Have you ever wondered what Lebron James was eating when he was 10 years old? Do you think Michael Phelps was snacking on Red Vines and Nacho Flavored Cheesy Poofs when he was in grade school? What about Peyton and Eli Manning… did their parents take them out for Dominos Pizza after their Pee Wee Football games? There is a big reason why these athletes have the bodies and strength of Super Heroes… they are what they eat!
History of Health
Diet of Champions
In the early 1900s when athletes weren’t being paid millions of dollars for one season of NHL hockey or a round of golf on Pebble Beach, the professional athlete’s diet was not much of a concern. Babe Ruth was a big fat baseball player hitting 60 homeruns a season, but drinking whisky, smoking cigars and clearing buffet tables full of doughnuts. In fact, a lot of athletes back then just looked like normal people.
Caliber of Competition
Diet of Champions
Things have changed. There is so much competition to get into professional sports nowadays that athletes are training very hard, and their diet is a major factor. If you want to get into the Olympics or play baseball for the Yankees or join the World Surfing Tour, it will really help eating lots of healthy things! Eating the proper foods is not only good to help build muscle and increase bone strength, but having a healthy diet will clear your mind, focus and energize your batteries to get out there and blow the competition away.
Let’s start with the average athlete’s diet. All athletes eat 5-6 meals a day. They get up in the morning and make power smoothies filled with fresh fruit. They make sure to get their fiber to help digest things throughout the day. Their meals are full of the foods of all the 4 food groups. Their snacks are healthy and they drink up to 10 glasses of water by bedtime. Here is an example of a specific diet of a professional superstar:
Daily Diet
5:45 am – Wake Up
- Two glasses of water
6:25 am - Breakfast
- whole wheat bagel
- peanut butter
- cottage cheese
- strawberries
- multivitamin
- mineral tablet
9:30 am - Smoothie
- 1 scoop protein powder
- orange juice
- banana
- 1% milk
12:00 pm - Lunch
- roast beef sub
- lettuce
- tomato
- cheddar cheese
- mustard
- 1% milk
2:30 pm - Smoothie
- granola bar
- blueberries
- yogurt
- apple
- milk
4:30 pm
- 2 glasses of pure water with amino acids supplement
5:15 pm - Workout
- 2-4 glasses of pure water while working out
6:30 pm - Smoothie
- strawberries
- strawberry yogurt
- vanilla protein powder
- honey
- milk
- orange juice
8:30 pm - Dinner
- chicken teriyaki
- orange juice
- ginger
- broccoli florets
- chestnuts
- rice
- 1 cup pure water
10:00 pm
- Glass of water before bed
Starting Point for Superstars
Diet of Champions
It’s not easy to become a professional athlete, but if you start with eating a healthy diet, you will be surprised at how much easier it gets. A healthy diet is the easiest thing to build your road to becoming a Superstar!
