Performance Nutrition Part I - Food
Here is a catchy opener for you; most of you reading this dont eat enough. Thats right, for those who are competitive athletes you are not eating enough food. You may be eating enough, or even too many, calories. However, a calorie is not food. With this piece of the Performance Nutrition discussion we are going to attack the big rock of food - what is food, what is best in food, and how do we apply that knowledge.
WHAT IS FOOD
Food is context, first and foremost. Once you remove the constituent nutrient components from a food, it is no longer food. It becomes a processed food-like-product which contains nutrients. Dont be confused by fads and hot takes about new technologies in supplements. If it has been obliterated and reconstituted, it is not food. We return now to the idea that food is context. We can define our food by macronutrients (protein, carbs, fat) or by micronutrients such as vitamin b, vitamin c, iron, etc. From a scientific standpoint, a person could make an experiment (this has been done) by reconstituting the contents of a persons diet into a pill or poweder after having extracted them with chemical processes from real food, and compare this to the health of a person who is eating contextualized food that has not been processed. On paper, they eat the same. In reality, the supplement person has a strong decline in health and the natural person improves their health. This is because food is context, many complete foods already exist and you should not allow others to process it for you.
Take steak for example - this food is jammed with protein obviously, but did you know that it is a nearly complete source of Vitamin B6, Niacin, Omega 3 fatty acids, zinc, magnesium, phosphorus, seleneum, etc. That list right there could be label of a daily multi vitamin!
The additional benefit of eating the steak rather than a pill or powder, is that you become full. You get the calories, the nutrients, and the brain food of feeling satisfied after a meal. This connection of your brain to what goes in your stomach is literally hardwired into human anatomy. The scientific name for this is the enteric nervous system. When you eat a food-like-product it does not send the same message to your brain as when you eat real food. One sends a message of sickness, one sends a message of health. Lets expand his idea of what is food, and bring some plant examples to bear.
When we look at carbohydrates in food, there is no better example than the calories from refined sugar which we can find in drinks, powders, pills, and gels. Contrast this with the calories found in foods like peaches, rice, potatoes, berries, and vegetables. The first thing we note is that refined food-like-products are delicious. That sweetness is a drug for humans, it simply is. Do yourself a favor and look at the food label for sugar - there are only calories in that product, no vitamins or minerals - something that doesnt exist in nature. Now, contrast this with the nutrition facts for blueberries, strawberries, sweet potatoes, etc. Those items are full of vitamins and minerals, fiber, and the natural carbohydrates for energy. Now consider this: when eating refined sugar you can get the equivalent calorie content, sugar to food, and achieve a negative satiety effect. This means that you are hungrier than before you ate the sugar! This does not happen when you eat a bowl of fresh fruit. So we come full circle here to my opening statement that calories are not food. In the case of refined sugars, a calorie can even be poison.
There are many new contributions to the literature of gut health each year. The intent and direction of these articles vary, but their valence is leading us to an understanding that refined sugar is making us sick. Human beings are not well when we eat refined sugar, it kills the living, breathing, thriving system in our digestive tract that we need to maintian the complex matrix of health that keeps us going. Contrast this with research being done to correct the diseases of people who have abused this drug. The protocols begin with total elimination of refined sugar, and a robust diet of whole foods which have not been processed.
WHAT IS BEST IN FOOD
For athletes and coaches, the rub here is two simple phrases -
When did it die?
What is it?
Use this example on the meal below:
When did it die? Literally no clue on this one. The only part of this meal we can confidently say is the vegetables. The rest of it, honestly anybody could guess. We like to hope that the burger, bun and cheese are actually the grain, flesh, and dairy derived contents they appear to be. But we all know that is probably not the case.
Again, not a clue. Could be anything, which is gross.
Now, lets try an example with some food that has not been reconstituted:
When did it die? We can assume the veggies were living recently, or if frozen, fairly recently. The steak is in the same category - if not frozen that cow was walking around less than a month ago. The nutrient profile is still fully intact.
What is it? Easy, simple to identify what the food is. Processing has been held to portion cuts and cooking. Asparagus, potato, beef.
APPLICATIONS
Remember what we set out here to do, establish the big rocks in performance as it relates to fueling. I do not counsel my athletes to never use supplements, however you will simply get more mileage for your effort (and money) in fueling from eating real foods as opposed to food-like-products. Use the simple filter of these two questions when building out your diet. Use a macro calculator, for sure. Whatever tool you need to dial in your specific needs. However, do not compromise on eating real food as your foundations - no matter what.
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