Suppliments?

[Keith Serpa]

I've just got going with Cross Fit work outs and some additional cardio to lose body fat. I had good luck previously with just the Zone diet and their custom taylored suppliment packets, though they no longer offer them. My question is what are crossfitters supplimenting with? Vitamins, fatburners etc.? Looking to get fit and lean for 2008.

[Frederic Giraud]

Everything you need should be in your dialed-in diet.

But it can be hard maintaining that dialed-in diet with work/social activities.

Eat as much veggies as much possible would cover the nutriment part so multivits are out of the equation.
Some times protein is hard to get so people opt for a kind of protein powder.
Also with all the polution and also because of availability people will take Fish oil to get more Omega 3 in their diet.

Your diet is the crucial piece of the puzzle though, get that dialed in.

Make a search on the subject as it has been talked about not long ago and plenty of time

Just my 2c , in supplements it's all about personal choice/preference

[Ian Kovtunovich]

I've had good results with a pretty average balanced "diet," and sticking with the workouts. It's probably CrossFit heresy to say so, but I don't even use the Zone diet (although I have nothing against it).

I have come to realize that I used to eat too much, though. I've found that not approaching meals with the "I can finish everything on this plate" attitude was a good start. I realized that I actually get full eating about half of some meals that I used to eat all of--huge plates of Pad Thai, for example. Great way to cut the calories. I also found that nuts are nice and filling for snacking, although they do pack some fat in them.

A lot of supplements are just cr*p anyway (can you say "crap" here? Honest question!). Even the effectiveness of multivitamins has inconclusive support, with one study leaning one way, and one study leaning the other. There's no disagreement about the effectiveness of getting nutrients from food, though, as FG noted above.

[Derek Weaver]

Fish oil and food. Multi-vitamins aren't the worst thing but probably not necessary if everything else is good.

There's tons of information on this board about the benefits of fish oil on a variety of health and fitness factors. Most notably, the effect it has on reducing inflammation, from your arteries to your muscles. Increased insulin sensitivity is also a plus.

[Geoff Else]

I recognize that the best source of nutrients is ultimately from GOOD food. However, I do have concerns that the majority of the food may have its issues. (Pesticides, Hormones, Antibiotics, Irradiated, etc) Without opening that can of worms, I personally choose to take a high potency multivitamin to cover my nutritional insurance.

As crossfitters, we demand a lot from our bodies. Crossfit workouts create their share of free radicals just like any stressful activty. I choose to take some extra Vitamin C (buffered) to help combat this. I also include a protein supplement.

As to the efficacy of supplements, they are not all for naught. Unfortunately, some of studies have been flawed and have questionable funding sources.

I think Crossfit is great promoting the Zone Diet. At least it gets the group making healthier choices.

[David Wood]

Keith, this subject has come up multiple times in the past, including one only a few weeks ago.

Please do a search on "supplement" (note the correct spelling) in the Nutrition forum only, and you'll see lots of previous discussion (with the answer you seek. (Make sure you limit your search to the Nutrition forum; otherwise, you'll get tons of results relating to supplementary exercises beyond the WOD (another popular topic).)