Paleo Diet for Athletes

[Guest Michelle]

'k, I am aware I might get flamed for this one but has anyone tried it?

The book is co-written by Joe Friel.  Basic idea is no processed foods, it's higher in protein & fat than your usual cyclists diet, no dairy products, only certain carbs pre & post workout. 

 

I haven't had time to read the whole book yet but I don't think pasta or bread feature at all.

 

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Book Description
Loren Cordain, Ph.D., follows his success of The Paleo Diet with the first book ever to detail the exercise-enhancing effects of a diet similar to that of our Stone Age ancestors When The Paleo Diet was published, advocating a return to the diet of our ancestors (high protein, plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables), the book received brilliant reviews from the medical and nutritional communities. Jennie Brand-Miller, coauthor of the bestselling Glucose Revolution, called it 'without a doubt the most nutritious diet on the planet.' Doctors Michael and Mary Dan Eades, authors of Protein Power, said, 'We can't recommend The Paleo Diet highly enough.'

[101%]

What no dairy products!!!  count me out of this one!

[Guest Michelle]

A quick guide to The Paleo Diet for Athletes

? 2005 by Loren Cordain, Ph.D. and joe Friel, M.S. 

The Paleo Diet for Athletes, Rodale Press. Written by Loren Cordain, Ph.D., author of The Paleo Diet, and Joe Friel, M.S., author of numerous best-selling books on training for endurance athletes, the book applies the concept of eating as our Stone Age ancestors ate to the extraordinary demands of training for serious endurance sports. Although it is now the 21^st century athletes still have Old Stone Age (?Paleolithic?) bodies. There has been no significant change in the human genome in the past 10,000 years. Physiologically speaking, we are still Paleolithic athletes. 

The Paleo Diet

The basic premise of Dr. Cordain?s book, The Paleo Diet, is that certain foods are optimal for us to eat and others are non-optimal. The optimal foods are those that we as homo sapiens have been eating for most of our time on Earth. Only in the last 10,000 years, a mere blink of the eye relative to our species? existence, have we been eating non-optimal foods. Unfortunately, these foods comprise the bulk of what western society eats today and include such foods as grains, dairy and legumes. Given that our bodies have not changed, we are simply not well-adapted to these non-optimal foods and they moderate health and peak performance. 

On the other hand, we have been eating optimal foods ? vegetables, fruits, and lean animal protein ? for hundreds of thousands of years and we are fully adapted to them. Science tells us that these foods also best meet our nutritional needs. Eat these and you will thrive. Avoid or strictly limit them and your health will suffer. 

The Paleo Diet for Athletes

For serious athletes, however, when it comes to immediately before, during, and directly after workouts we need to bend the rules of the Paleo Diet a bit since we're placing demands on the body that were not normal for our Stone Age ancestors. Quick recovery is one of those demands. This requires some latitude to use non-optimal foods on a limited basis. The exceptions, as described in the book, are included in the athlete?s 5 stages of daily eating relative to exercise:

Stage I: Eating Before Exercise

Stage II: Eating During Exercise

Stage III: Eating Immediately After
Stage IV: Eating for Extended Recovery
Stage V: Eating for Long-Term Recovery

For the remainder of your day, or until your next Stage I, return to eating a Paleo Diet by focusing on the optimal foods. For more information on the Paleo Diet go to http://www.thepaleodiet.com.

WHY IS THE PALEO DIET ERGOGENIC?

1.      Increased intake of branched chain amino acids (BCAA). Benefits muscle development and anabolic function. Also counteracts immunosuppression common in endurance athletes following extensive exercise.

2.      Decreased omega-6:omega-3 ratio. Reduces tissue inflammation common to athletes while promoting healing.

3.      Alkaline enhancing. Reduces catabolic (breakdown) effect of acidosis on bone and muscle while stimulating muscle protein synthesis.

4.      High in trace nutrients. Trace nutrients (vitamins and minerals) are necessary for long-term recovery from exercise and for health. The most nutrient-dense foods are vegetables and seafood. On average, vegetables have nearly twice the nutrient density of grains. 

Excerpt from the paleo diet for athletes

 ?Training for endurance sports such as running, cycling, triathlon, rowing, swimming, and cross-country skiing places great demands on the body, and the athlete is in some stage of recovery almost continuously during periods of heavy training. The keys to optimum recovery are sleep and diet. Even though we recommend that everyone eat a diet similar to what our Stone Age ancestors ate, we realize that nutritional concessions must be made for the athlete who is training at a high volume in the range of 10 to 35 or more hours per week of rigorous exercise. Rapid recovery is the biggest issue facing such an athlete. While it?s not impossible to recover from such training loads on a strict Paleo Diet, it is somewhat more difficult to recover quickly. By modifying the diet before, during, and immediately following challenging workouts, the Paleo Diet provides two benefits sought by all athletes: quick recovery for the next workout, and superior health for the rest of your life.? 

[Guest Michelle]

They say no dairy products because when we were cave men there weren't loads of cows around... I'm not sure how they know this...

 

[Canaris]

THere is a sucker born every minute. I exercise so that I can get to eat a high fat, high protien, high carbo, whatever there is on the menu/fridge diet.

 

 

 

STOP CONFUSING THE ISSUE HERE

[bruce]

Back in the good old days - when men were men and the sheep knew it!

[SARA]

Just skimmed it but I've been thinking that way for a long time and eating that way for as long. I feel good. am in shape and perform pretty well.

[fatcyclist]

Back in the good old days - when men were men and the sheep knew it!

[Thyolo]

They say no dairy products because when we were cave men there weren't loads of cows around... I'm not sure how they know this...

 

 

You were a caveman?

[bruce]

 

 

They say no dairy products because when we were cave men there weren't loads of cows around... I'm not sure how they know this...

 

 

You were a caveman?

 

No, Michelle just has a certain fantasy about Jason in a leopard skin leotard, a club, a cave - and well, you know the rest.

 

[Wonder Woman]

Personally this guys has quite a few stats wrong to my knowledge, so how can I believe his eating plan is correct.

 

Just another salesman trying to make big bucks, pleeeeeeze!!!

 

 

[101%]

THere is a sucker born every minute. I exercise so that I can get to eat a high fat' date=' high protien, high carbo, whatever there is on the menu/fridge diet.

STOP CONFUSING THE ISSUE HERE[/quote']

 

 

Cant live without my Wollies muesli yoghart. I may aswell  be a caveman!

[Guest Michelle]

Thyolo: Maybe in a previous life   You never know...

 

Funny story.. my mom did past life regression & found that she was once a man... she lived in Ireland, and her name was JASON!!!   'k, back to the topic....

[bikemonster]

This sounds like a great idea in theory but the practice may be rather different.  After all, it's not like our way distant ancestors knew much about vitamins and trace elements; they eat what they could not what was optimum.  The basic idea of minimising intake of processed foods has to be a good idea though, but that's more because of some the junk that finds its way into processed foods (trans fats, anyone?).

 

Next it will be a call for a return to trepanning to cure headaches...

[bored girl]

i know your body needs carbs for training but i hardly eat any

i have one day of the week that i eat bread (not like it's a predetermined day it just happens so - nothing better than fresh bread ) besides that my body doesnt crave it

dairy is another thing there's no way in hell i can give that up - i read some chicks diet plan and she eats cereal in the am with water! and there's cheese of course and yoghurt and ice cream and butter..........

 

[Dr. Seuss]

 

Funny story.. my mom did past life regression & found that she was once a man... she lived in Ireland' date=' and her name was JASON!!!   'k, back to the topic....

[/quote']

 

very freudian ...