Optimal Performance in Sports and Life
Brendan Brazier is the founder of Vega (vegan nutritional products) and the best-selling author of the Thrive book series; an ultimate vegan athlete's manual to harnessing your inner superhero by focusing on simple, plant-based nutrition and through maintenance of a healthy, stress-free lifestyle. I currently have two of the books from his series: the title that you see at the top of this blog, as well as Thrive Fitness: Mental and Physical Strength for Life. Brazier is a professional ironman athlete and two-time Canadian 50km Ultra Marathon Champion. He's been a vegan for 22 years and has a decade of race experience all leading to a mountain of trial-and-error nutrition experience, research, and results.
The Vegan Nutrition Guide (TVNG) is a fascinating read full of so much useful information that is applicable to everyone. Brazier has a way of plainly explaining complicated topics like: cortisol and stress, alkaline-forming foods/blood alkalinity, simple or complex carbohydrates, dehydration, as well as providing helpful lists of energy-superior whole foods that aid in optimal performance and recovery (for both athletes and non-athletes). I highly recommend both reads, but I would like to take a minute to pull out some important points that he makes in the book that I feel like many people have difficulty understanding.
Stress & Cortisol
Cortisol (a.k.a. hydrocortisone) is a steroid hormone that is released by your adrenal cortex as a coping mechanism towards stress. When cortisol is released, energy is diverted from other important functions in the body, and can interfere with psyche, motivation, the endocrine system and immune responses. Stress is a very broad term and could result from any number of things. Some of the root precursors and/or causes Brazier mentions are sleep deprivation, social/emotional stress or anxiety, exercise and recovery, poor nutrition, and even stress due to abrupt noise. If not addressed, stressors can easily layer upon one another with the great potential to lead to any number of severe health implications. The first indications that your body is coping with stress are the signs of fatigue, sleep disturbance, and mental fog. In short, increased cortisol levels from perpetuated stress often leads to weight gain, depression, and chronic illness.- Food Stress
Many people cope with stress by eating; for some people, anything that they can get their hands on. Whether it be healthy or unhealthy foods consumed, the issues people have dealing with stress in a high energy environment are at the core. Many Americans deal with stress by eating high fat, processed and sugary foods. These types of foods release serotonin into the blood stream, also known as the "feel good hormone." One of the reasons why people may resort to these types of foods is because natural serotonin release is suppressed by cortisol release, which we now know is the hormone released when we are under any level of stress. Releasing serotonin after consuming these types of foods is the brain's way of self-medicating in times of stress. In general, these types of foods are full of complex components that take a lot more energy for the body to break down. Additionally, these types of foods are low nutrient. Therefore, more energy (and blood flow) is being directed to our digestive system to break down these low nutritious complex fats and carbohydrates, and less energy (and blood flow) is being directed to our other vital organs.
Other Forms of Food Stress
A better solution, Brazier suggests is fruit--which is what humans used to eat before there was such a thing as brownies and potato chips. Another solution he suggests? Sunlight.
Life can seem overwhelming for many of us. Americans tend to regularly and willingly take on more than they can chew than any other country. Brazier suggests to, "select" your stressors; cultivate the beneficial ones and eliminate the non-beneficial ones. This can be done by categorizing what are beneficial/productive, what compliment your productivity, and what uncompliment. What Brazier considers uncomplimentary are environmental matters (10%) which may be out of your control, psychological matters (20%) which can probably be addressed with others, and nutrition (70%) which is controlled by self.
Many then antagonize the adrenal cortex even further by caffeinating an already tired mind, resulting in even greater fatigue. This, all paired with poor nutrition from complex carbohydrates in the form of processed, fatty and sugary foods and it is no wonder why 70% of Americans are overweight or obese, and one in four Americans die of heart disease every year.
For more information, please enjoy this interview with Brendan Brazier by Organic Your Life:
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