The Paleo Diet for Athletes by Loren Cordain, Joe Friel Page B
Authors: Loren Cordain, Joe Friel
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omega-3 supplement, such as fish oil or flaxseed oil.
Optimize body weight. For most endurance sports, maintaining a low body mass translates into better performances (see Chapter 6 for more details on this). Yet, even with a lot of daily exercise to burn calories,avoiding weight gain can be a struggle for many endurance athletes. We think you will find that by eating a Stage V diet made up primarily of fruits, vegetables, and animal protein, weight control will not be a problem. It’s when you eat less-than-optimal foods that you tend to add body fat.
STAGE V AND CARBOHYDRATE
On a conventional Stone Age nutrition plan, such as the one described in The Paleo Diet, a person would be eating much more protein and less carbohydrate than the diet we suggest here for athletes. The shift toward more carbohydrate is due to the need to quickly recover from strenuous exercise, a need that the average, sedentary person does not have—and that our Stone Age ancestors did not have. For the athlete who trains more than once per day or has exceptionally long workouts, as is common with many serious athletes, the absolute carbohydrate intake is even higher because the need to recover increases as the number of training hours rises.
For example, an athlete training once a day for 90 minutes may burn 600 calories from carbohydrate during exercise and needs to take in at least that much during Stages I, II, III, and IV of recovery. This athlete may be eating around 3,000 total calories daily. If he gets 50 percent of his daily calories from carbohydrate, he would take in an additional 900 calories in carbs that day in Stage V, above and beyond the carbohydrate consumed in the earlier stages of the day. Of course, this carbohydrate should primarily come from fruits and especially vegetables, so calories aren’t wasted by eating foods lacking in micronutrients.
The high-volume athlete may do two of these 90-minute exercise sessions a day, thus doubling the total requirement for carbohydrate to 1,200 calories during the first four stages that day. This shift toward greater volume of training also should be accompanied by an increase in total calories consumed daily. Say 3,600 calories are taken in on such aday; if the athlete is also eating a half-carbohydrate diet, he will need another 600 calories from carbohydrate sources this day in Stage V. This illustrates how the absolute carbohydrate intake varies with the training load of the athlete, despite the percentage of intake being the same.
STAGE V AND PROTEIN
Getting too little carbohydrate in the diet is seldom a problem for athletes; it’s abundant in grocery stores, inexpensive, and enjoyable to eat. No, the real stumbling block is protein intake. When we do dietary assessments of athletes, we typically find that they aren’t eating enough protein. Why? Because protein is not abundant in stores, it’s relatively expensive, and it’s not as enjoyable to eat as a sweet or starchy food. Protein in the form of meat has also gotten a bad rap in the last few decades. We’ve been taught that animal meat is bad for us, as it contributes to heart disease, cancer, and assorted other evils. The problem with this conclusion is that it doesn’t isolate the true causes of these diseases. It’s not protein that is to blame for Western society’s health woes but, largely, the omega-6 fats and other additives that often accompany it. And combining saturated fat with high glycemic load foods (think mashed potatoes and gravy or bread and butter) is a double whammy. Protein from free-ranging animals and fish does not cause heart disease. And, in fact, is quite healthy.
Let’s not throw the baby out with the bathwater. Feedlot-produced animal protein should be eliminated from your diet, but not the protein from free-ranging animals. Fish, shellfish, and turkey breast are excellent sources of healthy protein and rich in essential and branched-chain amino acids. For now, the take-home message is
Optimize body weight. For most endurance sports, maintaining a low body mass translates into better performances (see Chapter 6 for more details on this). Yet, even with a lot of daily exercise to burn calories,avoiding weight gain can be a struggle for many endurance athletes. We think you will find that by eating a Stage V diet made up primarily of fruits, vegetables, and animal protein, weight control will not be a problem. It’s when you eat less-than-optimal foods that you tend to add body fat.
STAGE V AND CARBOHYDRATE
On a conventional Stone Age nutrition plan, such as the one described in The Paleo Diet, a person would be eating much more protein and less carbohydrate than the diet we suggest here for athletes. The shift toward more carbohydrate is due to the need to quickly recover from strenuous exercise, a need that the average, sedentary person does not have—and that our Stone Age ancestors did not have. For the athlete who trains more than once per day or has exceptionally long workouts, as is common with many serious athletes, the absolute carbohydrate intake is even higher because the need to recover increases as the number of training hours rises.
For example, an athlete training once a day for 90 minutes may burn 600 calories from carbohydrate during exercise and needs to take in at least that much during Stages I, II, III, and IV of recovery. This athlete may be eating around 3,000 total calories daily. If he gets 50 percent of his daily calories from carbohydrate, he would take in an additional 900 calories in carbs that day in Stage V, above and beyond the carbohydrate consumed in the earlier stages of the day. Of course, this carbohydrate should primarily come from fruits and especially vegetables, so calories aren’t wasted by eating foods lacking in micronutrients.
The high-volume athlete may do two of these 90-minute exercise sessions a day, thus doubling the total requirement for carbohydrate to 1,200 calories during the first four stages that day. This shift toward greater volume of training also should be accompanied by an increase in total calories consumed daily. Say 3,600 calories are taken in on such aday; if the athlete is also eating a half-carbohydrate diet, he will need another 600 calories from carbohydrate sources this day in Stage V. This illustrates how the absolute carbohydrate intake varies with the training load of the athlete, despite the percentage of intake being the same.
STAGE V AND PROTEIN
Getting too little carbohydrate in the diet is seldom a problem for athletes; it’s abundant in grocery stores, inexpensive, and enjoyable to eat. No, the real stumbling block is protein intake. When we do dietary assessments of athletes, we typically find that they aren’t eating enough protein. Why? Because protein is not abundant in stores, it’s relatively expensive, and it’s not as enjoyable to eat as a sweet or starchy food. Protein in the form of meat has also gotten a bad rap in the last few decades. We’ve been taught that animal meat is bad for us, as it contributes to heart disease, cancer, and assorted other evils. The problem with this conclusion is that it doesn’t isolate the true causes of these diseases. It’s not protein that is to blame for Western society’s health woes but, largely, the omega-6 fats and other additives that often accompany it. And combining saturated fat with high glycemic load foods (think mashed potatoes and gravy or bread and butter) is a double whammy. Protein from free-ranging animals and fish does not cause heart disease. And, in fact, is quite healthy.
Let’s not throw the baby out with the bathwater. Feedlot-produced animal protein should be eliminated from your diet, but not the protein from free-ranging animals. Fish, shellfish, and turkey breast are excellent sources of healthy protein and rich in essential and branched-chain amino acids. For now, the take-home message is
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