Like many of us, I am not an athlete but I have always enjoyed a fit and healthy lifestyle, so
I spent a lot of time reading relevant articles and talking with fitness experts about healthy,
natural ways to improve my health, performance and endurance–without resorting to dangerous
performance-enhancing drugs and supplements.
From biking and hiking, to racewalking to weightlifting, I love feeling fit, fab, flexible and strong!
What are your favorite sports and fitness activities?
My commitment to optimum health, fitness and nutrition led me to adopt a more holistic lifestyle,
follow a plant-based diet–and consequently–evolved into an exploration of “holistic sports nutrition“.
“Holistic sports nutrition incorporates
the right balance of nutrients for optimum
functioning at the cellular level.”
The Importance of Holistic Sports Nutrition
“Holistic” means taking a whole-person approach—mind, body, and spirit.
“Holistic sports nutrition” incorporates the right balance of nutrients for optimum functioning
at the cellular level.
When optimum cellular functioning is achieved, both fitness enthusiasts and athletes attain their
highest level of fitness, performance, and endurance.
Each of us is unique, with our own biochemical needs, and we all need to manage stress and
emotional health.
Nevertheless, there are some basic guidelines that apply to each and every one of us.
To achieve optimum health and performance, we need the right intake of:
*Proteins
*Carbohydrates
*Fats
*Oxygen
*Water
*Vitamins and minerals
*A diet with proper Acid-Alkaline balance
So, How Does the Acid-Alkaline Balance Work?
An Acid-Alkaline diet involves properly combining foods for optimum nutrition.
It’s what we digest and assimilate—not what we eat—that adds to health, strength,
endurance, and performance.
This doesn’t mean we can eat just anything, however.
Processed foods, including refined sugars and refined carbohydrates like white bread and
white rice, should be avoided altogether.
They provide empty calories that make us hungrier and starve our bodies of the nutrients
they need.
Proper pH balance levels in the blood and body tissue are necessary for proper enzyme functioning.
The Acid-Alkaline diet provides this balance and promotes the proper combining of foods.
Key Principles of Proper Food Combining
Some of the main principles of proper food combining include:
*Not consuming starches and sugars together (the sugar-starch combination principle)—
for example, having jelly on toast or having honey at the same meal with potatoes is ill advised.
*Not consuming proteins with fats (the protein-fat combination)—for example, do not use
butter with meat or oil with eggs.
*Not eating a concentrated protein and a concentrated carbohydrate at the same meal
(the protein-carbohydrate principle)—for example, do not eat nuts at the same meal with cereal, or
eggs at the same meal with toast.
Commonly consumed foods today, like sandwiches and hamburgers, combine starches with proteins
and fats, and our waistlines and blood sugar pay the price.
A diet of processed foods and improper food combinations is wreaking havoc on our health and
causing anepidemic of deadly diseases like diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and a host of other
problems.
From supporting the immune system to relieving stress, holistic nutrition makes you feel great
physically and spiritually.
A holistic diet harmonizes all aspects of your well-being including your heart, mind,
and body.
Choosing organically grown foods that are rich in vitamins and minerals strengthens your
internal organs naturally and helps to prevent diseases.
Combining foods to maintain a healthy acid and alkaline balance will increase your energy naturally,
while helping to optimize your digestion.
A holistic diet increases your power and endurance so that you can achieve your personal peak
performance.
Proper Acid-Alkaline Balance and Athletic Performance
Proper Acid-Alkaline balance is one of the most important aspects of any proper sports nutrition
program.
Traditional sports dietician or sports nutritionist programs often promote acid-forming
diets that weaken body tissue, leaving athletes prone to sports injuries.
Effective programs, like the sports nutrition degree programs offered by the University of
Natural Health, teach the importance of the proper Acid-Alkaline Balance at an 80% alkaline-
forming and 20% acid-forming ratio.
An alkaline-forming diet oxygenates tissues, resulting in superior athletic performance and
endurance, and reduced injuries.
It is very important to note that holistic sports nutrition is not just about the foods you put
into your body.
It’s also about nourishing the spiritual and emotional self.
Minding the spirit (one’s way of thinking, or mind-set) is a critical important part of any
holistic sports nutrition program.
Holistic Sports Nutrition vs Traditional Sports Nutrition
Holistic sports nutrition takes the whole person into account—mind, body, and spirit—while
traditional sports degrees tend to focus only on the physical body and nutrition—often with
an incorrect balance of nutrients and excluding the Acid-Alkaline balance.
The spiritual connection is what is missing from traditional sports nutrition programs.
True athleticism happens when a person is healthy, happy, focused, and nurtured.
The Natural Health College’s Holistic Sports Nutrition philosophy is fundamentally
quite different from Traditional Sports Nutrition.
Unlike the Sports Dietitian or Sports Nutritionist, Holistic Sports Nutrition does not promote acid
forming diets that weaken the quality of body tissue leaving the athlete prone to sports injuries.
Their Sports Holistic Practitioners realize the importance of eating an Acid Alkaline Balance of
Alkaline Foods at an 80% alkaline-forming to a 20% acid-forming ratio.
The benefits of an alkaline-forming diet will help to oxygenate body tissue and assist the sports
athlete to maintain the highest quality of power, strength and endurance during athletic performances,
while avoiding frequent injuries.
Ready to Improve Your Health and Performance?
To learn more information about The Natural Health College’s Sports Nutrition courses and
degrees, visit:
http://www.naturalhealthcollege.org/sports-nutrition/sports-nutrition-degrees.php
Are you concerned about improving your health, fitness and performance levels?
Are you familiar with the benefits of acid and alkalline balance?
What aspects of the holistic sports nutrition philosophy appeal to you the most?
Share your thoughts and comments with us.
Great advice! I think I do most of the food combining – it makes it so much easier when you are vegan =)