Paleo vs Primal vs Zone: Choose your diet

Diet is a very important aspect of your daily routine; it is that one thing that will determine your training progress as shown in the previous post on how to plan your crossfit diet. There are various diet plans out there but we will focus on three main ones. The three diet plans are the most used. Paleo, Primal and Zone are all very good plans and most times they are used interchangeably or incorporated into one diet plan. Here are a few things that differentiate the three diets.

Paleo Diet

Back to basics is where this diet will take you. This diet goes back to the days when food was healthy; before machines. Before canned foods ever existed, before packaged and microwaved food existed-the good old days of uproot from the garden, wash & clean, chop and cook. Yes, it comprises of non-processed food. This is not a bad thing at all in fact it's a good thing for many reasons. You reduce your chances of getting diseases such as cancer and you are one or two steps nearer to your crossfit goal. The food types allowed in this crossfit diet are all meats, vegetables except potatoes corn and beans, nuts except peanuts, fruits in moderation and some fats such as avocados, olive/coconut/almond oils etc. This diet plan allows you 3 cheats where you can eat your favorite poisons thrice. You can choose to have them all in one day or span them into three days. Beverages consist of natural juice or shakes and lots of water; avoid artificial sugars for this diet.

Primal diet

Primal is mostly done with the Paleo diet because it is just like the Paleo but gives room for dairy products. Examples of the products can be cheese, Greek yogurts, butter and cream; although they are permissible it is very important you regulate your intake keeping in mind your fitness goal which is why you are doing all this in the first place. This diet can be grouped into three proteins (the meaty substances), carbs (vegetables) and fats (oil). With the Pima diet your menu can look something like this; Breakfast- coffee with cream and an omelet with some cheese for instance, lunch can comprise of a salad, snacks can be almond or macadamia nut, dinner can be some nicely done meat with a glass of wine and some fruits such as cherries or strawberries. Dont forget to hydrate water is very important. Shakes and fresh Juices are taken in this diet so avoid artificial sugars; you can substitute the sugar with honey but don't overdo it.

Zone diet

Are you up for a challenge? If you are then this the diet for you; you need to be disciplined with this diet because it requires a lot of planning so you do need to psychologically prepare yourself first before attempting this diet plan. This diet requires you to weigh and measure your food intake however after a few weeks of weighing you will be able to eyeball the quantity and won't need to measure it anymore. This crossfit diet gives room for grains which is good for grain lovers. The meals are divided into blocks which need to be planned and accounted for beforehand. This diet is concerned with controlling your hormones and thus enabling your body to function more efficiently for it controls your energy levels, blood flow etc. With this diet your protein, carbs and fat are balanced to produce efficient results.

The one block meal consists of one choice from the protein list, carbohydrate and fat list.

Two block meal consist of two choices from each while three consists of three choices from each list. You can mix and match blocks as you desire depending on how hungry you are and also your body type for example, a medium female would require a total of 11 block meals per day including the snacks. A medium male would require 17 block meals. An example of a block meal is breakfast 3, lunch 3, Snack 1, dinner 3, snack 1.

With this basic knowledge you have enough to make a decision; you can try all or alternating as you is deciding what works for you. Good luck!

Posted in Dentistry Post Date 07/21/2016