DIEt HARD. Your Body is Your Weapon

When you're on the court, your body is your weapon. Train to use it effectively. Always keep it clean. The bigger and stronger it is, the more damage it can do. And when something breaks down,
fix it before you go back into battle.

To ensure that you're ready to perform at your best, it's important to maintain a proper diet. Everyone's body is different. You need to train hard and listen to what your body is telling you. That's the only way to get the perfect diet.


The following is a regiment that I followed at the peak of my career. It was created after multiple years of research, studying my body, and analyzing my results in order to learn the diet that was right for me.


NOTE: The following any diet requires much discipline. My diet gives a lot of choices every step of the way. It will only work it you stick to it religiously. The more prepared you are to stay committed, the more prepared you will be.


Recommendations
This diet is for highly active players with a high metabolism.
It's best fitted for players that work out or practice at least twice a day.

The lunch and dinner regiment assumes that your metabolism is will allow you to get rid of lunch before the 2nd workout session.  That mean's  you're gonna have to take a dump or you may feel sluggish.

Frequency of Suggested Meals

The breakfast plan is everyday.  The lunch and dinner plan will change according to your game schedule. 

For instance, pasta and any carbs you consume will need to be BURNED OFF. If you eat pasta a few days in a row, you have to follow it up with intense workout or your body can turn it into fat. It will however make you extra strong and give you great energy for your workout. 

Before and After Workouts

Eat fruit (oranges and apples) and drink mini fruit juices right before and during workouts and practices.

Right after the workout you have a 90 minute window where it doesnt really matter what you eat. But if your metabolism isnt that fast, then you still might want to monitor your fat consumption. But that 90 minutes is where it is good to eat fruit like Bananas and protiens like assorted nuts (non salted)   That 90 minutes is where i like to go hard on Steaks and Potatos and I always eat something green. ALWAYS.

THE PLAN

BREAKFAST: Everyday. 

Part 1 - Fruits - Apples or Oranges - preferably mandarins
It's good to eat fruit at least 15 minutes before you eat anything else. I eat my fruit while i Read the Bible then I go and get part 2 of the breakfast. Don't mix Fruit. You have to know what you're doing when you mix a fruit. There are different fruits, when mixed together that can alot of good. However, there are others that can do alot of bad.  Choosing one fruit will allow your body to concentrate on breaking down the fruit and taking the minerals you need from it. 

Where to Buy Your Fruit

Don't be fooled by people who tell you to go buy from any specialty shops.  Organic doesn't mean it has to be super expensive.  Do your best to find a market in your city and buy from there.  In Philly, the Italian market is the place to go.  Every city has a market, do your research and you will save big.   Grocery store fruit has all kinds of bad stuff in it.  It's also really expensive.  But its better than nothing!

Part 2 - Choose one of the Breakfast's below

Breakfast Choice 1 - Muesli grain fruit cereal. The unsweetened kind, without all the bells and whistles. No need for granola and or other sweeteners.  All they do is make the box look better, and make the stuff more expensive.  

Click this link to see what muesli looks like http://www.amazon.com/Bobs-Red-Mill-Country-40-Ounce/dp/tags-on-product/B000EDDS6Q  It doesnt have to be this brand.  I couldn't even tell you the brand I use.   Cheaper is better for me.   If you want to make it sweet. USE HONEY DONT USE SUGAR. I cut out sugar from my breakfast and I feel great. Don't go cheap on the honey.

Breakfast Choice 2- Two (maybe 3) Egg whites and chopped vegetables.  Green or Red Peppers, onions, mushrooms. Throw some sliced Turkey in there for flavor. Fry the vegetable first IN OLIVE OIL (i understand this might be pricey in the States, but there's no other choice if you wanna go healthy) 

After the veggies are soft and lite brown, add the egg whites (NO YOLK).  Then add the turkey after the veggies but before the egg whites. The less salt and pepper you use the better.   Eliminate salt and you will be doing yourself a favor. DONT EAT MORE THAT 12 egg whites in a week. Bad for ya. I forget why, but I just remember being told its a no-no.

**If you are still hungry add some Italian Hole Wheat Bread. http://www.familyoven.com/offsite?r_id=96887&u=http://www.recipezaar.com/38746. 

Not the Strohmans stuff. Some mom and pop shop bread. The good thing playing in Spain is they have bread shops like USA has liquor stores--they're on every corner.  We buy bread homemade bread everyday.  It comes in a 2 foot long baguette, and they cost 70 cents.   Pour some olive oil on it and add some turkey slices and light cheese. (only 2 half inch slices)  You dont wanna overload on bread.  Unless you're about to work it right off.

To drink

Unless its freshly squeezed, don't do orange juice.   Water is better.  Coffee isn't very good either, especially when you add the sugar.   Europeans love their coffee though.  If you drink coffee with this diet, then you just wasted the 20 minutes I've already taken to write this.  It is proven that Apples wake you up better than coffee.   So don't buy into the I need coffee to wake me up in the morning-- its crap!!!  Apple juice always works for me.

LUNCH

This is your biggest meal of the day. 

1. Because lunch is after your 1st workout, you need to reload the weapon.  And because it's before your 2nd training you'll need to provide energy for the next round.  

2. Because you have all day to work it off.  You dont want to eat a big meal and then go to bed.  Thats BAD NEWS.  They actually say its better not to eat any meals after 6pm.  That's really hard to do if you're an athlete, but thats what they say.  That was never for me.

Choices:  I add the same sides to the all the choices I'm about to list.  Some type of green beans; string beans, peas, and my favorite broccoli.   You should also have potatoes.   You can have french fries but don't use salt. Fry them in olive oil.  My favorite is a baked potato.  I always buy a sack at the store, then soon as I get home,  I clean them,  cut off the roots and stickem in the microwave for a good 10-15 minutes or until a fork goes thru the middle with ease.   When i want to eat them,  I warm em up.   Dont add buttter.  Olive oil is best if you have the need to add something.

Lunch on Days with Light or no workout:
Start with a big Tuna Salad- not with all the mayo and gook.  Tuna (out the can is good. but fresh tuna from shop is the best)  Add lettuce, sliced carrots, other veggies.   Don't mix lettuce with tomatoes.   It cancels out minerals.   Add olives.  As a matter of fact, eat olives all the time.  They have special minerals in them that other fruits can't give.  It remains a mystery how olives effect the body, but research shows that they yield very positive results. I love them!  Load up on the veggies.  They fill U up and u are doing good.  And whatever you do, don't add all this crappy salad dressing.   It defeats the purpose.  Use Oil and Vinegar.  Use a dark vinegar though.  There are many.  I lik BALSAMIC VINEGAR.

Chicken Breast - not breaded- sliced and cooked on a stove top in olive oil.  I could eat this every day.

Put it on a whole wheat baguette.  (like at subway)   Add lettuce (or if you like tomato, hold the lettuce) Add light cheese, turkey, peppers, onions, pickle, olives. Or you could switch turkey for tuna.

Lunch on Days with Normal Workouts (many choices): 

Pinto Beans- let them soak in water for 24 hours. Cook for 1 hr.  Cook with onions and add some beef for flavor.

Lentils- let them soak in water for 1 hour.  Cook for 1 hr.  Cook with onion and add beef for flavor.

Red Beans and Rice. -great protien

White Rice and Veggies. Add some beef tips if you like.

Steak- low fat cut.  like Buey

Not highly recommended, but not so bad.   Sliced pork fried in pan or chicken burgers

Lunch on Days with Heavy Workouts:  This is my game day Lunch

Pasta with red sauce. Avoid all the sugary special additives to the sauce.  Making your own sauce from scratch is preferred.  If you use meat sauce, try to find out the percentage of fat in the beef.

I like to use tomatoe paste, and put in real tomatoes.  Then I add a low salt, thick tomato sauce.  Place in pot on ultra low.  Then slice veggies real thin,  (green peppers, red pep, onions, mushrooms) and place them in pan in olive oil.  Cook on low until they simmer, then dump them into a pot.

You can fry some ground beef in a pan and when it turns a light brown, dump the beef in the sauce. Or you can put some fresh tuna in there.

Cook the sauce on medium and continue to stir. Don't overcook.

Getting the Most Outta Your Carb Intake

I eat pasta the day before and the day of the competition.

You could also choose to eat a really basic Pizza. Not dominos or pizza hut!  A thin crust brick oven kind.  Sauce and a lite cheese only!  Mozzarella is ok.  The pizza option must be worked off,  but it can be a good substitution for pasta.  Just be sure that it is on a lean dough.

DINNER (many choices)

White fish and Veggies. I like hot sauce on my fish.  Tabasco is healthiest but too much hot sauce not good for you. I have to have it though.  It's mainly because I'm not a really big fan of fish, but it's probably the best dinner you could have.

Salmon and other fish are good. Pretty much any kind of fish is good.    You can't go wrong unless its shell fish. 

Cold cuts (turkey)

Yogurt---plain with honey

You can also repeat- the "lunch on normal days --light or no work out" options.  However, you must remember the closer you eat to bed time, the worse it is for the body.  I would try to stick to yogurt and stuff like that for dinner.  But you're probably accustomed to eating something.  Whatever you do, keep it Ultra LIte.  You dont want to sleep with fat in your system.  You will have just thrown your whole day's worth of doing good, straight in the garbage.