The Fittest Shopping Cart — Grocery Shopping With Tia-Clair Toomey-Orr
Five-time Fittest Woman on Earth® Tia-Clair Toomey-Orr may just be the greatest strength athlete of all time. She has five consecutive CrossFit Games titles, is a decorated Olympic weightlifter, and is working towards becoming an Olympic bobsledder for the Australian National Bobsled Team. Still, she has time to teach people her stretching routine on squat days in the gym. However, it takes more than just hard work in training and an elite mindset to reach the top of the functional fitness world — a champion’s got to eat.
Recently, on Toomey-Orr’s YouTube channel, she shared what a day of vegan eating looks like with meals prepared by fellow Australian CrossFitter and bobsledder James Newbury. The meals looked delicious and earned high praise from the CrossFit Games champ, but for meals she composes herself, Toomey-Orr decided to take her 174,000 YouTube subscribers on a journey to the supermarket. Check out the video below to see what Toomey-Orr reaches for in the aisles of her grocery store:
[Related: Strongman Brian Shaw Reveals His New 9,700-Calorie Diet]
Fittest Groceries
Before hopping into the grocery store on an overcast rest day, Toomey-Orr shares something particularly noteworthy — she and her coach (and husband), Shane Orr, “don’t plan too much” in terms of diet until they are closer to a competition. One of those times is during the release of this video, just over two weeks until the 2021 Rogue Invitational.
Toomey’s Go-Tos
First up is protein. Toomey-Orr usually acquires her protein the day she plans to consume it to ensure freshness. She opts for leaner meat options like chicken, steak, or ground beef (90/10). She also consumes turkey bacon and cage-free eggs on bagels for breakfast.
For easy go-to meals that can be popped in the microwave, Toomey-Orr’s go-to is Maya Kaimal’s organic Everyday Dals — pre-packaged vegan-friendly meals — with some rice.
I’ll always go with the ones I can read the [ingredients] on the back. If it’s…numbers and things I can’t even pronounce, I’m going to steer clear of that.
Tacos are another go-to for the Fittest Woman on Earth®. That’s right, tacos. Everyone’s favorite Tuesday night meal is actually a customizable, macro-friendly option. Toomey-Orr can cook up some lean meat and stuff that into a flour tortilla with sauteed veggies for a low-fat, high-protein meal.
Toomey-Orr tries to steer clear of products with too many ingredients listed on their nutrition labels as she is conscious about what she puts in her body. She admits that corn starch is hard to avoid despite being undesirable. For reference, according to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), corn accounts for more than 90 percent of total feed grain production in the USA.
Sweet Tooth
Two staples for Toomey-Orr are granola and almond milk yogurt. She notes that store-bought granola is likely to have a lot of sugar in it, “hence why it tastes so delicious.” If you’re looking to cut back on sugar, homemade granola is probably a better option. That said, the CrossFit Games champ is okay with sugar every so often and reached for Nature’s Path Love Crunch dark chocolate and red berries granola on this particular grocery run.
To satisfy sweet cravings, Toomey-Orr and Shane have an affinity for caramel popcorn (also known as kettle corn). They developed a preference for this cheat day treat after moving from Australia to the US. Other considerations are chocolate-covered nuts and Kind® Bars. When they prefer to avoid sugar altogether, Toomey-Orr will pop popcorn from scratch and add a bit of salt.
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[Related: The Definitive Guide to Bodybuilding Meal Prep]
2021 Rogue Invitational
Toomey-Orr’s next competition is the 2021 Rogue Invitational in Austin, TX, on Oct. 29-31, 2021. At the time of this article’s publication, the 2021 Rogue Invitational has one of the largest payouts of any sanctioned CrossFit competition other than the CrossFit Games, with first-place receiving $246,692.
Toomey-Orr won the 2020 Rogue Invitational and was dominant at the 2021 CrossFit Games. She is undoubtedly the front runner heading into Halloween weekend, and we’ll see if her choice of groceries fuels her to yet another win.
Featured image: @tiaclair1 on Instagram