You are what you eat and drink. There's no other way to put it. So, if surfing is your top priority, protect yourself and don't underestimate the power of unhealthy nutrients.
Your body is your temple. If you allow it to absorb food and drinks that are not welcome, your physique will respond, and ultimately, your health will deteriorate with a clear impact on life expectancy.
People with stressful jobs and lives tend to eat worse than individuals who plan their meals and care about their diet.
This is not about weight; this is about the components of food and drinks.
You don't need a strict, conservative dietary regimen to be a healthy person. All you need is to pay attention to what you're getting into your body.
Drinking a beer on a warm summer afternoon after a splendid day of surfing is not a nutritional "crime" and won't push you into the unhealthy field.
It's all a matter of balancing your choices. Should you drink alcoholic beverages at lunch?
Make an effort to avoid it. Is it okay to eat deep-fried foods twice a day? Not at all.
If you're trying to eat and drink better, there's a simple tip you can follow to improve your nutritional status and help change your daily habits - read the ingredient labels.
Remember that the product ingredients are listed by quantity, from highest to lowest amount.
If the first three ingredients are one of the many types of sugar, it will not be healthy food or drink.
Surfers have specific needs. Surfing is a combination of aerobic and anaerobic exercise, which means it can be particularly demanding in terms of food and drink intake.
If you're out in the water a couple of times per week, you'll notice how your good and bad food mindsets affect your performance.
This is surprisingly perceptible when you enter your 30s, and your body starts showing signs of protest.
Believe it or not, there is a huge difference between eating a burger once a week and entering a fast food restaurant only once every month or two.
So, if you're really into surfing, watch what you eat and drink. A healthy diet is directly proportional to becoming a better surfer.
Take a look at the nutrients you should avoid at all costs:
1. Refined White Sugar
The king of unhealthy foods has nothing good for you.
2. Protein Powder Supplements and Shakes
The worst way of getting an extra boost, especially because they increase the risk of kidney stone formation and accelerate acid load on the kidneys.
Some of these supplements contain high levels of heavy metals, as well as hormones and peptides.
3. Iced Teas
Tea has health benefits.
But what we get in restaurants, cafés, and supermarkets is water filled with artificial sweeteners that will affect our cardiovascular system and increase the risk of stroke.
4. Soft Drinks, Energy Drinks, Sodas, and Vitamin Waters
these high-calorie sugar bombs cause diabetes, obesity, addiction, dental issues, heart disease, and cancer.
5. Sugar Cereals
Despite their misleading commercial claims, breakfast cereals are often nothing more than processed grain, sugar, and refined carbs - there's nothing healthy in them.
6. White Bread
Refined white flour stripped of its essential elements is not good news for your body - pizza, bagels, and baguettes can also increase the chances of developing heart disease.
7. Nutrition Bars
Another commercially hyped bomb of saturated fat and sugar with high carbohydrate levels.
8. Alcohol
The list of alcohol effects on your blood and body is quite long and includes heart and liver disease, stroke, ulcers, high blood pressure, diabetes, and depression.
9. Flavored Yogurts
Sweetened yogurts are another classic commercial lie - yes, fruits and yogurts can be healthy.
But this dangerous formula contains chemical colors and flavorings that will eventually lead to respiratory and gastrointestinal problems.
10. Gummies
A pure sugar fantasy that can also be sold with an alternative poison named lycasin.
11. Lunch Meats
Bacon, ham, prosciutto, mortadella, salami, sausages, chorizo, smoked meat, chicken breast, bresaola, cotechino, and others can be delicious, but these processed meat explosives are carcinogenic.
12. Canned Soup
these highly toxic soups contain Bisphenol A (BPA), processed free glutamic acid (MSG), high levels of sodium, genetically modified organisms (GMO), and pesticides that will only harm your body.
13. Deep-Fried Foods
Fried chicken, chicken nuggets, chicken wings, chips, cheeseburgers, calamari, churros, fried fish, onion rings, and doughnuts are examples of foods that taste good but kill millions worldwide every year.
14. Microwave Popcorn
they smell delicious, but they're pure poison made of perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), a carcinogen that will remain in your body for quite a while.
15. Pasta
Processed pasta contains high sugar levels but doesn't contain essential vitamins - yes, mac and cheese is not a surfers' meal.
You don't eat it, but you inhale it - don't smoke, especially if you're a surfer. Discover why cigarettes will dramatically reduce your performance in the waves.
Learn how to prepare a healthy pre-surf meal, and find 15 superfruits that will make you a better surfer. And drink water - it's the best drink in the world.