Whole Foods Provide the Best Nutrition for Athletes

By Cliff Smith

Many times, athletes searching for the best nutrition overlook the health benefits of natural, whole foods. 

If you are consuming isolated vitamins and chemically-enhanced or animal-based protein drinks to build muscle, you may be doing more harm to your body than good.  It has been reported that many of the animal products used in protein drinks today may contain bovine hormones and antibiotics from the livestock.  Also, more and more research points to the fact that the best nutrition for athletes comes from whole foods like fruits and vegetables.

Today, as modern technology combines with thousands of years of knowledge about herbs and plants, athletes seeking the best nutrition can now obtain super-concentrated nutrients from whole food concentrates. 

What are concentrated nutrients and why are they more effective as nutrition for athletes than simply eating more fruits and vegetables? 

Today, you can purchase online, whole food concentrates that have been prepared in such a way as to maintain the complex whole food structure of the plants, herbs, fruits and vegetables used in the ingredients.  This whole food formulation not only provides the complex carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals, and life force, but more importantly, it allows the body to absorb the nutrients most effectively. 

• When nutrients are attached to live enzymes, your body is better able to absorb them and put them to use as fuel.  When these nutrients are concentrated, it is like you are eating piles of fruits and vegetables without the bulk or calories. 

The best whole food concentrates providing superior nutrition for athletes are the formulas made with as many as 12 pounds of herbs, fruits and vegetables for every one pound of finished product.  That means the manufacturer concentrates the most nutritious parts of the plants in pre-packaged formulations, which are easy to mix, drink and go.

The most effective nutrition for athletes available today is manufactured by companies that don't just grind up plants and cram them in a capsule or beat them into a powder, but instead use only the most nutritious parts of the whole food sources for their concentrates.  These are not artificially enhanced vitamin water drinks or man-made protein shakes.  No, these all natural whole foods and healthy drinks are produced so carefully that the live enzymes and most powerful nutrients of the plants, herbs, fruits and vegetables are still intact. 

• The formulas are effective because the body immediately recognizes these nutrients from nature, easily absorbs them into the cells and quickly puts them to use as fuel providing the highest quality nutrition for athletes. 

You will not get that same level of effectiveness and safety from isolated vitamins or man-made protein drinks loaded down with bovine hormones and antibiotics.

Why does the body understand whole food vitamins better than isolated vitamins?

When vitamins are not attached to a specific whole food source they may break down before cells can absorb the nutrients.  For example, wheat germ oil, flaxseed meal, and rice bran stabilize the fat-soluble vitamins.  Without these food oils as a base, the vitamins tend to break down before they can be used.  Of course, eating flaxseed, wheat germ and rice bran is not so enjoyable, but you can get their benefits in whole food vitamins that are more carefully manufactured to provide serious nutrition for athletes.  Wheat germ, by the way, is an abundant source of the entire Vitamin E complex. Flaxseed is an outstanding source of omega- essential fatty acids, and rice bran contains a wide range of vitamins, minerals, enzymes and amino acids, including over 70 antioxidants.  Just be sure to purchase vitamins that are from whole foods, not isolated synthetic chemicals meant to resemble vitamins.

For further confirmation of the power of whole foods and health drink concentrates look no further than some of the 2008 Olympic hopefuls and professional athletes who were searching for something, besides steroids, to gain an edge.  The answer, many of them found, is in the simple power of natural nutrition for athletes. 

You may be aware of one herbal supplement that has been certified anti-doping and can provide powerful nutrition for the heart.  It is made with as many as 40 pounds of herbal product for each pound of formula squeezed into the capsules.  One of these capsules of Veros provides valuable nutrition for athletes. 

The formula referred to here is made from whole food grade herbs, not medicinal herbs, so it is as safe as eating broccoli.    Since it is designed to be food for the heart, this herbal supplement helps the body pump blood more efficiently to all parts.  That is why it is recommended as a natural supplement for men to increase sexual desire.  That is also why this one supplement helps increase bone strength.  The better your blood flow, the better chance your body has to produce healthier bone marrow.

To give yourself an athletic boost, search for all natural health drinks and whole foods.  You'll give your body the tools it needs to achieve visible results that you can see and feel.  Stay out of the junk food fitness aisle and get into some all natural, concentrated, nutrition for athletes.  Your body will notice the difference. 

Author Profile-Cliff Smith is constantly researching the latest nutrition for athletes.  Cliff offers information on more than 415 all natural health food store products that are not typically sold in retail outlets.  His wife, Jane, is a breast cancer survivor and award winning tennis player who attributes her recovery to a diet of all natural foods.  See this Press Release: Breast Cancer Survivor Is A Double Winner at American Cancer Society Hit for the Cure.  Cliff is a serious mountain biker who has covered thousands of miles over rugged terrain in the Sonoran Desert of Arizona.