Cruz last January and talked to you about doing a nutrition seminar for our school and our athletic program. I noticed that you are scheduled for a seminar in Atlanta on Jan 17th and I would like to discuss the possibility of you coming to our school and giving us some good information on nutrition and such. My number is 678-409-4815 or email at [email protected]. Our school is Eagles Landing Christian Academy. elcaonline.org We have been doing crossfit with some of our athletes and we love it. Best regards,
Bryan Shockley
Interesting blog. I am interested in the certification part.