The Steve Coulter seminar I went to last night did not disappoint in the value I gained from it. I just love hearing Steve talk as he is so passionate about wholefoods and taking care of your body the way nature intended, not to mention entertaining along with it. I think if anyone gets the chance to hear him speak they should go along to one of his seminars. One thing he said last night that really struck me was this simple sentence…
“Is the food you are eating for company profit
or your health?”
By that he meant is the food you are eating packaged up in shiny bright packaging and processed to within an inch of it’s life or had the life entirely processed out of it, so that the company that is manufacturing it can make a huge profit by extending the shelf life of the product? If you took it out of the packet and left it on a plate on a shelf, is it live food and therefore becomes decayed by mould and fungus, or does it remain intact and just dry out? I think his exact question here was “If any self-respecting single-celled bacteria won’t eat it, then why would you?!” Or is the food you are eating as close to nature as possible? If you left this food on the same shelf as the packaged food above, would it decay and in a couple of years be nothing but air? Like he said last night, mother nature has given us everything that a human body needs to survive. The best thing for our bodies to repair and heal itself is natural, whole and live foods.
On top of this information, he spoke about supplementation and why wholefood supplementation is better than the synthetically manufactured vitamins and minerals. He spoke of how the body better absorbs and utilises the vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients of a product like Juice Plus made from plants, vegetables and fruit, so much better than it does the synthetically manufactured ones. It’s because our bodies are designed to get everything it needs by what naturally exists and grows around us. To prove this he showed us an x-ray of a man of 32 that had come into emergency in severe abdominal pain. They found that the cause of the intestinal blockage was a pile of undigested vitamin and mineral pills. I think every athlete in this day and age is aware that antioxidant supplementation helps to bridge the gap between what we eat on a daily basis (what we know we should be eating!) and the optimal amount of phytonutrients needed to combat the damaging effects of oxidative stress caused by hard training.
On the subject of training, he shared with us his memories of his sporting days as an ironman alongside Guy Leach and how most of them would train for 5-6 hours per day and think that this meant they could eat whatever they want. In fact their surf lifesaving club was sponsored by a bakery. They would train and then eat cakes after. Of course they didn’t get fat due to the training, but he said it took him a long time to work out that the best thing he could do for his body after such intense training sessions was to feed it real food that would help his body repair itself and grow. How many of us have done a hard fitness session and then thought that gave us the right to have a muffin for morning tea? I’ll put my hand up here and admit I used to do that. This is why I could never achieve the physique I wanted, even though I was eating the fat-free muffins, I mean c’mon, they were fat free… LOL!!
It all boils down to one point… you cannot out train a bad diet. Sure, give yourself some treats here and there, but if you really want to live to a ripe old HEALTHY age and have your body repay you tenfold for respecting it by feeding it what it needs and giving it the rest it needs to recover and repair, then make sure the majority of your diet is good quality, live, whole food.
Anyway guys, I just wanted to share this bit of knowledge and inspiration I gained last night with you all, along with a quaint little nursery rhyme I found that I think all parents should teach their children!!
Have a great day, train hard and EAT WELL!!
Love Rae xxx
The best six doctors anywhere, and no one can deny it
Are sunshine, water, rest, and air, exercise and diet.
These six will gladly you attend, if only you are willing
Your mind they’ll ease, your will they’ll mend
And charge you not a shilling.
~Nursery rhyme quoted by Wayne Fields,
What the River Knows, 1990
4 Users Responded In This Article
Hi Rae
I don’t know if you watch Biggest Loser but last night they had a doctor on talking about eating wholefoods and making it a lifestyle change. He especially advocated the Mediterrean and Japanese diet.
One thing I thought was interesting was that he was totally opposed to people taking antioxidants, and said that research showed that people who took them lived at least 6 years less than people who ate well and got their antioxidants from wholesome food.
Cheers,
Gillian
This is true Matt, and I have done so much research on JP+ that my eyes have nearly blown out of my head… LOL!! I was taking “Pharmanex” which is supposed to be one of the best on the market and I can definitely say that I noticed better results when I started taking the wholefood supplement. And you’re always practical in your summaries 
x
You’ve just got to look at the Japanese and Mediterranean people to know that the way they live has something to it because most of them live to a healthy ripe old age, Gillian. That is so interesting what that doctor said, I guess that’s why I am more inclined to go for something like JP+ where the antioxidants in it actually come from real food. Something for me to research further! Thanks for that 
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Some vitamins will however digest, it just depends what you buy. Also there could be a case in point, that some alternatives like you describe seem good, but if the content was pretty poor in relation to price, some may be a mild ripoff, especially if they’re promoted as needing 2 a day, when you probably need one, because that’s an excuse to get you to buy more, if the manufacturers of any supplements, even a Protein powder, know that amount suggested is above an optimal level, but not high enough to be detrimental.
I agree that some supplements can be good, but it can be easy to be swayed by anyone, promoting quality sounding information, to people who don’t seemingly know as much.
The thing is to use common sense, some research and know exactly what the individual is getting themselves into.
I’m not casting aspertions on you as you know, just being practical in my summary
.
Take care and best wishes.
Matt