A Simple Prescription
for What to Eat

by Matt Spencer

As we enter into spring from what seemed like an eternity of winter, you may find yourself with a new sense of motivation to restart that healthy lifestyle again.
So, let’s be honest with each other, did you try a new diet this New Year as part of a resolution? How did it go?
If you found out the results were less than stellar and motivation waned, don’t be too hard on yourself.

I am going to attempt something here: to talk about what to eat, in a simple way, with the intention of giving you clarity. 

But first, we have to cut through all the BS. Unfortunately, we are all inundated with diet recommendations along with well wishers looking to provide their input. “Oh you’re trying Keto? My neighbour did that last fall and their hair turned blue.” It seems like any time you try and mention anything to do with diet/nutrition, people come out of the woodwork to give their opinions. 

And let’s not forget social media. “The Algorithm” loves to grab ahold of topics like diet and nutrition and fill your feed with internet gurus. But what works for the goose, doesn’t always work for the gander. Meaning, you’ll often see posts of people with 3% body fat sharing their routine or diet with the caption “like and save for later.” But, I bet you a dollar that there is probably some sort of sponsorship associated with that post you’re supposed to like and save… 

Now I realize there is a certain amount of irony here with me blasting fitness gurus and then proceeding to share my input on nutrition, but “in for a penny, in for a pound” as they say.

In CrossFit we have a very simple and elegant prescription for what to eat and it goes like this:

“Eat meat and vegetables, nuts and seeds, some fruit, little starch and no sugar. Keep intake levels to support exercise but not body fat.” 

Now barring any individualized food restrictions or sensitivities, the beauty of the above prescription is it tells you everything you need to know. But we can break it down step by step. 

“Eat meats and vegetables” – barring any ethical dilemmas surrounding eating meat, this first part tells us we need to eat protein daily, that comes from real food rather than supplements. The same with vegetables, they are one of the most nutrient dense foods in the world, and yet we somehow like to complicate it. 

“Nuts and seeds” – refers to eating healthy fats. It’s important to note that while yes, nuts have protein and can be considered high in protein, a majority of the calories from nuts and seeds come from fat, which makes them a fat source with protein, which can lead to extra calories sneaking into your daily budget.

“Some fruit, little starch and no sugar” – this is not a hard and fast rule, it’s more or less your reminder to control those foods that can be easy to overeat. Saying “no sugar” can be a controversial topic and frankly I keep my opinions to myself on that one. But I will say this: processed sugars don’t really help us with our health goals. 

The prescription rounds off nicely with a recommendation for quantity: “enough to support exercise but not body fat” just reminds us to be mindful of our portions. 

There is however one nutritional prescription that is even more elegant that I love. It’s from legendary food author Michael Pollan and it goes like this: 

“Eat real food, mostly plants, and not too much.” 

Beautiful, isn’t it? If we compare the two together, they both seem to say the same thing, one just elaborating on the other. It’s human nature to want to complicate things. But there’s no need to, because everything you need this summer is in the prescription: 

“Eat meat and vegetables, nuts and seeds, some fruit, little starch and no sugar. Keep intake levels to support exercise but not bodyfat.” 

Simply put: “Eat real food, mostly plants, and not too much.” 

Matt Spencer is a coach at CrossFit Orillia.