Advice for Athletes - Eat Real Food

Jack La Lanne once said: “Exercise is your king, and nutrition is your queen. Together they create your fitness kingdom."

Four Simple Energy Rules for Athletes

Please understand that energy and stamina doesn't come from sugar. Taking in simple carbs like sugar, corn syrup, pasta, or bread before an event will tend to cause a quick spike in your blood sugar followed by a corresponding fall, making you feel more exhausted than before. More than anything, simple carbs and excess complex carbs will make you sluggish and hamper your performance.

If you want to create energy naturally, here are four simple rules to follow:

1:   Just before a game or hard workout, eat a little bit of fruit, such as an apple, plum, pear, citrus fruit (not juice) or berries. They're great right before a game or workout, as they give you a small spike without the massive plummet.

2:   Two to three hours before a game or hard workout, complex carbs, fats and a small amount of protein will do the trick. Sweet potatoes, brown rice, olive oil, almond butter, flax oil, walnuts, almonds and eggs are all easy to digest and can give you more sustained energy for the day.

3:   Post exercise, your body is nitrogen-poor and your muscles have been broken down. That's why you need amino acids from animal proteins like chicken, beef and eggs, as well as vegetable carbohydrates.

4:   Although many experts have advised athletes to load up on carbs before a long-distance event, fact is, burning sugar is not what happens over long distances. After a short period of time, particularly at slower paces, your body is burning fats. Therefore, rather than loading up on carbs, more long distance runners are loading up on fats and small amounts of proteins prior to racing, with no more carbs than the body can easily store anyway.

While athletes that train at high levels may need to replace their depleted carbohydrates with sugar immediately following a workout or game, if you’re exercising at a more moderate level, (which is most of us) or not at all, these extra sugars just turn to fat, an overworked pancreas and worn out adrenal glands.

Eating whole, organic and biodynamic foods is the ticket to optimal performance, whether you’re a professional athlete or a weekend warrior on the tennis court.

What About Sports Drinks and Energy Bars?

Sadly, we spend hundreds of millions of dollars on energy drinks and energy bars each year. Bar and drink makers add dozens of elements to these products, including vitamins, minerals, herbs and whey. Sports drinks hit $7.5 billion in sales in the US last year alone, and according to the trade journal Beverage Digest, sports drinks were the third fastest growing beverage category in the United States in 2006, after energy drinks and bottled water. Of course they want you to believe sports drinks are healthy and increase performance!

However, the active ingredients usually come down to two simple substances: Sugar and caffeine.

Additionally, any good kinesiologist or muscle-testing chiropractor will show you how sugar dramatically reduces your strength.

When used properly, these products may have some benefits for intense, high-level training athletes.  However, for most of you, the vast majority of these energy bars, powders and sports drinks only add hazardous toxins, chemicals, and useless calories to your diet. The ONLY time you should resort to these sports drinks is after vigorous exercise, for a minimum of 45 minutes to an hour, and you’re sweating profusely as a result of that activity.

The best way I believe to re-hydrate is with filtered water.

Dr Pia Martin DC, CCN

www.cre8wellness.com