Nutrition:
- In order for an athlete to play, or
train at his or her peak performance level, it is important to have
a proper diet to insure that the athlete's energy levels are at his
or her highest.
Dr. Barry Sears has come up with
a diet called the Zone Diet. The Zone is when all your hormones are
working in a fashion to put you in a peak state. Food can control
your hormonal responses to get you into the Zone. The benefits of
being in the Zone include:
- 1. You are able to think better because
you are maintaining a constant Blood Sugar Level (BSL)
2. You are able to perform better
(or train harder) because you increase the oxygen transfer to muscle
cells while in the Zone
- Anyone who is serious about training,
must be serious about their diet. Food can control your hormonal responses
to get you in the Zone therefore you can recover faster, and therefore
you are able to train harder. Diet and training, the two go hand in
hand.
- Protein
- Protein is needed to repair and maintain
the body's critical systems. Muscles, the immune system and enzymes
are all composed of protein.
- During
the digestion of food, proteins are broken down into their basic structural
unit: amino acids, which are released into the bloodstream. There are
20 amino acids used to form different protein combinations for growth
and body functions. All 20 amino acids are needed to support metabolic
processes necessary for life.
- 8 essential amino acids must be supplied
to the body through the intake of food. 12 non-essential amino acids
can be manyfactured by the body Complete
proteins contain all 8 essential amino acids. Protein from animal sources
(ie: tuna, chicken, beef, ham, turkey) are complete proteins. Most plant
proteins are usually short of 1 or more of the 8 amino acids and therefore
are not complete. Soy Protein however is an exception to this rule.
(Make the Play, by Husker Power Football)
Protein also stimulates the release
of the hormone glucagon.
-
Carbohydrates
One interesting thing that Dr. Sears
points out in his book is the fact that grains did not exist till
about 10000 years ago. It is therefore quite reasonable to say that
most people have not genetically adapted to eating high-density forms
of carbohydrates such as grains starches, breads or pastas.
Insulin
is a hormone that is secreted when you either eat too many carbohydrates,
or you eat too many calories at a meal. Excess insulin will make you
hungry, mentally foggy, and it will decrease physical performance.
The reason why you become mentally foggy is because there is low blood
flow to your brain.
Another negative effect that insulin
has is the fact that it inhibits the release of Human Growth Hormone
(HGH). HGH is released 15 to thirty minutes after an anarobic workout
(weight train) and during sleeping. This is an important hormone in
order for your body to grow. Since high levels of insulin does not
let HGH be released, it is in your best interest to avoid eating foods
high in carbohydrates (ex: pizza) prior to sleeping.
As previously stated, alot of carbohydrates
results in the release of insulin, and excessive insulin results in
you becoming sluggish (due to the low BSL and therefore the low blood
flow to the brain). To picture what Dr. Sears is trying ot get accross,
just think about how hard it is to concentrate three hours after a
large pasta meal.
Prior
to the advent of agriculture 10000years ago, people survived by eating
low fat protein (meat) and fruits and veggies. This was the classic
hunter-gatherer diet. Most of the carbohydrates in this diet came
from fruits and vegetables. This is ideally how people should be eating
nowadays, with the additions of grains, starches, pastas and breads
taken in moderation.
You might be wondering what the difference
is between the amount of carbohydrates you get from grains and pastas
versus the amount you get from with fruits and vegetables. Well the
difference is quite large. Fruits and vegetables are not carbohydrate
dense (about 1 cup of pasta has the same amount of carbos as 6 cups
of cooked broccoli and both amounts have the same amount of insulin
promoting carbohydrates) The benefits of fruits and vegetables does
not end there though! Fruits and vegetables are high in fibre, vitamins
and minerals, while pastas and grains are not. To see the difference
just look at this table to compare the numbers:
Comparison of Fibre, Vitamin,
and Mineral Content
of Different Carbohydrates Containing
One Block of
Insulin-Promoting Carbohydrate
Carbohydrate
Type
|
Fibre
|
Vitamin C
|
Magnesium
|
Calcium
|
Favorable
|
|
|
|
|
Broccoli
(1.5cups)
|
3.6g
|
55mg
|
27mg
|
104mg
|
Red Pepper
(3 peppers)
|
3.6g
|
423mg
|
21mg
|
21mg
|
Strawberries
(1cup)
|
1.9g
|
91mg
|
34mg
|
45mg
|
Orange(half)
|
1.6g
|
40mg
|
7mg
|
25mg
|
Unfavorable
|
|
|
|
|
Pasta
(2 ounces dry)
|
0.3g
|
0.5mg
|
6mg
|
2.5mg
|
White Rice
(0.5 ounce dry)
|
0.1g
|
0.0mg
|
4mg
|
1mg
|
Another important factor to consider
when eating carbohydrates, is the glycemic index. The higher the glycemic
index of a carbohydrate, the faster it enters the bloodstream as sugar.
All carbohydrates (simple or complex) have to be broken down into simple
sugars (glucose) before being absorbed by the body and entering the
bloodstream. The faster glucose enters the blood, the more insulin your
body makes. Carbohydrates with a high glycemic index will have a greater
effect on insulin secretion compared to carbohydrates with a lower glycemic
index. You would think that simple carbohydrates would enter the bloodstream
faster than complex carbohydrates (this is what I was taught in High
School Biology) however this is not true. Why? Simple sugars such as
table sugar, are made up of glucose and fructose. Glucose is rapidly
absorbed and enters the bloodstream quickly. This is due to the fact
that glucose is already in the sugar form that your body can use. Fructose
on the other hand has to be converted into glucose in the liver before
it enters the bloodstream in the useable form of glucose. This is a
very slow process.
What
is the end result of all of this? Well, the rise of blood glucose level
is retarded and since the sugar in fruits is mainly fructose, fruits
have a low glycemic index and therefore they stimulate insulin production
to a lesser degree than other carbohydrates such as grains or starches.
Here is a list of some foods along
with their glycemic index:
Food
|
Glycemic Index
|
Sports Drinks |
High glycemic index |
Bannanas and Oranges |
Moderate glycemic index |
Bagels |
High glycemic index |
Cereal |
Moderate to high glycemic index |
Milk |
Low glycemic index |
Other factors that can affect the glycemic
index of foods include fat, fibre, and how you cook a carbohydrate.
Fat and soluble fibre (pectin in apples) act as a control rod by slowing
the rate of entry of carbohydrates into the bloodstream. Note that insoluble
fiber (cellulose and bran) have no effect on carbohydrate entry. The
more you cook a carbohydrate, the more you break down its cell structure,
allowing faster digestion. Therefore the more you cook a carbohydrate,
the more the glycemic index is raised.
Dr. Sears' rule on carbohydrates is
this: primarily eat carbohydrates that are both low-density (therefore
providing maximum fiber, vitamins, and minerals) and low-glycemic (so
the carbohydrates enter the blood at a slow and controlled rate). Unfavorable
carbohydrates (ie: carbohydrates that are high density, and high glycemic)
should be used in moderation.
For athletes you should just try to
remember that pastas can be a hormonal nightmare. One Snickers bar has
the same amount of carbohydrates than 2 ounces of pasta. Now consider
this: most athletes would not eat 4 Snickers bars but they would eat
8 ounces of pasta! Then they wonder why they are falling asleep 3 hours
after the meal
Since you want to be in peak mental
and hormonal balance during a competition eating pasta or Snickers bars
prior to your competition is not to your benefit.
Fat
First of all, fat has no effect on
insulin, and on top of this it slows down the entry of carbohydrates
into the bloodstream (like a control rod). The slower the rate that
carbohydrates enter the bloodstream, the lower the insulin production.
Some great sources of monounsaturated fat are olives and olive oil,
avocado (guacamole), and nuts (macadamia, pistachio, cashew, and almond)
Carbohydrate
and fat metabolsim occur simultaneously. As intensity of acativity increases,
the demand for carbohydrate utilization goes up and fat demand goes
down. Therefore fuel for high intensity exercise is supplied mainly
from the breakdown of carbohydrates.
During low activity levels, fat contributes
up to 70% of the total energy demands. Therefore during sleep, the energy
demands for carbohydrates are lowest and fat is used at a higher ratio.
(Make the Play, by Husker Power Football)
The Zone Diet
In order to stay in the Zone, Dr. Sears
suggests having a ratio of 9 grams of carbohydrates (or 1 carbohydrate
block), to 7 grams of protein (or 1 protein block), to 1.5 grams of
fat (or 1 fat block) with each meal. For instance, if for breakfast
you had 4 blocks of carbohydrates (ie: 36g of carbohydrates), 4 blocks
of protein (ie: 28 g of protein), and 4 blocks of fat (ie: 6g of fat),
then you would be starting your day "in the Zone". The following
table will give you an idea of what a typical four-block Zone meal would
look like.
PROTEIN
|
CARBOHYDRATE
|
ADDED FAT
|
6 ounces of fish
|
2 cups of steamed
vegetables,
1 piece of fruit
|
4 teaspoons of
almonds
|
4 ounces of chicken
breast
|
1 salad,
1 cup of steamed vegetables,
1 piece of fruit
|
4 teaspoons of
olive oil
|
2 soybean hamburger
patties
|
2 cups of steamed
vegetables,
1 piece of fruit, 1 quarter cup of pasta
|
2 table spoons
of guacamole
|
1 cup of cottage
cheese
|
1 cup of oatmeal
|
4 macadamia nuts
|
6 eggwhites
|
1 cantaloupe,
1 cup of strawberries
|
1 teaspoon of
olive oil
|
Now that you are armed with some of
the best nutritional information that is on the market, I would just
like to talk about my personal experience with the Zone diet.
When I first read about the Zone diet,
I immediately could relate to the ideas that Dr. Sears was trying to
convey. For example, I recall in my first year university, everyday
I would come home at about two or three o clock and I would make myself
a huge bowl of pasta and I could never understand why after getting
over 8 hours of sleep every night, why I had to nap everyday after I
ate the pasta, or why I had trouble keeping my eyes open when I was
trying to study. Yet in his book, Dr. Sears explained that it was the
increased secretion of insulin in my body that caused my BSL to drop
and that is what made me so tired. Nowadays, I get less then 8 hours
of sleep per night, however if I eat properly and stay in the Zone,
I will have a good deal of energy throughout the rest of the day.
Another fact I found interesting about
the Zone diet was that it went against alot of the information I learned
in high school biology. For instance, in biology, we learned that before
an athletic competition, you want to stay away from simple sugars because
they will cause your BSL to rise dramatically but then plumet below
normal levels resulting in you becoming tired. We were told that complex
carbohydrates were the way to go. To me this seemed logical at the time
however the problem was that the glycemic index of the carbohydrates
was not being taken into account. As previously mentioned, simple sugars
have a lower glycemic index than complex carbohydrates and therefore
will not have a dramatic effect on your insulin and in result on your
BSL.
Just so you know, I do not count the
amounts of carbohydrates, protein of fat that I eat with each meal.
I simply make sure that at each meal I am having some carbohydrates,
protein and fat.
Another factor that I have encountered
while studying nutrition is the fact that some athletes feel that the
difference nutrition makes is minimal. For instance, I recall speaking
with a teamate who thought that a good diet was a noble idea, however
in the end he felt it would not make a big difference. This teamate
went on to point out examples of professionals who had bad eating habits,
such as Jerry Stackhouse who, before the 2000-2001 NBA All Star game
was saying how he usually eats Ju-Jubes before each game, but since
he did not have any, he was eating cookies instead. My teamate had a
good point, some pro athletes don't have good eating habits and it does
not seem to effect their play. The only thing that I can say in response
to his argument is that during a clutch situtation in the dying seconds
of a game I would rather be in the Zone as opposed to being mentally
foggy. An example of this could be when Michael Jordan hit the winning
shot against the Utah Jazz to win the NBA championship. In that situation,
a few seconds left on the clock, with your team down by one, I would
want every single advantage possible. That is what good nutrition can
do for you. It can give you a slight edge over your opponents.
The preceding information was extracted
from:
Sears, Dr. Barry, Mastering
the Zone, HarperCollins Publishers Inc. New York, NY, 1997
Increasing
Your Body's Energy
Despite all the information that has
been presented to you here in Drillz.com, it is of no use to you if
you don't have the energy needed to follow through on your goals and
your commitment to doing the Drillz. If you are getting 8 hours of sleep
per night and you find yourself to lothargic the next day then there
is a problem. The following is information taken from Anthony Robbins'
Unlimmited Power
The Power
of Breath:
Your entire body is only as healthy
as the cells that make it up. Your bloodstream determines the health
of your cells. If your bloodstream is maintained then your cells will
be healthy and you will be healthy, if your bloodstream is polluted,
then your cells will be weak, and you will be weak.
So how do we control and maintain the
circulatory system clean and nurtured and not polluted? The answer lies
in your breath. Your breath can cleanse your circulatory system. It
is the foundation of all life (cells) by giving your cells oxygen ,
and it also controls the flow of lymph fluid in your body.
Lymph fluid contains white blood cells
that protect your entire body and helps cleanse the system. The lymph
system is also know as the body's sewage system. Every cell in your
body is surrounded by lymph. Blood is pumped from heart through the
arteries to the capilaries. The blood carries the oxygen and nutrients
to the capilaries where it is diffused into the lymph fluid . The cells
have an affinity for what they need, so they take what they need for
there health, and then excrete toxins into the lymph system.
Dead cells and other toxic materials
must be removed from the lymph system, which is activated by deep breathing.
Your body depends on the lynmph system to drain the toxic materials.
In fact, If the lymph system shut down for 24hrs you would die!
The only way lymph can move around
is through deep breathing and muscular movement.
Most health programs focus on eating
however you must also be able to cleanse your body throu effective breathing.
Deep breathing and exercise increases the cleasing process by 15 times
the normal rate.
Another interesting fact is that lack
of oxygen seems to play a major role in cells becoming cancerous.
The problem is that most people don't
know how to breath!
1 out of 3 Americans get cancer, yet
1 in 7 athletes have cancer. Why? Simply because athletes are constantly
firing off the lymph systems so the cells are getting more oxygen.
A great breathing exercise that you
can do in order to activate your lymph system is to inhale for 1 count,
hold for 4 counts(to oxygenate the cells), then exhale for 2 counts
(because when u exhale you are eliminating toxins) Take
ten of these breaths ten times a day.
For example, inhale through your nose
for 7 seconds, hold for 28 seconds, exhale through your mouth for 14
seconds. Repeat this ten times.
If you do this three times a day for
the next ten days, your energy level will go up because you will be
cleansing your blood stream, which means more oxygen will get to your
cells and the more oxygen they get the more healthier and stronger they
will be and the more power you will have.
Give this exercise a try for the next
ten days and judge the results for yourself.
The power of eating water rich foods:
Since 80% of your body is made up of
water, seventy percent of your diet should be made up of water rich
foods such as fruits vegetables and sprouts.
Every day cells in your body are dying
and new cells are being created simultaneously. The waste from the old
ones must be elimimnated. Water helps to carry off that waste . If not,
the wastest will accumulate in your circulatory system and cause your
cells to have less oxygen and this will litterally poison your cells.
The buildup of waste products in your
body promotes disease so you must provide enough water in your diet
to assist your body in diluting the wastes.
"the quality of life is determined
by the quality of the life of our cells" So if your blood stream
is filled with waste products, then your cells are unhealthy which in
turn means you are unhealthy.
Ask yourself the following question:
what percentage of my diet is made up of water rich foods?
To answer this question, write down
all food and drinks you consumed in the past 24hrs. Circle all the things
that are water rich: fruit , vegetable, fresh fruit juices, sprouts
or water. Milk does not count! Now calculate what percentage of your
diet is made up of water rich foods.
If only 15% of the foods you ate were
water rich foods, then this is basically suiced because every day you
are clogging your system more and more.
Just be certain that you have fruit
or vegetables with every meal. Be sure to snack on fruits and vegetables
too. Try to make sure your diet has 70% water content.
"For every disciplined effort
you take in life, there is a multiple reward. Discipline yourself in
this way and reward yourself in every way" (Tony Robbins)
The preceding information was extracted
from:
Robbins, Anthony, Personal Power, "How to Increase Your
Energy" Robbins Research International. Irwindale, CA, 1989
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