Dan Spencer asks, I vaguely recall you saying once that you never eat breads or grains, maybe even no dairy - just lots of meat and veggies. Whats the best dietary regimen for Krav Training? What do you eat?
Since these are very closely related let's combine the two.
Here are some common misconceptions on nutrition:
- One: Being skinny does not equal lean.
- Two: Being skinny does not equal healthy.
- Three: Current nutrition dogma is stupid at best.
- Four: There are no pasta trees or oatmeal bushes in the wild
- Five: 2+2 equals five.
The best way to lean out is by eating a diet that is high in clean protein, low carb (fresh fruit and vegetable based) and good fats and to eat less calories than you burn. Unless there is something genetically wrong with you (less than 1/10 of 1% of people on this planet actually have this problem) this diet works. Period.
When we have guys cut weight for an MMA fight this is the way I have them eat. Think about this; these guys need to be as strong as possible for their body weight, they need to have as much anaerobic and aerobic endurance as possible and they need to be mentally dialed in. Usually guys drop weight so fast on this diet I have to tell them to eat more.
Check out one of our students, Rob Reis (We'll have an interview up with Rob in the near future). Rob is an ex-Marine who let himself go a bit and got pretty heavy. In the last four months he's lost 60lbs. Now understand this as well he also trains at the school about 7 or 8 hours or more a week. Yes, he actually has the energy to do that. When I first put Rob on his particular diet he had trouble eating all the food I told him to eat!!
The biggest problem I see when people try to eat this way is that they don't understand fuel sources. They look at it and go "Oh yeah, I get it. Just eat protein and cut all the carbs". Dumb. What they don't understand is that when you cut out the carbs you need to replace the fuel source. That needs to be replaced with good fats.
When doing your Krav Maga training because of all the explosive training we do, you'll probably want to add more carbohydrates (good ones!!) to your diet.
I get these questions daily. To me it's incredibly strange because I've been talking about the same things for the last 15+ years. When you look at it logically it's so simple. I think the main reason people struggle with this so much is that there is so much misinformation out there it is unbelievable.
Understand that modern humans have been on the planet for about 200,000 years. The Paleolithic period of man was from about this time until about 12,000 BC. People living during this time survived as hunter/gatherers. Their diet consisted basically of lean wild meat, fish and whatever fruits and vegetables they could find. A diet to which human beings are genetically adapted to. Humans are also omnivores and have an incredible digestive system that can process just about anything. That doesn't mean that it is good for it.
From about 12,000 to 6,000 BC or so, because of increased population and lesser food supplies, people started to add new foods to their diet in the form of grains, dairy and raised animals. So you basically have a lot of new foods introduced to the digestive system along with an radical increase in saturated fats. Genetically not a great idea. What we've seen because of that is an increased genetic disposition to a number of diseases that occur later in life. These include heart disease, strokes, particular forms of cancer (prostate, breast, colon) quite a few autoimmune diseases (witness the recent development of Type II (adult onset) diabetes now seen in children that has never happened in the history of mankind). There have also been some chronic degenerative diseases connected to this such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's. Many studies have shown that the more that you consume this type of diet, the more of these diseases you have the possibility to develop. The dairy, grains and processed sugar Americans eat are tremendously nutrient poor. By the way, the three highest allergen producers on the planet are dairy, grains and processed sugar. What are the main products grown and produced in the US? What is the bulk of the American diet? Why are Americans so fat? Pretty obvious isn't it.
Some of the things from the BS pile:
- The American Corn Growers Association taking out commercials to tell you that high-fructose corn syrup is the same as sugar. Really?! I've got some swampland down in Florida I'd like you to take a look at.
- That people need grains in their diet. Right along with that is another good one, I've seen commercials tauting the benefits of whole grains in dog food. Really?! When have you seen a wild dog running down an animal and stop to munch on a stalk of wheat instead?
- Processed dairy is good for you. Name me one animal that after they are weened runs over and starts sucking on the teet of another animal.
- The Paleo Diet
- The Meat, Leaf and Berry Diet
- Neanderthin
- Any information from Paul Chek
I'll leave you with a quote from Ben Franklin.
"Being ignorant is not so much a shame, as being unwilling to learn".
Don't take what I am saying as dogmatic truth. Honestly test it for yourself. You'll be amazed.
Steve
