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[/caption] Functional Fitness 204 is excited to announce we are launching our second nutrition challenge on June 1, 2012. We received amazing feedback after concluding the Eat Less Crap Challenge last year. We know that many of you have continued to eat clean and live well and have consequently experienced incredible performance gains and changes in your body composition. We’re stepping it up a notch this time around. During the Eat Less Crap Challenge, we really focused on cutting out the food that absolutely had to go and was ruining your health. Sugar, pop, nachos and anything else you might have been munching on when no one else was looking. The really bad stuff. The known and obvious culprits. During the challenge, we talked about eating consciously, planning ahead and dealing with the pitfalls of peer pressure. We all learned something, we all had some really great discussions about nutrition, and we all acquired some new recipes from friends in the gym. At Functional Fitness 204, we have never been advocates of one particular diet prescription for everyone. We are all very unique, and what works for one might not work for another. It’s safe to say that high-performance athletes might be eating a little different than their mothers. If we’ve learned anything, it’s that common sense prevails. Sugar, processed foods and alcohol aren’t good for you no matter how elite you are. Our goal is not to tell you how to eat. That’s up to you. We want to educate you and provide you with as many resources as possible so you can make the dietary choices that are appropriate for your unique physiology and activity levels. In the next two weeks, we will be providing links and resources for you to prepare for the challenge. We encourage you to start tracking your daily food intake now. What can stay? What should go? Acknowledging that there are some bad choices will help you prepare to make a change. What is your pre-workout meal? How do you feel during your workout? How do you recover? Do you need a post-workout shake or is that just marketing nonsense? Essentially, this challenge is all about personal accountability: Take control of your diet and feel empowered! Below is the outline for the 204 Nutrition Challenge. 1. The Challenge begins on June 1 and will finish on July 15. 2. Review the principles behind the Paleo and Zone diets. Many Functional Fitnessters use these two diets and get great results, and we would like you to read a little about them. You don’t have to choose one or the other exclusively, but they are based on quality food and appropriate portions, and those principles can inform your meal planning. 3. Review information on other diet and nutrition issues in the coming weeks. We’ll give you lots to think about, and it’s time to start asking some questions: Is sugar bad? Why do some people prefer grass-fed beef? Free-run eggs? Artificial sweeteners? Alcohol? How much food do I need? Is fat really bad for me? 4. Submit your meal plans by June 1. This is critical. If you don’t have a plan, you won’t succeed. Don’t get stuck at a fast-food restaurant because you didn’t make a lunch. If you are eating at a restaurant, it should be on the plan. The meal plan is up to you. We will offer suggestions and provide resources, but what you put in your body is your choice. Choose wisely, evaluate those choices, and then fine-tune your diet. You will be required to submit a weekly log by Sunday tracking your food intake for that week. If you don’t, we will note that you have withdrawn from the challenge. Your first log will be due on June 10. We will review these logs, make suggestions and offer feedback. 5. To help measure results, you will complete a to-be-announced benchmark WOD by June 3. Our goal is not to achieve a certain appearance but to show you how diet can affect exercise performance. We’re not focused on how you look. We’re focused on how you perform and how you feel. That’s way more important. And we guarantee that if your performance improves, esthetic benefits will follow. 6. We’ll ask for a before picture by June 3, which will be kept private. If you achieve amazing results, we will ask your permission to publish the before and after pictures. Let the challenge begin! Resources (Some require a Functional Fitness Journal subscription) Paleo Diet Zone Diet Glycemic Index Functional Fitness Journal 21 Gary Taubes Lecture John Berardi Q&A (Subscription) Barry Sears lecture series (Subscription) Diet, Inflammation and Disease Physics, Physiology and Food (subscription)