The Original Prescription
When I first encountered CrossFit over twenty years ago, what struck me most wasn’t the workouts, the intensity, the community, or even the results.
It was the clarity.
Greg Glassman didn’t speak in vague motivational slogans. He defined things, modeled them and then measured them. And when he wrote “World-class fitness in 100 words,” he didn’t begin with a snatch or a pull-up. He began with food.
“Eat meat and vegetables, nuts and seeds, some fruit, little starch, no sugar. Keep intake to levels that support exercise but not body fat.”
That line was not filler. It was not a suggestion. It was the starting point.
Somewhere along the way, in the evolution of CrossFit as a brand and a sport, we started acting like nutrition was supplemental or optional. A bonus if you were really serious. But in the original CrossFit methodology, nutrition was foundational. It came first because physiology comes first.
You cannot build high output on a dysregulated system.
The Science CrossFit Was Quietly Teaching
What Greg understood early, and what much of the fitness industry ignored, is that chronic disease is largely metabolic in nature. Obesity, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and even cognitive decline share a common thread: insulin dysregulation.
Insulin isn't a villian, it's a necessity. It allows cells to take in glucose and is the primary storage hormone in the body. But when elevated chronically, it drives fat storage, suppresses fat burning, increases inflammation and disrupts hunger signals.
When your diet is dominated by refined carbohydrates and added sugar, insulin remains elevated far more often than it was designed to be.
That is not a moral issue... it's a biological one. CrossFit’s early nutritional guidance wasn’t about aesthetic leanness. It was about stabilizing blood sugar, moderating insulin response, preserving lean mass, and improving metabolic efficiency. And it worked — that's why people experienced dramatic changes in body composition and energy without gimmicks (and I experienced this firsthand myself!).
The CrossFit workouts revealed potential, but the nutrition prescription that CrossFit gave unlocked it.
Why This Matters More Than Ever
If anything, the problem has intensified since CrossFit came on the scene.
We are surrounded by hyper-palatable, ultra-processed foods engineered to keep us coming back for more, even if we aren't hungry. We snack constantly, consume sugar in forms that don’t even taste sweet anymore, and then we try to fix it by “training harder.”
You cannot out-train chronic overconsumption of unnatural, refined carbohydrates.
I've personally watched this play out for the last two decades.
The members who thrive long term — the ones whose energy stabilizes, whose body composition improves, whose performance climbs steadily — are not necessarily the most genetically gifted. They are the ones who quietly align their nutrition with the method.
Where to Begin — Without Overhauling Your Life
If you want to experience what CrossFit was originally designed to deliver, you don’t need a dramatic reset. You just need to be more intentional.
The first step is simple: remove added sugar.
Not forever. Not in a legalistic way. But eliminate it as a daily staple.
That means:
No soda.
No sweetened coffee drinks.
No candy sitting on the counter.
No “healthy” yogurt loaded with 18 grams of sugar.
No routine desserts.
This single change stabilizes blood sugar almost immediately. Most people notice fewer cravings within a week. Their energy becomes more consistent, sleep improves, and hunger signals become clearer.
Once sugar is controlled, the next focus is protein.
Protein is the structural component of recovery and metabolic health. It preserves lean mass, increases satiety, and helps to prevent dramatic glucose spikes when eaten with carbohydrates. Most people severely under-consume protein, especially at breakfast.
If you train in our gym, you should not be starting your day with toast and coffee.
A simple standard: anchor every meal with a meaningful portion of protein.
Two to three eggs at breakfast.
Four to six ounces of chicken, beef, or fish at lunch and dinner.
Greek yogurt with whey mixed in if you need convenience.
You do not need to obsessively count grams at first. But you should look at your plate and be able to say clearly: protein is the foundation here.
Then carbohydrates should match how active you are. Carbs aren't evil, they are fuel. But fuel should match output. If you train hard, starch after training makes sense. If you are less active that day, it likely does not.
That is the difference between intentional fueling and chronic overconsumption.
This is what Glassman meant by “little starch.” Not zero. Not keto ideology. But moderation relative to activity.
The Bigger Vision
CrossFit wasn’t about strict rules. It was about helping your body work the way it’s supposed to.
The ability to efficiently use energy, to perform at high intensity, and to move along the "sickness-wellness-fitness continuum" in the right direction.
When Greg later launched MetFix, he sharpened this focus even further, emphasizing measurable markers like HbA1c, fasting glucose, triglycerides, and waist circumference. The message has stayed consistent: metabolic disease is preventable. But prevention requires personal responsibility and dietary discipline.
This isn’t about being extreme. It is about doing what works.
What I Want for Our Community
At Remedy, I don’t want our members to just show up, sweat, and leave unchanged outside of the gym walls.
I want you to understand why this works. The hour you train matters, but what you do the rest of the day matters just as much.
If you take anything away from this blog, I hope you take away these three simple habits that you can start implementing today:
- Remove added sugar as a staple in your diet.
- Make protein the base of each meal.
- Eat starch on purpose, not all day long.
You'll experience the “magic” people often attribute to CrossFit. But it won’t feel like magic... it'll feel like stability and clarity, steady progress, and small improvements that compound over time.
That was the original promise of the method, and it still works today.
