Unless you’re a skinny teenager or a bulking Dave Tate, you don’t need to (and shouldn’t) eat like shit all of the time. Sure, it’s pretty cool to slam “dirty” food like a binging bulemic, but chronically doing so will have negative effects on your body composition, your health, and (ironically) more important, your training.

You’d think health would be most important, but clearly the majority of western society isn’t concerned with health when they put things into their mouth. Food quality is more important than the “lifting culture” admits. Choosing low-inflammatory foods that are dense with nutrients will curb systemic inflammation and therefore allow the body to devote all of its resources into training recovery and healing. Shitty food creates more work than the recovery work force can handle. Anyone who pretends to take their training seriously and doesn’t focus on food quality isn’t taking their life seriously.

Yes, there’s a place for lower quality meals for the sake of consuming calories (or enjoyment). No, it should not be the norm. It’s possible to hit appropriate caloric and macro-nutrient demands with higher quality food, and anyone who claims otherwise is a poon and probably cries about how uncreative they are. Don’t be a dumbass; start eating better food.



I made this recipe up after finding a “Spicy Bourbon Pork” seasoning packet at the store. The package called for ribs in the oven. Instead, I used a slow cooker. You’ll need:

– boneless rib meat (at least 2 pounds)
– several sweet potatoes (at least 2)
– 2 gala apples
– seasoning (I used “spicy bourbon pork” seasoning)
– .5 to 1 cup of orange juice
– water

Slice the rib meat up if you want, but it will end up being so tender it’ll fall apart. Cut up the apples and sweet potatoes; they can be large pieces because they too will fall apart. Throw all that stuff in the cooker. Mix the seasoning with a bit of orange juice and water and then pour it over the meat/potato/apple combo. Cover and cook. Typically a slow cooker on ‘HIGH’ will be done in 4 to 6 hours while ‘LOW’ is kinda like 6 to 8. If you’re going to work and training all day, you probably want it on low.

Voilà. A non shitty meal that is “paleo”, has plenty of protein with quality carbohydrate sources. If you’re worried about insulin sensitivity or fructose density in your diet, just use less orange juice (or none at all). If you need more fat (extra calories for recovery), then just consume it with or after the meal. It’s not hard to eat good quality food, and you need to pay attention to what goes in your mouth if you want to look “jacked” instead of just “like some fat guy who puffs his chest out when he walks”. It’ll also make you tan.