One of the most popular strength magazines from the golden era of strength training, the 20’s, 30’s and 40’s, was called “Strength and Health.” If you’re fortunate enough to get your hands on a copy and read through it, you’ll notice that there’s an emphasis on developing total strength, not only of the muscles, but the heart, lungs, tendons, everything. They also focused on developing optimal health.
Strength and Health wasn’t the only publication with the word Health in the title. In fact, the thinking of the time was that health was one of, if not the main reason for developing superior physical capabilities. The thought of developing superior strength without superior health would have been laughable. Unfortunately, that isn’t the case today.
Many athletes, especially strength trainers, are guilty of focusing solely on the “macro nutrients” of nutrition, i.e. protein, fats, and carbs to fuel muscle growth or performance. Not much thought, besides a multi vitamin/mineral, is given to the micronutrients, the vitamins, minerals, and ways to increase nutrition and therefore health. However, according to Bradley Willcox, MD, MPH, co-author of The Okinawa Diet Plan and professor of geriatrics at the University of Hawaii, "The most beneficial diets rely heavily on fresh vegetables, fruits, and legumes -- foods that are naturally lower in calories and packed with nutrients,"
Your body isn’t a series of unconnected parts. It’s a synergistic entity. Each part and system builds on the other. Stronger muscles ease the strain on your joints. A stronger heart allows you to recover quicker from max lifts and allows your brain to function more effectively, stronger organs are able to eliminate waste and toxins more effectively, and they also provide your body with nutrients better than a diseased organ. All of this is supported and attained by focusing on attaining optimal health in addition to super strength.
I truly believe if you’re going to learn how to fuel your body for peak performance and gains, you may as well learn how to feed your living machine to ensure the greatest health possible, for now and in the future.
It’s not that difficult to boost the “nutrient content” of your nutrition plan if you’re already “eating for the gym.” Instead of only making a protein shake, why not add some vitamin C, or a “green supplement”? You can also add antioxidant rich berries to your shakes, or simply add a berry supplement and turn your shake into a super shake. Why not experiment with foods like Amaranth, Quinoa, (excellent grain replacements and sources of carbs), Ostrich (great chicken substitute), or Buffalo, (tasty beef substitute), etc
Dr. Mary McCreery, a Consultant Clinical Nutritionist writes, “People who consume a varied diet tend to have a wider nutritional profile, and therefore are more likely to achieve recommended nutrient intakes.”
Think about it, if you’re going to implement a nutrition plan, why not put forth a little more effort, and eat for optimal health too? The effort required will be next to nothing considering you’re already preparing your food and shakes anyways. All you need to do is add a few more ingredients to the mix and variety to the foods you eat.
Remember, a healthy athlete is a stronger, faster, smarter, all around better athlete.
Eating Time!
Try switching your regular staple for healthier alternatives. For example, switch white potatoes and white rice for sweet potatoes and brown rice. I really like Basmati Brown rice; it tastes great and smells great when being cooked.
You can also try “Ancient grains” which aren’t really grains, like Amaranth and Quinoa,. You’ll usually find them in the organic sections of supermarkets, or specialty health food stores like Whole Foods.
If you find yourself constantly eating beef or chicken, make sure they’re the leaner cuts, like skinless chicken breast. For beef try eye round, sirloin tip, and 95% lean ground beef.
© 2008 Raymond Toulany
