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Nutrition isn't a special, only-when-you-need-it diet. It's an everyday pattern of eating and drinking designed to maximize both your mental and physical performance. Obviously, professional athletes carefully consider what they eat in terms of how it affects their "game." But what about the rest of us? "In general," says Dr. Bradley Frederick, of the International Sports Medicine Institute in Los Angeles, "there are certain nutritional concepts that are important for all people if they wish to remain healthy." Those concepts are even more critical to the professional athlete because these days, as Dr. Brad points out, "one extra year in a career can sometimes mean millions of dollars." Yeah, to them. But can good nutrition keep us one step ahead of the young turks in our adult league? "To actually enhance performance, you have to take it to a whole different level. If the amateur athlete is willing to do that, they can certainly enhance their performance drastically." But it takes more than just drinking Gatorade. "Most people say they have no time to devote to improving their physical conditioning," says Dr. Brad. "But there are 168 hours in a week, and it only takes 6 or 7 hours a week to get our physical 'act' together."
time period." On-and-off exercise regimens aren't going to do it. "But a regular program of exercise combined with proper nutritional intake can definitely result in enhanced performance, and make you feel better, too." Dr. Brad should know. As an expert on nutrition, and the Director of Orthopedic and Chiropractic medicine at ISM, he's worked with professional and top-level amateur athletes from over 50 countries and-being in L.A.-a few celebrities as well. No pig? No problem! You're not an exercise pig? Fear not: proper nutritional intake can still help your game, especially if you haven't been eating right so far. Which brings us back to Gatorade. "There are a lot of different sports drinks out there right now," says Dr. Brad, "and while I wouldn't recommend one brand over another, electrolyte intake is extremely important." Of course it is. Anyone who's ever watched the ads knows that. But, um, what exactly are electrolytes? "Electrolytes are the micro-nutrients of the body. They're not vitamins, but like vitamins they are what we call a 'co-factor.' In other words," says Dr. Brad, "they're needed to link things together. They're the little nutrients that are needed to make all the chemical reactions-such as the production of energy from food you've taken in- go smoothly." And if you exercise hard, you'll diminish the supply of electrolytes in your system, and things won't go smoothly. "What will happen," says Dr. Brad, "is that you will utilize a lot more of the electrolytes than someone who is sedentary. So you definitely want to replace the electrolytes in order to keep from cramping-and to keep cells reproducing at a normal level. For maximizing your performance, electrolytes are very important." So far, we've talked about replacing electrolytes, but where do they come from in nature? Or are they only manufactured at the Gatorade, Powerade and All-Sport factories? Drink tons of water Cynthia Deziel, a physical trainer who works with everyone from dancers to college athletes at CD Body Sculpting in North Hollywood, CA, has the answer. And she's no real fan of all those so-called "sports drinks." "Electrolytes basically come from salt. And as far as Gatorade and all those drinks, they're awfully high in calories for what they offer," she says. "Particularly sugar calories. If you look at the labels you'll see fructose, sucrose-things like that." While those sugars are nutritionally relevant, says Cynthia, especially if you're planning on expending a lot of energy in a short period of time, it's far more beneficial to take them naturally. "Eat a banana," advises the body sculptor, "take salt naturally and drink tons of distilled water." Dr. Brad, while not dissing sports drinks, agrees with the water prescription. "Water is the single most important contributor to neutralizing the body chemistry," he says. "Your body-whether you're performing or not-is constantly rebuilding its cells. And in order to have cells that are a strong as possible, you want to have as few free radicals as possible running around. And while we're hearing a lot these days about anti-oxidants, the best way you can keep the body chemistry neutralized is by drinking water, which neutralizes the body's pH." Free radicals! No, "free radicals" is not a protest cry. When cells are being reproduced at a very high rate-either because of intense physical activity or because of stress-there are often extra particles created that have electrons released from their outer layer. Those are called free radicals, and they create little electrical field differences within the body which can cause cells to reproduce incorrectly. So how can water, or those trendy anti-oxidants people pick up at GNC, get rid of the evil free rads? "Water is a good neutralizer for anything," says Dr. Brad. "If you're a smoker, or have dietary problems-even hormonal problems-all those things can to some extent be neutralized by good water intake." So start with good water (which usually means staying away from the tap) and intake how much? "We like to have water intake of two-thirds of an ounce per pound of body weight, per day." Which means a 175-pounder who longs to rid him- or herself of free radicals should drink around 115 ounces of water per day. In case 115 ounces sounds like a lot, consider this: it's only three and a half of those big bottles of Evian. Per day. Yikes. Well, what about the water in all that coffee and Diet Coke we drink? Does that count? "Unfortunately, no." says Dr. Brad. "What we're trying to do is neutralize the body's pH, and those things are not neutral. Coffee and soft drinks all have their own electrolytes and their own charges, and while the body can utilize them, it takes a lot of (the body's) energy to do so." All right, so we'll all drink like fish and strain those free rads out of our systems. Can we eat now? "Most people," says Cynthia Deziel, "should stick with a general good health diet. And that means carbohydrates at lunch, and a low-fat dinner." Deziel adds that since most of us don't do much after 8 p.m., it's a good idea to try and finish dinner before that time. Dr. Mom was right Dr. Brad adds some advice your mother's been giving you your whole life. "Most important is that you eat something in the morning. The way the body works is that it starts breaking down its own tissues if you don't feed it." And since most of us don't eat in our sleep, morning is the most important time to fill up. "This is even more critical for women," adds Dr. Brad, "because we store our ATPs (body sugars) in muscle, and since women have smaller muscles than men they need to eat more frequently. In fact, they should eat-a little here, a little there-all day long." So what's the Dr. Brad diet? "As I said, start with breakfast. It doesn't have to be anything major-a little juice and a fat-free cereal. Eggs are great if you have the time. Then later, in mid-morning, have a snack-even if you're trying to lose weight." (The doctor points out that when you withhold food from the body, or "starve it," and then eat, food will be stored longer in the body than it would be otherwise. That, of course, is counterproductive to weight-loss. So if you're dieting-and as they say, all diets should be undertaken with the advice and supervision of your doctor-it's what and how much you eat, not how often.) For a snack Dr. Brad recommends fruit, or some other low-fat munchie. And while he doesn't advocate a Snickers or Milky Way, he says "better a candy bar than nothing. It's extremely important to keep something in your stomach at all times." For lunch, Dr. Brad-like Cynthia Deziel-urges a low-fat meal. And while Deziel likes carbohydrates at lunch, Dr. Brad prefers to make lunch the "protein meal." A chicken breast or a can of tuna works well. Fish is also an excellent choice. All of these are low in fat and high in protein. If you like red meat, "you could even have a nice trim piece of red meat" at lunch. And here's a surprise: from a nutritional standpoint, says Dr. Brad, "salads are highly overrated." In mid-afternoon you'll need another snack-just to keep the wolf from the door, and to keep your body from turning on itself. For dinner, Dr. Brad advocates carbohydrates (because they break down quickly) and definitely urges you to avoid "a heavy protein meal." That means pastas, rice and salads are all good options. The most important meal But here's what we've all been waiting for, advice on the most important meal of any day: the pre-game meal. We all know guys who down a steak-and-potatoes meal on game day, while others go the carbo-loading route. What works best? Or does it even matter? "What I've seen in dealing with high-performance athletes," says Dr. brad, "is that there definitely is a big difference in performance" depending on the type of pre-event meal is eaten. "The best pre-game meal will be one where you avoid fat and protein, because it will take a lot of the body's energy just to break down those elements." This takes us back to the body sugars, the ATPs, that give us energy to perform-to make that studly end-to-end rush late in the third period. Carbohydrates are the simplest types of sugars and starches, and they convert easily into ATPs, providing a quick, easily produced energy source. Fats and proteins, on the other hand, are more difficult for the body to convert into the usable ATPs: they often sap more energy from the body than they will eventually (once converted into ATPs) provide. That's one of the reasons you do pass out on the sofa after gorging yourself on holiday fare: your body is directing all its energy toward "processing" the food you've just eaten, and it's "performance" systems are sacrificed, or shut down. That's also why pasta, rice and other carbohydrate-rich foods are the ideal pre-game choice. "Virtually every athlete I know," says Dr. Brad, "will carbo-load prior to performing." Cynthia Deziel agrees. "To produce a lot of energy in a short period of time, loading up on carbohydrates about a hour before the game is the best thing you can do." Keep in mind, however, that while carbo-loading provides a quick source of energy on game day, it does not provide all the nutrients your body needs over the long term. For that, you must stick to a balanced "good health" diet. And remember, if you drink a quart of water right now, you'll only have two more to go before bedtime. This first appeared in the 12/1994 issue of Hockey
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Last Updated: Mar 9th, 2007 - 12:14:39
