Published with permission from Perseus Books, LLC, a subsidiary of Hachette Book Group, Inc. and PROJEX INTERNATIONAL LLC acting jointly with Alexander Korzhenevski
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without the written permission of the copyright holders.
© 2016 by Matt Fitzgerald This edition published by arrangement with Da Capo Lifelong Books, an imprint of Perseus Books, LLC, a subsidiary of Hachette Book Group, Inc. (USA) via Alexander Korzhenevski Agency (Russia). All rights reserved
© Translation into Russian, edition in Russian, design. LLC "Mann, Ivanov and Ferber", 2017
* * *
Foreword
Most athletes claim that nutrition plays a significant role in their performance. For endurance athletes, diet is even more important. It is she who can lead to victory or prevent you from reaching the finish line. When Haile Gebrselassie 1
Haile Gebrselassie (born 1973) is an Ethiopian stayer and marathon runner. Two-time Olympic champion and four-time world champion in the 10,000 m, four-time indoor world champion at distances of 1500 and 3000 m. Since 1994, he has set 27 world records. He currently holds world records in the 20,000m and the hour run. Recognized as the best athlete in the world in 1995 and 1998 by Track & Field News magazine, the best athlete in the world according to the IAAF in 1998. Note. ed.
Who won many times at distances from 1500 to 10,000 m, began to run marathons, he was confident in his abilities and turned up his nose at the London Marathon in front of Paul Tergat 2
Paul Tergat (born 1969) is a Kenyan track and field athlete. Two-time Olympic silver medalist in the 10,000m, two-time world champion in the half marathon in 1999 and 2000. World's Best 10K run winner in 2001. From 2003 to 2007, he held the highest world marathon achievement of 2:04.55, which he set on September 28, 2003 at the Berlin Marathon. He also held the world record in the half marathon for more than seven years. Note. ed.
Haile was at the peak of his form and preparing to become the best in the world... Who could beat him? He was defeated by malnutrition.
12 km before the finish line, he felt that his strength was leaving him, that his stomach rebelled, and he retired from the race. In the following years, Haile established a food system, and this did not happen again. Many athletes, like him, make mistakes when building their diet.
Although most professionals recognize the importance of diet, and sometimes even become obsessed with it, very few of them eat right. During competition and during training, some people get an excess of nutrients, while others lack them. Some drink too much fluid, while others drink too little. Many athletes have problems with the gastrointestinal tract. But often this can be prevented. There are many reasons why athletes experience nutritional difficulties:
They don't know how to plan it;
Follow the wrong advice;
Insufficiently listen to the body;
On the contrary, they force themselves with all their might to follow the plan once adopted;
They are not flexible enough in terms of making changes to the existing plan.
Usually people believe that organizing a proper nutrition system is a complex technical task that is difficult to solve. There is a lot of information on this subject, and recommendations often contradict each other. The main trend today is to exclude certain foods from the diet and eat the so-called healthy food in small portions (popular examples of such nutrition are vegetarianism, low-carb diets, paleo diets). 3
Paleolithic diet (paleo diet, stone age diet, hunter-gatherer diet) - a modern approach to nutrition, consisting mainly of the consumption of products from plants and animals, and based on the supposed ancient diet of people during the Paleolithic - a historical period of 2.5 million years , which ended 10 thousand years ago. The modern Paleolithic diet consists of food available today and includes fish, meat and poultry, preferably grass-fed, vegetables, fruits, rhizomes, and nuts. However, it excludes grains, dairy products, legumes, sugar and processed oils. Note. transl.
And many different diet options). Eliminate unhealthy food from the diet and replace it with nutritious food is essentially correct. But if the diet becomes too scarce, the results will be disastrous. On top of that, we should not forget about the commercial interests of food companies, as well as the pursuit of sensations in the field of nutrition. Everyone who blogs about diets considers himself a real expert. It is not surprising, therefore, that athletes are often confused.
As a sports nutrition scientist, I have been at the forefront of research in this area for a long time. Numerous scientific studies carried out by us in the laboratories of the University of Birmingham in the UK served as the basis for recommendations in the field of nutrition, which guide many athletes to this day. Throughout my scientific career, I have tried to translate complex scientific findings into practical advice and techniques. Research is usually carried out in laboratories where almost all variables can be controlled. It is necessary for scientific work. However, laboratory experiments and experiments have limitations: they are not carried out in the conditions in which athletes actually train and compete. In the lab, we can create a drink using ultra-pure ingredients. In reality, we use different drinks and foods and often mix them.
Any scientific recommendation should be based on a clear and concise scientific explanation. But it also serves as the foundation for a lot of misconceptions and confusion, as different people evaluate the value of scientific evidence differently. For some athletes, this proof is a friend who has successfully completed a sports distance and claims that he succeeded thanks to some particular drink. For others, the proof is the amazing looking product they bought the day before the competition at a trade show. After all, on its packaging it says: "Confirmed by scientific research." To me, none of these examples serve as proof. To obtain them, it is necessary to establish a number of clear rules, on the basis of compliance with which it is possible to determine the real reason for good sports results.
And it is in this area that Matt Fitzgerald shows his talent! In order to distinguish between good and mediocre scientific experiments, and between good and mediocre dissemination of scientific achievements, which is not easy to do without some training and skills, we need people who can communicate scientific achievements and reliable evidence to the general public. Mat is able to understand and interpret the achievements of science, turning them into very simple and very practical recommendations for any athlete. He separates fact from fantasy.
At first glance, Mat lists common sense principles. But this is precisely what athletes often lack when approaching their diet.
Mat devoted a lot of time to studying the diet of athletes, countless hours he asked them about what they eat. He found that the diets of many endurance athletes around the world are very similar. Many of these athletes have never spoken to sports nutritionists, and sometimes have never even heard of sports nutrition. And yet, in their eating habits and preferences, very remarkable similarities emerge.
The Champion Diet describes five key eating habits discovered by Mat. And it turns out that all of them are substantiated in the scientific literature and are supported by evidence collected in the course of laboratory studies. Yes, we are talking about outstanding athletes who far outperform the average endurance athlete. However, believe it or not, outstanding athletes are people too. Of course, they have certain individual differences, but all the same, their organisms are arranged in accordance with the fundamental principles of physiology and biochemistry, which are true for all of us.
The Champions Diet book, to a certain extent, exposes the problem of nutrition for athletes. You will not find anything superfluous in it, the myth of newfangled diets will be debunked, and common sense will prevail. I often ask myself why so many athletes start building a food pyramid from top to bottom. Often the first thing they ask me about sports nutritional supplements. Then there are questions about sports drinks. And much less often, athletes are interested in the problem of a balanced healthy diet. So this book will help you first of all create a well-balanced diet that meets the principles of healthy eating, and then adapt it to your load and goals.
The beauty of Mat's champion diet is that it doesn't have to be extreme. It is very practical, easy to follow, and it will definitely give its results - excellent health and high athletic performance. I find this book very helpful. Hope you agree with me.
Asker Yukendrup4
Asker Yukendrup is a Dutch-born British scientist, sports nutritionist and triathlete. Note. ed.professor, specialist in metabolic processes in athletes, Loughborough University, England, director of a consulting company in the development, research and sale of high-quality sports nutritionmysportscience.com
1. What the toughest people in the world eat
What do professional runners from the USA, rowers from the Austrian national team, world-class swimmers from Argentina and triathlon champions from South Africa have in common?
Ration. Elite endurance athletes in all countries eat about the same. While there are some superficial differences in specific food preferences, the planet's toughest people share common eating habits that form a system that can be called champion diet. Unlike conventional diets designed for weight loss or general health promotion, most of which were invented by one person or group of people, the champion diet has evolved over many generations of athletes in countless international competitions. In the course of this long process, those habits and eating styles that prevented the achievement of the highest results gradually disappeared, and only those that best met the goal set for the athletes continued to exist.
Yes, the champion diet is the product of trial and error by real people in the real world, not science, but the latest brilliant discoveries show that the five rules that this diet is based on help you maximize the benefits of increased cardiovascular training to the benefit of the body. . A good heart training technique can help reduce body fat, strengthen the heart muscle, improve blood flow, increase the body's ability to adapt to and deal with stress, improve central nervous system function, and increase muscle endurance and resistance to fatigue. These and other positive effects of cardiovascular training form the basis endurance training- that specific type of activity that is necessary for athletes performing in their respective sports in order to win competitions. Scientific studies show that the champion diet allows athletes to develop more endurance in the same training regimens as other athletes, as well as train more efficiently.
Good form is important not only for endurance athletes in the fight to win competitions. It is important for anyone involved in physical exercise, designed mainly to strengthen the cardiovascular system. Endurance training is the key to weight loss, overall health, more attractive appearance, longer life and activity throughout its life, a good psycho-emotional state and achievement of any sports goals, whether it is finishing in a half marathon or becoming one of the contenders for victory. in the Ironman World Championship 5
Ironman is an annual triathlon world championship held on the island of Kailua-Kona (Hawaii, USA). The first championship was held in 1978. Competitors must cover a total of 226.26 km (140.6 miles), divided into stages: swimming stage - 3.86 km (2.4 miles), cycling - 180.2 km (112 miles), running stage - 42.2 km (26.2 miles). Note. transl.
And a champion diet is the key to developing endurance, not only for top athletes, but also for amateurs.
The only problem is that while elite athletes almost all follow the champion diet, ordinary people rarely do so. The purpose of this book is precisely to remedy the situation. Whatever aerobic exercise or sport you do and whatever goals you set for yourself, the champion diet will give you a better chance of achieving them and achieving higher results than any other type of nutrition. In order to be in the best possible shape, you must eat the same way as the hardiest people on the planet eat. And it's easier than you might imagine.
Discover the Diet of Champions
If you're an endurance professional or amateur, you've probably come across some very conflicting statements about what constitutes the optimal endurance diet. You may have heard that a whole bunch of different diets - no meat, low carb, paleo and others - are best for people who need high endurance. However, most likely you not heard and not know that the diet or diet used by the most successful endurance athletes in the world is most suitable for this. Because it has only recently been discovered that they all have common established eating habits.
In 2009, I was working on a previous book about the nutrition of professionals and amateurs in especially difficult sports. There was a chapter in that book called "What the Pros Eat," in which I gave menus for the day for 18 of the world's best skiers, road cyclists, mountain bikers, rowers, runners, swimmers, and triathletes. I am sure that athletes cannot achieve the highest results if they do not eat foods that provide endurance.
I had previously addressed the topic of elite athlete nutrition in 1995 when I wrote an article about triathlete Mike Pigg. Then I came to a very important conclusion about the constancy of their diet. Almost every person who has entered the arena of world fame, whom I have dined with or whom I have asked about the nutrition system, said that they follow a very balanced diet, which includes many natural products. However, those 18 food diaries that I received from my charges showed something else. They greatly enhanced my understanding of the striking similarities in how athletes maintain their strength around the world. In their notes, even the same names of dishes constantly flashed - for example, oatmeal.
As I thought about this, I thought of the writings of Steven Seiler, an American sports physiologist who has recently worked at the University of Agder in Norway. In the late 1990s, Seiler began a series of large-scale and long-term experiments that allowed him to accurately quantify the training methods of top athletes in various endurance sports. The scientist found that professionals performing in different disciplines often have the same approach to the training process. For example, most of them spend 80% of their training time in low intensity activities and only 20% in medium or high intensity activities. Seiler turned to the history of relevant observations and found that elite endurance athletes did not always adhere to this 80/20 rule, as he called it. Past generations of athletes have experimented with different load ratios. However, gradually, over several decades, this 80/20 rule was empirically derived.
Seiler, in his research, convincingly showed that the reason for such unanimity among modern athletes is that the 80/20 rule works better than any other. Competitions at the sports Olympus ruthlessly reveal to athletes and the public that O it is in training methods that it works, and what does not. Those athletes who train according to the best methods win. Athletes who focus on outdated developments are left behind - and after that they seek to change the system of their training. As a result, we observe an evolutionary process in which training methods gradually move towards optimal efficiency.
When I discovered that endurance athletes around the world eat in very similar ways, I couldn't help but think that there must be a lot in common in their training methods. Nutrition systems, which also showed similarities, probably developed gradually under the influence of a largely identical training process. Thus, this system represents the optimal diet for maintaining endurance. It occurred to me that it would be good if some ambitious scientist would repeat in relation to sports diet what Sayler did in relation to training methods: he meticulously studied the eating habits of the best athletes in the world in order to isolate a special system, operating in this special group of people. And then I decided: why don't I do it myself?
The research project I eventually started lasted two years. I did not set myself the goal of publishing his results in a prestigious scientific journal to be evaluated by a dozen PhDs. I wanted to define a specific set of nutritional best practices that anyone interested in developing endurance could follow. Even before starting work, I already knew that I would find something in common in the diets of most athletes. But I hoped to filter those as yet obscure commonalities I'd previously observed into an accurate and repeatable sports diet formula, just as Seiler had done with sports training techniques.
I have spent a lot of time sharing meals and talking with world-class endurance athletes on every continent. I shared bread with triathletes from Brazil, cyclists from Spain, cross-country skiers from Canada, and runners from Kenya and Japan. In addition, I developed a special questionnaire on the diet of athletes, which I sent out to many of them in different countries. The responses I received represent 11 sports disciplines and athletes from 32 countries. After completing the project, I formulated the Champions Diet - the optimal sports nutrition diet for developing and maintaining endurance.
Five essential rules
The Champion Diet includes five key habits that are common to almost all athletes with whom I have interacted directly or indirectly in the course of my research. These habits can be formulated as rules.
1. Eat everything.
2. Eat quality.
3. Eat more carbs.
4. Eat enough.
5. Eat according to individual characteristics.
These five rules are the result of the nutritional evolution of top endurance athletes over generations. In the course of this evolution, less effective eating habits were discarded, while more effective ones were retained and developed. By themselves, they represent the necessary and sufficient conditions for saturating the body with nutrients to ensure maximum endurance. Modern professional endurance athletes must follow the above rules if they want to win. Let's see what th O exactly what each of these rules implies and what benefits it brings to a professional athlete.
Rule 1: Eat Everything
There are six main groups of natural whole foods: vegetables (including legumes); fruit; nuts, seeds and natural oils; meat, not subjected to factory processing, fish and seafood; whole grains; milk products. The vast majority of professional endurance athletes regularly consume all six of these quality foods. They assume that a varied, balanced and rich diet is essential to supply their body with the nutrients that will help them withstand the stress of training and get the most out of their work.
Rule 2: Eat Quality
Although most endurance athletes eat everything, this does not mean that they eat everything in equal amounts. They usually clearly prefer high-quality products, and consume low-quality products extremely sparingly. Foods in the first group are significantly more nutritious (i.e., richer in vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants) and less saturated in energy (i.e., calories) than foods in the second group. The focus on the first group allows athletes to get more nutrients while consuming fewer calories. And this, in turn, gives them the opportunity to maintain a high level of endurance while maintaining their optimal competition weight.
Rule 3: Eat More Carbs
Professional endurance athletes tend to eat a lot of high-quality carbohydrate-rich foods, such as whole grains and fruits. As you certainly understand, these products can be very different. Ethiopian runners eat much more cereals like teff 6
Teff, or teff (lat. Eragrostis tef) is a plant of the grass family, a species of the genus field grass. The homeland of teff is Ethiopia, where it still represents the main grain crop and occupies about 30% of the total arable land. Note. ed.
Than Chilean cyclists who eat far more potatoes than Chinese swimmers who eat more rice than Danish skiers. However, all of these foods are high in carbohydrates, and all of these athletes are targeting a carbohydrate-rich diet.
In general, carbohydrates provide 60 to 80% of the calories consumed by endurance sports professionals. As the main source of energy in the diet of these athletes, carbohydrates allow them to endure high sports loads with less stress for the body and more benefits for the training process.
Current page: 1 (total book has 23 pages) [available reading excerpt: 6 pages]
Font:
100% +
Matt Fitzgerald
Champion Diet. The Five Nutrition Principles of Top Athletes
Published with permission from Perseus Books, LLC, a subsidiary of Hachette Book Group, Inc. and PROJEX INTERNATIONAL LLC acting jointly with Alexander Korzhenevski
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without the written permission of the copyright holders.
© 2016 by Matt Fitzgerald This edition published by arrangement with Da Capo Lifelong Books, an imprint of Perseus Books, LLC, a subsidiary of Hachette Book Group, Inc. (USA) via Alexander Korzhenevski Agency (Russia). All rights reserved
© Translation into Russian, edition in Russian, design. LLC "Mann, Ivanov and Ferber", 2017
* * *
Foreword
Most athletes claim that nutrition plays a significant role in their performance. For endurance athletes, diet is even more important. It is she who can lead to victory or prevent you from reaching the finish line. When Haile Gebrselassie 1
Haile Gebrselassie (born 1973) is an Ethiopian stayer and marathon runner. Two-time Olympic champion and four-time world champion in the 10,000 m, four-time indoor world champion at distances of 1500 and 3000 m. Since 1994, he has set 27 world records. He currently holds world records in the 20,000m and the hour run. Recognized as the best athlete in the world in 1995 and 1998 by Track & Field News magazine, the best athlete in the world according to the IAAF in 1998. Note. ed.
Who won many times at distances from 1500 to 10,000 m, began to run marathons, he was confident in his abilities and turned up his nose at the London Marathon in front of Paul Tergat 2
Paul Tergat (born 1969) is a Kenyan track and field athlete. Two-time Olympic silver medalist in the 10,000m, two-time world champion in the half marathon in 1999 and 2000. World's Best 10K run winner in 2001. From 2003 to 2007, he held the highest world marathon achievement of 2:04.55, which he set on September 28, 2003 at the Berlin Marathon. He also held the world record in the half marathon for more than seven years. Note. ed.
Haile was at the peak of his form and preparing to become the best in the world... Who could beat him? He was defeated by malnutrition. 12 km before the finish line, he felt that his strength was leaving him, that his stomach rebelled, and he retired from the race. In the following years, Haile established a food system, and this did not happen again. Many athletes, like him, make mistakes when building their diet.
Although most professionals recognize the importance of diet, and sometimes even become obsessed with it, very few of them eat right. During competition and during training, some people get an excess of nutrients, while others lack them. Some drink too much fluid, while others drink too little. Many athletes have problems with the gastrointestinal tract. But often this can be prevented. There are many reasons why athletes experience nutritional difficulties:
They don't know how to plan it;
Follow the wrong advice;
Insufficiently listen to the body;
On the contrary, they force themselves with all their might to follow the plan once adopted;
They are not flexible enough in terms of making changes to the existing plan.
Usually people believe that organizing a proper nutrition system is a complex technical task that is difficult to solve. There is a lot of information on this subject, and recommendations often contradict each other. The main trend today is to exclude certain foods from the diet and eat the so-called healthy food in small portions (popular examples of such nutrition are vegetarianism, low-carb diets, paleo diets). 3
Paleolithic diet (paleo diet, stone age diet, hunter-gatherer diet) - a modern approach to nutrition, consisting mainly of the consumption of products from plants and animals, and based on the supposed ancient diet of people during the Paleolithic - a historical period of 2.5 million years , which ended 10 thousand years ago. The modern Paleolithic diet consists of food available today and includes fish, meat and poultry, preferably grass-fed, vegetables, fruits, rhizomes, and nuts. However, it excludes grains, dairy products, legumes, sugar and processed oils. Note. transl.
And many different diet options). Eliminate unhealthy food from the diet and replace it with nutritious food is essentially correct. But if the diet becomes too scarce, the results will be disastrous. On top of that, we should not forget about the commercial interests of food companies, as well as the pursuit of sensations in the field of nutrition. Everyone who blogs about diets considers himself a real expert. It is not surprising, therefore, that athletes are often confused.
As a sports nutrition scientist, I have been at the forefront of research in this area for a long time. Numerous scientific studies carried out by us in the laboratories of the University of Birmingham in the UK served as the basis for recommendations in the field of nutrition, which guide many athletes to this day. Throughout my scientific career, I have tried to translate complex scientific findings into practical advice and techniques. Research is usually carried out in laboratories where almost all variables can be controlled. It is necessary for scientific work. However, laboratory experiments and experiments have limitations: they are not carried out in the conditions in which athletes actually train and compete. In the lab, we can create a drink using ultra-pure ingredients. In reality, we use different drinks and foods and often mix them.
Any scientific recommendation should be based on a clear and concise scientific explanation. But it also serves as the foundation for a lot of misconceptions and confusion, as different people evaluate the value of scientific evidence differently. For some athletes, this proof is a friend who has successfully completed a sports distance and claims that he succeeded thanks to some particular drink. For others, the proof is the amazing looking product they bought the day before the competition at a trade show. After all, on its packaging it says: "Confirmed by scientific research." To me, none of these examples serve as proof. To obtain them, it is necessary to establish a number of clear rules, on the basis of compliance with which it is possible to determine the real reason for good sports results.
And it is in this area that Matt Fitzgerald shows his talent! In order to distinguish between good and mediocre scientific experiments, and between good and mediocre dissemination of scientific achievements, which is not easy to do without some training and skills, we need people who can communicate scientific achievements and reliable evidence to the general public. Mat is able to understand and interpret the achievements of science, turning them into very simple and very practical recommendations for any athlete. He separates fact from fantasy.
At first glance, Mat lists common sense principles. But this is precisely what athletes often lack when approaching their diet.
Mat devoted a lot of time to studying the diet of athletes, countless hours he asked them about what they eat. He found that the diets of many endurance athletes around the world are very similar. Many of these athletes have never spoken to sports nutritionists, and sometimes have never even heard of sports nutrition. And yet, in their eating habits and preferences, very remarkable similarities emerge.
The Champion Diet describes five key eating habits discovered by Mat. And it turns out that all of them are substantiated in the scientific literature and are supported by evidence collected in the course of laboratory studies. Yes, we are talking about outstanding athletes who far outperform the average endurance athlete. However, believe it or not, outstanding athletes are people too. Of course, they have certain individual differences, but all the same, their organisms are arranged in accordance with the fundamental principles of physiology and biochemistry, which are true for all of us.
The Champions Diet book, to a certain extent, exposes the problem of nutrition for athletes. You will not find anything superfluous in it, the myth of newfangled diets will be debunked, and common sense will prevail. I often ask myself why so many athletes start building a food pyramid from top to bottom. Often the first thing they ask me about sports nutritional supplements. Then there are questions about sports drinks. And much less often, athletes are interested in the problem of a balanced healthy diet. So this book will help you first of all create a well-balanced diet that meets the principles of healthy eating, and then adapt it to your load and goals.
The beauty of Mat's champion diet is that it doesn't have to be extreme. It is very practical, easy to follow, and it will definitely give its results - excellent health and high athletic performance. I find this book very helpful. Hope you agree with me.
Asker Yukendrup4
Asker Yukendrup is a Dutch-born British scientist, sports nutritionist and triathlete. Note. ed.professor, specialist in metabolic processes in athletes, Loughborough University, England, director of a consulting company in the development, research and sale of high-quality sports nutritionmysportscience.com
1. What the toughest people in the world eat
What do professional runners from the USA, rowers from the Austrian national team, world-class swimmers from Argentina and triathlon champions from South Africa have in common?
Ration. Elite endurance athletes in all countries eat about the same. While there are some superficial differences in specific food preferences, the planet's toughest people share common eating habits that form a system that can be called champion diet. Unlike conventional diets designed for weight loss or general health promotion, most of which were invented by one person or group of people, the champion diet has evolved over many generations of athletes in countless international competitions. In the course of this long process, those habits and eating styles that prevented the achievement of the highest results gradually disappeared, and only those that best met the goal set for the athletes continued to exist.
Yes, the champion diet is the product of trial and error by real people in the real world, not science, but the latest brilliant discoveries show that the five rules that this diet is based on help you maximize the benefits of increased cardiovascular training to the benefit of the body. . A good heart training technique can help reduce body fat, strengthen the heart muscle, improve blood flow, increase the body's ability to adapt to and deal with stress, improve central nervous system function, and increase muscle endurance and resistance to fatigue. These and other positive effects of cardiovascular training form the basis endurance training- that specific type of activity that is necessary for athletes performing in their respective sports in order to win competitions. Scientific studies show that the champion diet allows athletes to develop more endurance in the same training regimens as other athletes, as well as train more efficiently.
Good form is important not only for endurance athletes in the fight to win competitions. It is important for anyone involved in physical exercise, designed mainly to strengthen the cardiovascular system. Endurance training is the key to weight loss, overall health, more attractive appearance, longer life and activity throughout its life, a good psycho-emotional state and achievement of any sports goals, whether it is finishing in a half marathon or becoming one of the contenders for victory. in the Ironman World Championship 5
Ironman is an annual triathlon world championship held on the island of Kailua-Kona (Hawaii, USA). The first championship was held in 1978. Competitors must cover a total of 226.26 km (140.6 miles), divided into stages: swimming stage - 3.86 km (2.4 miles), cycling - 180.2 km (112 miles), running stage - 42.2 km (26.2 miles). Note. transl.
And a champion diet is the key to developing endurance, not only for top athletes, but also for amateurs.
The only problem is that while elite athletes almost all follow the champion diet, ordinary people rarely do so. The purpose of this book is precisely to remedy the situation. Whatever aerobic exercise or sport you do and whatever goals you set for yourself, the champion diet will give you a better chance of achieving them and achieving higher results than any other type of nutrition. In order to be in the best possible shape, you must eat the same way as the hardiest people on the planet eat. And it's easier than you might imagine.
Discover the Diet of Champions
If you're an endurance professional or amateur, you've probably come across some very conflicting statements about what constitutes the optimal endurance diet. You may have heard that a whole bunch of different diets - no meat, low carb, paleo and others - are best for people who need high endurance. However, most likely you not heard and not know that the diet or diet used by the most successful endurance athletes in the world is most suitable for this. Because it has only recently been discovered that they all have common established eating habits.
In 2009, I was working on a previous book about the nutrition of professionals and amateurs in especially difficult sports. There was a chapter in that book called "What the Pros Eat," in which I gave menus for the day for 18 of the world's best skiers, road cyclists, mountain bikers, rowers, runners, swimmers, and triathletes. I am sure that athletes cannot achieve the highest results if they do not eat foods that provide endurance.
I had previously addressed the topic of elite athlete nutrition in 1995 when I wrote an article about triathlete Mike Pigg. Then I came to a very important conclusion about the constancy of their diet. Almost every person who has entered the arena of world fame, whom I have dined with or whom I have asked about the nutrition system, said that they follow a very balanced diet, which includes many natural products. However, those 18 food diaries that I received from my charges showed something else. They greatly enhanced my understanding of the striking similarities in how athletes maintain their strength around the world. In their notes, even the same names of dishes constantly flashed - for example, oatmeal.
As I thought about this, I thought of the writings of Steven Seiler, an American sports physiologist who has recently worked at the University of Agder in Norway. In the late 1990s, Seiler began a series of large-scale and long-term experiments that allowed him to accurately quantify the training methods of top athletes in various endurance sports. The scientist found that professionals performing in different disciplines often have the same approach to the training process. For example, most of them spend 80% of their training time in low intensity activities and only 20% in medium or high intensity activities. Seiler turned to the history of relevant observations and found that elite endurance athletes did not always adhere to this 80/20 rule, as he called it. Past generations of athletes have experimented with different load ratios. However, gradually, over several decades, this 80/20 rule was empirically derived.
Seiler, in his research, convincingly showed that the reason for such unanimity among modern athletes is that the 80/20 rule works better than any other. Competitions at the sports Olympus ruthlessly reveal to athletes and the public that O it is in training methods that it works, and what does not. Those athletes who train according to the best methods win. Athletes who focus on outdated developments are left behind - and after that they seek to change the system of their training. As a result, we observe an evolutionary process in which training methods gradually move towards optimal efficiency.
When I discovered that endurance athletes around the world eat in very similar ways, I couldn't help but think that there must be a lot in common in their training methods. Nutrition systems, which also showed similarities, probably developed gradually under the influence of a largely identical training process. Thus, this system represents the optimal diet for maintaining endurance. It occurred to me that it would be good if some ambitious scientist would repeat in relation to sports diet what Sayler did in relation to training methods: he meticulously studied the eating habits of the best athletes in the world in order to isolate a special system, operating in this special group of people. And then I decided: why don't I do it myself?
The research project I eventually started lasted two years. I did not set myself the goal of publishing his results in a prestigious scientific journal to be evaluated by a dozen PhDs. I wanted to define a specific set of nutritional best practices that anyone interested in developing endurance could follow. Even before starting work, I already knew that I would find something in common in the diets of most athletes. But I hoped to filter those as yet obscure commonalities I'd previously observed into an accurate and repeatable sports diet formula, just as Seiler had done with sports training techniques.
I have spent a lot of time sharing meals and talking with world-class endurance athletes on every continent. I shared bread with triathletes from Brazil, cyclists from Spain, cross-country skiers from Canada, and runners from Kenya and Japan. In addition, I developed a special questionnaire on the diet of athletes, which I sent out to many of them in different countries. The responses I received represent 11 sports disciplines and athletes from 32 countries. After completing the project, I formulated the Champions Diet - the optimal sports nutrition diet for developing and maintaining endurance.
Five essential rules
The Champion Diet includes five key habits that are common to almost all athletes with whom I have interacted directly or indirectly in the course of my research. These habits can be formulated as rules.
1. Eat everything.
2. Eat quality.
3. Eat more carbs.
4. Eat enough.
5. Eat according to individual characteristics.
These five rules are the result of the nutritional evolution of top endurance athletes over generations. In the course of this evolution, less effective eating habits were discarded, while more effective ones were retained and developed. By themselves, they represent the necessary and sufficient conditions for saturating the body with nutrients to ensure maximum endurance. Modern professional endurance athletes must follow the above rules if they want to win. Let's see what th O exactly what each of these rules implies and what benefits it brings to a professional athlete.
Rule 1: Eat Everything
There are six main groups of natural whole foods: vegetables (including legumes); fruit; nuts, seeds and natural oils; meat, not subjected to factory processing, fish and seafood; whole grains; milk products. The vast majority of professional endurance athletes regularly consume all six of these quality foods. They assume that a varied, balanced and rich diet is essential to supply their body with the nutrients that will help them withstand the stress of training and get the most out of their work.
In addition to these high-quality foods, there are four other low-quality foods: refined oils, sweets, processed meats, and fried foods. Most professionals allow themselves to consume a very small amount of products from this group. When they do this, they usually do not harm themselves. In a sense, it even turns out to be useful, because it helps to diversify their diet. (I'll cover product types in more detail in Chapter 3 and Chapter 4.)
Rule 2: Eat Quality
Although most endurance athletes eat everything, this does not mean that they eat everything in equal amounts. They usually clearly prefer high-quality products, and consume low-quality products extremely sparingly. Foods in the first group are significantly more nutritious (i.e., richer in vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants) and less saturated in energy (i.e., calories) than foods in the second group. The focus on the first group allows athletes to get more nutrients while consuming fewer calories. And this, in turn, gives them the opportunity to maintain a high level of endurance while maintaining their optimal competition weight.
Rule 3: Eat More Carbs
Professional endurance athletes tend to eat a lot of high-quality carbohydrate-rich foods, such as whole grains and fruits. As you certainly understand, these products can be very different. Ethiopian runners eat much more cereals like teff 6
Teff, or teff (lat. Eragrostis tef) is a plant of the grass family, a species of the genus field grass. The homeland of teff is Ethiopia, where it still represents the main grain crop and occupies about 30% of the total arable land. Note. ed.
Than Chilean cyclists who eat far more potatoes than Chinese swimmers who eat more rice than Danish skiers. However, all of these foods are high in carbohydrates, and all of these athletes are targeting a carbohydrate-rich diet.
In general, carbohydrates provide 60 to 80% of the calories consumed by endurance sports professionals. As the main source of energy in the diet of these athletes, carbohydrates allow them to endure high sports loads with less stress for the body and more benefits for the training process.
Rule 4: Eat Enough
Professional athletes usually do not consciously limit the amount of food they consume, resorting to counting calories or setting portion limits, as many amateurs and adherents of various diets do. However, they do not mindlessly overeat, as most people do in our wealthy society today. Instead, professional athletes listen very carefully to the body's signals that tell them when they're hungry or full, and let those signals determine how much food they're eating. This is the only sure way to eat enough without overeating. That is, enough to meet the needs of the body during training, and in order to prevent the appearance of excess fat in the body.
Rule 5: Eat Personally
Professional athletes are attentive to themselves and take into account not only the signals of their own appetite, but also general nutritional needs. After all, each of them is a unique individual in a unique situation. The diet that is good for one athlete cannot be completely suitable for another. For example, while almost all endurance athletes perform better on carbohydrate-centric diets, there are some who perform better when they get that portion of non-grain carbs. Experienced athletes usually listen carefully to their body and understand it well. They pay attention to how various products and patterns of their use act on it. If necessary, athletes adjust the diet. As a result, almost every professional athlete performing in those sports that require special endurance, creates for himself a personal champion diet.
Among the many dozens of outstanding athletes whose diets I analyzed was Jasmine Alhaldi, an Olympian. Her mother is Filipino and her father is from Saudi Arabia. When I spoke with this girl, she was a member of the Hawaiian University swim team. The Alhaldi menu is a good example of what a champion diet looks like. The table below lists the foods and meals that make up Jasmine's typical daily diet.
Typical swimmer Jasmine Alhaldi's menu for the day
Breakfast
Omelet with cheese and turkey, oatmeal, banana
Lunch
Granola (Whole Grains, Nuts, Seeds), Muscle MilkTM Protein Shake
Dinner
Grilled fish, quinoa, green salad, fruit juice
Dinner
Beef steak, grilled vegetables, fruit juice
The Five Rules of the Champion Diet come to life in this simple one-day menu. First, it includes all six high-quality product groups and only one that can be classified as low-quality (Muscle Milk protein shake should be considered sweet). High-carbohydrate foods (oatmeal, quinoa, and the like) form the basis of many of her meals. The frequency of meals and its volume are controlled by Jasmine's appetite, and not by an artificial calorie counting system or the habit of eating everything that is on the plate. “Now I pay attention to eating enough, because I know that I will burn these calories,” Jasmine explained to me. “I want to be sure that I have enough of them to burn something, and leave something to restore.”
Finally, Alhaldi eats according to his own characteristics, adapting the diet to his preferences. While many endurance athletes avoid red meat, Jasmine eats it almost every day. “For me personally,” she says, “red meat is a must before competition because it makes me stronger in the water and gives me extra energy.”
Published with permission from Perseus Books, LLC, a subsidiary of Hachette Book Group, Inc. and PROJEX INTERNATIONAL LLC acting jointly with Alexander Korzhenevski
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without the written permission of the copyright holders.
© 2016 by Matt Fitzgerald This edition published by arrangement with Da Capo Lifelong Books, an imprint of Perseus Books, LLC, a subsidiary of Hachette Book Group, Inc. (USA) via Alexander Korzhenevski Agency (Russia). All rights reserved
© Translation into Russian, edition in Russian, design. LLC "Mann, Ivanov and Ferber", 2017
Foreword
Most athletes claim that nutrition plays a significant role in their performance. For endurance athletes, diet is even more important. It is she who can lead to victory or prevent you from reaching the finish line. When Haile Gebrselassie, who won many times over distances from 1500 to 10,000 m, began to run marathons, he was confident in his abilities and at the London Marathon turned up his nose in front of Paul Tergat. Haile was at the peak of his form and preparing to become the best in the world... Who could beat him? He was defeated by malnutrition. 12 km before the finish line, he felt that his strength was leaving him, that his stomach rebelled, and he retired from the race. In the following years, Haile established a food system, and this did not happen again. Many athletes, like him, make mistakes when building their diet.
Although most professionals recognize the importance of diet, and sometimes even become obsessed with it, very few of them eat right. During competition and during training, some people get an excess of nutrients, while others lack them. Some drink too much fluid, while others drink too little. Many athletes have problems with the gastrointestinal tract. But often this can be prevented. There are many reasons why athletes experience nutritional difficulties:
They don't know how to plan it;
Follow the wrong advice;
Insufficiently listen to the body;
On the contrary, they force themselves with all their might to follow the plan once adopted;
They are not flexible enough in terms of making changes to the existing plan.
Usually people believe that organizing a proper nutrition system is a complex technical task that is difficult to solve. There is a lot of information on this subject, and recommendations often contradict each other. The current trend is to cut certain foods out of the diet and eat smaller portions of so-called healthy foods (vegetarians, low-carbohydrate diets, paleo diets, and many other diets are popular examples). Eliminate unhealthy food from the diet and replace it with nutritious food is essentially correct. But if the diet becomes too scarce, the results will be disastrous. On top of that, we should not forget about the commercial interests of food companies, as well as the pursuit of sensations in the field of nutrition. Everyone who blogs about diets considers himself a real expert. It is not surprising, therefore, that athletes are often confused.
As a sports nutrition scientist, I have been at the forefront of research in this area for a long time. Numerous scientific studies carried out by us in the laboratories of the University of Birmingham in the UK served as the basis for recommendations in the field of nutrition, which guide many athletes to this day. Throughout my scientific career, I have tried to translate complex scientific findings into practical advice and techniques. Research is usually carried out in laboratories where almost all variables can be controlled. It is necessary for scientific work. However, laboratory experiments and experiments have limitations: they are not carried out in the conditions in which athletes actually train and compete. In the lab, we can create a drink using ultra-pure ingredients. In reality, we use different drinks and foods and often mix them.
Any scientific recommendation should be based on a clear and concise scientific explanation. But it also serves as the foundation for a lot of misconceptions and confusion, as different people evaluate the value of scientific evidence differently. For some athletes, this proof is a friend who has successfully completed a sports distance and claims that he succeeded thanks to some particular drink. For others, the proof is the amazing looking product they bought the day before the competition at a trade show. After all, on its packaging it says: "Confirmed by scientific research." To me, none of these examples serve as proof. To obtain them, it is necessary to establish a number of clear rules, on the basis of compliance with which it is possible to determine the real reason for good sports results.
And it is in this area that Matt Fitzgerald shows his talent! In order to distinguish between good and mediocre scientific experiments, and between good and mediocre dissemination of scientific achievements, which is not easy to do without some training and skills, we need people who can communicate scientific achievements and reliable evidence to the general public. Mat is able to understand and interpret the achievements of science, turning them into very simple and very practical recommendations for any athlete. He separates fact from fantasy.
At first glance, Mat lists common sense principles. But this is precisely what athletes often lack when approaching their diet.
Mat devoted a lot of time to studying the diet of athletes, countless hours he asked them about what they eat. He found that the diets of many endurance athletes around the world are very similar. Many of these athletes have never spoken to sports nutritionists, and sometimes have never even heard of sports nutrition. And yet, in their eating habits and preferences, very remarkable similarities emerge.
The Champion Diet describes five key eating habits discovered by Mat. And it turns out that all of them are substantiated in the scientific literature and are supported by evidence collected in the course of laboratory studies. Yes, we are talking about outstanding athletes who far outperform the average endurance athlete. However, believe it or not, outstanding athletes are people too. Of course, they have certain individual differences, but all the same, their organisms are arranged in accordance with the fundamental principles of physiology and biochemistry, which are true for all of us.
The Champions Diet book, to a certain extent, exposes the problem of nutrition for athletes. You will not find anything superfluous in it, the myth of newfangled diets will be debunked, and common sense will prevail. I often ask myself why so many athletes start building a food pyramid from top to bottom. Often the first thing they ask me about sports nutritional supplements. Then there are questions about sports drinks. And much less often, athletes are interested in the problem of a balanced healthy diet. So this book will help you first of all create a well-balanced diet that meets the principles of healthy eating, and then adapt it to your load and goals.
Published with permission from Perseus Books, LLC, a subsidiary of Hachette Book Group, Inc. and PROJEX INTERNATIONAL LLC acting jointly with Alexander Korzhenevski
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without the written permission of the copyright holders.
* * *
Foreword
Most athletes claim that nutrition plays a significant role in their performance. For endurance athletes, diet is even more important. It is she who can lead to victory or prevent you from reaching the finish line. When Haile Gebreselassie, who won many times over distances from 1500 to 10,000 meters, began to run marathons, he was confident in his abilities and at the London Marathon he turned up his nose in front of Paul Tergat. Haile was at the peak of his form and preparing to become the best in the world... Who could beat him? He was defeated by malnutrition. 12 km before the finish line, he felt that his strength was leaving him, that his stomach rebelled, and he retired from the race. In the following years, Haile established a food system, and this did not happen again. Many athletes, like him, make mistakes when building their diet.
Although most professionals recognize the importance of diet, and sometimes even become obsessed with it, very few of them eat right. During competition and during training, some people get an excess of nutrients, while others lack them. Some drink too much fluid, while others drink too little. Many athletes have problems with the gastrointestinal tract. But often this can be prevented. There are many reasons why athletes experience nutritional difficulties:
They don't know how to plan it;
Follow the wrong advice;
Insufficiently listen to the body;
On the contrary, they force themselves with all their might to follow the plan once adopted;
They are not flexible enough in terms of making changes to the existing plan.
Usually people believe that organizing a proper nutrition system is a complex technical task that is difficult to solve. There is a lot of information on this subject, and recommendations often contradict each other. The current trend is to cut certain foods out of the diet and eat smaller portions of so-called healthy foods (vegetarians, low-carbohydrate diets, paleo diets, and many other diets are popular examples). Eliminate unhealthy food from the diet and replace it with nutritious food is essentially correct. But if the diet becomes too scarce, the results will be disastrous. On top of that, we should not forget about the commercial interests of food companies, as well as the pursuit of sensations in the field of nutrition. Everyone who blogs about diets considers himself a real expert. It is not surprising, therefore, that athletes are often confused.
As a sports nutrition scientist, I have been at the forefront of research in this area for a long time. Numerous scientific studies carried out by us in the laboratories of the University of Birmingham in the UK served as the basis for recommendations in the field of nutrition, which guide many athletes to this day. Throughout my scientific career, I have tried to translate complex scientific findings into practical advice and techniques. Research is usually carried out in laboratories where almost all variables can be controlled. It is necessary for scientific work. However, laboratory experiments and experiments have limitations: they are not carried out in the conditions in which athletes actually train and compete. In the lab, we can create a drink using ultra-pure ingredients. In reality, we use different drinks and foods and often mix them.
Any scientific recommendation should be based on a clear and concise scientific explanation. But it also serves as the foundation for a lot of misconceptions and confusion, as different people evaluate the value of scientific evidence differently. For some athletes, this proof is a friend who has successfully completed a sports distance and claims that he succeeded thanks to some particular drink. For others, the proof is the amazing looking product they bought the day before the competition at a trade show. After all, on its packaging it says: "Confirmed by scientific research." To me, none of these examples serve as proof. To obtain them, it is necessary to establish a number of clear rules, on the basis of compliance with which it is possible to determine the real reason for good sports results.
And it is in this area that Matt Fitzgerald shows his talent! In order to distinguish between good and mediocre scientific experiments, and between good and mediocre dissemination of scientific achievements, which is not easy to do without some training and skills, we need people who can communicate scientific achievements and reliable evidence to the general public. Mat is able to understand and interpret the achievements of science, turning them into very simple and very practical recommendations for any athlete. He separates fact from fantasy.
At first glance, Mat lists common sense principles. But this is precisely what athletes often lack when approaching their diet.
Mat devoted a lot of time to studying the diet of athletes, countless hours he asked them about what they eat. He found that the diets of many endurance athletes around the world are very similar. Many of these athletes have never spoken to sports nutritionists, and sometimes have never even heard of sports nutrition. And yet, in their eating habits and preferences, very remarkable similarities emerge.
The Champion Diet describes five key eating habits discovered by Mat. And it turns out that all of them are substantiated in the scientific literature and are supported by evidence collected in the course of laboratory studies. Yes, we are talking about outstanding athletes who far outperform the average endurance athlete. However, believe it or not, outstanding athletes are people too. Of course, they have certain individual differences, but all the same, their organisms are arranged in accordance with the fundamental principles of physiology and biochemistry, which are true for all of us.
The Champions Diet book, to a certain extent, exposes the problem of nutrition for athletes. You will not find anything superfluous in it, the myth of newfangled diets will be debunked, and common sense will prevail. I often ask myself why so many athletes start building a food pyramid from top to bottom. Often the first thing they ask me about sports nutritional supplements. Then there are questions about sports drinks. And much less often, athletes are interested in the problem of a balanced healthy diet. So this book will help you first of all create a well-balanced diet that meets the principles of healthy eating, and then adapt it to your load and goals.
Matt Fitzgerald
Champion Diet. The Five Nutrition Principles of Top Athletes
Published with permission from Perseus Books, LLC, a subsidiary of Hachette Book Group, Inc. and PROJEX INTERNATIONAL LLC acting jointly with Alexander Korzhenevski
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without the written permission of the copyright holders.
© 2016 by Matt Fitzgerald This edition published by arrangement with Da Capo Lifelong Books, an imprint of Perseus Books, LLC, a subsidiary of Hachette Book Group, Inc. (USA) via Alexander Korzhenevski Agency (Russia). All rights reserved
© Translation into Russian, edition in Russian, design. LLC "Mann, Ivanov and Ferber", 2017
* * *Foreword
Most athletes claim that nutrition plays a significant role in their performance. For endurance athletes, diet is even more important. It is she who can lead to victory or prevent you from reaching the finish line. When Haile Gebreselassie, who won many times over distances from 1500 to 10,000 meters, began to run marathons, he was confident in his abilities and at the London Marathon he turned up his nose in front of Paul Tergat. Haile was at the peak of his form and preparing to become the best in the world... Who could beat him? He was defeated by malnutrition. 12 km before the finish line, he felt that his strength was leaving him, that his stomach rebelled, and he retired from the race. In the following years, Haile established a food system, and this did not happen again. Many athletes, like him, make mistakes when building their diet.
Although most professionals recognize the importance of diet, and sometimes even become obsessed with it, very few of them eat right. During competition and during training, some people get an excess of nutrients, while others lack them. Some drink too much fluid, while others drink too little. Many athletes have problems with the gastrointestinal tract. But often this can be prevented. There are many reasons why athletes experience nutritional difficulties:
They don't know how to plan it;
Follow the wrong advice;
Insufficiently listen to the body;
On the contrary, they force themselves with all their might to follow the plan once adopted;
They are not flexible enough in terms of making changes to the existing plan.
Usually people believe that organizing a proper nutrition system is a complex technical task that is difficult to solve. There is a lot of information on this subject, and recommendations often contradict each other. The current trend is to cut certain foods out of the diet and eat smaller portions of so-called healthy foods (vegetarians, low-carbohydrate diets, paleo diets, and many other diets are popular examples). Eliminate unhealthy food from the diet and replace it with nutritious food is essentially correct. But if the diet becomes too scarce, the results will be disastrous. On top of that, we should not forget about the commercial interests of food companies, as well as the pursuit of sensations in the field of nutrition. Everyone who blogs about diets considers himself a real expert. It is not surprising, therefore, that athletes are often confused.
As a sports nutrition scientist, I have been at the forefront of research in this area for a long time. Numerous scientific studies carried out by us in the laboratories of the University of Birmingham in the UK served as the basis for recommendations in the field of nutrition, which guide many athletes to this day. Throughout my scientific career, I have tried to translate complex scientific findings into practical advice and techniques. Research is usually carried out in laboratories where almost all variables can be controlled. It is necessary for scientific work. However, laboratory experiments and experiments have limitations: they are not carried out in the conditions in which athletes actually train and compete. In the lab, we can create a drink using ultra-pure ingredients. In reality, we use different drinks and foods and often mix them.
Any scientific recommendation should be based on a clear and concise scientific explanation. But it also serves as the foundation for a lot of misconceptions and confusion, as different people evaluate the value of scientific evidence differently. For some athletes, this proof is a friend who has successfully completed a sports distance and claims that he succeeded thanks to some particular drink. For others, the proof is the amazing looking product they bought the day before the competition at a trade show. After all, on its packaging it says: "Confirmed by scientific research." To me, none of these examples serve as proof. To obtain them, it is necessary to establish a number of clear rules, on the basis of compliance with which it is possible to determine the real reason for good sports results.
And it is in this area that Matt Fitzgerald shows his talent! In order to distinguish between good and mediocre scientific experiments, and between good and mediocre dissemination of scientific achievements, which is not easy to do without some training and skills, we need people who can communicate scientific achievements and reliable evidence to the general public. Mat is able to understand and interpret the achievements of science, turning them into very simple and very practical recommendations for any athlete. He separates fact from fantasy.
At first glance, Mat lists common sense principles. But this is precisely what athletes often lack when approaching their diet.
Mat devoted a lot of time to studying the diet of athletes, countless hours he asked them about what they eat. He found that the diets of many endurance athletes around the world are very similar. Many of these athletes have never spoken to sports nutritionists, and sometimes have never even heard of sports nutrition. And yet, in their eating habits and preferences, very remarkable similarities emerge.
The Champion Diet describes five key eating habits discovered by Mat. And it turns out that all of them are substantiated in the scientific literature and are supported by evidence collected in the course of laboratory studies. Yes, we are talking about outstanding athletes who far outperform the average endurance athlete. However, believe it or not, outstanding athletes are people too. Of course, they have certain individual differences, but all the same, their organisms are arranged in accordance with the fundamental principles of physiology and biochemistry, which are true for all of us.
The Champions Diet book, to a certain extent, exposes the problem of nutrition for athletes. You will not find anything superfluous in it, the myth of newfangled diets will be debunked, and common sense will prevail. I often ask myself why so many athletes start building a food pyramid from top to bottom. Often the first thing they ask me about sports nutritional supplements. Then there are questions about sports drinks. And much less often, athletes are interested in the problem of a balanced healthy diet. So this book will help you first of all create a well-balanced diet that meets the principles of healthy eating, and then adapt it to your load and goals.
The beauty of Mat's champion diet is that it doesn't have to be extreme. It is very practical, easy to follow, and it will definitely give its results - excellent health and high athletic performance. I find this book very helpful. Hope you agree with me.
Asker Yukendrup,professor, specialist in metabolic processes in athletes, Loughborough University, England, director of a consulting company in the development, research and sale of high-quality sports nutritionmysportscience.com1. What the toughest people in the world eat
What do professional runners from the USA, rowers from the Austrian national team, world-class swimmers from Argentina and triathlon champions from South Africa have in common?
Ration. Elite endurance athletes in all countries eat about the same. While there are some superficial differences in specific food preferences, the planet's toughest people share common eating habits that form a system that can be called champion diet. Unlike conventional diets designed for weight loss or general health promotion, most of which were invented by one person or group of people, the champion diet has evolved over many generations of athletes in countless international competitions. In the course of this long process, those habits and eating styles that prevented the achievement of the highest results gradually disappeared, and only those that best met the goal set for the athletes continued to exist.
