About a month ago, I decided to shake up what I eat during the work week. I kept feeling sluggish after eating lunch at work and trying to keep a level of energy to make it to the gym were mighty struggles. This sometimes even led to not having the energy to make it to class. Something had to change.
I had tried several changes and for one reason or another my attempts would fail. While trying to go vegetarian the first time, my recovery from working out was horrifyingly slow. I'm guessing I had the wrong combination of veggies and was not getting enough protein or potassium. I also tried really limiting the amount of sugar I would consume but didn't feel much difference.
By chance I happened to be reading about The Great Gama. One of the greatest grapplers ever and the owner of a badass mustache.
When I got to the section about his diet it blew my mind. His diet appears to have mainly consisted of fruits, vegetables, milk, and almond paste. Almonds! A great source of potassium and protein. Maybe they would be the key to make eating cleaner work.
So I tried again with going meatless. This time I would try it during the work week. No meat for breakfast or lunch Monday through Friday. Breakfast would be a puree of fruit, snacks would be chopped up veggies, and lunch would have as a base spiral sliced squash or zucchini and 1/2 a cup of whole almonds.
Where I would determine my success was not on a scale or in front of a mirror. My success or failure would be determined on the mats. To say this change has been a success is an understatement. It's a bit hard to explain.
It's not that I necessarily have more energy but more like I'm able to better use the energy that I have. Kind of like if you were to take a Formula 1 or NASCAR engine, take it to Arco, and put Regular Unleaded in it. If you run it with that fuel instead of race fuel, you'll notice a difference in performance. Having the wrong fuel in your engine has an impact on performance.
While it took me a long time to figure it out, I've finally realized the importance of eating with a purpose. Of fueling my body to get the best performance out of it. Taste doesn't matter to me any more and yes some of my meals have been pretty bland. The results on the mat in a short period of time have been awesome. I don't know that I can go completely meatless, but I have been expanding my meatless ways to other meals when possible.
The project continues!
When I got to the section about his diet it blew my mind. His diet appears to have mainly consisted of fruits, vegetables, milk, and almond paste. Almonds! A great source of potassium and protein. Maybe they would be the key to make eating cleaner work.
So I tried again with going meatless. This time I would try it during the work week. No meat for breakfast or lunch Monday through Friday. Breakfast would be a puree of fruit, snacks would be chopped up veggies, and lunch would have as a base spiral sliced squash or zucchini and 1/2 a cup of whole almonds.
Where I would determine my success was not on a scale or in front of a mirror. My success or failure would be determined on the mats. To say this change has been a success is an understatement. It's a bit hard to explain.
It's not that I necessarily have more energy but more like I'm able to better use the energy that I have. Kind of like if you were to take a Formula 1 or NASCAR engine, take it to Arco, and put Regular Unleaded in it. If you run it with that fuel instead of race fuel, you'll notice a difference in performance. Having the wrong fuel in your engine has an impact on performance.
While it took me a long time to figure it out, I've finally realized the importance of eating with a purpose. Of fueling my body to get the best performance out of it. Taste doesn't matter to me any more and yes some of my meals have been pretty bland. The results on the mat in a short period of time have been awesome. I don't know that I can go completely meatless, but I have been expanding my meatless ways to other meals when possible.
The project continues!
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