Back in the day — 30 years ago when I was a professional athlete, we ate tons of carbs and meat too.
Pizza, pasta, rice, legumes, vegetables, cereals, oatmeal, cookies, desserts, and all the junk food were acceptable. Of course, we ate all of it all the time.
That’s because, back then, nobody knew much about food besides the basics.
1 — Carbs give you energy
2 — Meat/protein supports your muscle mass and strength
3 — Sugar provides energy, and you burn it off quickly
That was all coaches and athletes knew in the 80s and up until a few years ago.
The consensus was that athletes could eat whatever they wanted because they train hard and often, perform at the top of their game, and will always be fit, strong, and healthy.
Not true. That, sadly, was a big misconception.
Being fit on the outside doesn’t mean your healthy inside
That’s another myth and a big misunderstanding.
Professional athletes train hard, very hard. It can be crazy and out of control. I did it for years, I know. It was brutal.
Side-Note: Contrary to a rude reader’s opinion, I was not much of an “Olympian,” only finishing 21st in Slalom in the Calgary 1988 Games, at age 18, out of 120 competitors — it was a significant achievement at the time.
Pro-Tip: Ski racers reach their best potential between 25 and 30. So, I think I did pretty damn well!
The British Ski Team had minimal recourses, and we athletes did almost everything alone.
During the next 2 years, I trained with the Norwegian Team — the best in the world.
I soon went from being ranked around 100th in the world to the top 20 at age 20. In addition, I frequently won time trials in downhill skiing, beating the then Olympic and World Champion.
The coaches had me set to reach the world’s top 10, maybe better that season.
It all ended with a big bang in November 1990 when I had a brutal crash off a 70-meter jump due to a course error made by the coaches and assistants.
The result:
For someone to publicly say, “you weren’t that good,” when they know zero about your backstory, is both ignorant and silly.
These days, as a 100% Carnivore for over 7 years, I do things like this while fasting:
And my physique looks like this:
Do you still want to tell me athletes must consume carbs?
In summer training, we used to get up at 5 am, be on top of the glacier at 6:30 am, race train until 2 pm, go back to the hotel for lunch, rest for an hour, then hit the weight room for 2 hours, or run back up the mountain for 10 km’s, and back.
Does that give you a picture? It was nuts!
We all looked like beasts, but were we healthy?
1 or 2 guys were simultaneously sick with a cold or flu during our training camps and in the season too.
It never made sense to me.
I asked the coaches why we “healthy” athletes were getting sick so much. That’s life was their answer.
The truthful answer?
1 — Overtraining weakens the immune system and stresses your heart and organs.
2 — The classic diet consisting of 80% carbs, 15% protein, and 5% sugar didn’t provide essential nutrients for optimal metabolic health.
3 — The combination of the 2 led to frequent burnouts and injuries.
The same holds true for most athletes today. How often are top players out of play for days or weeks because of illness or injury?
It happens all time. Professional athletes’ internal health is not as good as they look or you think.
Even worse — hundreds of mid to high-level athletes or sports enthusiasts die yearly from heart disease because of overtraining.
Top athletes are turning to the Carnivore diet to improve their metabolic health, strength, and endurance
On another occasion, a disgruntled reader told me athletes couldn’t survive on the Carnivore diet.
That, again, is not true.
In recent years, several top-class athletes across multiple sports have transitioned to the Carnivore diet. As a result, they are now stronger, performing better, healthy, and mostly superior to their peers.
Let’s look at a few of these high performers:
“Erling Haaland’s mysterious carnivore diet makes him the best striker in Europe” Mundodeportivo.com
If you haven’t seen Erling play for Manchester City FC, you should — he’s a beast, faster and stronger than anyone on the field.
Curtis Sironen — Australian Rugby Player
Before switching to the Carnivore, he suffered from plantar fasciitis and was taking a lot of anti-inflammatories before playing on the field.
After a few weeks on Carnivore, his health issue cleared up, and his performance vastly improved.
Pete Jacobs — Australian Triathlete
His health issues were fatigue, brain fog, and body aches. However, once on the Carnivore diet, he reported all health issues vanished.
He’s a strict Carnivore and eats only meat, organs, eggs, water, salt, and some organ meat.
Sonny Bill Williams — Heavyweight Boxer
Like triathlons, heavyweight boxing is no joke. Sonny eliminated everything except steak, bone broth, and oysters from his diet and has fantastic health and performance results.
Katie Kelly — CrossFit Athlete
Katie suffered many health issues, such as obesity, infertility, Crohn’s, and hormonal imbalances. Once she transformed to the Carnivore diet, she regained perfect physical and mental health.
Dr. Shawn Baker — Multisport world record-setting athlete and MD
Shawn Baker is one of the most prominent and outspoken educators of the Carnivore diet. He’s also an incredible athlete with the physique of a bodybuilder at age 57.
Dr. Baker takes no supplements, additives, or steroids. He mostly consumes Rib-Eye steaks, eggs, and water.
Shawn is also the author of the bestselling book “The Carnivore Diet.”
Shawn Baker’s been a Carnivore for 6 years and is healthier than ever, inside and outside. On social media, he regularly shows the results of his blood markers and calcium levels (zero).
He’s in excellent health, far better than 99% of the world’s population can ever hope to be.
Final Thoughts
Those are 6 outstanding sportspeople I picked out, but there are many more, and the list is growing daily.
Had I known of or been on the Carnivore from 16 to 20, I’m damn sure I would have been much stronger and reached the top faster.
Unfortunately, I didn’t discover the keto-carnivore diet until I was 45. But I’m incredibly grateful I did.
I had suffered a stroke, was badly overweight, constantly sick, on 10 prescription meds, and a depressed, anxious mess.
Within 3 months, I healed my body from within, and my depression and anxiety began to disappear.
You can be against eating meat as much as you like. But folks, success stories, photos, videos, and health markers don’t lie!
Rob
Sign Up for Your Medium Membership here.
Please download my E-Books for your health:
The Ultimate Guide to Weight Loss, Fitness, and Health
The Ultimate Guide to Weight Loss, Fitness, and Health. Since I’ve been practicing, writing, and teaching these methods…
The Ultimate Bodyweight Workout Bible
The Ultimate Bodyweight Bible is a 200-page, 23-chapter collection of the absolute best workouts you can perform to…
The Easy Keto-Carnivore Food Guide
My latest, E-Book – The Easy-Keto Carnivore Food Guide – is the only tool you’ll need to get your health into top…
9 x Top Writer on Medium.
