NUTRITION: AN EVOLUTIONARY PROCESS

Let me start with this, I feel nutrition is an evolutionary process for most people, myself included. Over the years I have read everything I could find about fitness and nutrition, I have been involved in this industry for over 25 years. I started out in bodybuilding in the early 80s, trying to get as big and strong as possible. I would eat anything and drink anything if I thought it would add an ounce of muscle. Believe me I have tried it all, some good, most bad for your health. Yes I even experimented with steroids in the mid-80s, they certainly didn't make me sterile.:) I have experimented with high protein, low and high fat, some would say low carb but I have always believed in eating fruits and vegetables. So I don't consider that low carb, just low starchy carbs. Through bodybuilding it is a constant that you HAVE to take in high protein to gain muscle. At the time it made sense, muscle is protein. How much protein do we really need? Then in 1995 when I started doing endurance training it was high carb, but most of the "experts" touted a high starch diet. Which I just could not bring myself to endorse. I have never been one for carb loading of any kind. Overloading your digestive system the day before an endurance event just doesn't make sense physiologically. It make sense if you want to spend part of your morning on the toilet. Moving on. Studying endurance and nutrition is just a bit different than bodybuilding and nutrition, so I thought. Everything I read talked about pasta, bread, and anything else made from grains. First, and I think I am rare in this case, I am not a huge fan of all those things. But make no mistake if I thought it would help I would have tried it, it just didn't make sense to me. The past 5 years I have spent even more time researching the subject of nutrition and athletic performance, even more so since I have incorporated Isagenix http://koachkarl.isagenix.com/us/en/home.dhtml  into my life. Hey I've got to get a plug in every now and then:) The past year I have spent my time looking at and experimenting with a more vegan approach or as I like to call it as "GODs Menu". By GODs Menu I mean of course eating the way GOD intended, I will elaborate later. The most influential book I have read on nutrition the past 25 plus years is The China Study by Dr. T. Colin Campbell, this was the game changer for me and has brought me to my current state of nutritional balance.


The China Study: It pains me to say that this book came out in 2006 and I just read it last month. Better late than never, right!! Not really the things that I found in this book could change or save lives. Sounds dramatic but it's true. Once you read it you will know what I'm talking about. I found this book on a website that preaches, literally, GODs Menu. GODs Menu is my term, I think, I haven't patented it but I haven't read it before:)  http://healthtip.hacres.com/   This site is that of Reverend George Malkmus, founder of Hallelujah Acres, he has a wonderful story I encourage you to check it out. Basically he espouses plant based diet, pre-Noah. Fruits and veggies to put it simply. No meat, no grain, if Adam and Eve didn't eat it neither does he. The Reverend kept referencing The China Study, so I checked it out for my self and was blown away! It wasn't the conclusions that I found mind blowing, I believe great nutrition is the key to a vibrant life, it was the data and peer-reviewed studies to back it up. This is the largest nutritional study ever conducted. This isn't some celebrities opinion of the week with the fad of the day, this is scientific data conducted over decades with millions of people. The conclusion of The China Study is that a whole food plant based diet is the best for our bodies and the data backs it up. Not only will this diet prevent diseases like cancer, heart disease, diabetes, ,,,, but these studies show that it can reverse them as well. AMAZING!!! I recommend you read this for yourself and your family. If nutrition could save your child's life wouldn't you change it?

If you go to http://www.amazon.com/  and enter Nutrition books you get over 50,000 selections!! This is a very opinionated subject and people take it personally if you try and tell them what they are doing is killing them or at the least harming them. I have read books on vegetarian diets, fruit diets, protein diets carb and fat diets. A lot of the people who try and sell these different diets to us are like religious leaders, they are here to save you. Some people follow these "guru's" or their spokes person/celebrities like they are in a cult. It infuriates me that someone will change their eating habits because the latest celebutant has lost weight with this current fad. We had someone use Isagenix , then decided not to, then when they found out a NFL player used it they started using it again. I think Isagenix is the greatest nutritional product on the market but to use it because an athlete/celebrity does is complete idiocy!! Base your nutrition on research and facts, not fads and brain dead celebrities who can't say anything without a script!!

So here is what I have concluded with the years of research and self experimentation. As I stated in the beginning, Nutrition is an evolutionary process. I have gone from a protein loving bodybuilder to a "veg-head"!:) Keep in mind this change has been a process over many years. In that time I have come to a few common sense conclusions. The most important, sometimes confusing, is to eat only REAL food. DUH!! Most people don't eat real food. Fast food, packaged and processed food isn't food. They are a scientific concoction of food like substances and chemicals. 90% of the "food" at your local grocer isn't food. If it has been chemically enhanced it isn't food, if it has chemicals in it it is BAD for you. Artificial colors, sweeteners, and flavoring are chemicals and detrimental to your health. I won't go through the list of common "foods" and drinks that are harmful as there are many. Just apply the REAL FOOD rule and you will be better off. It really is easy, fresh fruit and vegetables, preferably organic. If you eat meat know where it comes from and how it is prepared. Grass fed, no antibiotics or steroids is your best bet. Remember this is a process, make small changes and take away the bad stuff slowly. You will be more apt to countinue with a healthy lifestyle if you do it slow and easy. Good nutrition should be a lifestyle not a quick and easy way to lose weight. Your health should be the priority, weight loss is a side effect of good nutrition.

Personally I have become a veg-head, go figure:) I drink 2-3 Isagenix shakes a day with all the organic fruits and veggies I can eat. I eat a couple of ounces of almonds throughout the day and lots of water. I have had meat once in the last month and it made me sick. I won't say I will never eat meat again but I don't see it happening soon. This menu has given me great energy and great workouts. I am currently increasing my running mileage and it is going extremely well. Remember if you put in bad fuel you will have bad performance. It astounds me that people will train their ass off and then feed their body junk, then wonder why they don't improve. Nutrition is 80% of what's going to happen to your body. Try to stay as close as possible to GODs Menu.

NEVER STOP RUNNING!!

Choose to Succeed
Koach Karl

http://www.koachkarl.com/

http://www.k2ultrarunning.blogspot.com/

http://www.k2rawrudeandright.blogspot.com/