Nutrition Facts

Boost Endurance, Strength, and Recovery

/ Leo Garcia / Leave a comment

Dr. Michael Greger’s Nutrition Facts website has a sliver of videos and articles highlighting high standard clinical studies on nutrition and athletic performance. If you are a nutrition junkie with a running addiction, this series of videos is a valuable resource for your athletic and health pursuits.

Eating a lot of fruits and vegetables has been clinically proven to boost recovery by attenuating creatine kinase activity post-workout. Specifically, eating lots of spinach and possibly other high nitrate leafies (arugula, beets) and dark berries (and juices from tart cherries and purple grapes) blunts delayed onset muscle soreness dramatically enough that it supports that anecdotal plant-based athlete claim that hard training is possible sooner after a demanding workout.

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While a quick recovery is great, the benefits of eating dark leafy greens and berries comes with a broad host of health and athletic benefits. For one, time to exhaustion is prolonged and strength is enhanced. All this, plus the anti-inflammatory and disease- fighting properties attributed to high levels of phytonutrients, vitamins, minerals, and fiber, make dark leafy greens and berries an essential tool for athletes.

The Beauty of a Vegan Whole Food Plant Based Diet for Athletes

/ Leo Garcia / Leave a comment

Here is a quick list of how a Vegan Whole Food Plant Based (VWFPB) diet, rich in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, starches, and some seeds and nuts, will help you achieve better athletic performance.

Antioxidant power – Strenuous exercise elevates oxygen metabolism, and unfortunately as a byproduct, free radicals. Antioxidants are needed to counter free radicals. Though exercise enhances our body’s ability to produce antioxidants leading to positive adaptions, a diet rich in antioxidants helps mitigate the oxidative stress induced by too much strenuous exercise. So eat spinach, dark leafy greens, broccoli, cherries, berries, and citrus. Drink hibiscus and green teas.

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Increased arterial function – Eating animal foods and fatty processed foods high in saturated and poly-unsaturated fats impairs arterial function for hours after consumption. With the omission of these offending foods, arterial function is optimized and circulation is improved. This means more oxygen-rich blood delivered unhindered to muscles doing hard work.

Nitrates – Consuming vegetables high in nitrates improves athletic performance. Basically, your body can do more with less oxygen. This increases endurance. Eat beets, dark leafy greens like spinach and arugula, celery, fennel seeds, and other high nitrate foods.  Article Link

Recovery – Scott Jurek! Nutrition Facts article.

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Anti-Inflammation – Though most vegetables and fruits have some anti-inflammatory properties, there are some that have been studied and reported on more readily in an attempt to create new supplements. However, science shows us again and again that whole foods trump the extracted single-component when it comes to promoting health benefits. Some new discoveries: Ginger has been shown to work better than NSAIDS in post-exercise soreness. The various pigments in turmeric help reduce inflammation. Purple potatoes and cherries also contain beneficial anti-inflammatory properties. Consuming at least four servings of legumes a week has shown to dramatically decrease c-reactive protein levels (a marker for inflammation) in the blood after several weeks.

So load up on fruits and vegetables, whole grains, legumes, nuts and seeds, and skip the oils, meats, dairy, and eggs.