WARNING WEDNESDAY: Principles of Sports Nutrition, Week 1

Yesterday marked my first class with The Cory Institute (CHI) Principles of Sports Nutrition Course! As promised, the following day I will give you a quick summary of the goods I have to reveal.

You may wonder why this particular topic doesn’t fall under FOODY FRIDAY (considering its about ‘nutrition’). The reason behind it is because the information that is being taught are scientific discoveries that CONTRADICT everything we have been brought up to believe and currently are doing right now. The processed and genetically modified food companies out there pump out ads and tantalizing visuals of beautiful people eating their products to keep you interested and trusting so you will not think twice biting into a greasy meal from a fast food joint or enjoying a couple of glasses of pop or liquor.

So I shall present you the facts, the research, the information that will give YOU the power to decide and act on what type of quality life you would like to proceed with. It is, in fact, YOUR life-and no one else’s.

Each week we cover 10 different principles of sports nutrition.
Today’s topics are as followed:

SPORTS NUTRITION
Can be summed up as feeding the body the necessary supplies to meet the biological demand for movement. The uniqueness of the program is formed to suit the uniqueness of the individual’s DNA and needs. For example, a tri-athlete would have a completely different nutrition program designed for them compared to a natural bodybuilder. Or someone who is in their mid-20’s and is super lean would be very different from someone who is 40 and has apparent growing belly fat.
One of the most disturbing and scary facts is that most health care practitioners do not specialize in any of this. Health is directly related to what you eat and how you move, so why is it that no health care practitioners are educated in this field at all?
Well, not everyone does sports Beki, why should it be mandatory?
What are you talking about?
Life IS a sport.

THE ART
This is the application of the information to the uniqueness of the science. Imagine if you will, a roadmap to the biggest prize of your dreams, in your hands. You have a place where you start and it shows you exactly how to get to X. HOW you travel to get to your dream prize is your art. Will you run all the way there? Walk with your eyes closed? Will you plan a lot of stops along the way to nap and snack on food? It is the quality of the execution, the precision, the movement…if I were you, I would find the best and fastest stunt driver to take me to the X!
In relation to our topic, it would be choosing whole foods and taking good quality dietary vitamins and supplements and training with a lot of attention to proper technique, alignment…etc. (Or it could be the OPPOSITE-as there are people who will do nothing with the canvas and brushes they have been given to paint the art of their life…)

THE SCIENCE
The never-ending search for truth is this. It is the investigation, the research behind sports nutrition. The outcome is what it is and we have to live with it. The safety and evidence of the research is there for all to know, it is up to the person to take the facts and then decide how to proceed with it (which links to the art, which we already discussed above).
Be mindful of the length of time studies are being done. It has to be a minimum of 6 months, preferably more of course, to be considered valid.

OPTIMUM HEALTH
Health is a state of mind. You cannot be or begin to be healthy if your mind isn’t well. A great quote from Dr. Cory Holly on optimum health is, “A balance of complete spiritual, metaphysical, emotional, mental, physical, sexual, financial, and social well-being.”
Did you guys know that a human life is 120 years? Through scientific evidence, they have been able to determine the life span of a normal healthy human life. So why aren’t we using the science to make sure we get the 120 years we have been blessed with?
To determine if you are optimally healthy, you need to have a fitness assessment and full body composition done with a fitness professional. Looking at yourself in the mirror and liking what you see doesn’t cut it. I personally know and see too many ‘skinny-fat’ people around…or people who are physically imbalanced.

MUSCLE: THE HEALTH ENGINE
Muscle is “the seat of our health”. Consider it “the gold” inside your body. Some people have a crazy notion that they can train without ever doing resistant training. You stop training your muscles, they will shrivel up. Your bones begin to lose density mass and you are sliding down a slippery slope of osteoporosis! Nerves are aligned through your muscular-skeletal system which carry messages from your brain to the rest of your body. Lack of muscle training actually widens the junction between the nerve sensors that pass the messages!
Also, glutamine is an amino acid that is very important to the immune system-which happens to be produced in the myosite!
But be careful, overusing or over-training the muscles can cause inflammation.

NUTRITION
The biggest myth is the assumption that we get everything we need from what we eat. Do you really believe that YOU, yourself have eaten everything that is required for you to eat to achieve proper nutrition? (chips, eating out, bacon and eggs, subway sandwiches…these do not count)
Food for thought: The two things in common for all diseases are dehydration and high acidic levels in the body. (So drink a lot of water-alkalized preferably-and choose foods low in the acidic scale.)

EXERCISE
What is more important-exercise or nutrition? Neither-they are both of equal importance to achieve optimal balanced health. But an even better question is: What comes first-exercise or nutrition? The answer: MOVEMENT. You got to get off your butt first to get the food that will give you energy to exercise. And exercise is NOT an option Team. You must do some form of exercise. There is a big difference from physical activity! Exercise is like therapy, it is programmed and set up to be executed with proper form and done consistently.

DIETARY SUPPLEMENTS
If you exercise regularly and correctly, add nutrition (that fits to your DNA) as well as dietary supplements. So called ‘fresh’ produce in supermarkets are basically a week old! They have lost 40-80% of their nutrition value in that time. The dietary supplements will reinforce the diet to make it BETTER.

BIOCHEMICAL INDIVIDUALITY
Dr.Cory Holly gave a great quote: “The difference between us is more important than the similarities.”
Everyone thinks differently and have different goals and needs to be treated as such. You know that phrase, “One man’s food is another man’s poison”? That’s a great line to show how biochemical individuality is so important.

BIOLOGICAL MEDICINE
“Bio” means life. This is the source of medicine that is produced in symmetry to your life to encourage natural healing. Choose organic whole foods that nature so graciously supplied us with. Everyone should begin fasting. And not necessarily from food altogether, we’re talking about something more specific like: refined foods, bad emotions, stressful situations, failing and bad relationships..etc. Choose only the very positive to enrich and medicate your life with.

Until next time Team, Health = Energy and Energy = CHI and without CHI, there is no Life.

Health respect & happiness,
Beki