Grappler's Guide to Nutrition

The following is a summary of "The Grappler's Guide to Nutrition" by John Berardi and Michael Fry.  I highly recommend the book for any and all coaches and athletes involved in combative sports (Wrestling, Boxing, Jiu Jitsu, Kick Boxing, Muay Thai, etc...)  You can purchase the book or download the PDF for free.  Just google it and it should be fairly easy to find.  My comments/additions can be found throughout in italic text.

10 Rules:
1 - Eat every 2 - 3 hrs
2 - Eat protein at every meal
3 - Eat fruit or vegetables at every meal
4 - Eat carbs only during or post - workout
5 - Eat healthy fats (apx 30%)
6 - Non-calorie beverages only (tea, coffee, diet soda)
7 - Eat whole foods rather than supplements when possible
8 - Eat a wide variety of foods
9 - Plan ahead and prepare your meals in advance
10 - Plan to break the rules about 10% of the time
Explanation of Rules:
1 - This is to keep your metabolism ticking.  When you eat less often you tend to eat more at once.  This does two things.  It makes your body think it is starving and thus it stores all the energy (calories) you are feeding it because it does not know when it will be fed next.  It also slows  your metabolism (the rate at which your body burns calories) because your body does not know when it will be fed next, it will use existing stored energy (fat) sparingly.
2 - You are what you eat; a ragging bull or a tub of butter?
3 - Remember the food pyramid from when you were a kid?  3 - 5 servings of fruits and veggies per day is a good guideline
4 - Carbs spike your insulin levels which blunts your body's ability to burn fat.  Thus, you need a steady supply of energy throughout the day but only need it to be fast acting energy (carbohydrates) or particularly really fast acting (simple sugar carbs opposed to complex carbs) in large doses first thing in the morning, during your workout, and immediately following your workout.
5 - Many people DIED in the 90s because they thought ALL fat was bad for you and removed it entirely from your diet.  You NEED protein, you NEED carbs (contrary to Atkins), and like it or not you NEED fat.  Just make sure its coming from the right places.
6 - You need to choose your calories so that you will feel the most satisfied, eating calories will fill you up more than drinking them.  Alcohol, soda, and fruit juices are all wasteful.  There is a reason they call them "empty calories." 
7 - Supplements are great for convenience but for the best food, whole food is better for you and more satisfying than supplements.  When price and convenience can be spared, go with the whole foods over supplements every time.
8 - Variety will keep you sane and help keep you from burning out on your diet.
9 - "Fail to plan and plan to fail"  Its hard to make sure all your meals meet your needs, and can be inconvenient to cook and clean along with eating every 3 hours.  To simplify things, cook 2 or three meals at a time, put them in a ziploc or tuperware then leave it in the fridge or cooler or lunchbox until your ready to eat again.
10 - This is again to help keep you sane and stay on a lifestyle track instead of short-term diet fix.  Cheating is OK every once in a while as long as it does not become habitual.  If you're eating 5 times per day (as you should) at 7 days per week that's 35 meals per week, thus you should plan on breaking ONE OR TWO of the above rules once every 3 - 4 times you eat.

Examples of Given Food Groups:
Protein - (at every feeding) - lean beef, chicken, fish, egg whites, low-fat dairy (cottage cheese, yogurt), protein supplements (whey, casein)
Simple Sugar Carbs - (during workout and post-workout) - soda, fruit juice, table sugar, sports drinks (gatorade), breakfast cereal
Starchy Carbs - (post-workout) - bread, pasta, rice, potatoes, sweet corn, whole oats
Fruits and Veggies - (one of either at every feeding) - spinach, tomatoes, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, apples, oranges, berries, green beans
Saturated Fat - (1/3 of total fat) - Animal Fat (whole eggs, dairy, meat, butter)
Monosaturated Fat - (1/3 of total fat) - olive oil, nuts, avocado
Polysaturated Fat - (1/3 of total fat) - vegetable fats, flax seed/oil, fish oil

20 Super Food:
Lean Red Meat
Salmon
Omega 3 Eggs
Low Fat Yogurt
Supplement Protein
Spinach
Tomatoes
Cruciferous Veggies (Cauliflower, Broccoli, Cabbage)
Mixed Berries
Oranges
Mixed Beans
Quinoa
Whole Oats
Mixed Nuts
Avocados
Olive Oil
Fish Oil
Flax Seeds
Green tea
Liquid Exercise Drinks
Above is the list as it appears in the book.  Personally I would change the list to: Grapefruits, Blueberries, Skim Milk, Green Beans, Almonds, Peanuts, Smart Balance Cooking Oil, Smart Balance Peanut Butter, Protein Powder, Tuna, Chicken, Salmon, Green Tea, Broccoli, Lean Beef, Fat Free Turkey, Whole Grain Pasta, Chicken Breast, Oats, Oranges

On Dehydration:
This is a common practice of "cutting" weight in order to compete in a weight class that is lower than your natural body weight.  Here are some things you should know:
1)  Effects of dehydration can take place as soon as 2% of the body's weight is lost in water.  In an extremely hot environment while taking part in strenuous activities, some marathon runners have been known to loose as much as 8lbs of water in ONLY AN HOUR!
2)  You should drink every 15 - 20 minutes while exercising
3)  Carb drinks and protein supplements should be sipped after exercise (dilute to apx 6 - 12% concentration)

Top 5 Supplements:
Protein, Greens, Muscle Recovery / Workout Drinks, Creatine, Fish Oil (If you want to know the reasoning for these, look it up in the book, I'm just summarizing here and don't want to take credit for another person's work)
Again, there are a few changes that I would personally make and they are...
Protein Powder - for recovery and to make it more convenient and affordable to maintain high 
     protein diets
Glucosamine - there are a variety of "joint guard" products out there and people in combat sports 
     tend to beat the hell out of their joints especially after years of cutting weight
Omega 3, 6, 9 - find something with all three of these and you will be doing your heart and joints a  
     big favor
Multi Vitamin - in spite of our best efforts to eat healthy, it never hurts to have a little insurance when 
     it comes to micronutrients and all kinds of other vitamin/mineral goodies 
CGT - Creatine is good, but lets make it better.  Amino Acids in general help repair your body, of all the amino acids in your body nearly 50% of their content is from Glutamine alone.
I do not think that a Greens+ supplement should be on the list by the books own admission, whole foods (real fruits and veggies) are superior to supplements and I used the same reasoning for abandoning recovery drinks (that is what the protein powder and/or gatorade is for).  Fish Oil is good, but a bit too general.  The goal is to get EFAs (Essential Fatty Acids) which are grouped as Omega 3s, Omega 6s, and Omega 9s.  It's just as easy to find a supplement with all 3.  Creatine is a type of energy that your body uses at a cellular level.  In my opinion it is a bit of a toss up between creatine and glutamine; it is the question of the chicken and the egg; which is more important, energy to work out or material to recover?  Why not both.

Macro Nutrient Ratios:
Fat - apx 30% of diet/daily calories
Carbs - Less than 70% unless your an elite endurance athlete (if you've been reading my other posts you should know why)
Protein - 2g / Kg of Body Weight.  EX:  220lb man should eat 100g of protein
     The fat content is about right, when trying to build mass I like a my diet to be about 20% of my daily calories from fat.  When losing fat I like it closer to 30% daily calories from fat.  As for Carbs the book is not nearly as clear.  When gaining mass I like 50% daily calories from carbs, when losing fat 30%.  This protein recommendation seems a bit low to me.  I have generally read everywhere else that serious athletes should be consuming between one and two grams of protein per pound of body weight.  This would be 150 - 300g for a 150lb person.  I think this is much closer as I like my diet 30% protein when building mass and 40% when losing fat.

Cutting Weight:
 - Remember that at 2% dehydration (2% of your body weight lost through water weight) the fatiguing effects of dehydration set in.  At 10% they can become FATAL!
 - Try to be within 10lbs of your competition weight before you begin to cut.  If I want to fight at 170lbs then I will spend my training camp trying to weigh 180lbs on the day that is one week before the weigh in.
 - When preparing for a competition you will likely be working out more than you previously were in the off season and thus will need more energy to workout and fuel to recover.  When preparing for a competition you should add 200 - 400 calories / day to your diet. 
 - Next, there is a bit of variance depending upon whether you have a SHORT or LONG period of time between when you weigh in and have to compete.  Wrestling matches usually have about an hour between weigh ins and matches, some BJJ tournaments require you to go directly from the scale to the mat... those are examples of SHORT periods.  Things like MMA fight have a 24 hour wait between weigh ins and competition... that is an example of a long period.
 - SHORT PERIOD - drop 200 - 400 calorie from your diet 2 - 4 weeks out from the weigh in.  This should get you within 10 lbs of your competition weight and thus you will not have to dehydrate yourself very much to make weight.  3 days out you should drink 2 - 3 gallons of water per day, then 2 days out, decrease the water intake to 2 gallons.  The rest of your weight cut will have to come from mild dehydrate, and major caloric restriction to clean out the useless weight within your bowels.  About 12 - 15 hrs away from the weigh in is when I suggest starting to actually dehydrate and not eat anything.  In order to rehydrate after weighing in, you should only drink sip your fluids and make sure they are fast carbs like gatorade and maybe a protein shake or workout recovery drink.  Remember that your body can only rehydrate at a rate of about 1.5L per hour, anything extra is waste.  And you will crap your brains out, trust me, I know, I've seen me do it.
 - LONG PERIOD - 5days out from your weigh in you should drink 3 gallons of water per day and cut back your carbs.  2 days out you should cut out your salt intake and cut back on the water.  Dehydrate with COMMON SENSE if you must and clean out your bowels as above.  To recover after weighing in you should eat every 1 - 2 hours.  These meals should consist of a carb drink (like gatorade) complex carbs, and protein.  Your last meal should be about 2 hrs before your competition.
- For both the LONG and SHORT periods, you should record and evaluate your results after your competition.  Everyone's body is different and thus the above suggestions will not be exact.