Global Forum for Sports and Environment
Natural HygieneAs the upcoming holiday season is often a time for excessive eating and drinking, we present an extract from the OrganicAthlete newsletter (www.organicathlete.org )that gives interesting and insightful information for athletes that want to improve their health and performance through diet and lifestyle. The American scholar Herbert Shelton often stressed that we aren't simply what we eat; we are made up of more than our diets. "Air, food and water constitute the materials out of which living organisms are made, and, although the quality of the material is very important, it is not more important than the process of using it. Good digestion is as necessary as good food, and good assimilation is equally important," he stated. The quality of food is vital to our growth and healing, but it is important to study the person, instead of focusing all our attention on the foods he or she eats. Fish is not brain food, as we've been led to believe, and protein doesn't build muscle. To employ foods with the view that "we are what we eat" is unscientific and unhealthy and will end in disappointment, Shelton stressed. Resistance exercises coupled with rest plays a far greater role in building muscle than protein does. Foods do not have the powers we credit them. Food is fuel with basic materials for growth and maintenance. More is not necessarily better. For instance, high animal protein diets have been shown to leech calcium from the bones causing a condition known as osteoporosis. Shelton proposed that the overeating of unnatural foods was one of the main causes of chronic illness. Today, with the alarming rates of nutritional related diseases such as diabetes and obesity, Dr. Shelton's lessons ring true. If you are interested in learning more about different theories on diet and lifestyle that can improve your performance, energy and lifestyle, see the OrganicAthlete website at www.organicathlete.org or contact Bradley Saul at bradley@organicathlete.org Photo:Freefoto.com |