Hey, guys, Dr. Axe here. In this session, I’m going to be talking about the optimal foods to help increase your athletic performance and over the next 30 days, you’re going to be getting faster, stronger, more athletic by following our 3-core criteria of improving your training, your food and diet, and your supplementation. So let’s talk more about food and diet and there are six specific foods and food groups I really want you to focus on getting in your diet over the next 30 days to help improve your recovery and help increase the fuel your body has to increase your energy levels.

And so the first thing you want to be adding in is coconut oil. Now if you’re not using coconut oil, the reason why it’s great to add in, especially for cooking, it has a high heat threshold, and it can’t oxidize, but specially for athletes, coconut oil contains medium chain fatty acids that your body can burn for energy and this is a strategy a lot of triathletes are using now because they can burn this for energy for endurance events.

So getting coconut oil is the ideal fatty acid you should be consuming as an athlete every single day. And you could do a tablespoon in your breakfast smoothie. So a tablespoon of coconut oil, you can cook with it or you can even use things like coconut milk and coconut flakes let’s say in a trail mix or smoothie or any type of cooking. So, again, getting more coconut. Those medium chain fatty acids are perfect for burning for energy. The next food you want to add in are super seeds like chia and chia seeds are actually called warrior’s food or runner’s food and they were used Aztec warriors and they would go into battle and they would carry little pouches of chia and they would actually just do a tablespoon of chia before battle and they would say one tablespoon of chia would give them a full day’s energy.

And today there’s actually a book written called “Born to Run” that talks about chia being awesome as runner’s food and chia is your highest plant base source of protein, it’s high in fiber and it is also loaded with omega-3 fatty acids which are fantastic for reducing inflammation, which can help speed recovery for athletic performance. The next food group or food you want to be getting in your diet is collagen. Now collagen is the main ingredient of what’s called bone broth and bone broth has been consumed for thousands of years which helps your joints, also supports detoxification, but specifically if you want to recover faster, have healthier joints and gut, collagen is a very high source of amino acids.

And so a lot of times people turn today to the synthetic branch chain amino acids. Well, I’m telling you that collagen has the ideal nutrient ratio and amino acids like L-glutamine and proline, which are incredible for your joints; it can really help reduce inflammation and speed recovery. So you could do collegian, consuming as regular bone broth that you can make at home, or you can buy collagen powder and you can fine collagen powder typically in a health food store as well as on the draxe.com online store. But getting collagen is fantastic for increasing your athletic performance. And the way you use collagen is in your morning super food shake along with your green’s powder, along with some berries and some of that coconut milk and your organic protein powder, putting one to two tablespoons there of collagen in your breakfast smoothie is one of the best ways to get it. In fact, before I do triathlons as being a former triathlete, what I do is I put a couple of tablespoons of collagen powder in with applesauce and that’s what I use as my pre-workout fuel.

So if you’re wondering as an athlete, “Hey, what are some of the best things to do right before a workout?” I’ll touch on that here at end, as well. The next food you want to absolutely be getting on a regular basis is more protein. Protein helps build lean muscle. It really supports recovery. So doing things like grass-fed beef specifically. It’s high in iron; it’s high in vitamin B12, two vital nutrients to improve athletic performance. It’s also high in zinc, which is also important. And then the next thing here are berries. Berries are the best fruit for athletes because they’re so high in antioxidants which support recovery. Blueberries and raspberries are my two favorite, packed with resveratrol, bioflavonoids, and ellagic acid.

These antioxidants are the highest of all fruits in antioxidants and really the highest of all foods. And then, last but not least, you got get your veggies. Getting more veggies in can help alkalize your body supporting recovery. And my favorite groups of vegetables you want to be getting as an athlete are cruciferous vegetables along with green leafy vegetables and a few [inaudible 00:04:56] and that’s kale and collard greens. Kale is known as king in the vegetable kingdom and because kale is so high in vitamins, minerals and chlorophyll, which helps your body get rid of some of the acid build-up in your body, that alkalinity of getting more green leafy vegetables is so important for improving your overall recovery time. And if you want to know pre- and post-workout nutrition, right before you work out what you want to do is you want to do some carbohydrates and a small amount of protein.

So what I do in my pre-workout is I do applesauce or a banana. I do some sort of fruit along with a tablespoon of collagen powder and then a tablespoon of protein powder. I really typically only do about eight to 10 grams, so a half a scoop of protein before I work out, maybe about 30 minutes before, along with some fruit. And then right when I’m done working out, I do a super food shake that’s a mixture of a little bit of coconut milk, some organic fruit, maybe a banana and some blueberries, as well as some greens powder to alkalize my body, some collagen, some protein. So I do a super food shake right after my workout and you really focus on after a workout getting plenty of easily digestible protein and the best of the best is grass-fed whey.

So doing grass-fed whey or something like my healing protein you can find on the draxe.com store. It is the perfect protein for rapid recovery when you’re done working out. So I hope you’ve enjoyed these tips. I know that the next 30 days for you and following this program is going to help increase your athletic performance. Hey, try these nutrition tips and go ahead and get started today..

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