Ever wonder why most people eat so much alike? Milk and cereals for breakfast, a soup and a sandwich at lunchtime, and, with luck, a slightly more balanced dinner of meat or fish, rice and some vegetables? What about those mid-morning and/or afternoon coffee and toast snacks? Crackers? Cakes and sodas? Cereal bars? Do you think this is a coincidence? Of course not, this is no coincidence!
This only happens this way because that is how you were taught to eat. Maybe this is the way your parents eat. Perhaps this is the way your wife, husband or partner eats. Maybe this is the way your friends and/or co-workers eat. Maybe this is the way your teammates eat. In fact, people do not even realize if what they are eating is appropriate or not for our physiology and genetics, if it improves or worsens health, if it improves or worsens performance, they eat this way because this is the eating pattern that they have been following for many years, and these were the habits they have ingrained.
In the last article we covered several reasons why golfers neglect nutrition, one of the aspects that can most influence their performance on the golf course. Interestingly, most golfers are more concerned with top-of-the-range clubs and new accessories than the foods they eat. And that is why today I will present five reasons for you to improve your diet.
Think about this for a while. If you knew that eating and/or supplementing in a certain way would: 1) reduce your fat mass; 2) increase your muscle strength; 3) improve your bone health; 4) enable a faster recovery; 5) increase your distance from the tee; 6) improve your mood; 7) reduce feelings of anxiety and anger; 8) improve your concentration and creativity; 9) improve virtually any known health marker and 10) improve your performance in training sessions and/or competition, would you be willing to eat that way? Given this short list of benefits I think it would be worth a try. Stay with me.
- Eating well will improve your body composition
Your total body weight is the sum of your lean mass and your fat mass. Lean mass consists of muscle mass, organs, bones, blood and skin. Your fat mass is basically all the fat that has accumulated in the body. For an individual to be considered athletic, he or she needs to maintain a good ratio between lean mass and fat mass. And golfers should be no exception. By this I do not mean that all golfers need to have Cristiano Ronaldo’s abs, what I mean is that under normal circumstances excess body fat has no benefits (unless you are a sumo wrestler in the spare time). Excess body fat will affect the efficiency of your swing, your mobility and your rotational power, meaning that you will have greater difficulty moving your body when you carry excess fat. The more fat you have, the more energy you have to use to move your body – the fat will “steal” power from your swing. So, it’s not the fat tissue that will give you power, it’s your muscle tissue!
- Eating well will improve recovery
If you are seriously committed to improving your game, you know you need to practice (and a lot!). According to experts, some professional golfers can hit 600 balls a day including chips and putts. And to perform all these swings you need muscle strength and power, meaning you need to do some kind of work in the gym! If the body is not prepared to cope with this type of stress in a regular basis, injuries and pain will begin to rise. If you often end your golf training sessions sore, if you notice fluctuations in motivation, if you can no longer hit balls in a coordinated manner, if you notice reductions in appetite, and if you are awake at night despite training a lot, it is very likely that your recovery is not being optimized. Muscle damage, Central Nervous System fatigue, and over-reaching are all common symptoms of many sports, but golfers tend to ignore these things. Although golf is not as physically demanding as other sports, the fact is that the daily training volume to which the body is subjected is large and this will make nutrition a key part of recovery.
- Eating well will improve mood, concentration and focus
Any professional golfer on the PGA Tour and/or the European Tour is capable of winning any major event. But why do some stand out more consistently than others? Because, according to experts, those who excel are mentally unshakable. That is, their ability to turn off negative internal dialogue, to consciously relax the brain and to focus with unflappable concentration is impressive. Some consider this to be an innate skill. And it is indeed. But it can be trained! However, there is also a biochemical basis for this mental prowess. You should know that by providing the right nutrients, including nutritional supplements, at the right times, the physiological link between the brain and muscles can be strengthened. Such as focus and concentration. For example, by controlling your blood glucose levels with frequent meals and less dietary sugar, mood fluctuations and that feeling of low energy after lunch can be eliminated. Therefore, in addition to body composition and recovery, nutrition can strongly affect your mental game. With the right nutrients, concentration, neuromuscular efficiency and mood can be significantly improved. On the contrary, if you do not ingest good nutrients, fatigue will appear earlier and you will no longer be able to concentrate in the same way.
- Eating well will improve your health
When I am talking about health, I am not just referring to the absence of pain and/or illness, I mean a feeling of physical, emotional and mental well-being. To perform at the highest level, health needs to be optimized, so the definition of health I share with my clients/athletes includes: 1) a resilient immune system; 2) strong antioxidant systems that protect against free radicals; 3) good detoxification systems; 4) a good balance of bacteria in the gut; 5) a good balance of basic and acid foods; 6) low levels of inflammation in the body; 7) an ideal balance between fat mass and lean mass; 8) a good balance of fatty acids; 9) good insulin sensitivity; 10) high energy levels and 11) the ability to maximize mental and physical performance at any age. All of these health markers can be influenced by the foods we eat every day! Therefore, these nutritional strategies will not only help you prevent disease but also optimize your body function and perform at the highest level.
- Eating well will improve your performance in training and competition
It is not surprising to most of you to find that most nutrition on the golf course is poor, ranging from mixed sandwiches and beer, to sports drinks and “energy bars” (note: most of which are basically full of sugar and bad fats) with a seemingly healthy label. These foods are certainly not preparing you for noteworthy performances, I would even say that these foods will compromise your performance. For example, beer is a central nervous system depressant, reducing concentration and motor control. Sports drinks (e.g. Powerade), sandwiches (even wholegrain!) and “energy bars” will raise blood sugar levels, which is-apparently good because it leads to a quick energy rise, but it turns out to be bad because then we’ll also watch a rapid energy drop 45-60 minutes later. When blood sugar levels drop to a peak, mood worsens, focus and concentration decrease – and of course performance worsens!
To optimize your performance in training and competition, there are at least three things that are required. First, you must maintain good hydration, especially in hot and humid climates. Even a slight dehydration can reduce coordination and motor control. Secondly, you must control your blood sugar levels. This means that you should not eat sugar-rich foods, but foods that help keep your blood glucose levels stable. Third, you should resort to some nutritional strategies and/or supplements that help you increase focus and concentration. In short, don’t continue to depend on what they offer you in the golf course bar carts – probably the only healthy thing they have there is water!
Good strokes!
Pedro Correia
All golfers have one thing in common: they will invest a lot of time and money to improve their game! They will hire the best coaches to perfect your golf swing. They will buy the best equipment available to get more accuracy and to gain distance. Those who have already realized the importance of fitness in this sport will hire the best professionals to help them gain mobility, become stronger and more resilient. Some will turn to sports psychologists to learn how to maintain a good attitude in the field, focus and concentration. They do all this in order to make more birdies. But aren’t they forgetting something?
In fact, there is something that most golfers forget to change: their low-quality diet. Most golfers have no idea how diet can influence performance. For starters, they forget that eating poorly will compromise increased muscle strength and will lead to body fat accumulation. And if you still think that having weak muscles and excess body fat is the way to go to become a top-level golfer, it’s not worth reading any further. This article is not for you.
In addition to the deleterious effects on body composition and muscle strength it must be borne in mind that eating poorly will limit focus and concentration, will lead to mood swings and may lead to poor immune function, increased chronic inflammation and general health problems. Try playing several rounds for days at a time when you are in a bad mood, in bad shape, and unable to concentrate. Poor nutrition will have a direct impact on training and competition. Lack of focus, concentration and early tiredness, especially during training and / or competitions, are signs that your nutrition is compromising your performance.
No doubt, you can be very skillful with your golf clubs, do some Ballesteros shots and do some exceptional rounds from time to time, but if you’re looking for consistency in results and longevity as a golfer, there’s no better substitute than the foods you eat every day. None!
So why do golfers never change?
There are several reasons why golfers never change and prefer to continue eating the club sandwiches, the chips and the pasta served in every clubhouse menu in the world. Let’s go through some of those reasons.
1) The myth of the pre-competition meal.
Many golfers (especially beginners) make the mistake of thinking that it is only the food eaten before and during practice and competition that can affect their game. While this may make sense at a first glance, this is not physiologically what happens – most of the energy you are using today depends on the nutrients you have eaten (and absorbed) in the last 72 hours!
Please note, I am not saying that what you eat before and after practice / competition makes no difference. Of course it does! However, these meals are not necessarily the most important. Each meal will have a certain impact on your body regardless of the time frame in which it is consumed. It is the cumulative effect of these meals that will lead to an improvement (or decrease) in performance.
In other words, in golf, there is no pre-competition or intra-competition magic meal. If you’ve waited until the day before a big competition to start eating well, it’s probably too late. I am sorry to inform you but there are no miraculous solutions, you really need to eat consistently well!
2) Golfers cannot see the link between nutrition and performance.
Most golfers do not realize the connection between nutrition and performance. And that’s because they are not aware of how diet will influence their muscle function and brain biochemistry.
In the case of golf, as this is a sport that does not involve too much energy expenditure and does not require athletes to maintain a certain body weight (as with wrestlers, gymnasts, swimmers, endurance athletes or athletes from other sports), it is thought that the need to eat well is not that important. In fact, this relationship might not seem so obvious.
But that’s not the point, golfers don’t need to be muscular and low body fat individuals as you see in fitness magazines. What they need is to develop their athletic potential so that this is not a factor that could hinder their performance on the golf course. Golf is not a very energy-intensive sport so a golfer’s nutritional needs cannot match those of a fighter or an endurance athlete. But different does not mean less important – as we saw above it is not just body composition that will be influenced by diet.
Although the link between golf and nutrition is a little less visible than in other sports, it exists. Maintaining and / or increasing muscle mass, mobility, reducing inflammation of muscles and joints, maintaining focus and concentration, preventing injuries, can all be influenced by nutrition. But only those who put the best nutritional strategies into practice will have competitive advantages (obviously this does not include Big Macs!).
3) The difficulty in changing eating habits.
Probably the most difficult hurdle for most people is overcoming the eating habits they have. Our eating patterns have been around for a long time and few people are willing to change them if there is not a strong reason (as in the case of a serious health problem). And why does this happen? Because we have not been taught to think that food is information for our cells. We have not been taught to think that food will influence the expression of our genes. We have not been taught to think that it is the everyday foods we consume from our environment that can trigger health improvement or health deterioration.
Of course there are many other reasons why golfers are reluctant to change their eating habits and why you don’t change yours. And that’s why in the next article I will continue to address this topic so you can understand why you need to change your eating habits quickly to live healthier and to take your game to the next level.
Good strokes!
Pedro Correia