Showing posts with label nutrition. Show all posts
Showing posts with label nutrition. Show all posts

Friday, July 1, 2011

It's Time To Re-Think That Big Bowl of Pasta The Night Before Your Race...

It's tradition for marathoners, triathletes and the like to have that big bowl of pasta the night before the big race. I've personally never been a big fan of this, but it seemed to be tradition, I love pasta but know it's not good for me (so any excuse to eat it worked fine for me) and hey.. I was gonna race it off the next day anyway. But it seems it might not be the best fuel for your optimal performance after all.

This is a repost, originally published on Bicycling Magazine at www.Bicycling.com 

Cycling Nutrition: Big Fat Lies

Big Fat Lies
A surprising new approach to losing weight and keeping it off—and riding longer and stronger than ever.


One of the long-enduring traditions at bike events of all stripes is the pasta dinner the evening before the big ride. After all, who doesn't believe in the hearty, turbo-fueling quality of a whopping plate of spaghetti with tomato sauce?

As it turns out, the nonbelievers include a number of highly informed people, including Allen Lim, PhD, the brains behind much of Garmin-Slipstream's training and race preparation. "There's nothing nutritious about that," Lim says. In fact, he has eliminated all processed wheat from the team's diet, and at races has replaced traditional starchy foods with balanced, whole-food fuel such as rice cakes made with eggs, olive oil, prosciutto and liquid amino acids. If this creates the impression that Lim knows something you don't, well, that's probably true. His job is to make sure that, unlike the rest of us, his team doesn't blithely adhere to old, counterproductive eating habits—habits that can lead to unnecessary weight fluctuation and diminished performance.

Here's the good news. We've tapped into this new school of food science led by the likes of Lim to correct popular misconceptions about food, particularly about carbs and fat. Proponents of this new approach believe, for example, that a diet heavy in starch causes your body to burn sugar instead of fat, so you bonk more easily, often eat too much and end up overweight rather than properly fueled.

Even Joe Friel, who relentlessly advocated carbohydrates in his training bible series of books, has done a 180, turning his back on starches and relying instead on vegetables, fruits and lean meats as fuel. Consider this our effort to correct myths and misconceptions you've been exposed to over the years. Follow this advice, and you won't just live lean. You'll also be able to ride longer on less food and never bonk.


FALLACY #1  - A calorie is a calorie
This might be the biggest weight-loss misunderstanding in existence. For years we've been told that weight loss is a simple calories-in, calories-out equation, and 3,500 excess calories will put on a pound whether they come from soybeans or banana cream pie. That's simply not true.

"There are three key types of calories: carbohydrate, protein and fat," says sports nutritionist Cynthia Sass, MPH, RD, CSSD, creator and coauthor of the Flat Belly Diet (published by Rodale, Bicycling's parent company). "They're as different as gasoline, motor oil and brake fluid in terms of the roles they play in keeping your body operating optimally." Sass says that many of her clients might eat the perfect number of calories, but they have cut their fat intake too much. So the jobs that fat does, such as repairing cell membranes and optimizing hormones, go undone, and the surplus carbs are stored as fat. By correcting her clients' balance of carbs, protein and fat without changing their calorie intake, she says, she has helped them lose weight, improve their immune systems, gain muscle and boost energy.

The Get-Lean Fix
Eat a representative of each macronutrient group at every meal. Sass recommends getting 50 to 55 percent of your calories from carbs (fill half your plate with vegetables, fruits and some whole grains), 25 to 30 percent from fats (olive oil, avocado and so on), and 15 to 20 percent from protein (lean meats, fish, eggs and poultry). "Just be sure to skew your preworkout meals or snacks to be heavier in carbs and lower in fat and protein to fuel up properly and avoid cramps," says Sass.


Fallacy #2 - Starches are sensible fuel
At some point, starch became synonymous with carbohydrate. While pasta and bagels are carbohydrates, and you do need carbs for fuel, they're often not the best sources, especially if you're trying to keep weight off. Starchy carbs are easy to overeat, and any surplus goes to your fat stores. "Your brain operates on sugar, and when you eat bagels or potatoes, your body turns them into sugar and delivers them to your cells quickly, which makes your brain happy and leaves you wanting more," says Friel. So in this case, you shouldn't listen to your body.

Fruits and vegetables, by contrast, are rich in carbs but often lower in calories and also digest more slowly. You're less likely to plow through so many berries and carrots that you end up with more fuel than you need. As a bonus, plant foods are loaded with vitamins, minerals and immunity-boosting phytonutrients that make you healthier and stronger, so you can ride better and burn more calories.

The Get-Lean Fix
Choose carbs wisely. Eat starchy, quick-digesting carbs only during and right before and after training rides or races, when it's important to get food that can be quickly digested and converted to fuel. Otherwise, get your carbs from fruits and vegetables.

How much is enough? If you're eating considerably more than Sass's recommended 50 to 55 percent, especially from starchy sources, then you risk changing your metabolism, says Friel. "When I see someone who has started eating lots of starch," he says, "they not only have gained fat, they've also changed their metabolism from fat-burning to sugar-burning." It doesn't happen over one plate of pasta, but the body is adaptable. "Over the course of a few of months," Friel says, "it will switch over to burn whatever you're feeding it most."

When possible, pair your carbs with some protein. Lean meats, nut butters, fish and eggs slow digestion, so you feel full sooner, get more even energy from your meals and stay full longer. The amino acids in protein also help repair, build and maintain muscle tissue.

It's no coincidence that Americans got heavier as fat consumption went down. For years, the government preached low-fat, carb-heavy diets. "This wasn't only misguided; it was flat-out wrong," Friel says.


Fallacy #3 - All fat makes you fat
As your body becomes more conditioned, you become a better fat burner. You need ample amounts of healthy fat, which, contrary to widely held belief, won't make you fat. In fact, starchy foods turn to stored fat far more quickly. What's more, evidence is stacking up that healthy unsaturated fats are essential for firing up your fat-burning metabolism. In a study of 101 men and women, Harvard researchers put half the group on a low-fat diet and half on a diet that included about 20 percent of calories from monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFAs). After 18 months, the MUFA-eating group had dropped 11 pounds; its low-fat-eating peers had shed only six. Fat is also slower to digest than carbs, so it helps you stay hunger-free longer.

Fat will help you ride longer so you can burn more calories, says Friel. Research shows that athletes who get about 50-plus percent of their diet from fat produce better average times to exhaustion in exercise tests than those eating typical low-fat, high-carb diets.

The Get-Lean Fix
Add healthy fats to every meal. Sass recommends getting about 20 percent of your calories from MUFAs, or about 55 grams per day at 2,500 calories, which is what most cyclists eat as training ramps up. "Because most athletes don't have time to count fat grams, the simpler message is: Include small portions of good fats, like almonds, avocado and olive oil, with all meals and snacks," she says. Try nuts and seeds, olive-based tapenades and even the occasional chunk of dark chocolate. Some healthy portions to shoot for:

Nuts and seeds Everything from pecans to pine nuts, almond butter to tahini. A serving size is 2 tablespoons.
Olives Black, green, mixed or blended in a spreadable tapenade. A serving is 10 large olives or 2 tablespoons of spread.
Oils Canola, flaxseed, peanut, safflower, walnut, sunflower, sesame or olive. Cook with them; drizzle them; eat them in pesto. One serving is 1 tablespoon.
Avocado As guacamole or just slice and serve. One-quarter cup equals one serving.
Dark chocolate Go for one-quarter cup of dark or semisweet, or about 2 ounces.


Fallacy #4 - Food comes from a box
Many cyclists who think they're eating healthfully often consume far more sugar and sodium than they realize because they eat so much pasta, cereals, energy bars and other processed foods. "The vast majority of grocery-store foods are packaged junk," says sports nutritionist and exercise physiologist Tavis Piattoly, RD, LD, of Elmwood Fitness Center, in New Orleans. Some items also contain trans fats—the kinds of fats you want to avoid. The sugar is also troublesome for weight loss because it causes the body to step up its production of insulin, which in turn blocks hormones that control appetite. As a result, the food you eat is quickly stored as fat—and still, you're always hungry.

The Get-Lean Fix
Eat mostly whole foods that are part of an animal or plant, Piattoly says. Fill most of your cart with foods from the grocery store's perimeter first; that's where the fresh produce, meats, fish and other whole foods are found. Then go down the center aisles to fill in the rest. That should reflect the proportion of processed foods you include in your diet.



Fallacy #5 - Skipping breakfast is fine if you need to drop a few pounds
Eat breakfast. That bit of essential advice is food gospel. Still, according to a survey by the International Food Information Council Foundation, fewer than half of us eat a morning meal. Breakfast is the key that starts your fat-burning metabolism. Without it, you go into an energy deficit that not only leaves you ravenous (and more likely to overeat) later, but also suppresses your calorie-burning furnace, so what you do eat is more likely to go into storage. Research shows that people who skip breakfast are 4 1/2 times more likely to be overweight than those who don't. "It's one of the biggest fueling mistakes almost everyone makes," says Piattoly.

The Get-Lean Fix
Because you have a whole day of activity—usually including a ride—ahead of you, try to eat about 25 percent of your daily calories at your morning meal. That meal should include protein, healthy fat and fiber-rich carbs like fruit. A British study found that exercisers who ate a breakfast high in fiber burned twice as much fat during workouts later in the day than those who ate less fibrous foods.

For a power breakfast that'll sustain you well into the day, try two eggs any style; cup whole oats, cooked; 1 cup yogurt; a cup of mixed berries; coffee; and orange juice.


Fallacy #6 - You can eat the same at age 40 as age 20
Muscle is the engine that powers your pedals, but it also drives your calorie-burning metabolism. The more lean tissue you have, the more calories you burn and the leaner you stay. As we age, we naturally lose muscle and thus gain fat. Cycling and strength training help stem that loss, but the right foods are more important for muscle maintenance than most people realize. Because of age-related kidney changes, our blood becomes more acidic and we excrete nitrogen, an essential component of muscle protein, faster than we take it in, Friel says. "Essentially we end up peeing away our muscles," he says. And with a net loss of nitrogen, you can't form new muscle.

The Get-Lean Fix
Turn the tide on nitrogen loss and preserve muscle mass by increasing the alkalinity of your blood to neutralize the acidity, says Friel. One way is with supplements like Acid Zapper, but you can also eat foods that enhance alkaline. Fruits and veggies are the only foods that offer a net increase, says Friel. Fats and oils are neutral. All other foods, including grains, legumes and meats, have an acid-producing effect. If you don't get most of your carbs from fruits and vegetables, Friel says, you're losing muscle mass as well as calcium from your bones, which also gets leached away in an acidic environment as you age.


Fallacy #7 - You're never hungry... or you're always hungry
Most diets treat hunger as the enemy. But it's actually your closest ally, says Piattoly. "Once you start the fat-reduction process, you'll be a little hungry, but not starving," he says. "The trick is balancing the two, so you're losing weight, but not setting yourself up for a binge."

The Get-Lean Fix
Try to eat every three to four hours, says Piattoly. "Eat breakfast, then wait until you feel hungry and eat just until you're no longer hungry," he says. "That's where people usually go wrong. They eat past the point of satisfaction until they're 'full.' Eat only until you're no longer hungry. If you don't feel hungry again in three to four hours, you ate too much earlier." Once you get the hang of it, weight loss and maintenance is much easier.

Where the Carbs Are
Fruits and vegetables are a more substantial source of carbohydrate than most people realize.

RAISINS, seedless (1/4 cup) 32g
BRUSSELS SPROUTS, cooked (1/2 cup) 7g
PEAS, cooked (1 cup) 25g
STRAWBERRIES (1 cup) 11g
SPINACH, cooked (1 cup) 7g
SUCCOTASH, cooked (1 cup) 47g
CARROTS, cooked (1/2 cup) 8g
ORANGE (1 medium) 14g
COLLARD GREENS, cooked (1 cup) 12g
CORN, sweet, cooked (1 ounce) 7g
CANTALOUPE (1 cup) 15g
SQUASH, winter, acorn, cooked (1 cup) 30g
SWEET POTATO, baked w/ skin (large) 44g
ARTICHOKE, cooked (1 medium) 13g
WATERMELON (1 cup) 11g
GREEN PEPPER (1 cup) 10g
BROCCOLI, raw (1 cup) 4g PEACH (1 large) 17g BANANA (medium) 30 g

Pasta & Grains
SPAGHETTI (1 cup) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .40g
SPAGHETTI, whole wheat (1 cup) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37g
TAGLIATELLE (1 cup) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44g
WHEAT BREAD (1 slice) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12g
RYE BREAD (1 slice) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15g
MIXED-GRAIN BREAD (1 large slice) . . . . . . . . . .5g
FRENCH BREAD (5 inches) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18g
PITA BREAD, WHITE (6-inch diameter) .. . . . . . . .33g
LONG-GRAIN WHITE RICE (1 cup) . . . . . . . . . . . 45g
SHORT-GRAIN WHITE RICE (1 cup) . . . . . . . . . . 37g





Dr. Narson is a 2-term past president of the Florida Chiropractic Association’s Council on Sports Injuries, Physical Fitness & Rehabilitation and was honored as the recipient of the coveted Chiropractic Sports Physician of the Year Award in 1999-2000. He practices in Miami Beach, Florida at the Miami Beach Family & Sports Chiropractic Center; A Facility for Natural Sports Medicine.

#chiropractormiamibeach #MiamiBeachChiropractor #SportsInjuriesFixedHere #DrNarson #ToddNarson #Narson #TriDoc #TriathlonDoc #ChiropracticSportsMedicine #ACASC #SportsMedicine #SportsChiropractor #MiamiBeachSportsMedicine #SportsMedicineMiami #MiamiSportsMedicine #MiamiChiropractor #Triathlon #Running #Ironman #IFixPeopleInPain #TrainWithoutPain #MiamiBeachChiropractor #GrastonTechnique #FAKTR #IASTM #Chiropractor #FootPain #Narson #NarsonBodyMechanic #NarsonTool #DACBSP #CCSP #ACBSP #BackPain #NeckPain #ShoulderPain #RotatorCuff #ITBandSyndrome #runnersKnee #PlantarFasciitis #Plantarfascitis #AchillesTendonitis #AchillesTendonosis #GettingAthletesBackInTheGame  #MiamiBeachChiropractor #MiamiSportsMedicine #MiamiBeachSportsMedicine #WeFixPeopleInPain #TrainWithoutPain #ChiropracticSportsMedicine #ACASC #ProSportChiropractic #FunctionalMedicineMiami #DrNarson #BackPainRelief #NeckPainRelief #SportsInjuriesFixedHere #LaserTherapy #RockTape #KinesioTape #KTTape #Nutrition #21DayPurificationProgram #DetoxProgram #PaleoDiet #PaleoDoc #FunctionalNutrition #Chirooractor #Chiropractic #ChiropracticPhysician #DoctorOfChiropractic #USATriathlon #USAT #TeamUSA

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

21-Day Nutrition Purification Boot Camp

Double Click On The Image To Enlarge


For more details about the program, see my Video Introduction by clicking here

Or simply paste this into your browser: http://www.youtube.com/narsonpurification#p/u/3/G4GYthdgdBA

Dr. T

_____________________________________________________________


Dr. Narson is a 2-term past president of the Florida Chiropractic Association’s Council on Sports Injuries, Physical Fitness & Rehabilitation and was honored as the recipient of the coveted Chiropractic Sports Physician of the Year Award in 1999-2000. He practices in Miami Beach, Florida at the Miami Beach Family & Sports Chiropractic Center; A Facility for Natural Sports Medicine.


#chiropractormiamibeach #MiamiBeachChiropractor #SportsInjuriesFixedHere #DrNarson #ToddNarson #Narson #TriDoc #TriathlonDoc #ChiropracticSportsMedicine #ACASC #SportsMedicine #SportsChiropractor #MiamiBeachSportsMedicine #SportsMedicineMiami #MiamiSportsMedicine #MiamiChiropractor #Triathlon #Running #Ironman #IFixPeopleInPain #TrainWithoutPain #MiamiBeachChiropractor #GrastonTechnique #FAKTR #IASTM #Chiropractor #FootPain #Narson #NarsonBodyMechanic #NarsonTool #DACBSP #CCSP #ACBSP #BackPain #NeckPain #ShoulderPain #RotatorCuff #ITBandSyndrome #runnersKnee #PlantarFasciitis #Plantarfascitis #AchillesTendonitis #AchillesTendonosis #GettingAthletesBackInTheGame  #MiamiBeachChiropractor #MiamiSportsMedicine #MiamiBeachSportsMedicine #WeFixPeopleInPain #TrainWithoutPain #ChiropracticSportsMedicine #ACASC #ProSportChiropractic #FunctionalMedicineMiami #DrNarson #BackPainRelief #NeckPainRelief #SportsInjuriesFixedHere #LaserTherapy #RockTape #KinesioTape #KTTape #Nutrition #21DayPurificationProgram #DetoxProgram #PaleoDiet #PaleoDoc #FunctionalNutrition #Chirooractor #Chiropractic #ChiropracticPhysician #DoctorOfChiropractic #USATriathlon #USAT #TeamUSA

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Organic Food is No Healthier Than Conventional Food, Study Finds...

A recent study (publication date is actually today July 29, 2009); says their study finds that organic food is no healthier than conventional food. Here’s why you shouldn’t believe them...

This study seems to be impressive when you first look at the big picture. The American Journal of Nutrition, Published July 2009, lots of references and materials gathered from many studies dating back 50 years. But there’s one problem. They are simply rehashing the studies from years gone by and do not present any actual scientific research. They’ve simply gone back, looked at old published papers on same or similar topics, gathered information and then related the overall findings that fit their criteria. What’s wrong with that?

Well, where’s the actual “recent research” data on the nutritional content of conventional foods that shows how much of a given vitamin, mineral, antioxidant, enzyme, co-factors, pesticide, herbicide or otherwise and compared that to the same in an organically grown food? Answer: There is none.

And, you also can’t just “LUMP” all organic foods into 1 category because, sadly enough, people try to scam us using the organic label just like in any other business. Sure, you can feed a cow organic corn and organic soy and call the cow organically fed cow. But in nature, a cows natural diet is the flowering tops of grasses.


I can feed you organic cardboard boxes for breakfast, lunch and dinner. So does eating organic cardboard boxed give you any nutritional advantage over conventional cardboard boxes? No. Why? Because we didn't evolve over hudreds of thosands and millions of years to eat cardboard boxes! It's that simple. Capish?

Then you can raise a cow conventionally and then 3 months prior to slaughter, “finish the cow on grass” and technically you can call it natural grass-fed meat.

You can eat organic cereals, but not be aware that the extremely high heat extrusion process by which most cereals are made and formed into their flakes or other shapes, kills all viable nutrient value. So it doesn't matter what it's made out of if the process kills the nutrients.

Were the organic vegetables studied picked locally after being vine ripened? Or were they picked before they were ripe and then shipped across the country while they rotted to their ripeness rather than “vine ripened”?

How about “Organic Eggs”??? I wrote about this only a few months ago. Most cartons of eggs in a health food store marked “organic” or “natural” are marked “100% organic vegetarian diet” or “fed 100% all roasted organic corn and soy diet”. So what’s the problem? It’s the diet that’s the problem. Hens don’t eat soy or corn in a natural environment. They peck and eat bugs, worms, seeds and whatever else is in those fields they run around in. Why is that a healthy diet for hens? Because it’s what they’ve evolved to eat over hundreds of thousands of years of evolution.

So, to come up with a study that says organic foods have no nutritional advantage over conventionally grown foods only raises more questions rather than providing validation of the farming practices of the American Food Industrial Complex. Hey, and don’t get me wrong, I don’t have a problem with you eating their stuff if you choose. You should just be aware you’re being deceived and understand the alternatives (properly grown organics) have a much greater nutritional value.

You know what you do? Go find a local organic farm and that’s where you buy your eggs, milk, cheese, meats, veggies and fruit. Learn how to make your own condiments (via lactofermentation methods) like your great grandmother did.

And for those who want to find out if organic foods actually have more nutritional benefits than conventional food, you must first really be looking! Try doing some original research next time!

'nuff said

DocT


Dr. Narson is a 2-term past president of the Florida Chiropractic Association’s Council on Sports Injuries, Physical Fitness & Rehabilitation and was honored as the recipient of the coveted Chiropractic Sports Physician of the Year Award in 1999-2000. He practices in Miami Beach, Florida at the Miami Beach Family & Sports Chiropractic Center; A Facility for Natural Sports Medicine.

#chiropractormiamibeach #MiamiBeachChiropractor #SportsInjuriesFixedHere #DrNarson #ToddNarson #Narson #TriDoc #TriathlonDoc #ChiropracticSportsMedicine #ACASC #SportsMedicine #SportsChiropractor #MiamiBeachSportsMedicine #SportsMedicineMiami #MiamiSportsMedicine #MiamiChiropractor #Triathlon #Running #Ironman #IFixPeopleInPain #TrainWithoutPain #MiamiBeachChiropractor #GrastonTechnique #FAKTR #IASTM #Chiropractor #FootPain #Narson #NarsonBodyMechanic #NarsonTool #DACBSP #CCSP #ACBSP #BackPain #NeckPain #ShoulderPain #RotatorCuff #ITBandSyndrome #runnersKnee #PlantarFasciitis #Plantarfascitis #AchillesTendonitis #AchillesTendonosis #GettingAthletesBackInTheGame  #MiamiBeachChiropractor #MiamiSportsMedicine #MiamiBeachSportsMedicine #WeFixPeopleInPain #TrainWithoutPain #ChiropracticSportsMedicine #ACASC #ProSportChiropractic #FunctionalMedicineMiami #DrNarson #BackPainRelief #NeckPainRelief #SportsInjuriesFixedHere #LaserTherapy #RockTape #KinesioTape #KTTape #Nutrition #21DayPurificationProgram #DetoxProgram #PaleoDiet #PaleoDoc #FunctionalNutrition #Chirooractor #Chiropractic #ChiropracticPhysician #DoctorOfChiropractic #USATriathlon #USAT #TeamUSA #CorporateWellness #HappyEmployeedProfitableBusiness #HeadacheRelief #MigraineHeadacheRelief #Migraine

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Finally, Some Clarity With Nutritional Supplements.

There has always been a lot of confusion in the world of nutritional supplements. What vitamins to take? What minerals are important? What antioxidants do I need? How much do I take, how do I know what’s right for me? Etc…etc…etc… yada…yada…yada….

If you’re reading this blog, I’m sure you’re taking some nutritional supplement based on something you’ve read or something someone has told you. Albeit a good book, your family doctor or an educated friend. But, how do you know what you’re taking is right for you?

Answer: You Don’t.

Why? Because until now, there have been only generalities and not specifics. Don’t get me wrong, we know certain nutrients are good for certain conditions and ailments. Wild salmon and eggs are essential for your eyes and brain, green leafy veggies are good for your teeth and bones. But how do you know what Y-O-U need? Not the person sitting next to you, I mean YOU…..? How do you know? Because when you go to the store, the supplements are made for everyone...so how do YOU know what YOU need?????

A doctor takes a history and a family history from a patient to get insight as to what he or she may be dealing with. Often, illness and disease run in a family. You can change many things in your life, but you can’t change your parents, grandparents and your genes. Your DNA is your DNA. Your genes are your genes. It's that way for life. Wouldn't it be cool if a company could take your DNA and figure out what your nutritional needs are?

Well, one company has figured it out and is making life much easier when prescribing nutrients for my patients and myself. Now, recommending nutritional supplements is as easy as taking a Q-tip swab of a patient’s cheek (like they do on CSI-Miami). The cheek swab DNA is analyzed and you get an analysis of your specific nutrient needs based on your specific DNA. Cool huh? Furthermore, they take your specific genetic information and make custom Organic Whole Food based nutritional supplements SPECIFIC TO YOU!!!

How sweet is that?

Finally, with 20 years of genetic research behind it, the guesswork is taken out of nutritional supplementation. This is the future of nutrition. In fact, genetics is the future of medicine. Now, your doctor can finally make recommendations specific to you.

For my patients, I’m now doing the genelink-genewize testing in my office. If your doctor isn’t, ask him or her to call me and I’ll help them advance their nutritional practice into the next millennium. Or, just click here to email me. There is a seminar being planned for medical professionals (MDs, DOs, DCs, dentists, eye doctors, pharmacists, trainers and nutritionists) in about 6 weeks and I'll have more info soon.

Oh, sorry guys, this doesn’t take the place of good healthful eating. You still have to eat good. All that stuff I’ve written about over the past 2 years still holds true. Now, you just have a good foundation on which to base your preventative health.

Interesting stuff for sure. Especially for the nutritionally geeky-science discovery channel people like myself.

'nuff said

DocT




Dr. Narson is a 2-term past president of the Florida Chiropractic Association’s Council on Sports Injuries, Physical Fitness & Rehabilitation and was honored as the recipient of the coveted Chiropractic Sports Physician of the Year Award in 1999-2000. He practices in Miami Beach, Florida at the Miami Beach Family & Sports Chiropractic Center; A Facility for Natural Sports Medicine.

Monday, July 28, 2008

Is What You’re Eating Killing Your Performance?

The more I read about athletic performance and work with athletes and Type-A personality business men and women, the more I realize good nutrition is vital - and quite hard to get in this country. The more I read about good nutrition, the more I realize your health depends on the health of the food you eat. (as a side note, the more I read and learn about nutrition, the more I confirm that being a vegetarian is wrong too. But, that's for another blog post)

So, you’re out there training hard and recovering as best you can so you can go back out and train real hard again. It’s a constant cycle and it’s always about making gains. Each time you go out there you want to exceed what you did the time before. But what if the food you’re eating is killing your performance?

I’ve been doing a lot of reading lately and questioning what I (think I) know is healthy and have been quite intrigued by the answers I’ve come up with. The most common answer has to the question of “is what I’m eating healthy” has been yes and no, it depends.

For example.

Is Salmon healthy? Yes and No. It Depends.

Here’s why.

If you’re talking about Wild salmon, the answers is yes, it’s definitely healthy. It has spent it’s life living in its natural environment, eating its natural diet which give you all the nutritional benefits you’ve come to expect when you sit down to eat salmon.

But, it you’re talking about farm raised salmon the answer is no.

Why? Because the farm raised salmon is in a confined environment (which means it lives in a high stress environment without being able to exercise as it swims thousands of miles throughout its life. The Salmon lives in a chemically toxic water (would you want to dine where you and your room mates urinate or defecate?). The farmed salmon is fed a grain diet, much different than the natural diet of a wild salmon.

Why is everyone Wild about salmon anyway? Simply put.... It's The Omega-3 Fish Oils.

Salmon are naturally carnivores. They eat mackerel, sardines, herring, krill, shrimp and other fish. When they eat their natural diet, they are chock full of those very healthful Omega-3s. As Jonny Bowden, PhD puts it in his exceptional dissertation The 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth, wild salmon is the “Best Source of Omega-3s on the Planet”

Omega-3 oils are natural anti-inflammatory Cox-2 inhibitors.

Now you should also know that Wild Salmon also contains Omega-6s. A very low dose dosage when compared to Omega-3s. Hence, there is a natural balance of the anti-inflammatory Omega-3s to the pro-inflammatory Omega-6s. Suffice it to say there are much more Omega-3s in Wild Salmon than Omega-6s, which means, it’s good for you.

BUT…That’s NOT true in farm raised salmon.

Not only is it not true, it’s the opposite.

There are much more Omega-6s in farmed salmon than omega 3s. So, not only is farm raised salmon not good for you, it’s actually unhealthy for you.

Sorry sushi lovers, most of your salmon is farmed. Not wild. You have to ask the sushi chef or restaurant owner to know for sure.

So, if you’re trying to perform your best, recover from your last workout or prevent your next heart attack and stroke, farm raised salmon isn’t helping even a “wee” bit. It’s probably actually hurting you.

I stopped eating beef 12 1/2 years ago because of the Mad Cow scare going on. And, it wasn't from Oprah's show of that year, it was a news magazine story that I saw and it just didn't sit well with me. Too much of my food was coming from people simply trying to make a buck and not caring how they made it. Cow farmers grinding up dead diseased cows and mixing them back into their vegetarian feed just didn't make sense to me. Forget the fact they were diseased, a cow is a vegetarian, this just wasn't right.

Turns out I was right. Not only do most of our beef cattle today not eat their natural food (grass), they are fed a diet of genetically modified corn (which is 100% of the corn on the commercial market today including the stuff YOU eat), but it's mixed with soy and other stuff (stuff being animal by products) as well. Some people are proud to proclaim that their cattle is natural 100% corn fed. To that I say, so freaking what! Corn isn't a cow's natural diet, grass is and the meat produced by it is crapola. They should be grazing in a field getting fat over the course of 4-5 years. Instead, they feed them corn and they get fat in 16-18 months. So, with some rare logical thinking, I hit the nail on the head with my reasoning.

Do you want to eat beef? There really are some wonderful health benefits to 100% Natural Grass Fed Grazing Beef. Did you know this kind of beef actually has some beneficial Omega-3s??? When you cook the beef, some of the saturated fat turns into CLA, conjugated linoleic acid, another healthy fat that has been shown to get rid of your belly... BUT THOSE HEATLHFUL BENEFITS AREN'T IN the mass produced cows that you find represented at your favorite steak house or in your local grocery store. So, buyer beware (If you want to know more about how your food goes from the farm/field to your plate, read The Omnivore's Dilemma, by Michael Pollan). Although to find it, you'll have to go to a Whole Foods or find a 100% Natural Organic cattle farm (which you can find on the internet). Remember, 100% is the key. Not just organic, not just natural. (You can thank your government for screwing up the terms natural and organic to where you have to now look for "100%")

Remember the phrase: “You Are What You Eat” ??? You’ve probably heard it growing up and a few times since… But, I’m gonna change that phrase for you (you can thank me later) because it’s not nearly complete. It should be: You are What THEY Eat.

Because what your food eats, drinks and absorbs, makes a HUGE difference in your health. Here’s the question you need to ask……Is your food eating it’s natural diet?

Not is it eating “A” natural diet….is your food eating “IT’S” natural diet.

If you remember nothing else about nutrition or health, remember that. Your health, your athletic performance depends on the health of the food that your food eats. Over millions of years, we’ve evolved as part of a food chain. Luckily we’re on the top of that chain (except for the occasional surfer or SCUBA diver). So logic tells you when you mess with the food chain and try to circumvent it, you mess with your health.

If you continue to eat a diet that’s not native for the species you're eating, not only will your performance suffer, but eventually, disease will follow.

Bottom Line: Your health depends on the food that your food eats.

‘nuff said

DocT
Oh....One more thought....
Have you ever traveled to another country, ate the food of the land and then discovered that when you returned you felt great and lost weight.... Ponder that for a while and ask yourself why.
That happened to me when I traveled to Colombia for 2 1/2 week in July 2006.

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Dr. Narson is a 2-term past president of the Florida Chiropractic Association’s Council on Sports Injuries, Physical Fitness & Rehabilitation and was honored as the recipient of the coveted Chiropractic Sports Physician of the Year Award in 1999-2000. He practices in Miami Beach, Florida at the Miami Beach Family & Sports Chiropractic Center; A Facility for Natural Sports Medicine.