CHAPTER 12

DIET, NUTRITION, AND ENERGY—

An Introduction

广告：个人专属 VPN，独立 IP，无限流量，多机房切换，还可以屏蔽广告和恶意软件，每月最低仅 5 美元

 

 

 

 

In the first section, I discussed various ways to improve aerobic function, including increasing speed, burning more body fat for energy, and various approaches to training and racing for optimal endurance performance without injury. But unless you also pay attention to diet and nutrition, many of these positive changes will be negated.

 

 

 

The body is like a machine—one accustomed to running on a certain kind of fuel. It’s only been in the past several decades that our culture has embraced a dietary lifestyle that is harmful to overall health—a diet rich in white sugar and other bad carbohydrates, bad fats, and other processed, unnatural foods. While endurance athletes are often very discerning in deciding what to put on their plates, they may overlook some considerations critical to training and racing.

This second section of the book examines how diet and nutrition contribute to the vital role in improving fitness and health. Diet pertains to the foods we eat, while nutrition refers to specific nutrients—vitamins and minerals, carbohydrates, fats and proteins, and thousands of plant compounds called phytonutrients.

Let’s kick off this discussion with a brief history of one of my patients. Rick was in his late twenties and, after a successful college career as a cross-country runner, began cross-training. A year later, with his road racing improving, he wanted additional help with a training schedule for triathlons. Rick was eager to learn more about individualizing his training and especially liked the notion of self-assessments including the MAF Test. However, I could not help noticing his lack of enthusiasm when I asked about his food intake, which consisted of highly processed meals and high-sugar snacks. Despite his diet, Rick progressed well in his training, and once or twice yearly he would consult with me for training purposes. On one of these visits, it was apparent that his MAF Tests were no longer progressing as well as the previous ones, and for the first time he talked about some physical pains that would come and go and some general fatigue. Rick said that hitting age thirty was the cause, but I assured him that progress should not cease, nor symptoms begin at such an early age. Yet no matter what I said to him, I could not convince him to improve his diet.

Soon after one of our talks, Rick’s wife, Kathleen, made an appointment with me. Several months earlier, she’d had a bike crash that still caused knee and hip pain. The problem became chronic with lingering inflammation. Fortunately, it was easily remedied with biofeedback on the muscles that were physically traumatized, and within a week Kathleen was out of pain and riding again. I explained how balancing her dietary fats would help assure the elimination of chronic inflammation to avoid potential problems in the coming months.

A month later, both Kathleen and Rick came to see me. At long last, Rick wanted a plan to improve his diet. His wife also wanted to be involved. The first thing I did was evaluate their current food habits, using a computerized diet analysis program. This diet assessment showed that they were not even consuming RDA levels of various nutrients and that other imbalances existed, including essential fats and high-quality protein. I provided each with specific foods to add—more fresh vegetables, olive oil, and whole eggs daily. I listed foods to avoid, including processed flour products such as bread, rolls, and cereal, and vegetable oils and margarine.

Two months later they returned for a follow-up visit. Both had improved their diet significantly and were on their way to optimizing their overall food and nutrition. Kathleen had improved her fat burning as indicated by improved energy, a better MAF Test, and a loss of over an inch on her waist. Rick had finally broken out of his endurance rut, improving his MAF Test, and no longer had physical aches and pains. Both were now convinced of the power of food and were full of questions about additional ways to eat better.