A typical breakfast for me. 4x scrambled eggs (1/2 whole, 1/2 just whites), avocado (sometimes coconut milk in the eggs instead) and then some fruit. That day it was half an apple (kids had the other half), a banana and a few strawberries.
Dinner for me one night. A steak, sweet potato, some mushrooms and grilled string beans.
So I thought that I'd finally get around to talking about my nutrition for the event. I haven't really changed my diet in preparation for the event. My diet is basically a pseudo-Paleo based diet. I say pseudo for a couple of reasons. First, I still consume dairy; whole milk and cheese. The second reason is that with working/living at the fire station, it's hard to be hard core Paleo when you're the only one, and others cook for you. So I do my best (examples to follow). The third thing is that I'm the only one who does Paleo at home too. My wife loves the carbs and bread, but I don't eat them. So there's the other problem, but it's not really that big of a deal. At home, I do most of the cooking, and I just make sure that there are extra veggies for me, and a rice dish or something like that for the carbs for her. The kids are usually great eaters and eat almost anything that is put in front of them, so they're about 50/50 Paleo as well. If we do something like spaghetti at home, my wife, and usually the kids, will eat it with regular pasta noddles, while I will opt to have mine over spaghetti squash instead.
At work, you need to remember that we eat dinner as a family and someone is always cooking. I refuse to be the pain in the butt food nazi with what I will or won't eat. I think that it's rude and inconsiderate. The guys know my preference and do their best with the extra veggies, knowing that I won't eat the bread and stuff like that. I also try to keep a couple of sweet potatoes/yams in my food locker and some frozen veggies in the freezer as a back up.
My breakfast is pretty mush the same for most days, at work or at home, it doesn't matter. Eggs, fruit, and some extra fat (avocados or almonds). Sometimes I'll throw some bacon in there, or maybe some hash browns here and there when I'm at the station and were doing a big family breakfast. Breakfast and lunch is usually on your own at the station, so that makes it easy for me. When it's my turn to cook dinner, it's like it is at home. Mostly a Paleo style dinner, with some extra carb stuff on the side for everyone else.
The biggest thing that I do, is I don't eat bread or grains, and I try to not eat any processed foods at all. I do have a stash of protein bars though because life does get busy and I need to just eat something. But the bars that I do eat are gluten free, and some are even sugar free. I eat both the Zone bars and the Think Thin bars, and both are pretty good. The bars, and really, Bullseye BBQ sauce are the only 2 things that I would say I eat on a semi regular basis that is processed. Otherwise, it's just whatever I make. I've been trying hard lately to not eat the bars; instead keeping some beef jerky, almonds and a piece of fruit around for a snack instead. It works sometimes, but I still keep a bar in the fire engine just in case.
After my WOD's, I do have a semi-specific "meal". It usually consist of a whey protein shake, with some carbs. Usually the carbs come in the form of a sweet potato/yam, apple sauce or a couple of pieces of fruit. It usually just depends on whats around the house or station. The whey protein that I use is the Muscle Milk 100% from Costco, in chocolate. It's a good price, has virtually no sugar, carbs or fat and is gluten free. For me, it doesn't really get much better than that.
I'm really trying to not get on my soap box about nutrition with this post. But I believe that it is truly important what it is that you are sticking in your face and putting into your body. Preventable diseases are becoming commonplace when they didn't used to be. Diabetes, heart disease, strokes, an increase in cancer, Alzheimer's etc, etc, etc. We now have an epidemic of childhood obesity, and a generation coming up that is not projected to outlive their parents. WHY??? Could it be possible that this is being caused from our diet? The modern western diet, with it's dependence on cheap fillers, preservatives and ease of accessibility HAS TO have a side effect. That side effect is our health. While I subscribe to a Paleo-ish diet, I'm not going to say that it is the only way to get health. I believe that it is the BEST way, as it best mimics what we, as humans, were genetically designed to eat. But any diet that makes it unbearable/miserable for the follower will not have success. The person needs to sacrifice at times to really get it going, but I don't think that you need to be super strict in the beginning as well. If you don't know where to start, start by just shopping the outside of the grocery store. Stay away from all the center aisles with their prepackaged food, and stick to the outside areas. You know, where things have an expiration date of 2 weeks or less. Only go down the aisles for the bare essentials like coffee, and stay out of the bakery. For more info, check out Rob Wolff's web site (there's a link to the right of the page) or his book, the Paleolithic Solution.
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