I've been on some kind of injury streak for the last 10 months or so, gathering all kinds of stupid injuries, and having trouble getting rid of them.

Last year I spent a year in a student dorm, and my eating habits became pretty bad. Not unhealthy, but very one sided (no meat, lots of rice, lentils, quinoa, etc).

This has improved now but I'm still somewhere in between vegetarian and non vegetarian, basicly not eating any meat but not really replacing this lack of meat either.

Anyway, what I'm wondering about is if these bad eating habits really affect your potential to recover from injuries.


Edit; there are probably a lot of different opinions on this, as well as a lot of crap, hacks, expensive extracts & supplements and what not, but some balanced info would be nice.

BrunoM: Your old diet didn't show any fresh food - vegetables and salads. Looks like you got calories but not nutrients. Fresh up with as much fresh grown food you can eat, and then you'll start to crave it. It will help strengthen connective tissues. Weaning yourself off sugars will enable you to replace those "dead" calories with good ones.

One vital ingredient to health is "happiness". If ones life is giving rise to feeling unhappy, then work on changing it or adjusting ones thoughts in that direction. Stress causes hunger cravings and the first thing we reach for are carbs and sugars, but bang goes the nutrition. With stress, the digestive system suffers, and thus the assimilation. The hormones also go to the wall and the body degrades all round. So every day put a smile on your face and on someone else's. Their energy will feed back to you. So this is as important as food itself.

BrunoM wrote:This has improved now but I'm still somewhere in between vegetarian and non vegetarian, basicly not eating any meat but not really replacing this lack of meat either.

But you are eating eggs or milk products, and thus getting all relevant amino and acids B12 somewhere?

Sure, plenty of cheese, milk, eggs, all that.

I eat a lot of fruit, few vegetables though.

I was a vegetarian for a couple of periods in my life. The last one ended about two weeks before my Aconcagua attempt two years ago. I was having trouble visualizing going to Argentina and up a Mountain without eating meat.

I too question whether being a vegetarian is as healthy as they claim. The ones I know, consume ridiculous quantities of Vitamin Pills. Like 50 or so a day. Calcium Pills by the ton. I know one guy, who among other pills, does 37 of the 1000mg Vit Ds daily for example. But even with all of this, their injuries seem slighty higher. Also, I have yet to find a full blown Vegan functioning as the fittest person in an extreme athletic environment. I don't doubt they exist, I just have yet to meet one.

I think there's a middle ground there, where you eat enough meat for the Calcium and Protein but don't eat so much that your arteries clog etc. That said, many Vegans have come to that path for a reason. Immune system compromised etc. So they already have problems.

The first time I ate meat after one of the more intensive Vegan periods, I felt like I'd been poisoned. A really unpleasant digestive experience. It seemed to reinforce how bad it was for me but quickly passed.

I'm semi vegetarian, not vegan, I'm eating plenty of cheese, drinking milk, eggs, etc etc.

I can't imagine being vegan being healthy either.

I became vegetarian for some years and felt fine, but went back to white meat and fish. When you go back to meat or even fish it sure can make you feel ill. Generally, meat stays in the digestive system much longer: 4 to 5 hours in the stomach. The worst of it is, how long it can stay in the gut, like days. You got to get it out otherwise putrefaction occurs. So eating meat and carbs together is not a good combination. So I try to eat Proteins with Veg. Or Carbs with Veg. There is a whole system of this type of food combining that is said to maintain the body in alkaline state, which is supposed to be a very healthy condition. I tend to agree with that. Plenty of info on Alkalising diets on the Web.

Amby Burfoot was a vegetarian at the time of his peak performance; I suspect he is not totally vegetarian now.

Bill Walton was a vegetarian for his early professional career. He was prone to injuries, and started eating some fish.

I was a vegetarian from 1978-81. I did run a lot in that time. I switched over to eating some meat (still don't eat much meat) overnight, and I don't recall any digestive disturbances.

I did what most would call a vegetarian but not vegan diet for about 12 years, from my late 20’s to early 40’s (Eggs, yes. Fish, occasionally. Chicken, white meats, red meats, never.) It was good for leanness, and I always had good endurance. I was also quite strong without much muscle mass.

Then I smashed my wrist, broke off the end of radius and ulna, and fractured a couple of the little bones too. Five hour surgery, pins and an external fixator. Anyway finally they put the thing in a regular cast, and the healing process slowed and stalled out. My doctor was skeptical, to say the least, about my diet. Then one day I was in the market walking by the usually repulsive meat display and those darned steaks were talking to me. It was real and I was stunned.

I had a chat with the butcher, explaining my situation and he recommended I try a few slices off an all natural London Broil. Good advice, it was delicious. I began eating some meat a few times a week, my wrist healed well, and even today I eat meat but not to excess and very rarely red. I do agree with Ray about grouping foods, so unless I am at a feast I try not to mix carbs and meats. Also I never eat a meal right before sleeping except at a bivy on a climb. Last night dinner was chicken meatballs and steamed green beans.

Since I went on my first all-body detox, a couple of years ago, I learned how to overcome cravings for sugary foods - which I find give instant energy, but do not sustain. Since then, I pack in huge salads, which greatly improved my skin tone and condition - cracked heels, flaky skin etc and food transit time through the body. At the detox (which was a week under controlled conditions at a lovely Spanish organic farm) we ate no solids, just electrolyte broth, veg juices and gut cleaning herbs. They did not recommend aggressive and risky colonic vacuum cleaners. Just natural methods.

It sure revealed the guck that accumulates in our systems. Even after not eating for 7 days, my guts had emptied the last of the old crap stuck in the corners and dark recesses. So eat your veggies and ease off on putrefying foods, sticky white breads, cakes and stuff that comes in boxes and packets, and bloating, yeasty beer. Nowadays I grow much of my own food. It's easy to forget what real food tastes like. Stick with the good fats - olive oil and neither heated too strongly, which turns good fats into bad.

Anyone wishing to learn how to fully detox could try "Detox International". They really know their stuff. A note: it might seem hard to go without food for a week, but it's actually very easy, so long as you keep up the electrolytes. Though never drink too much water in a day or at any one time - water is toxic in large quantities as it imbalances the electrolyte level in the bloodstream and you can fall down and die.

A further note on detoxing. As the body becomes less burdened with processing food, the organs, skin and fat cells release stored toxins, which can manifest themselves as skin conditions (rashes, patches etc), but consider that a good thing because, it is what is coming out. So work through it and have confidence that a detox is doing you good. After a few days, the toxic effect will disappear and your skin begin to glow and feel great. I did not encounter any skin conditions, probably as I already ate quite healthily and toxins were eliminated normally. After that, put only good fuel in. You don't put crap in the car's gas tank, after all.

Food parasites:
While we are on the benefits of various foods, a quick note on food parasites. Okay, I know about pork tapeworm (make sure you cook all meat right through), but tapeworms lay cysts. Uggh. Nasty life-threatening little creatures that can get into the brain.

And then there is Toxoplasmosis (acquired from cats). I won't go into to the nasty details, so here is a link. Yuck.

<a href=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toxoplasmosis>Toxoplasmosis</a>

Don't forget to keep uncooked and cooked meats separate and not cross contaminate cooking utensils and tools when cooking. Wash hands before and after handling meat and before touching anything else.

Fish for me.

While it is certainly easier (especially depending on what's available in your area) to get all the essential amino acids from animal products, it isn't necessary. The diet mentioned (rice, lentils, quinoa) sounds fine to me (as far as protein - as pointed out, it could use some vegetables), as quinoa is a complete protein and lentils and rice (as long as it's brown rice) cancel out each other's deficiencies. If you're active, then the relatively high carb to protein ratio of these foods compared to meat is close to ideal. Supplements shouldn't be necessary if you're eating enough quality vegetables, with the exception of B12. Whether you're vegetarian/vegan or not, you have to be smart about your nutrition, and these schemes aren't necessarily going to be more or less healthy, but if you're doing it for ethical/environmental/etc reasons (which is what I do), you can certainly do it without sacrificing your health or performance.

As for nutrition in general that is associated with endurance athletic activities and good overall health, the paleo diet is the easiest way to ensure a solid nutritional base. Not for everybody, I appreciate, especially if cholesterol is an issue. Above all, no junk food. If your great grandmother never ate it, it is likely junk, or so goes one definition. Leaving out alcohol is a good move, too. Beyond nutrition and a sound exercise program, the biggest issue with injury recovery is allowing for enough time to heal. Best of luck

peninsula wrote:As for nutrition in general that is associated with endurance athletic activities and good overall health, the paleo diet is the easiest way to ensure a solid nutritional base.

Why is that?