Food Priorities
- May 17th, 2012
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Guest Post by Carie 
We are over a week into our six week Nutrition Focus. By now you have undoubtedly noticed eating healthy IS. NOT. CHEAP. When we are no longer relying on the cheap, filler ingredients that we have become accustomed to, this approach can seem a bit discouraging. Bread, pasta and cereal are cheap and provide poor nutritional value when compared to meat, veggies, fruit and good quality fats.
Here are some tips to help you navigate which foods are the most critical to buy at the highest quality and which you can set lower on your priority list and save for the times when you have some extra cash to spend on your food.
PROTEIN
Buy lean cuts of conventional meats, and cheaper cuts of grass-fed, organic and pastured meats when you can. When we’re trying to keep the quality high, choosing conventional meats with as little fat as possible is the way to go. Why? Well, like in humans, animals store toxins in their fat. That means that if you’re eating an animal that may have been exposed to poor quality food, chemicals, antibiotics and exogenous hormones, most of the residue from those toxins will be in the animal’s fat. Conversely, whatever fat you can find on 100% grass fed or pastured animal meat will be healthy and you should eat it openly. Sadly, animals get fatter from the food they’re not made to eat. That situation sounds eerily familiar, no? Animals eat the wrong food, they get fat. Humans eat the wrong food, we get fat.
CARBOHYDRATES
Buy organic fruits and vegetables from “The Dirty Dozen” list whenever possible. These are the Environmental Working Group’s list of items where the highest level of pesticide and chemical residues was found when tested. You can find more information here. Beyond that list, if you can’t make it happen in your budget, go for whatever fruits and vegetables you can swing as local and organic, but don’t sweat it if you need to mix it up.
FATS
Buy the highest quality fats and oils that you can. Fats and oils help form your cell membranes and, while all macronutrients do incorporate into your cell tissues and contribute to the formation of new cells, fats and oils of poor quality are at the root of many health problems. This means never eating trans-fats and avoiding highly processed vegetable oils, rancid oils and over consumption of omega 6 fatty acids. This also includes nuts and seeds, which are healthiest for us in their raw form since the oils will not be damaged by the heat of roasting.
Your go-to fats for cooking should be: organic extra virgin coconut oil, organic grass-fed (or at least organic) butter, organic grass-fed ghee and pastured pork bacon fat.
Your go-to oil for salads and using in raw recipes should be: organic, cold pressed extra virgin olive oil.
Since we are focusing on three major macronutrient categories here, I’m just giving you the priority list of what to buy for the three main sources of those nutrients: Protein, Carbohydrates and Fats. For a guide on other best forms of different food sources such as eggs, poultry, seafood and dairy, here is a handy resource. Feel free to print out and hang in your kitchen for reference.
~ Carie
WOD
Parking Lot Farmer’s Carry 1/1.5p
~then~
3 Rounds
7 Deadlifts 95/135
17 Double Unders
~then~
3 Rounds
12 Wall Balls 14/20 to 10′
12 Toes to Bar
~then~
Parking Lot Farmer’s Carry 1/1.5p
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