Welcome to www.EatForSports.org! This website, brand new in August 2008, aims to benefit our neighbors who find it on the Jenkintown High School athletic-schedule poster — and their friends and families.

It's part of Responsible Policies for Animals' education program to benefit people, animals, and the environment!

I hope EatForSports.org's well-researched, up-to-date information and personal testimonials will improve our athletes' wellbeing - and same for the rest of us whose health & fitness mean so much in our daily lives!

Dr. Barbara Ann Ellicott writes,

You might feel extremely skeptical, as I once had been, as to whether a change in diet, exercise and spirituality could actually improve your health. After all, we continuously hear conflicting contradictory reports as to what is or isn't good for us. And we often think that we are doomed by genetics. ...

Wait'll you see how Barb has benefited - as an athlete and more - from the kind of information provided here at EatForSports.org!

Rex Bowlby's father died when Rex was eight - of heart disease. The day of his first child's birth in 1989, determined to see his children grow up and having learned a lot about food & health on his own, Rex began eating as recommended here at EatForSports.org.

Seeing a wide gulf between the truth and what most people think about food, a few years back Rex, who holds a master's degree in management, took two years off from his job and created an amazing plain-talk 516-page volume to share his knowledge and experience in the hope that millions of others will benefit.

What a public service Rex provides! And with 1,001 published sources, a large number of them peer-reviewed scientific biomedical and nutrition journal articles!

Wait'll you see Rex's section on eating for sports! - reprinted here at EatForSports.org with Rex's permission.

With the food industry serving up heaping portions of its own self-interest, not athletes' or anyone else's best interests, we're on our own to find our optimal food choices. That means separating common wisdom from emerging research-based knowledge.

I don’t claim to be an athlete at 53, though I exercise plenty and fondly remember my days as a little-league all-star, playing league softball in my 20s, and coaching some great kids in soccer and baseball. Athletes need particularly strong bones & muscles and high stamina & endurance. If you’re like me, you probably prefer to have them, too! I hope you’ll join Barb, Rex, me, and the millions of other people who for years have been on the road to better health & wellbeing through mindful food choices!

After you read EatForSports.org, feel welcome to let me know whether you find it helpful. If our friends and neighbors benefit, maybe we'll tell a wider audience about it! Thank you for visiting, and here's to your good health!

       

Sport goes so far back, it probably comes from our original primate nature. All primates and many other animals play - many in complex, organized fashion. "Aboriginal" people have their sports. And if you look at today's most-popular and second-most-popular-sports - soccer and badminton - you can see how they easily could have developed from basic items in the natural environment, without modern manufacturing or professional coaching.

It goes without saying that food goes all the way back! No food, no life! No life, no play!

Modern food is so unlike the original human diet! Just the fact that we speak of agriculture, agribusiness, and a food industry says a lot. The standard American diet - called SAD by leading nutritionists today - reflects what food industries want us to purchase at supermarkets, not what our bodies and minds need to function optimally.

Huge numbers of us get by without functioning optimally. But to win, athletes need whatever edge they can get! And fitness - what we're able to do beyond merely sustaining life - increases with the quality of our health, of which food is a major component.

So without further ado, here is the eating-for-sports section "Athletes: Gentlemen, Start Your Engines!" from Rex Bowlby's section from his amazing, comprehensive 2003 book Plant Roots: 101 Reasons Why the Human Diet Is Rooted Exclusively in Plants:

If the average human being is a Ford Taurus, then the world-class athlete is a high performance Indy racecar. If the fuel formula that powers that racecar doesn't match up with the engine specifications for which the fuel was designed, the engine's optimum performance won't be achieved. The same goes for the athlete's engine. The question then becomes: Were athletic engines designed to run on New York strips or Idaho potatoes? Since there are no engine specs available to answer that, we will have to find the way to the finish line all by ourselves.

A word association response to "athlete" in the category of foods and nutrients might elicit words such as protein, iron, steak, eggs, liver, chops, and so on. Without these foods and nutrients how else could the athlete reach peak performance by transforming into a carnivorous predator, blood thirsty for victory, and primed for the kill? The scientific and dietary communities have some ideas on how else:

• Athletes who are winning are loading up on carbohydrates, not protein. ¹

• Carbohydrates should make up the largest portion of the athlete's diet; high-carbohydrate diets optimize muscle and liver glycogen stores, and have been shown to optimize performance during prolonged and moderate intensity exercise. ²

• The quantity of protein in the athletes' diet is rarely a concern. ³

• It is surprising to note that most meats are only average sources of iron when compared to many grains and legumes. ⁴

• Vegetarians have shown no negative performance effects due to decreased iron stores. ⁵

• Vegetarian diets can meet the needs of competitive athletes. ⁶

Experiments in the laboratory bear these declarations out.

• Tests in strength and endurance at Yale University showed vegetarians had twice the stamina of meat-eaters. Comparable tests by a doctor in Paris brought similar results: Vegetarians had 2 to 3 times greater stamina than meat-eaters, and required just one-fifth the time to recover. ⁷

• In another test, immediately after subjects were fed a vegetarian diet they pedaled stationary bicycles almost 3 times longer than subjects who were fed a meat and dairy diet. ⁸

• A test conducted with grip meters resulted in vegetarians having double the score of meat-eaters, with the vegetarians coming back from fatigue far more rapidly than did meateaters. ⁹

We might be inclined to question how nerdy white-coat-wearing, clipboard-toting, pocket-protecting scientists working in a laboratory a few thousand light years away from the competitive arena of world-class athletic competition could have a clue about the sports world. It's a fair question. So let's leave the lab and enter the stadium.

If the scientists and dieticians are all wrong, and the conventional perception that protein, iron, and meat are necessary for peak performance is correct, then we shouldn't be able to find too many vegetarian world-class athletes.

A brief data search returned more than 100 world-class vegetarian athletes, in 25 different sports, with two-thirds of the athletes reaching the pinnacle of their sport. The sports covered the range of endurance, strength, agility, and coordination.

They included baseball, basketball, bodybuilding, boxing, cycling, distance swimming, distance walking, fitness building, football, gymnastics, hang gliding, ice skating, karate, marathon running, rowing, sailing, skiing, snowboarding, soccer, tennis, track and field, triathlons, weightlifting, windsurfing, and wrestling.

These athletes fueled by the plant kingdom have achieved such titles as world champion, Olympic gold medalist, world record holder, Heisman trophy winner, Most Valuable Player, tournament winner, grand slam winner, Ironman, national champion, Mr. Universe, Mr. America, and World Cup champion.

A sampling of the 100 vegetarian athletes and their accomplishments include: ¹⁰

• Paavo Nurmi: Distance runner and one-time holder of 20 world records, and holder of 9 Olympic medals.
  
• Gilman Low: Body builder and holder of 9 world records.
  
• Peter Hussing: European heavyweight boxing champion.
  
• Edwin Moses: Olympic Gold Medalist who went undefeated for 8 years.
  
• Carl Lewis: 9-time Olympic gold medalist in track and field.
  
• Dave Scott: 6-time ironman triathlon winner.
  
• Nicky Cole: First woman to walk to the North Pole.
  
• Johnny Weissmuller: Holder of 6 world swimming records in his time.
  
• Art Still: Professional football player and defensive end MVP.
  
• Billy Jean King, Chris Evert, Martina Navratilova, and Peter Burwash: Winners of enough combined championship tennis trophies to fill a swimming pool.
  
• Bill Pearl: Bodybuilder and 4-time Mr. Universe.
  
• Ridgly Abele: Karate world champion and 8-time national champion.
  
• Cheryl Marek and Estelle Gray: World champion cross-country tandem cyclists.
  
• Ruth Heidrich: Winner of over 800 triathlons and running races.
  
• A Japanese baseball team: Went from last place to champions after every member was required to switch to a vegetarian diet.

Whether we are an athlete going out for the sixth grade track team, or closing in on a world record, this list of athletes and their accomplishments would have to make us think twice about the contents of our next meal-and every meal after that.

Does this mean that these athletes wouldn't have amassed these impressive records if they ate a meat-based diet? We will never know.

Does this mean that becoming a world-class athlete is impossible if we don't become a vegetarian? Of course not.

What it might tell us, however, is that the fuel we put in our bodies will have a measurable impact on our performance. Maybe making the difference between achieving, or not achieving, a world record; making, or not making, the sixth grade track team.

And who knows, it's entirely possible there are many athletes who have not divulged they are vegetarians. Why do anything to jeopardize a competitive edge, might be their thinking. After all, they want to be in the driver's seat when the starter calls out, "Gentlemen, start your engines!"

A huge amount of useful information is available in the other 510 pages of Plant Roots! And also at Rex's fabulouswebsite www.veganswerman.com!

Rex tells us what some of the greatest athletes eat, but their bodies don't work fundamentally differently from ours! Millions of unsung athletes dedicate themselves to their sports without being paid or competing in the Olympics. Like me, you've probably been amazed at the stories we sometimes hear of the advanced ages at which some are competing - and winning.

What Rex tells us about eating for sports should lessen our surprise at what Dr. Barbara Ann Ellicott is about to tell us about the food choices that brought her back from the depths of ill health and on to athletic heights! The following is adapted from Barb's story in Star McDougallers, named for the famous physician and plants-only (vegan) eating pioneer John McDougall, M.D. - at www.drmcdougall.com and from Barb's amazing book described below. Now, here's Barb …

I am 67 years old and work as a speech-language pathologist. I was raised in a family where consuming meat, potatoes, some vegetables, and lots of dairy was considered the norm. Although I was a relatively active child, I was "chubby" and was the target of teasing, hated phys. ed. class, and was chosen last for teams, if at all. In my teens, I decided to diet, and since high-protein diets were the fad of the day, I diligently began one. Much to my parents' concern, I lost 50 pounds, but before my senior year of high school, I had gained nearly all of the lost weight back.

After having my first child at age 25, I was encouraged to drink as much dairy as I could, because that was believed to "help produce the best breast milk"! While in the hospital, I suffered from extreme edema (swelling from abnormal accumulation of fluid), which had only been recognized by my roommate, a registered nurse. Three more children later at age 34, my weight continued to see-saw in spite of my relatively high activity level; I had taken up jogging for fun, ran in several competitive races, and ran my first marathon in l983 at nearly 43 years of age. Still, not only did my weight continue to fluctuate, but I was told that I had hypertension, with blood pressure of 190/110.

My physician, a sports-medicine specialist, refrained from prescribing blood-pressure medications, but did prescribe diuretics, which I had taken intermittently for fluctuating blood pressure and edema in my ankles. To make matters worse, I'd been told I had mitral-valve prolapse and mild scoliosis and that I should refrain from jogging least my spine compression might injure my nerves! I disobeyed and ran even harder, which enabled me to feel and look so much better!

In 1994, I was brutally attacked by a pit bull dog while on an early morning run! The wound in my calf was almost to the bone and very wide. Following hospitalization with a Cipro antibiotic drip, I became something of an invalid for many months and couldn't commence physical therapy until the wound closed naturally. When it finally did, I was told I'd have permanent nerve damage and would never be able to run and/or balance properly again. I was devastated! I had gained much weight and felt like a frustrated sloth! I was bigger than ever - 70 pounds overweight. My blood pressure was elevated again, and my cholesterol was up. All of this plus the hormonal flux of menopause left me feeling 90 years old!

Then several things happened that would change my life forever! My daughters encouraged me to go to the North American Vegetarian Society's annual Vegetarian Summerfest. (My two daughters and one of my sons had long been vegans, and in my less informed days, I worried about their health!) Reluctantly, I went to the conference, and to my surprise, I was elated at such inspirational lectures as those given by John McDougall, M.D., and Ruth Heidrich, Ph.D., who would become my mentor! I purchased and read Ruth's wonderful book, Race for Life, viewed her video of the same title, and was ever so inspired! I was able to identify with many of her negative experiences with conventional medicine and with her determined spirit!

I was extremely impressed with Dr. McDougall's reference to the fact that Ruth COULD beat cancer following her mastectomy and without chemotherapy or radiation IF she began a VEGAN DIET! I knew the diet was the essential ingredient, because Ruth had been a daily runner for 14 years before she developed breast cancer - intensive exercise alone had not saved her. I thought, If this extraordinary woman, with a life-threatening disease (invasive breast cancer) could modify her life so positively, then why couldn't I?

I completed the Boston Marathon and received the "finisher's medal" in April 2001! I vowed to run at least one full marathon every year for the rest of my life, and I have done just that. In less than one year after becoming a vegan, my cholesterol fell from 202 mg/dl in 1997 to below 140 and my weight dropped by 70 pounds! I am at trim weight, and my blood pressure finally normalized. I have never taken medication, nor have I taken vitamins. I am passionate about life!

P.S. Virtually EVERYONE in my family suffers from the standard American diet, called SAD by many nutritionists.

Mother - arteriosclerosis, left bundle branch block, various heart problems.
Father - died of myocardial heart attack.
Sister - approximately 100 pounds overweight and has diabetes.
Uncle (mother's brother) - had cardiac bypass surgery twice!
Grandparents (all deceased) - one had gout and diabetes, all were obese, two had severe hypertension, one died of heart disease.

And when you read Barb's inspiring 2007 book Discovered Secrets: A Self-Metamorphosis - Inspiration for Self-Healing (2007), you'll see that she still teaches swimming and not only continues to run marathons, half-marathons, and triathlons but often finishes near the top! See www.drbarbaraellicott.com for more details of Barb's remarkable experience, knowledge she's gained about food, nutrition, health and the sports connection, and more!

Dr. Barbara Ellicott

       

Beyond Sports

Many athletes and their families share their fellow citizens' desire to conduct their lives with others' wellbeing and the public interest in mind. Though EatForSports.org is primarily about athletes' health & fitness, there's no denying Barb and Rex's food recommendations conform to the least-inhumane and most-environmentally-sound food choices and those that are least likely to keep medical & insurance costs soaring because they minimize chronic disease and the need for costly drugs, operations, and the rest.

So here's a small selection of the many authoritative, thoroughly documented books by trained & credentialed experts:

For books by John McDougall, M.D., many additional individual accounts, and other information, see www.drjohnmcdougall.com.

For up-to-date information from prominent nutritionists:

The China Study: The Most Comprehensive Study of Nutrition Ever Conducted (2005) by Cornell University Professor emeritus T. Colin Campbell, Ph.D.

The Vegan Diet As Chronic Disease Prevention: Evidence Supporting the New Four Food Groups (2003) by Kerrie K. Saunders, Ph.D.

Vegan Vittles: Down-Home Cooking for Everyone (2007) and Raising Vegetarian Children by Jo Stepaniak, M.S.Ed. (For more by this author, see www.vegsource.com/jo.)

The Food Revolution (see below)

A clear succinct article by a physician showing plainly that human beings are natural herbivores (plant-eaters), not omnivores as is widely believed and wrongly claimed by Michael Pollan and some other popular non-nutritionist/non-physician authors and promoters:

"The Comparative Anatomy of Eating" by Milton R. Mills, M.D. - just Google the title; it'll be the only "hit."

On how the food industry backed by the government, rather than demonstrated knowledge, determines what people eat in the interests of big business, not human health & wellbeing:

The China Study (see above)

Food Politics: How the Food Industry Influences Nutrition and Health (2002) by Marion Nestle, Ph.D. (winner, 2003 James Beard Foundation Award)

On environmental destruction by the meat, milk, egg & feed-crop industries:

The Food Revolution: How Your Diet Can Help Save Your Life and Our World (2001) by John Robbins.

Plan B 3.0: Rescuing a Planet Under Stress and a Civilization in Trouble (2008) by Lester R. Brown.

Eating with Conscience: The Bioethics of Food (1997) and Agricide: The Hidden Farm and Food Crisis That Affects Us All (1996) by Dr. Michael W. Fox

"Now, It's Not Personal! But Like It or Not, Meat-Eating Is Becoming a Problem for Everyone on the Planet" by the editors of World-Watch magazine, July/August 2004

Many of these fine books and articles also discuss inhumane treatment of animals, since there is no humane way to use animals for food. "Humane" means kind. As more people are realizing each day, nonhuman animals have their own lives, and humans didn't begin using them thousands of years ago out of kindness.

If you might be interested in action people are taking beyond changing their personal food choices, read on! Food choices are generally considered personal. Many informed people and organizations work to teach the truth about food (as far as it is known - nutrition science still being "in its infancy") in the hope that people will make wiser choices. But most people feel socially locked in to harmful food patterns - even when they know better!

From reading so much helpful information from Rex and Barb and seeing that a vast body of additional knowledge exists, you might wonder, How can it be that these people are right, common wisdom is wrong, and yet we never hear through the media Here's what Responsible Policies for Animals works to do about that …

Beyond Shopping Choices

People feel locked in to harmful food patterns, not so much because they love the taste of meat, milk, and eggs - indeed, those are usually so bad-tasting or flavorless that they are preferred heavily processed, seasoned, or mixed with other foods. Food lock-in has more to do with generations of industry promotion, institutional reinforcement, and misinformation - all coming to us through the family and other trusted people and groups.

The news industry, to avoid alienating any "market," constantly promotes authors who perpetuate popular food fictions. Rather than interview leading authorities and report thoroughly on their work, they make ever more popular authors who maintain the status quo or worse. Recent examples: the late David Atkins, M.D., with his recommendations many physicians and nutritionists call "the make-yourself-sick diet," and Michael Pollan, the news reporter & journalism instructor with quaint recommendations like "eat whole foods, mostly plants" - when most people on the unhealthful standard American diet (SAD) eat mostly plants already! When you eat an unhealthful meal like steak, potatoes (with or without butter or sour cream), green beans, and bread (whole-grain or not, with or without butter), you're eating mostly plants.

So it's easy for most people to think they're well advised to continue SAD, hard to receive demonstrated knowledge to the contrary. A tough nut to crack! A hard orange to peel!

Among the most influential, respected, and therefore dangerous in its enormous service to the meat industry are our colleges of agriculture at our land-grant universities (LGUs).

Established under an 1862 act of Congress signed by President Lincoln to serve the public interest by helping farmers, our LGUs were charged with teaching agriculture, the cultivation of fields. Over time, they began to follow "the golden rule of politics": Whoever has the gold makes the rules.

The meat, dairy, egg, and feed-crop industries intensely concentrate wealth and through the corporate farm lobby get massive subsidies from our tax dollars. Those who raise the crops we all need for good health, wellbeing, and resource protection & conservation - non-toxically-grown ("organic") fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts, and grains - struggle to survive financially, compete with each other rather than form powerful lobbies, and get little or nothing from public coffers despite serving the public interest.

By serving the meat, dairy, egg & feed-crop industries through the years, our LGUs have betrayed the public trust. The percentage of Americans making their living from farming has dropped from more than 50 percent in 1862 to about 0.7 percent today! No wonder it's so hard for most Americans to find locally-grown produce! No wonder soaring gasoline prices mean soaring food prices!

Responsible Policies for Animals (RPA) takes a unique approach to animal advocacy. RPA shows people - including influential people in government, the news industry, and major institutions - why inhumane treatment of nonhuman animals causes human suffering and why humane treatment of animals as policy rather than personal choice is the most efficient and comprehensive way to ensure human wellbeing and fulfill the purposes of the U.S. Constitution.

Starting in 2003, RPA has sent six very informative mailings to the presidents of our biggest LGUs in all 50 states, including Penn State, RPA's home-state LGU. RPA has explained in detail - including over 300 letters, more than 200 factsheets, and 50 books - why teaching people to slaughter, breed, and fatten animals for food promotes poor food choices, bad health, soaring medical & insurance costs, global warming and other eco-destruction, and the inhumane treatment of animals throughout the United States and the entire planet.

RPA has also informed many LGU trustees, LGU newspaper editors, state and federal officials, and others of the "animal science" problem.

Despite the passage of more than five years and having at their disposal thousands of well-trained instructors in relevant fields - not only the "animal science," "poultry science," "dairy science," and related fields RPA vehemently calls into question - not one administrator or instructor has been able to refute even one of RPA's assertions.

Twenty-two of the LGUs have replied to RPA's mailings. Some that have not replied to RPA have nevertheless replied to some RPA members. Like other universities, LGUs should be expected, above all else, to teach what is true. Unfortunately, for "animal science" and the rest to be taught, the search for the truth must be suspended.

Among the results: Countless athletes and other students, alumni, and others go on indefinitely believing their standard American diet (SAD) is good for them and their families. Not to mention hardly giving a thought to impacts on nonhuman animals and ecosystems.

So freeing Americans from SAD lock-in will take a good bit longer! But RPA is based on the faith Americans share that liberty and freedom will prevail!

If you find this political aspect of food of interest and concern, you might wish to learn more at the Campaigns page of www.RPAforAll.org - don't let the amount of detail overwhelm you! - and at www.ExpertsOfConscience.org. The latter is the site specially designed to go with the ads RPA has been running in The Chronicle of Higher Education and Academe - to invite experts at universities to learn about the crucial effort to get our colleges of agriculture back to healthful, humane, ecologically sound food production.

Thank you!

       

Hello again!

Thanks, again, for visiting EatForSports.org! I hope you've enjoyed it! If your mind is reeling, not to worry: Think of eating for sports - and for overall health & wellbeing - as more of a marathon than a sprint!

If you find EatForSports.org helpful, I'm delighted and hope you'll send your friends!

Most of all, enjoy your athletic activities, other constructive endeavors, and the plants you eat!

And maybe I'll see you at the Glenside Farmers Market!

Best wishes,

David Cantor

Executive Director Responsible Policies for Animals, Inc. 320 Keswick Avenue Glenside, PA 19038, USA 215-886-RPA1 RPA4all@aol.com

David Cantor