"YOUR ONLY AS GOOD AS YOUR LAST MEAL"

I usually buy a magazine or two in the airport before boarding, leaning toward fashion or fine food, but Outside magazine's cover announcing the issue was dedicated to nutrition caught my eye.  I found that intriguing in a publication dedicated to active lifestyles and adventure-travel. By the time I landed in Denver and boarded a van for Vail (talk about the land of active life styles), I'd read it cover to cover. OK, I'm definitely not an athlete, but I do have a trainer, play golf (mediocre)  and do some exercise daily - doesn't that count?  The quote is from an article by Nick Heil on Olympic athletes and how precisely they consume specific foods to fuel performance. I mean they have got every bite and calorie for the individual down to the exact quality and quantity the athlete needs for his or her sport and the amount of energy needed for the amount of time they are doing it.  They are, literally, fueling machines the way they pump gas into a race car. 

Not every athlete embraces this idea, but the recent London Olympic types are pretty hard core and some swear by a magic beet root concoction that made it's way to the Olympic dietitian's recommended regime without causing a doping stir.  I've attended both Summer and Winter Olympics and noted each Olympic Village had a very prominent McDonald's serving up the usual stuff, not beet juice.  Probably had something to do with big $$$$ numbers.  Another article in the issue was dedicated to dehydrated foods that you carry for backpacking and such.  Hard to make that stuff appealing, unless, as the point was clearly made, you are starving with hunger from rigorous exercise and there's nothing else.  Anyway, it was all a very different perspective on food than I usually consider.  Heil posed the question, what would happen if recreational athletes put the same emphasis on nutrition as Olympians do. Hummm?

You hear quite a bit about "super foods" these days. I've complied a list from the Internet of about 100, primarily fruits and vegetables, and decided I will  eat nothing but "super foods" for two weeks and given the fact that I've given up butter and white wine for Lent (groan) maybe I'll see some remarkable improvement in my life. It's easier to note what's not on the superfood list than what is. No butter, sugar, cream cheese or vodka.   As stated earlier, I'm not an athlete, but I like any experiment with food and don't mind being the Guinea pig.  Two week may not be long enough, but I think that's all I can stand.

Here goes, I'll keep you posted.