SEALFIT Blog: Fueling for Performance, Deeper Meaning of Food

As we’ve been discussing the past few weeks, making your fueling plan as high a priority as sleeping and training will provide a foundation for excellence and propel you every step of the way toward your audacious goal. You’ll have more energy, you’ll digest more of your training, you’ll recover faster and it will allow you to sustain high levels of cognitive function in the thick of the most extreme challenges.

Adapting your body so that it is a fat-burning beast is alone worth the effort. To become a fat burner we must dispel certain myths – the first being that you need “three square meals a day”. Our caveman genetic wiring allowed us to eat when food was available and with irregular schedules. This meant that our ancestors were routinely ketogenic (fat and ketone burning) during the lean months and glycolytic (sugar burning) during plentiful months. The variety of foods and times of fueling was good for the body. Of course, occasionally starvation led to sub-optimal results back then, a problem we (hopefully) have overcome in our modern lifestyle. My simple point here is that by orienting our fueling plan in a similar, non-habitual, fashion allows us to maintain a steady energy level, avoiding the energetic ups and downs of a pure glycolytic, carbohydrate laden diet.

Another myth is that the food we eat is simply to fuel our body. The reality is that it fuels our mind and spirits as well. Let’s take a moment to reflect on your relationship with food. My experience is that many folks have an odd, unbalanced, relationship with food. Some use food as an addiction, others for avoidance. Most use food for pleasure. The SEALFIT way is to approach food and fueling for our longevity, health, performance, optimal thinking and spiritual alignment with universal principles. I ask you to take a moment to reflect upon the following questions during your period of silence practice. Think about how your relationship and appreciation of food can flow across your Five Mountains—Physical, Mental, Emotional, Intuitional and Spiritual development.

The questions:

• Do you break bread with others to build the team, or do you scarf fast food in a mad rush to get to the next appointment?
• Are you aware of where your food comes from or does it not matter?
• Is food simply nourishment for your body, or does it also nourish your mind and spirit?
• Do you wolf down your food wondering if your caveman neighbor is going to steal it, or do you actually taste and enjoy it?

Another critical step in overhauling a poor diet and turning it into a high-performance fueling plan is awareness of what you actually use for fuel and when. So unless you’re certain of what food you eat and when, tracking your intake will offer powerful (and often surprising) insights. Your second assignment is to track for a week, focusing in on the following metrics and recording the information:

• When and where did you eat each meal or snack?
• What did you eat for each meal or snack?
• Note your mind-set during each meal or snack.
• How did you feel after each meal—physically, emotionally, energetically and mentally?

The picture you’ll develop by completing this awareness and assessment in earnest will open your mind and help you implement a SEALFit fueling plan. Contact us at SEALFit HQ if you need some support.

Hooyah!

Mark Divine

P.S. – On Thursday, we published a brief but highly informative video with Dr. Dominic D’Agostino—one of the world’s leading experts on ketosis, who has worked with SEALS, NASA and many other peak performers. I strongly recommend you check it out right here.