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What Do Athletes Eat? Eating for Peak Performance

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what should athletes eat

What Should Athletes Eat?

Eating for peak performance is a lifestyle you must create. You should eat a diverse group of healthy foods that include healthy fats (fish), berries, blackberries, blueberries, vegetables, nuts, whey protein, healthy oils (coconut, olive, flaxseed), healthy carbs (quinoa, wild rice, etc.), and, yes, the highest quality red meat.

Preferably meat that is grown individually on a farm that you can source directly. This is the highest quality meat available. It is possible to remove meat from your diet if you really want to avoid it, but getting the amount of protein and minerals your body needs to support high level athletic performance will be much more difficult.

What foods should athletes avoid?

Athletes must adhere to very discipline nutritional protocol. Any deviation in eating habits could not only limit muscle growth, energy levels, and performance. it could adversely impact your health as you could be working harder than the supplementation you need. Which can cause muscle loss, lack of focus, injury, and other issues?

Director of Sports Performance Judy Seto says, “an athlete should never eat sugary sports drinks, beer, candy, fast food, artificially flavored products, diet soda, energy drinks or high levels of alcohol.”

These products cause sports performance loss and overall bad health.

I’d go a step further and say that serious athletes should avoid all refined sugars, processed foods, conventional (non-organic) animal proteins, and non-organic produce. It’s also a good idea to avoid soy products (that have not been traditionally fermented), and minimize wheat products to avoid inflammatory doses of gluten.

What happens when athletes don’t eat enough?

So what happens if teen athletes don’t eat enough? Their bodies are less likely to achieve peak performance and may even break down rather than build up muscles. Athletes who don’t take in enough calories every day won’t be as fast and as strong as they could be and may not be able to maintain their weight.

Carbohydrates are an important source of fuel, but they’re only one of many foods an athlete needs. It also takes vitamins, minerals, protein, and fats to stay in peak playing shape.

In addition to calcium and iron, you need a whole bunch of other vitamins and minerals that do everything from help you access energy to keep you from getting sick. Eating a balanced diet, including lots of different fruits and veggies, should provide the vitamins and minerals needed for good health and sports performance.

Speaking of dehydration, water is just as important to unlocking your game power as food. When you sweat during exercise, it’s easy to become overheated, headachy, and worn out — especially in hot or humid weather. Even mild dehydration can affect an athlete’s physical and mental performance.

Learn more about how to maintain peak performance in your sport.

What should athletes eat on game day?

Eat a meal 2 to 4 hours before the game or event: Choose a protein and carbohydrate meal (like a turkey or chicken sandwich, chicken soup, vegetables), and water consumption should increase 3 days before (at least half your body weigh a day).

How many hours do athletes sleep?

Athletes require more than most people. The standard for athletes is 8-10 hours every night. But for the average adult, it is 6-8 hours of sleep a night to avoid fatigue.

Eating for peak performance is determined by the importance athletes place on rest, training and eating clean.  Success in sport and improving athletic performance will be determined by four essential lifestyle traits.

The first is your ability to live a life of harmony and discipline. You must be able to eliminate those self-inflicted wounds. Such as extensive partying, self-indulgence, and depravity.

A life overindulgence and depravity will zap your energy and ultimately place you around people that have different life goals. I am focusing on lifestyle because the type of life you choose to live will directly impact the food you eat and what type of performance you experience.

We live in a right now world that seems to reward outlandish behavior and self indulgence. It can be easy to be influenced by the messages that we receive through TV, ads, and social media. Many people are seeking external validation without forming a sound internal foundation. If you allow yourself to be distracted by the noise it will be difficult for you to have a lifestyle that promotes peak performance.

Importance of Rest and Eating Well

This does not mean that they will lack money, popularity or resources but simply they do not share the same athletic pursuits. Save your energy!

The second essential lifestyle trait is one that includes a consistent training and workout regime. This includes sport-specific drills, strengthening work, explosion training, and stretching.

The third is getting proper recovery and sleep. Take an NBA basketball player, that plays 82 games in a span of 6.5 months. They often play 4 games in 5 nights, while being forced to travel late at night after evening games.

This is taxing on the body and mind. So it is critical that a professional basketball player does not cause further degenerative harm by living vicariously, eating bad and lacking a consistent training regime and damaging the body further by denying it recover through lack of sleep.

But the last and most important component along with rest is the importance of eating for sports performance and eating clean. Eating with athletic achievement in mind gives you a WHY? Why you should eat clean!

Eating for peak performance in the sport will give your body the necessary nutrients, minerals and building blocks to fight against your body breaking down while also providing the necessary supplementation for

Clean Eating and Why the farmer’s markets are important?

Farmers’ markets are your source for great tasting clean eating recipes and clean eating meals. Your home and life are focused on clean cooking, clean eating, and healthy living. We will give you everything we know about living a clean lifestyle, cooking, broth making, and tasty wholesome recipes made without nonsense like artificial ingredients, fillers and other crap that puts a cramp in your digestive and healthy. We have meal plans, expert mental, health and wellness contributions, home living solutions without the use of toxic ingredients.

Amazon has now bought Whole Foods Market – which allows you to get whatever you need to be delivered directly to you. Amazon Prime Pantry and Amazon Fresh provide an opportunity for anyone to get great discounts and multiple deals for clean eaters. We use this service quite a bit. That is your first action key! Get signed up with Whole Foods Amazon food delivery network.

Clean Eating Recipes

Eating clean is about the information it’s important to stay up to date with our food and health news. Souletics covers everything you need to know when desiring to eat clean, stay healthy, stay fit and mentally sharp. We have are clean eating cookbook or you can get our “Complete  Guide Athletic Success.”

Juice Recipes for Athletes

We also have a collection of the best juicing recipes for peak performance and energy. This is something that I do every morning and it is part of my lifestyle. I believe it has been instrumental in me staying healthy, fit and strong mentally. Faith being the foundation!

Clean Eating Meal Plans

You should have a go-to guide of Clean Eating meal plans to take the difficulty out of meal preparation. Having balanced meals during your day keeps you in feeling good and your body looking better.

Clean Eating Recipes if your searching for clean eating meal recipes made with the best whole food ingredients. You are in the right place! You will find all the several recipes and paleo recipes while maintaining a responsible budget.

Digestive Health and The Gaps Diet

Kobe Bryant drank a lot of bone broth toward the end of his career. Bone broth supports gut health and is recommended under the GAPS Protocol.  Improve your digestive health with information focused on healing your gut, microbiome, and issues like constipation. The Gaps Diet was developed by Dr. Sidney Valentine Haas in the 1920s. Dr. Natasha Campbell published the GAPS in Gut and Psychology Syndrome in 2004. We have been following this protocol for over 15 years. The GAPS Diet, is a program used to deal with gut issues. Gut issues have been linked to depression and other mental issues. We are not a medical facility so we cannot provide too much information here.

GAPS Diet is also used by several athletes not only as a healthy diet program but as a peak performance tool.

Athlete’s Shopping List

If you’re new to cooking, this list can help you figure out what to buy so you can prepare your own foods on a daily basis. These are the basic necessities, but of course there’s always room to explore and add to your collection as you grow your cooking skills.

Clean Eating Grocery Shopping: How to Stock Your Pantry

  • High quality sea salt (Himalayan or Celtic is best)
  • Seasonings: pepper, granulated garlic, spice blend (to your liking – one we like combines garlic, onion, paprika, sea salt and pepper, it tastes great on everything), smoked paprika, cumin, chili pepper, chipotle pepper, cayenne pepper, bay leaves, sage, basil, thyme, oregano, cinnamon, pure vanilla extract, and any other seasonings you like – have fun experimenting!
  • Unrefined coconut oil, cold pressed extra virgin olive oil, avocado oil, toasted sesame oil
  • Green tea, chai tea (tea bags, not a mix), herbal teas, etc.
  • Jarred or canned tuna
  • Jarred or canned olives
  • Organic canned tomatoes: crushed tomatoes, chopped tomatoes, fire roasted tomatoes, stewed tomatoes with basil and garlic
  • Organic canned tomato sauce & tomato paste
  • Grass fed Gelatin & Collagen: Grass fed gelatin is a great way to add more protein and gut-healing collagen to your diet. This is where the concept of “Jell-O” came from – can you believe it used to be healthy? Not any more, unless you make your own. Commercial brands are highly processed, adding sugar, artificial colors, and other unhealthy additives that you don’t want to consume. But with grass fed gelatin, you can make your own fruit snacks, jell-o, pudding and GAPS legal gravies, and rest assured that they contain some nutritional value. If you’re not into the gelatin consistency, you can also buy powdered collagen to add to smoothies and drinks that will add the boost of collagen and protein without altering the consistency at all.
  • Safe sweeteners: Raw honey, organic pure maple syrup, coconut palm sugar (unless you’re on GAPS, then raw honey is the only GAPS legal sweetener)
  • Nut butter: Almond butter is best, preferably sprouted, but that gets expensive! Peanut butter is an inexpensive alternative, but try to stick with organic and unsweetened (just peanuts and salt in the ingredients)
  • Flours: Almond meal, coconut flour, and if you’re not on GAPS, cornmeal
  • Oats: Organic rolled oats or steel cut
  • It’s always good to have an organic all purpose flour on hand, preferably a gluten free blend
  • Aluminum free baking powder and baking soda
  • If not on GAPS, it’s also good to have some form of pasta on hand: brown rice pasta and quinoa pasta are good gluten free varieties, but if you can tolerate wheat it’s not a bad idea to have a high quality organic pasta on hand (just be careful not to overcook it)
  • Dry navy beans, dry lentils (we like red and black), and if not on GAPS, white basmati rice, dry black, red, pinto and garbanzo beans
  • It’s also a good idea to have a few cans of beans on hand, for when you don’t have the time to soak and cook ahead of time
  • Salsa
  • High quality organic mayonnaise (for when you don’t have time to make your own)
  • Nuts, whole food nutrition bars, dried fruit
  • Sparkling water

Clean Eating Grocery Shopping: How to Stock Your Refrigerator

  • Raw, unfiltered apple cider vinegar
  • High quality probiotic
  • Grass fed/pastured butter: If you’re in Northern California, Humboldt Creamery Butter is a great find, but Kerrygold butter is also very good and available in most grocery stores nationwide.
  • Eggs: Ideally pastured, but strive to buy the best quality you can afford.
  • Bubbies pickles & relish
  • Coconut milk
  • Plain yogurt
  • Cultured sour cream
  • Organic/raw milk grass fed cheese: bricks only. Soft cheese molds quickly when shredded, so most bags of pre-shredded cheese require additives to extend the shelf life. If you want shredded cheese, you’ll need to use your cheese grater!
  • High quality parmesan cheese: Since parmesan is a hard cheese, it can be pre-shredded without requiring additives for preventing mold (although some commercial brands still add them to extend shelf life). So a tub of pre-grated is fine – especially if it was freshly grated by the deli department of a grocery store – but it’s still always best to buy a brick and shred or grate your own.
  • Lunch meat – nitrate free and organic
  • Produce: If you’re too busy to make it to a farmers market every week, find out if you have a CSA (community supported agriculture) in your area that will make weekly deliveries of farm fresh produce to your doorstep. The one we have (FarmFreshtoYou.com) is very reasonable and even allows you to select what items you want delivered in your box. Otherwise, try to work into your schedule a weekly visit to the farmers market to make sure you’re getting local, fresh fruit and vegetables. It’s almost always a better price than what you’ll find at grocery stores – healthier food that’s locally sourced, and it supports your local farmers.
  • Salad greens: Spinach, lettuce, cabbage
  • Greens for juicing or making smoothies: Kale, Chard, Collard Greens, Bok Choi
  • Fruit: Apples, bananas, lemons, limes, oranges, pineapple, melon… whatever’s in season!
  • Fresh herbs: Sage, basil, cilantro are our favorites, but have fun experimenting! It’s also pretty easy and cost effective to grow herbs in a box in your kitchen window or on your patio.
  • Onions, green onions, garlic (green onions should be refrigerated in the crisper bin, but regular onions and garlic should be kept in your pantry)
  • Fresh tomatoes (tomatoes should be kept in a bowl on your countertop, outside of the refrigerator)

Clean Eating Grocery Shopping: How to Stock Your Freezer

  • Frozen veggies are good to have on hand: broccoli, spinach, peas and corn (no corn if on GAPS)
  • Frozen fruit can also be good for making smoothies, especially if you like varieties of fruit that don’t grow locally, or aren’t in season where you live
  • If you have a local butcher or grocery store that sells soup bones, stock up in your freezer! Or if you cook meat that has bones but don’t have time to immediately make broth, don’t throw those bones out – rinse them off and put them in a freezer bag so you can make broth later.
  • Safe desserts: Plain frozen yogurt, fruit-only sorbets (make sure there are no added sugars or other off limit ingredients)

Healthy Lifestyle Tips

Healthy Living is more than clean eating, it is a way of life a consistent, positive, strategic, spiritual, purposeful approach to life.

Life always has a way of redirecting us in directions that would most serve our mission;  I can most definitely set you on the path towards your personal goals. I am a person that has experienced both the highs and lows of athletics, life and I hope to be a partner to those people that desire to go from point A all the way to Z.

With that said, here are some tips for establishing some good daily health habits.

  • Every morning, drink a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar, followed by 8-16 ounces of water, along with your probiotic. If you can’t stand the taste of vinegar alone, you can dilute it with water, or even add equal parts honey to vinegar, fill it with water and shake it in your shaker jar to blend. It can be an acquired taste, but this is great for your digestive system, and a requirement if you feel a cold coming on. ACV cuts mucous and can shorten the duration of a cold or keep it from developing into something nasty.
  • Keep your water filter and reusable water bottle filled up, and make sure you’re drinking half your body weight in ounces of clean water daily. Staying hydrated will keep you alert and running on all cylinders, and it will also keep you from mistaking dehydration for hunger.
  • If you like the taste of the unrefined coconut oil, eat 1-2 tablespoons straight each day. This is good for detoxification, so if you feel a little ill after your first few days of trying this out, don’t worry – it’s your body expelling the bad stuff. Just like in our intro to probiotics, back off a little bit and work your way up gradually. You can also add it to your smoothies, or make your own “healthy chocolates” by mixing the coconut oil with a little honey, cinnamon and cocoa powder. Mix well, pour into ice cube trays and keep in your fridge for a sweet treat.
  • Some cultures use unrefined coconut oil or cold pressed olive oil in lieu of toothpaste. It’s called “oil pulling,” and it is a highly effective way to rid your mouth of toxins. This is especially good when you feel a sore throat or other illness coming on. Swish it in your mouth for 10-20 minutes, as long as you can stand it, WITHOUT swallowing. You can spit it out and add more if you don’t like swishing the guck around, but try to keep swishing and gargling as long as possible, then spit it out and wash it down the sink.
  • Try to eat fruit the first thing in the morning or between meals, at least 15 minutes before meals involving meat. Fruit (except apples) can sometimes interfere with how your body digests meat, so it’s best to eat fruit on an empty stomach.

Please Read

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