The Paleo Diet for Athletes (11 page)

Goal #5: Reduce the acidity of body fluids.
During exercise, body fluids trend increasingly toward acidity. There is also evidence indicating that as we age, our blood and other body fluids also have a tendency toward acidity. The cumulative effect is a slight lowering of pH (increased acidity),
which the body offsets by drawing on its alkaline sources. Regardless of your age, if this acidic trend following exercise is allowed to persist for some period of time, the risk of nitrogen and calcium loss is greatly increased. The body reduces the acidity by releasing minerals into the blood as well as other body fluids that have a net alkaline-enhancing effect, thus counteracting the acid. Calcium from the bones and nitrogen from the muscles meet this need. The trend toward greater acidosis is stopped. This prevents a health catastrophe, but at a great cost.

The problem is that in neutralizing the acid this way, we give up valuable structural resources. You’re essentially peeing off bone and muscle as the acidity of your blood stays high. While cannibalizing tissue is necessary from a strictly biological perspective, this is an expensive solution from an athletic and a long-term health perspective. While body fluids may be chemically balanced by the process, future performance and health may well be jeopardized as muscle and bone are compromised.

Research has shown that fruits and vegetables have a net alkaline-enhancing effect.
Table 4.4
demonstrates the acid- and alkaline-enhancing effects of various foods. The foods with a plus sign (+) indicate increased acidity; the greater the plus value, the higher the acid effect. Those foods with a minus sign (-) decrease the acid of the body fluids in direct proportion to their magnitude. So, by preparing a recovery drink with fruits and juices that have a net alkaline-enhancing effect (they reduce acidity), you are doing more than merely replacing carbohydrate stores; you’re also potentially sparing bone and muscle. Interestingly, a recent study by Cao and associates at the US Department of Agriculture found that although animal protein increased the urinary excretion of calcium, it did not have any negative consequences for bone health.

Table 4.4

Acid/Base Values of Food (100 g portions)

Reprinted from the
Journal of the American Dietetic Association,
V95(7), Thomas Remer and Friedrich Manz, “Potential renal acid load of foods and its influence on urine pH,” pp. 791–97, 1995, with permission from the American Dietetic Association.

HOMEBREW RECIPES

Based on all of the above, then, here’s what you want in a homemade recovery drink: fruits and juices (to provide fluids and slow-releasing carbohydrate with electrolytes while reducing blood acidity), glucose (a quickly absorbed energy source), protein (to replace what was used in exercise and hasten muscle recovery from breakdown occurring during exercise), and sodium (because fruits and juices are low in this electrolyte). Using ingredients that are mostly found in your own kitchen, you can make a smoothie that fulfills all those requirements.

Start by filling a blender with about 12 to 24 ounces of fruit juice, based on your body weight (see
Table 4.5
). Apple, grape, grapefruit, orange, and pineapple are good choices due to their relatively high glycemic loads and electrolyte contents. Next, add a fruit from the list in
Table 4.3
and glucose, also sometimes called dextrose (see
Table 4.5
). Then, with the blender still running, add protein powder from either egg or whey sources (see
Table 4.1
). Sprinkle in two or three pinches of table salt. If you didn’t use frozen berries, add a handful of ice. There you have it—a fairly inexpensive drink that has all of the ingredients needed for immediate recovery.

TABLE 4.5

Ingredients for Homebrew Recovery Drink (by body weight)

Each smoothie also includes one fruit and two or three pinches of table salt.

You don’t need to use this type of recovery drink after every workout, just those that include a significant amount of intensity or last at least 60 to 90 minutes. In fact, avoid using this drink when you don’t need it, as the high glycemic load is likely to add unwanted pounds of body fat. After short and low-intensity workouts, you can make a smaller version of the homebrew without the glucose.

STAGE IV: SHORT-TERM POSTEXERCISE

For very intense, short workouts or those longer than about 60 to 90 minutes, recovery needs to continue beyond the initial 30-minute window. Although there is no research supporting this, we have had success in coaching athletes who eat a Paleo diet in Stage V in continuing to focus on recovery for the same amount of time that the workout or race took. Stage III is unlikely to fully meet all of your recovery needs following a workout that lasted longer than about 90 minutes. Recovery needs to continue into Stage IV following such lengthy sessions. And the longer the workout was, the more critical Stage IV becomes. When athletes tell me they don’t recover well as Paleo dieters, I usually discover through questioning that they go straight to Stage V without inserting a Stage IV. Stage IV is critical to your recovery. Don’t omit it.