Page 32 - Fully Equipped Playbook

NUTRITION/LIFESTYLE
Clean eating is a huge topic in the food industry now, more than ever. Organic, gluten free, non-gmo, free range, and grass-fed are terms that have only come to the forefront in recent years. Definitely not when I was a kid enjoying Hamburger Helper and the three-side sampler from Boston Market. But knowledge is power, and now we have a ton of information on how processed foods harm our bodies.
To be an elite athlete, you have to eat like one, and this is definitely challenging, so all I ask is for you to do your best. When I say eat clean, I mean eat real foods, not processed foods with a ton of chemicals in them. Aim to eat more fruits, vegetables, and meat from animals that have been treated humanely. If your food comes from nature and/or comes out of the ground, it is considered a real food. Try to cut sugar as much as possible too, this includes artificial sugar. Here's a tip for when you (or your parents) are at the grocery store. Shop the perimeter where the fresh food is, and avoid the center aisles as much as possible. The center aisles are home to all the processed/junk food. Eating this way won’t only get you in better shape physically, but it will help reduce inflammation and make your overall performance better as well. If you are putting the time in training hard, but crushing Oreos and Funions, there’s no way you’ll run as fast or react as fast as you would if you were in peak shape and at a healthy weight. Not to mention clean eating gives you better energy and who doesn’t desire that?
If you’d like to take your nutrition game to a higher level, purchase a food sensitivity test. There are many on the market now. These tests will show you which foods/ingredients cause inflammation in your body. From there you can decide if there’s anything you should try to limit or eliminate from your “diet.”
We talked about the importance of hydration in the Recovery chapter, but we’ll skim over it quickly here as well. Drinking water throughout the day not only hydrates you, but also detoxifies the body, and curbs hunger. Be hyper aware of your water intake on super hot and humid days. Also try and avoid sodas and sugary beverages, not to mention alcohol, if you are of age. All of those drinks cause dehydration, and overall provide no nutritional benefits for your body.
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