Nutrition -- Keeping N(x) Bounded

As I sat in my Real Analysis class today (study of the behavior of the real numbers, if anyone was wondering), the first thing we talked about was bounded sequences.  In some senses, we should not be bounded.  You should never compromise your aspirations before you have even tried to achieve them.  Your enthusiasm in your work and relationships with friends and loved ones should never be boxed in.  But in some things, like nutrition, finding a set of boundaries can be very helpful in getting our body what it needs.

We have all seen what overindulgence has done to American society.  Obesity rates are running rampant.  Even with the Americans who may "look" healthy, some of them aren't really in as good shape as they think.  Ailments like cancers and heart disease eat away at us.  Television and the internet consume us.  But what should we do?

We all have differing views on what nutrition plan is the best.  It's also good to mention that each person's body is different and may respond better to varying diets [NOTE:  Let me preface the continued use of the word "diet" by saying that "diet" means "way of life," not "I wanna lose 5 pounds" or "I eat this way because I think I'm fat and hate the way I look."].  Even with CrossFit there is an ongoing search to find the best plan.  The one that I, and most other CrossFit folks follow, is called "Paleo-Zone."  It is a hybrid between the Paleo diet and the Zone diet.  The Paleo diet concentrates on eating foods that hunters and gatherers would eat, while the Zone controls portion sizes and gives us the right balance of protien, carbohydrates, and fat.  

Without going into great detail on the specifics of the diet, I will say that since starting Paleo-Zone I feel more alert in the mornings and I have a much easier time getting to sleep at night than I previously did constantly chugging Diet Dr. Pepper all day (my one true love in carbonated beverages) or by being as inactive as I was.  I've cut out almost all grains (gasp!), dairy, processed foods (minus frozen veggies/fruit and some lunch meats due to budget) and refined sugars (high fructose corn syrup, crystalline fructose, sucrose, etc).

Am I perfect?  Absolutely not.  I love eating pizza, and that is one of the hardest things I've had to try and get over, and I certainly fail on occasion.  But the more I stay away, the happier my body is.  And now that I've been trying to eat Paleo since August, and especially since starting Zone, I am actually enjoying the preparation and even the taste of my meals.  It's like my palate has been completely reset.  The picture above was from my meal tonight:

5 Block Dinner:

5 oz. meat (5 blocks protein)
2 cups California blend frozen veggies (2 blocks carbs)
3/4 cup tomato juice (1 block carbs)
1 cup frozen strawberries (1 block carbs)
1/2 cup grapes (not pictured, 1 block carbs)
1 2/3 tsp almond butter (5 blocks fat)


It was very good and satisfying.  That's how I'm keeping bounded.  Feel free to comment on how you try to keep your eating habits bounded.  What works?  What doesn't?  Again, we're all different.