So you wanna win the Performance Nutrition Challenge? Or maybe you just want to survive it. There are many paths up the same mountain but during the PNC there are really just many mountains.
How to buy food at the grocery store
First, and probably most important, you must repeat this mantra: “80% of my food will come from a market and not a restaurant.” If you want to control what you eat then you must do it yourself. Time is a commodity for everyone and it will take time to buy and cook most of your food but it’s not called a challenge because it’s supposed to be easy.
Once you get to the grocery store things become a bit simpler. If you’re new to eating this way, stick to the perimeter of the store (produce, meat section/frozen veggies and fruits) and stay out of the middle aisles of the store. This should keep you PNC compliant. If you’re more familiar with eating in this style then shop for organic produce, grass fed beef, and cage free eggs.
Everyone’s vegetables should match many of the colors of a rainbow, their protein in grams should come close to 100% of their bodyweight (A female weighing 135lbs should buy at least 135 grams or 0.29lbs in pre-cooked weight for a single day and 945 grams or 2lbs for a five day period), and there should be at least four palm sized sources of healthy fats (roughly 1 medium avocado to be eaten as halves at four dinners a week).
Price, especially in organic goods, may be prohibitive. We know everyone has responsibilities. If the best medicine available is wholesome, well raised or grown food and you refuse to allot a sizable portion of your budget to buying the food you need, where are your priorities? There are some tips to cutting costs:
- Buy bulk. Nuts and nuts butters are particularly effective in calories to dollar ratio when bought in bulk
- Look for sales on proteins and buy as much as you can at the cheaper price. Freeze excess meat.
- Buy whole cuts of meat and whole vegetables. A whole turkey is cheaper than various turkey parts just as whole squash is cheaper than buying the precut versions.
- Seemingly random but completely necessary items tend to be cheaper at Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s. Yes I am plugging a store most people refer to as Whole Paycheck. Cheaper items include: oils, bulk nuts, frozen fruit and frozen veggies. They also tend to be higher quality.
I bought my food. How do I survive this thing now?
The common thread here is that this will be difficult at first. It will take, as all good things must, time. I recommend shopping for food on the slowest day of your week and setting aside an hour or two afterwards for meal preparation. Cook your food for a week in those two hours. Brew some coffee, turn on music, make delicious recipes and enjoy the process. By front loading the work you will have set yourself up to make great choices during the busy week.
If it’s been a long time since you’ve eaten clean, or you have never eaten clean, you will come up against two insidious forms of Resistance. The first is the dreaded carb fog. The PNC isn’t necessarily low carb, it’s more of a reprioritization of carbohydrates and a refining of carbohydrate sources. With this comes the adjustment period of switching your body over to burning fat. You will feel tired and you will feel dazed. It may last a few days or a week. But it will end and the glorious world that opens up is not explainable to those who haven’t been there. When you pass through the tunnel you will be in a world of acute mental clarity and seemingly boundless energy. So suck it up, down black coffee and wait the fog out until it lifts.
The other form of Resistance will be in the form of temptation to stray. You’ll be surrounded by poor food choices. You’ll have a physical edge since you’ve already precooked your meals but you need to set micro goals and celebrate micro victories to remain mentally resistant. Don’t think about going clean for six whole weeks. Worry about this week. Or just today. Hell, the next meal. Tell yourself that you will not make a poor food choice during the next meal and when you do stay true make sure to congratulate yourself.
Going meal to meal will bring you to the finish line in complete compliance, probably with positive body composition changes, and likely crushing workouts. You’ll be stronger in more ways than just your squat. And isn’t that why we challenge ourselves after all?