Kansus City Chiefs quaterback Patrick Mahomes admitted to local reporters that he puts ketchup on his steak. He also told media he puts ketchup on his macaroni-and-cheese. He tweets he wants a Whataburger franchise to come to Kansus City. Ketchup companies were offering free ketchup to celebrate at local establishments for the Chief’s playoff victory. Travis Kelce of the Chiefs advertises for McDonalds 2 for $5 dollar Mix and Match deal. He does a catchy post TD dance in the store that is very entertaining. Tom Brady on the other hand eats a mostly plant based diet, has personal chefs, and his wife cooks to meet his nutritional requirements. During the last play of the game, the announcers suggested a time out for the Chief Defensive line to have time to catch their breath. Perhaps all the vasoconstriction from the burgers finally caught up with them as they went into overtime.
The New York Times ran a piece Sunday discussing the poor health of retired football players. Remember these are not old men but young men in their thirties suffering from lifestyle diseases such as diabetes, hypertension and severe arthritis. Head injuries are interesting to talk about because they happen in an occupation that few of us participate in. Lifestyle diseases occur in all occupations and are better left unspoken. Today’s linemen put on massive amounts of weight to defend or get to the quarterback. The average weight of a lineman has gone from 240 pounds in the 1970s to 300 plus pounds today. It is not unusal for a freshman in college to be asked to gain 40 pounds. This amounts to eating every few hours. A lot of players report eating predominately cheap fast food such as pizza, burgers and milkshakes. We know that just one fatty meal can make a normal sized person glucose intolerant. In otherwords, it is hard to absorb glucose in the setting of a high fat meal. So day in and day out these young men are torturing their endocrine systems to handle massive amounts of calories along with fat, sugar and salt. Chronic arthritis is common as is lower leg and back injuries. They are blamed on the physicality of the sport, but how much does the chronic inflammatory state of their bodies contribute to thier injuries? When their careers come to an abrupt halt on average of 3.3 years, most have difficulty sheading the weight and may accually put on more weight secondary to their more sedentary lifestyles. This results in lifestyles diseases and a much shorter lifespan in these individuals.
The Game Changers movie produced by James Wilkes is going to be released in the near future. I have been to a screening and it is fabulous. The Tennessee Titans are featured and describe how players going vegan have had improved performances and less injuries. It is my hope that college and professional coaches will come to understand that the difference between a great team and a good team is the training in the dinning room as much as the weight room.
I was saddened to see the Clemson Tigers, National Championship football team be served fast food in the White House. The vast unlimited quantity of food was celebrated, but the terrible desplay of unhealthy food can not be overlooked. The White House dinner would have been a wonderful opportunity to introduce beautiful, healthy, nutritionally dense, fine plant food to young men that most likely otherwise live on fast food. One great experience like that is enough to change ones views on nutrition.
I have always enjoyed sitting at a table fully dressed table because of an experience I had when I was a young girl dinning at my parents friend’s house. When someone takes the time to dress a table, the dinning experience showcases the time and effort the cook made to prepare a delicious meal. There is a great opportunity for all of us to show the beauty of a plant based meal when we take time to dress the table, and display the food showcasing the colors and aromas of nutrition and delious plant based food. The next time you have the opportunity to have guest over, instead serving their traditional SAD foods, make a colorful plant based dinner and dress the table. You will be planting a seed for the love of fine plant based cooking.
Congradulations to Tom Brady and the other players that have realized that the key to greatness is related to maintaining a healthy body thtat can perform day in and day out with decreased inflammation, better blood flow and better nutrient delivery. It is time to show the world that those making the most green happen to be eating the most green.