Nutrition and Athletic Performance [Paperback]

Douglas N. Graham (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 4, 2008

Whether you are a seasoned athlete or just getting started with a fitness program, Nutrition and Athletic Performance is your guide to success. Discover what athletes from every sport around the world have been using to set personal bests. Learn what to eat before, during and after activity to yield the best performance. And discover how to attain freedom from costly supplements. Gain better recovery times from activities. And finally learn the truth about carbs, fats, and proteins.

Product Details

• Paperback: 138 pages
• Publisher: Food 'n' Sport Press; 2nd edition (December 4, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1893831086
• ISBN-13: 978-1893831087
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #320,172 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Product Details

• Paperback: 138 pages
• Publisher: Food 'n' Sport Press; 2nd edition (December 4, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1893831086
• ISBN-13: 978-1893831087
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #320,172 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

33 of 33 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars That's A lot of Fruit! July 10, 2011

By CHOMPERS

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

First of all, I've read the book and understand the concepts described. Furthermore, I've experimented on myself with the protocols contained in the book. It is in that knowledge that I can speak intelligently about the validity of the book. Well, I can speak about how the book has effected me; the information may not deliver the same result for others.

The one thing I can say without a shadow of a doubt is, the diet suggested in the book takes a great deal of discipline to undertake. To give the diet a fair chance, you have to be 100% committed to following the nutritional prescriptions to the letter. Otherwise, this diet will not do for you what you want it to do.

The first thing that I discovered when I started the diet described in the book was the sheer volume of food I had to eat: it was massive! I'm very active as well as having a naturally fast metabolism. This fact necessitates that I eat a great deal of calories (4,000 +)every day. When I say I had to eat a lot of fruit, I mean I ATE A LOT OF FRUIT!

A typical day of eating would consist of eating 2 pints of strawberries and blueberries, 6 large apples, 30-40 bananas, a large green salad (spinach or romaine with other vegetables) and maybe some pineapple. I said it was a lot of fruit, didn't I? Upon first glance, this looks like a lot of food and it is. However, because of the high fiber content and the fact that the fruit sugar is metabolized quickly, eating this amount of food is possible. Now, tolerating this volume of food and sugar takes some time to accustom too.

On my best days when I didn't deviate from the diet, I found the diet to be adequate in supplying all the nutrients I needed. Nevertheless, a surprising side effect occurs: you lose weight.... I know what you're thinking, you're thinking 'how is that possible?' Well, typical diets tend to make you retain water because they are high in salt and protein. These two factors cause water retention. You'll notice when you're on a fruit diet that you'll lose weight, despite getting all the calories you require. This is because of all the excess water that is retained is discarded. I'll admit that this took a blow to my ego because I am used to carrying a certain amount of muscle mass and when I saw myself shrinking, I got worried and began to feel self conscious.

I knew going into this self experimentation process that I would lose some weight and experience a certain degree of discomfort, because I did some preliminary research about this type of diet beforehand. However, I didn't realize how dramatic a change it was until changes happened rapidly.

Let me simplify things. Here's the good parts about the diet. First of all, your body will alkalize and your immune system will get a boost. Because of the high water content of fruit and the amount of fruit you eat, you are virtually guaranteed to get all of the water you require in a day. As well, you will consume all the vitamins and antioxidants you need without taking supplements. Your muscular endurance or lactic acid threshold will increase. You will have regular bowel movements. Your energy level and blood sugar levels will be good, assuming you are eating enough and regularly. The diet detoxifies your body tremendously. Your will lose weight and become leaner.

Here's the bad parts about the diet. You will have to eat a ton of fruit. You may have to urinate frequently. If you skip a meal or go too long without eating, you will feel weak because the fruit sugar metabolizes so quickly. You will have a hard time holding onto muscle mass if you don't exercise regularly. You may or may not find that your testosterone levels drop because of the lack of fat in your diet (I did). If you require a large number of calories per day, you will find it hard to consume enough calories by eating only fruit. Unless you strictly adhere to the diet, you risk becoming nutritionally deficient. Furthermore, you may sabotage your bodies ability to secrete insulin if you deviate from the diet and eat a lot of fat (over 10-15% of daily calories consumed). You may become deficient in minerals if you do not consume adequate amounts of leafy greens. This diet can be expensive because it is recommended you only eat organic fruits and vegetables, as well as the large quantity of food you must buy. Depending on your friends, you may be a social outcast because of how drastically different the diet is from most people's diets; you may find eating at restaurants very difficult and awkward.

Now, you may notice that I listed more good things than bad. That does not mean that the diet won't work for you. Quite the contrary, actually. The bad parts of the diet I listed are all dependent on the individual, their means, tolerances and beliefs. Actually, I'm quite convinced that this diet is not only healthy but optimal under good circumstances. If the price of food were cheaper, the food more readily available and untampered (not genetically modified) with, the amount of diseases and illnesses would be virtually abolished. I sincerely believe that.

This diet, I find, is not very practical for the average person. Like I said, you must be very disciplined and committed to derive success from this diet. However, that has more to do with an individual than it does with the diet. The diet itself is good, but because of the variable factors related to human behaviour and thinking, it's success is largely dependent on the individual employing the diet and the success or failure of that individual on the diet is not really a reflection of the effectiveness of the diet.

That being said, there are other factors that may influence the effectiveness of the diet. I read a book a while back about eating according to your ethnicity. It basically argues that not all people will respond to food the same way and that's because our ancestors were accustomed to eating different types of food, based on where they lived. This is definitely a factor you should consider and look into. Myself, for example, I find if I don't have some meat in my diet, I don't feel well at all. Of course, this might be psychological as well as physical. However, certain types of food my body likes and dislikes. That is normal for all people.

When choosing a diet, gauge its effectiveness based on all of the following factors: how it makes you feel, how it makes you perform, how it contributes to how you look and the practical application of the diet. The diet described in "Nutrition and Athletic Performance" can work for many people. Even if you don't commit to the diet in the long term, you will derive positive results from it, depending on what your goals are. However, the diet is not for everyone.

The one thing that I've learned from the diet is, consuming a large amount of calories from fresh fruit and vegetables while decreasing your meat consumption and processed foods, you will increase your health and vitality tremendously. Just remember that no two people are the same and that finding what works best for you is a trial and error process. Read more ›

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Don't buy it if you have 80/10/10 May 6, 2012

By Dennis

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

Simply just don't buy it if you all ready have Doug's 811 diet book. Same info with less detail. Got nothing new out of this book that wasn't in 80 10 10.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Check it out! February 10, 2010

By Greg Allen

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

I've been using Dr Graham's 80/10/10 diet for over 2 years. It has dramatically improved my health and helped make me feel 20 again-instead of 49. All of his books have been money and time well spent.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars An Athlete's Diet Bite for Bite August 16, 2011

By Bill Edmundson

Format:Paperback

I'm using this book to do the 3 month "P90X" workout again. Now I know the real importance of recovery and exactly what to eat to help it. I feel I have the tools to eat the right fuel and cutout the bad foods. I'll never drink Gatorade or any sports drink again now that I've learned about electrolytes and hydration replacement.
This book is great for any athlete as you'll get an awesome performance advantage, but it's also for fans of Dr. G's famous "80-10-10" Diet book. Especially those interested in a vegan diet from an athletic perspective. He really does spell it out for the average person, I now have a better definition of human nutrition processes like metabolism and liver function. Be warned, his advice is based on science without regard for status quo and will more than likely involve massive changes to your daily routine.

20 of 26 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Your body will love you December 9, 2009

By Timothy D. Lundeen

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

This book is not just for serious athletes, although it will help them tremendously. It is about living a long-term healthy lifestyle that includes a lot of physical activity.

When I follow Graham's nutrition plan, I wake up in the morning and feel like doing pull-ups; I just have to use my muscles. Going to yoga is blissful, and I've started running just because it feels good.

Graham doesn't just tell you what to do, he talks about why he makes a recommendation. For me, this makes it a lot easier to incorporate his advice in my day-to-day life.

A brilliant book, highly recommended.

Update: I think that this diet is great on a short-term basis, but doesn't work for the long run. On a short-term basis, it eliminates almost all of the typical Western food that causes food intolerance, so will likely have you feeling much better. It also provides a lot of good nutrition, because there aren't any wasted calories.

On the downside, you are likely to be deficient in zinc, iodine, sodium, and B12, and you won't get enough omega-3/omega-6 fats to stay healthy. The other major issue is the very high levels of fructose, which over time cause uric acid levels to climb and leads to leptin/insulin resistance and can lead to non-alcoholic liver disease.

I enjoyed my time on this immensely, but am currently eating a very traditional diet, in the sense that everything I eat would be recognized as food by someone living 5,000 years ago. And I feel great, without any insulin/leptin resistance.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars every person can gain health from ideas in this book December 12, 2009

By A. Marderosian

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

Dr. Douglas N. Graham's ideas make total sense and really work! Clear mind, happy mood, boundless energy, high performance come from eating/living in this sensible simple way. Each of his books is a great contribution to human health! "The 80/10/10 Diet" and "Grain Damage" too are great books of his. Many people's lives have changed amazingly from these ways of living well. See [...]

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars To the Point April 3, 2011

By John R. Barker

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

My wife bought this book for me several years before I actually read it. We've been on a variety of raw diets, on and off, for nearly seven years. When I read, and tried, Dr. Graham's diet I was coming off my longest non-raw stretch which resulted in weight gain of about 35-lbs.

Tired of looking at the new, fat me in the mirror I decided to try the diet and hire a personal trainer.

I stuck with the personal trainer for 6 weeks - and with the diet for three weeks. The net result (working out three times per week for 1 hour) was a loss of 12lbs of body fat and a gain of 6lbs of muscle. Most of that progress did occur during the initial 3 weeks when I adhered to the diet.

Now, I'd have preferred to have stayed on the diet the entire time but that's a real challenge, even for someone accustomed to eating raw. There were items that I simply don't enjoy eating that you're required / encouraged to eat a ton of. Essentially Dr. Graham cuts out all fats (which I now strongly disagree with) and consuming adequate calories by eating enough tomatoes or bananas or watermelon or lettuce to achieve the adequate calorie goal. That's a lot of lettuce! As much as I enjoy watermelon it's a challenge to start the day by eating it until you can't stand to eat another bite, and then eating some more.

Crazy as it may sound, I'd try this diet again. I do believe it produced results in the form of weight loss and muscle gain. And after the first few transition days my energy was abundant. But personally, I can't imagine living this diet long-term unless I lived in a tropical paradise.