Food before bed?

Matt Thomas · 01-19-2009, 04:38 PM

Is it important for a crossfiter to eat before bed? If it is, what is a good paleo choice?

I tried doing a search, but couldn't find much so I apologize if this has been discussed.

Jay Cohen · 01-19-2009, 05:49 PM

What's a Crossfiter?

Matt Thomas · 01-19-2009, 06:38 PM

Maybe it should have 2 Ts? My word for someone who practices Crossfit. Was it really so difficult to figure out?

Steve Liberati · 01-19-2009, 09:04 PM

Jay, I bet your a real nice guy in person. Why do you feel the need to come off as a jerk at times on the boards?

Turns people off.

Jay Cohen · 01-20-2009, 03:23 AM

Matt and Steve;

The question was simple. Matt did not state any goals, if he's following the WODS as RX'd, what's his current eating pattern, yada yada yada.

So how to answer, well ok, yes, you can eat at anytime you want, your body really doesn't care, but if your trying to lose weight, gain weight, etc, then what/when you eat is important.

So, Matt, how about a little more information as to your current fitness goals and your current eating pattern.

I'll try to make my questions a little clearer in the future.

Jay

BTW, these aren't the CF Boards, where that question would really get everyone's attention.

George Mounce · 01-20-2009, 03:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Matt Thomas

Is it important for a crossfiter to eat before bed? If it is, what is a good paleo choice?

I tried doing a search, but couldn't find much so I apologize if this has been discussed.

No its not important at all. In fact the quality of food you eat is much more important than at what time you eat it. Don't overthink this so much. Doesn't matter if you do CrossFit, yoga, or BJJ. CrossFit doesn't lend itself to a whole new set of eating patterns. The Zone that is preached overthere isn't that magical either. Eat good, real food.

Some people do find a large dose of carbohydrates before bed affects their sleep. Some find protein does. I find neither does. I don't eat about 3 hours before bed because I supplement with ZMA and prefer to do so on an empty stomach. Our culture unfortunately has bred a society that is afraid of being hungry, as if the moment you feel a hunger pain if you don't eat you are going to waste away. The truth is our society is probably a lot more dehydrated than hungry.

Jay is right though, CrossFit specific questions will get a lot more answers at the CrossFit forum.

Mike ODonnell · 01-20-2009, 07:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by George Mounce

Jay is right though, CrossFit specific questions will get a lot more answers at the CrossFit forum.

But we can do so much better job at corrupting him to the dark side in these forums.....wuuuhaaaaaaaa (evil laugh...I think).

Matt, eating enough all day long is more important. I would say good rule of thumb is to eat any big meals 2-3 hours before bed or any smaller meals 1-2hours. Most people do better with some protein and fat, other may like small carb intake as well. As long as you are giving your body enough time to get it's insulin stable so it doesn't effect the GH release during the first few hours of sleep....you should be fine. Play around....as you may find certain meals keep you up or have you waking up during the night. You will see soon enough what does and does not work for you.

Matt Thomas · 01-20-2009, 08:46 AM

You're right Jay, I could have been more specific. But then you could have just asked me to be more specific and you wouldn't have had to come back and explain yourself later. Sorry for being so vague.

As far as posting at the crossfit boards. I would, but... never-mind. I wanted to post it here.

It doesn't have to be specific to crossfit per se. I asked because a lot of what has been ingrained in my mind comes from years of reading "fitness magazines" where if you don't eat before bed, or sometimes wake up in the middle of the night to eat, you'll wake up looking like a Kenyan marathon runner. I just recently started reading things like Protein Power and Paleo For Athletes, but so far haven't come across much that addressed this question so I was curious if nutritional timing before bed effects performance or not.

As far as goals, if that plays any part in it. I am currently about 192 lbs. I don't really care how much weight I lose, but I understand that it will happen switching from a west-side style heavy lifting program to crossfit and trying to eat paleo. I would like to stay around 180 and try to accomplish as many CF level 4 standards as I can. All of them eventually. With my previous diet I really only ate about 3200-3500 calories a day. A large portion of that came from a 1/2 gallon whole milk every day. Not many calories, but I was able to gain about 15 pounds that way.

Thanks for the great replies so far.

Jay Cohen · 01-20-2009, 09:58 AM

Matt;

Yep, should not have busted on you--sorry.

You have two good books, plus a wealth of info on these boards.

If you get a chance, check out a few of the links on my blog, all great strength/fitness/food sites, no fluff, just meat.

Chow On-Train Hard.

Jay

Matt Thomas · 01-20-2009, 10:07 AM

Yeah I'm definitely not against reading, finding things out for myself and I will certainly check out those links. I posted this question because well...I go to bed every night and I don't want to be doing things wrong until I learn differently you know?

Thanks again for the links.