Eating to Win
with America’s #1 Food Coach
Majid “Magic” Noori
with Skip Anderson and Fred DuBose
Copyright James Anderson, Fred DuBose, and Majid Noori 2012
Published by SpiderRico, LLC at Smashwords
Cover photo by David Johnson. Used with permission.
All rights reserved. No part of this book, electronic or otherwise, may be reproduced in any form, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in review, without written permission of the authors/publisher.
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ISBN 978-1-4659-0211-5
It is with grateful appreciate that Magic Noori thanks those who have encouraged him during the process of writing this book, most notably his wife and daughter, his co-authors, the thousands of college athletes with whom he has worked, the dozens of those whose talents carried them to the professional ranks, and the coaches and administrators at Vanderbilt University. And, of course, the incomparable Tammy Boclair. Fred DuBose thanks his friends and family. And Skip Anderson thanks Craig and Richard Fontaine, the Spencer and Howell families, Mark Reagan and Jules Childress, Michael J. Schoenfeld, and Beth Fortune.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1: The Key to Your Competitive Edge
Chapter 2: Getting Started … and Setting Goals
Chapter 3: Planning Your Meals
Chapter 4: Which Foods Fit Your Needs?
Chapter 5: Your Weight-Loss Training Table
Chapter 6: Your Weight-Gain Training Table
Chapter 7: Feeding the Athlete in You
Chapter 9: Hydration, Hydration, Hydration
Chapter 10: Working Out, Weighing In
Chapter 11: Rest to Be Your Best
Chapter 12: Foods to Fight Illness & Heal Injuries
Introduction
That you’re reading Eating to Win probably means you play sports of some sort, run marathons, or simply believe energetic physical activity is the road to health and happiness. You could be an 18-year-old who plays on your high school football or basketball team or a middle-aged “weekend warrior” who hits the tennis court or golf course now and then. You could be a grandparent determined to get in an hour of walking each day to keep your heart strong and your weight steady. Or you might even be among those select few who’ve entered the hallowed realm of professional sports. Whatever the case, you live a physically active life, and you like it.
With all of the media attention given to fitness, you no doubt know that a long-term food plan – as opposed to a few weeks’ effort to lose weight and stay fit – is part of a winning strategy. And because you love getting physical, what better food plan to adopt (and adapt) than one tailored to athletes?
That’s what I do for a living, and the Training Table model I’ve developed over the years can be your ticket not only to improving your performance on the field or track but also to maintaining your optimum weight and fitness level.
My Road to the Training Table
In my youth I was a competitive swimmer in Iran, and after a while I realized there was a connection between what I ate and how I well I swam. It wasn’t just what I’d eaten the night before that affected my performance but also the food I’d had in the days leading up to competitions. What’s more, it dawned on me how vital being well rested was to peak performance in the pool, and that when I rested also mattered.
This realization inspired a passion to help other athletes and propelled me to a degree in nutrition and sports science from the University of Tehran. My move to the United States in 1977 led to a successful career as a chef in Nashville, Tennessee, and in 1990 Vanderbilt University recruited me to cook for the men and women of their then fourteen (now sixteen) athletic teams. I jumped at the chance and quickly devised a “training table” program. Here’s a glimpse of the game plan in its infancy:
In the summer of 1991 I loaded up my fledgling Training Table and moved it to the nearby hamlet of Bell Buckle, then the site of the Vanderbilt Commodores football training camp. Many players worried they would lose needed poundage – not surprising, given the two-a-days in the South’s scorching heat. So the coaches and I worked together to beat the odds: They made sure the players’ practice schedules allowed ample time for resting and eating, and I kept the right food coming.
By the end of the training, almost all of the players had either maintained their weight or added muscle. Before long they recognized the power of thinking beyond hunger and habit – and I caught the attention of Sports Illustrated, which called my nutrition program the best in college football. The magazine later chronicled its progress time after time and named me “Food Coach of the Year.“
Today my Training Table serves more than 300 Vanderbilt Commodores and is the model for other colleges striving to give their athletes a competitive edge. In addition, I’ve helped young men and women outside the university take their game to the next level – among them, high school athletes and more than a few Tennessee Titans.
Go For It!
At its core, the Training Table program is rooted in my winning formula of FREE – Food/Fluids, Rest, Exercise, and Education, as explained in Chapter 1. What has worked for the athletes I’ve advised – whether they play for the NFL, NBA, NHL, Major League Baseball or as enthusiastic amateurs – can also work for you. Developing a personal program requires discipline and resolve, of course. But once you get into the habit of approaching food and drink by way of the Training Table, you’re home free. Enjoy reading Eating to Win, and good luck!
– Majid “Magic” Noori
February 2012
––– Take Note –––
Playing Hardball with Soft Drinks
I work very closely with Vanderbilt athletes, both in the Hendrix Dining Room and during summer training. And from the beginning, they’ve known that I’m bullheaded when it comes to changing eating habits. In fact, on the first day of my job in 1990, I pulled the plug on the dining room’s soft drink machine. The typical cola gives athletes nothing more than empty calories, way too much sugar, and – perhaps worst of all – a big dose of dehydrating caffeine. In short, soft drinks are counterproductive to an athlete’s progress toward peak performance.
After disabling the machine, I called the vending company and asked it be removed. After several days passed and it became obvious the company was ignoring my request, I informed the rep that if he wanted his machine he would find it in pieces in the Vanderbilt parking lot — a bit of bravado on my part, but heartfelt nonetheless.
Though I never heard from the rep, my disabling of the soft drink machine stood as a symbol, demonstrating to student athletes and my staff alike the importance of taking food and drink choices seriously – a lesson to be learned by any competitor ready to take a seat at the Training Table.
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Chapter 1
The Key to Your Competitive Edge
Show me an athlete whose career is more successful than most and I’ll show you a person who is disciplined in all areas of training and diet. Show me recreational athletes who regularly hit the tennis court, golf course, or running track and I’ll show you men and women who are among the healthiest and most competitive. If you choose to join their ranks, you’ll not only improve your performance but also feel better, have more spring in your step, and may well add years to your life.
Athletes need to eat more frequently than anyone with a sedentary lifestyle – at least 35 times a week, or well over a hundred opportunities a month to enjoy performance-enhancing meals. Stick to your Training Table program and you’ll have a constant supply of carbohydrates, protein, and fat (the three essential macronutrients) and the calories they provide, along with vitamins, minerals, and trace elements (all known as micronutrients). In the short term, you’ll also rebalance your intake of carbs, protein, and fat as you approach game day, the bike race, the marathon. In the long run, you’ll take a more well-rounded approach to keeping yourself in great shape.
Set Yourself FREE
With all the media attention given to fitness, you’re probably aware that a long-term food plan (in place of a few weeks’ effort to lose weight and stay fit) is the way to go. And “long-term” describes my week-by-week program for athletes. The athletes I advise happen to be students at Vanderbilt University, but the principles underpinning the program apply to anyone who plays team sports or regularly engages in any other strenuous physical activity.
And just what are those principles? I refer to them with the acronym FREE: Food/Fluids, Rest, Exercise and Education. A brief overview of each element:
Food/Fluids. Yes, calories do count. But the secret to athlete-friendly meals isn’t depriving yourself of the foods you like best; instead, it’s calibrating the balance of your carbs/protein/fat intake and watching portion sizes. Then there’s hydration. It may surprise you to learn that by the time you feel thirsty, your body is already under-hydrated – the reason you should have at least 8 ounces of fluid eight times a day, whether it comes from the tap, a bottle, a soup bowl, or an orange.
Rest. My Training Table program calls for quiet time as well as exercise (below). Strategic napping also enters the picture, especially when you’re unable to get seven or eight hours of sleep nightly.
Exercise. Exercise doesn’t have to mean working out at the gym, keeping up with a Zoomba video, or doing jumping jacks, abdominal crunches, or push-ups. It can be as easy as walking instead of driving and choosing the stairs over the elevator as you go about your daily routine – and, when convenient, taking brisk half-hour walks.
Education. This amounts to getting a good idea of the nutritive value of each of your weekly meals – that is, the rough number of calories and the grams of carbs, protein, and fat you ingest so you can tailor food choices to your needs. How diligently you crunch the numbers is a matter of choice, but learning which foods are working with you – or against you– is essential. (See also “No Calculator Required!” in Chapter 3, Getting Started.)
––– Take Note –––
Farewell to the Food Pyramid
In 2006 the Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion (CNPP), a branch of the United States Department of Agriculture, went electronic with our long-standing guide to a nutritious diet – the food pyramid – and updated the five basic food groups. Today Choose My Plate (http://www.choosemyplate.gov) groups food and drink as follows:
• Grains Group Whole grains, refined grains
• Vegetables Group Dark leafy greens, red and orange vegetables, beans and peas,* starchy vegetables, other vegetables
• Fruits Group Tree fruits, vine fruits, berries,100% fruit juice
• Dairy Group Milk, milk-based desserts, calcium-fortified soymilk, cheese, yogurt
• Protein Foods Group Meats, poultry, seafood, eggs, nuts, seeds
Another big difference from days past: Choose My Plate’s interactive My Pyramid Food Guidance System (http://www.mypyramidtracker.gov/planner/) allows you to plan and track your diet online.
* Also included in Protein Foods Group
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Training Table Checklist
All in all, developing a Training Table program to fit your needs revolves around the ten steps shown below. Aside from planning your 35 meals a week (that is, 21 “real” meals and 14 snacks), you’ll want to exercise and know when to rest your body and mind. (Note: For weight loss–maintenance and weight-gain Training Table prototypes see Chapter 4, Eating Smart.)
1. Establish calories needed on days of intense activity and on those with lesser activity. (See “Balancing Calories from Carbs, Protein, and Fat” in Chapter 3, Planning Your Weekly Menus.)
2. Plan your menu of five meals/snacks per day for the coming week.
3. Eat breakfast within 30 minutes of waking up.
4. Eat a nutritionally balanced lunch, even if it means making a sandwich or wrap and taking it to work.
5. Have healthful snacks on hand, not only to satisfy hunger in mid-morning and mid-afternoon but also to keep your metabolism humming.
6. Center your dinner around high-protein foods so your body can better restore itself as you sleep.
7. Exercise for a specified time period at least five times a week. (See Chapter 10, Working Out, Weighing In.)
8. Ingest at least eight 8-ounce glasses of fluid daily, and more to pre-hydrate your body before a game or any other extended period of intense physical activity. (See Chapter 9, Hydration, Hydration, Hydration.)
9. Learn which foods and supplements help prevent, treat, or speed recovery of sickness, bruises, and aches. (See Chapter 12, Fighting Illness, Healing Injuries.)
10. In the evenings leading up to a competition, keep distractions to a minimum. (See Chapter 11, Rest to Be Your Best.)
Your Five Meals a Day
Naturally, what you eat is at the core of an effective Training Table program, as is making sure you don’t skip any of your five daily meals. Moreover, when planning your weekly menu you’ll want to look not only at calories, macronutrients, and micronutrients but also choose foods you find tasty, satisfying, and enjoyable. (Note: In some cases, especially when your goal is to bulk up, add a sixth meal: a after dinner or late night snack, as noted in the Weight Gain Training Table Sampler in Chapter 4.)
Whether you’re an aspiring or seasoned athlete, you may not realize just how dramatically food affects your performance and overall fitness. Consider the following:
• Menus too heavy in carbohydrates can lessen your absorption of all the vitamins, minerals, and trace elements critical to general health and slow the repair of damaged muscles and tissues.
• Menus with too much protein and fat can leave you huffing and puffing during your workouts and underperforming on the field, court, or track.
• Menus lacking in vitamin D hamper your body’s ability to absorb bone-building calcium, while a deficiency of B vitamins keeps you from firing up your metabolism and, in turn, your energy level.
For these reasons and more, food picks for your five daily meals call for forethought. In brief, breakfast and your mid-morning snack are the times to think “high-cal,” while for lunch and dinner you should concentrate more on the carbs and protein your menu choices supply.
We’ll delve more deeply into meal-by-meal and snack-by-snack choices in Chapter 3, Planning Your Weekly Menus and Chapter 4, Eating Smart – and, as you’ll find, it’s hardly rocket science. Once you get the hang of keeping “carbs, protein, fat” in mind, choosing the foods that best suit your needs will grow simpler week by week.
Getting Started
… and Setting Goals
How do you go about creating a Training Table of your own? Begin by taking four steps:
1. Determine your ideal weight. (For team athletes and the keenest “weekend warriors,” that that can mean your ideal playing weight.)
2. Figure out your metabolic rate.
3. Learn the role of carbohydrates in the diet and determine how large a carb load you should be ingesting.
4. Make sure to remember that a series of thought-out weekly menus will not only improve your athletic performance but also help you stay fit for life.
Gauging Your Body Mass Index
The Body Mass Index (BMI) is seen by many in the sports nutrition community as the most effective tool for gauging body weight and the health risks associated with body fat. The BMI formula involves dividing your weight by your height in inches squared and then multiplying that sum by 703. (For a weight chart based on sex, body frame, and height, see “How Much Should You Weigh?” in Chapter 9, Working Out, Weighing In.)
Translating Your BMI
As you can see here, a difference in seven or eight points in Body Mass Index numbers can move you from “officially” underweight category to the ranks of the overweight.
If you’re lucky, your BMI will lie comfortably in the middle range. Even then, there may be reasons to lose or gain weight, which I delve into in Chapters 4 and 5. Your doctor may have asked you to lose or gain for general health reasons, or a coach or trainer may have suggested you lose pounds or add muscle mass to make the athlete in you more competitive.
Finding Your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR)
In its broadest sense, metabolism defines the cellular chemical reactions that convert various compounds in food into the energy essential for bodily functions. To take charge of your weight and improve performance, figure out 1) your basal metabolic rate (BMR), the amount of calories needed to maintain current weight and get you through an average day; and 2) the ballpark number of calories you need to achieve your athletic goals, and where those calories come from.
A person’s daily metabolic rate differs according to age and sex, as these mathematical formulas show:
• If you’re a male under age 30, estimate your BMR by multiplying your current weight by 15; if you’re over 30, multiply by 12.
• If you’re a female under 30, multiply your weight by 13; if you’re over 30, multiply by 10.4.
Your BMR number is your bedrock, your foundation. Depending on whether you want to build muscle, increase endurance, or lose weight, you’ll use it as your starting point for increasing, maintaining, or decreasing calorie intake.
Calories: Burn, Baby, Burn
Even without exercise, your body is busy burning calories. Breathing burns calories. Reading burns calories. Sitting on the sofa watching TV burns calories. Much like an 18-wheeler requires more fuel to drive 100 miles than a small car, a person who weighs 250 pounds will require more calories to get through the day than someone who weighs under 200.
For example, if you weigh 130 pounds and run three miles in 40 minutes, you’ll burn about 450 calories. If you weigh 200 pounds, the same feat will take considerably more calories – around 700. And if you choose to work out every day instead of twice a week, you’ll obviously need more calories per week, and vice versa if you want to cut back on your workouts. (See “How Many Calories?” below).
Keeping Track of Carbs
Because carbohydrates (the blanket term for sugar, starch, and cellulose) are the organic compounds your body most easily metabolizes into energy, they should be the source of most of your calories. To determine how many carbs you need for peak performance, keep an accurate log of the foods and beverages you consume, and in what amounts, for at least two weeks. Did your energy drop off in the second set of last Saturday’s tennis match? Were you able to play two full rounds of golf one week but were too tired to carry on the following week? The answer could lie in your record of calories-from-carbs consumed.
Your meals vary from day to day, of course, so the longer you keep your food log, the more accurate the data will be. Websites such as http://www.fitday.com provide diet journals, and even smartphone apps like http://www.MyFitnessPal.com will calculate your results. Alternatively, keep track of your calories-from-carbs intake in a notebook. To arrive at the number of calories each gram of carbs provides, simply multiply the grams by 4.
How else to find nutrition data? One way is to check the Nutrition Facts (carbs included) on prepackaged foods and beverages, which aren’t always precise but will serve your purpose (see “Inexact Nutrition Facts” in Chapter 4, Eating Smart). When it comes to calculating the carbohydrate content of fresh foods, check out the sources listed in “Tallying It Up” in Chapter 3, Your Week’s Worth of Meals.
Calories from Carbs, Protein, and Fat
Once you have a good idea of the amount of carbohydrates you need for peak performance, you’ll be ready to gauge your total caloric needs, including calories from protein and fat. Just divide the combined daily total of calories by the number of days you kept track; the result is your average daily caloric intake – your starting point for establishing an effective Training Table. Imprint on your brain the calories provided by the three macronutrients:
• 1 gram carbohydrates = 4 calories
• 1 gram protein = 4 calories
• 1 gram fat = 9 calories
Then, after your testing period, proceed as needed:
• If you burned 1,000 calories more each day than you ingested and your aim is to lose weight, good job!
• If you need to maintain your weight, then increase your caloric intake by 500–1,000 calories each day.
• If you, your trainer, or coach (and possibly your parents and/or physician) agree that you need to gain weight, increase your daily calories from carbs and protein by 500–1,000.
Chapter 3
35 Shots at the Right Stuff
As laid out in the Training Table Checklist in Chapter 1, my program involves more than just food – as Fluids, the other half of the “F” in FREE, shows. But it goes without saying that its most important element is what you put on the table after you’ve determined both your ideal weight and the number of calories you need to achieve your athletic and fitness goals.
Planning Your Menus
The point of planning your daily menus a week ahead is the view it gives you of the big picture. It’s all about bringing your total intake of calories, carbohydrates, fat, and protein into the balance – if not every single day, than surely over the course of a week. Read on to learn what your five daily meals are doing for you.
Breakfast. Making meals work for you starts with breakfast. Even if you’re not accustomed to putting something in your empty stomach at dawn’s early light, you’ll do well to eat within 30 minutes of waking up. And don’t even think of skipping breakfast! This kick-start meal not only supplies the vital nutrients that increase your energy and improve your mood but also revs up the metabolism that burns calories throughout the day. What’s more, breakfast helps replenish the liver glycogen stores your body used overnight, readying you for the workout or exercise you’ll do later.
Mid-morning Snack. Who said you shouldn’t eat between meals? A morning snack – of high-calorie foods, no less – is valuable, especially when you want to add mass to your frame. If you anticipate strenuous exertion in the next day or two, mid-morning is also a great time for adding carbs. And, if you need protein, this snack can help you regain lost ground.
Lunch. Like breakfast, a healthful lunch can fall victim to today’s ever-more-rushed lifestyles, but the last thing you want to do is succumb to the convenience of the fast food drive-thru. Base your food choices on what you’ve planned for the rest of the day – heavy-duty or light training, a game, or a nice nap.
Mid-afternoon Snack. For successful athletes, an afternoon snack comes shortly before a workout or exercise, so foods full of both carbs and protein (for example, a piece of fruit and half a sandwich) are the preferred choice. Eating 30 minutes before strenuous physical activity helps build muscle more efficiently. As important, the food will be digested as you exercise and then provide the balance of blood glucose, amino acids, and insulin that begin to rebuild your muscles as soon as you finish your regimen.
Dinner. Foods taking center stage at the dinner table should be protein-rich lean meats and legumes, with dairy products in the supporting role. The body needs amino acids, which are protein’s building blocks, to repair any bumps, cuts, bruises, or small muscle tears that might’ve been sustained during the day – and they do their job all the better as you rest.
Adjust Your Carb/Protein/Fat Ratios
As I explained previously, the second “e” in FREE stands for “education,” which means getting a good idea of the calorie, carb, protein, and fat content of the food you slot into your weekly menus and when to adapt their intake to your levels of athletic activity, or lack thereof.
Those All-Important ‘Whens’
The harder your body works, the more instant fuel it needs. Therefore, a carb-heavy meal before exertion has obvious benefits. Still, for this strategy to be truly effective your heavier-than-usual carb intake should start several days ahead of strenuous athletic activity. Not only is it important to provide your body the proper food types in proper quantities, but doing so at the right time is a critical aspect of my food program.
Herewith your ideal timing:
• On a resting (sports-free) day, around 60–65 percent of your calories should come from carbs, 15–20 percent from protein, and 20 percent from fat.
• As you practice or train for an athletic event, you’ll want to ramp up your carbs while lowering your fat intake.
• On the day of the event, increase your ingestion of carbs and lower your fat intake even more, as the chart below indicates. (For more information on protein and fat, see Chapter 7, Nutrition for the Athlete in You.)
Balancing Calories from Carbs, Protein, and Fat
Remember that 1 gram of carbs and protein provide 4 calories each, whereas 1 gram of fat provides more than twice the calories – a total of 9.
Tallying It Up
So how do you go about determining calorie and macronutrient content of your food choices? Read on.
• Check the pertinent nutritional data on the labels of prepackaged foods, which is approximate but still serves your needs (see ”Inexact Nutrition Facts“ sidebar in Chapter 4, Eating Smart).
• Go online to find nutrition data for fresh meat, chicken, fish, produce, and other foods lacking nutrition counts. Just key the food or beverage into the search field of any of these websites, all three of which are free:
— United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) (http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/search)
— Calorie King (http://www.calorieking.com)
— Carbohydrate Counter (http://www.carbohydratecounter.org)
Check the table of contents or index of nutrition books to see if they offer the info you seek.
No Calculator Required!
If you’re the type who just can’t find enough uses for your calculator, you’ll jump at the chance to tally calorie and macronutrient totals. However, my athletes and I make a point of learning only the approximate carb, protein, and fat content of common foods, then go from there. Only if you’re an inveterate number cruncher is there reason to be exact.
Sticklers can make it easy on themselves by recording the data in a notebook or an Excel or Word document. For instance, once you’ve recorded that a medium-size baked potato with 1 tablespoon butter has about 300 calories – with about 85 percent of the calories from carbs, 2 percent from protein, and 50 percent from fat –this bit of data will always be easily at hand. And remember that websites such as http://www.MyFitnessPal.com and http://www.mypyramidtracker.gov/planner will take calculating data out of your hands entirely.
Give It Time
Before telling you how to plan own Training Table in the next chapter, I’ll caution you to be patient as you work toward your goals. Remember that your Training Table isn’t intended as a quick fix – it’s a food program for life. Besides, two months after starting you’ll feel so good you won’t give much consideration to what your bathroom scales said yesterday. Better still, you should be well on your way to reaching your athletic and physical potential – something that will show not only in your performance but also in your physique.
Food and Drink: Star Players
As explained in Chapter 1, my Training Table program includes exercise and rest components. However, it is naturally centered on your food choices, especially since we’re talking 35 meals a week. The advice you’ll find in the chapters that follow include how to …
• Be your own food coach and plan a Training Table
• Choose foods wisely without giving up what you like
• Expand your range of foods for the sake of fitness, performance, and endurance
• Relate food and drink to effective exercise
• Use food to help your body stave off illness and heal injuries
As a bonus, you’ll find prototypical food choices and how many of them compare with similar foods in terms of calories, carbs, protein and fat – and even three separate lists showing the comparative fat content of pizza toppings, the calories in different cheeses, and the carbohydrate content of beverages. If Eating to Win changes the way you look at food – and your eating habits start doing you favors on game days – then you’re on your way to gaining the competitive edge.
––– Take Note –––