Diet vital for superior exercise, fitness Trevor in action with five-year olds
Trevor in action with five-year olds

Trevor in action with five-year olds

Innocent Choga : Fitness

When we exercise or play sport, we need quality energy that will last us through a session. Equally important is our need for the food that will assist us to recover, build and replenish our body cells. When we want to build or lose weight we need to do so without compromising our health and our capacity to work effectively.The ultimate goal is to be fit in order to carry out our chores to the best of our abilities and to the most possible maximum level with ease.

This not only requires us to carefully analyse and select what we consume, but to eat logically combined foods.

Nowadays superior sport and exercise performance is attributed to superior diet methods. I know of two fitness experts who despised steroid abuse and they recommended their own methods of what they supposed are the best alternatives for performance enhancers; Vince Gironda and Bill Pearl both fitness experts advocated the use of natural foods as the best way to eat and maximise on performance than using steroids, which have terrible side effects .

The most sought after effect of steroids is their tendency to increase protein assimilation and absorption, as well as net protein utilisation of foods. Natural foods contain all the elements that enhance the efficient use of food.

Experts say Vince Gironda’s diet and training methods were revolutionary or radical for his time.

However, I hear he was also an advocate of high to moderate fat intake and no carbohydrate diet for four days followed by a cheat day during which he would consume anything.

This programme was for weight loss, and it was designed as a method of using dietary fat for energy. They say he used steak and eggs. Among his more radical ideas was the firm belief in cockerel fertilized eggs.

Bill Pearl was a vegetarian body builder in the 60s and 70s. Now at the age of 85, he still holds fitness seminars speaking against steroid use and advocating intelligent eating.

As steroid-free vegetarian, Bill managed to win top tournaments and was at some time regarded as the “World’s Best Built Man of the Century”. Bill Pearl also once worked as a fitness trainer for astronauts.

According to experts, in order to classify foods as natural foods we consider the way they have been grown and prepared for our consumption.

Natural foods are foods that are grown without the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides. This may involve the use of organic compost and animal waste for manure, and the use of ash and crop rotation.

Natural foods are foods that are not altered in any way through processing or refinement. For example unprocessed wheat and maize contain all the nutrients they are supposed to contain, whereas the refined wheat and maize meal will have lost the germ, oil, and fibre. Fibre makes us full and helps us to eat less, so we tend to overeat when we eat refined foods.

Another type of food to mention is the free range (road runner) chicken that forages outdoors in the fresh air and the sunshine feeding naturally on insects, bugs, whole seeds, sand and the grass.

They are not vaccinated and they do not feed on medicated feeds. Their meat is colourful and so are the rooster fertilized eggs which have a deep coloured yolk.

Such meat and eggs have the expected unchanged chemical balance and they are high in protein, mineral, vitamin and enzyme content in comparison to the housed chickens that produce unfertilised eggs.

Natural foods are not easy to produce on a large scale and as a result they are more expensive. Some individuals also suffer from medical conditions that require them to eat gluten free wheat products. Hence there may be need to supplement our diets.

Wild or indigenous fruits found in the bushes are also natural foods which are abundant during their respective seasons and we pick these freely or pay a reasonable price when they are brought to us in urban areas. The natural taste of fresh wild fruits makes them a favourite of many. We now have the pleasure of domesticating some of these trees in our yards in the urban areas where matamba, matohwe and masau trees are thriving.

We would like to analyse the issue of eggs further. Someone asked why weight trainers currently favour eggs as a source of protein. In the previous years in the 80s and 90s chicken was the favourite food and in the 60s and 70s it was beef and milk.

When weight trainers say they eat around 10 eggs a day they omit to say they take out the yolks and they eat the whites only and when you separate 10 egg whites they only fill a small bowl.

Justification for the high consumption of eggs according to some individuals is that eggs have a lot of protein. Eggs also have quality amino acids and therefore quality protein. They have all the quality amino acids, so their rate and efficiency of assimilation is high in comparison to other foods. Net protein utilisation for eggs is around 88 percent compared to 68 for chicken and beef.

I often hear many athletes saying they do not have funds to eat well, but one can combine a few eggs with say, soya. Soya beans also have quality amino acids and a net protein utilisation of around 48 percent, which is high when compared to most legumes and vegetables. Eggs can also be combined with vegetables. Eggs will help us get the most out of soy products and vegetables which also have incomplete amino acids.

This does not mean vegetables do not have quality amino acids. They do have some amino acids but they do not have whole proteins like eggs. This is the reason why it is advisable to eat a variety of foods because they can complement each other to provide whole proteins.

Combining foods does not mean the foods should be eaten at the same time, but their consumption can be spread throughout the day.

Egg whites have around 50 percent plus protein and the yolk has 40 plus percent protein. The yolk also contains quite a number of vitamins. So when we throw out the yolk we throw out the forty plus percent protein and these vitamins, so it is ideal to include at least only one or two yolks.

Eating more yolks will fill our blood vessels with cholesterol. Besides, yolks also contain sulphur which is said to be harmful to our livers. It is the sulphur that also causes the stench associated with boiled eggs and it is said that this stench is not good for our bodies. I remember at one time I tried eating around four eggs with their yolks per day during the off season and these completely washed away my defined abdominals with a thick layer of fat. I had a hard time clearing out the fat towards competition.

Please note; I do not know anything about Japanese quails (zvihuta) and their eggs, I am not an expert on that, so what was discussed above does not apply to these.

Guest

Our guest for the week is Trevor Chingosho, 25, a fitness trainer. Trevor started playing sport at a tender age whilst still in primary school. He went to Selborne Routledge Primary and Churchill High schools. He took part in athletics, rugby, soccer and basketball, participating in inter-school and zonal competitions during the process.

He has played rugby for the Old Hararians and for Harare Sports Club senior teams. Whilst playing rugby he suffered a groin injury which prompted him to join weight training as a rehabilitation activity at the age of sixteen. His father was into weight training so he was also a source of inspiration. His father still works out.

Because the groin injury which often recurred he had to stop playing competitive rugby and concentrated on weights and fitness training.

Trevor fell in love with these activities graduating into a trainer. Trevor gives credit to both his father and mother for supporting him in his career choice.

He also gives credit to his family members who make up some of his clients, in particular his aunt Ms Angeline Chipungu.

For his own training sessions Trevor partners Lilian Mutasa who is a dietician. Trevor’s injury did not allow him to do some leg exercises like squats, but he managed to recover and he is balancing up the act.

Once in every five weeks Trevor goes for a marathon run. Trevor is also into cross fit.

Cross Fit is a high intensity activity that is used to achieve a full body workout combining different exercises from different sporting disciplines. Done in a circuit, these exercises will affect or exercises all the various fitness components in the same session. This type of training has been said to be a high risk in sustaining injuries.

However, Trevor said cross training can be introduced to participants at different levels. The idea is to do it with varying degrees of intensity depending on the fitness levels of the participant.

Trevor also holds Tag-Rugby sessions with young people aged 5 to 12 years. He says tag — rugby is a form of non contact rugby that helps the young children to stay healthy, alert, and it also teaches them team work and develops their motor skills.

Email:[email protected] Innocent Choga is a six time National Bodybuilding Champion with international experience. He is studying for a science degree in Physical Education and Sport.

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