When you drive your body to its limits... extra maintenance is required:

When we speak of groups whose health is at risk, we don’t always think of athletes... but we should — being an athlete involves a nutritional risk that many do not think about.

The scientific explanation for this risk is perhaps best understood by thinking of a racing car compared to an ordinary commuter car (or an athlete compared to a sedentary person).

1. A racing car deals with more stress and strain in one race than an ordinary household car does in many years of driving a few miles each day around town for errands.
2. A racing car uses up far more rubber, more gasoline, more oil and creates more heat and wear and tear on the engine than does casual driving in the the family car.
3. The greater demand creates a greater need for maintenance.
4. If that racing car is not given the maintenance to match the wear and tear it receives, it will quickly break down.

Athletes have a similarity in the wear and tear on their bodies to the wear and tear on racing cars:

1. Athletes use up many times more minerals than do people who are sedentary.
   • An athlete sweats more in 5 years of athletic training and competition than couch potatoes do in 75 years of watching TV.
   • When athletes sweat they are not just losing water... their sweat contains 60 essential minerals and trace minerals.
     • They are called essential minerals because if any of them are missing for any length of time, life processes don't function correctlyly.
     • So, if athletes don’t get additional minerals and trace elements in their diets to make up for those which have been lost, their very lives can be at risk.
     • This is evidenced as numerous athletes each year, at very young ages, die of unexpected heart attacks. Experts attribute many of these to loss of minerals.
2. Athletes use more energy and consume and metabolize more food. This means more free radicals are created (coincident to energy production) by athletes than sedentary people. If compensating antioxidants are not consumed then free radicals cause damage to the body's cells, including heart linings.
3. Finally, athletes tear down their muscles and bones and tendons through the exertions they make. They need building blocks to repair the damage from real food nutrients (not just fast food carbohydrates).

The single most important nutrient supplement for athletes are minerals.

• Our highest recommendation is for is Kona Minerals. It contains a bioavailable source of all the minerals and trace elements from a source 1/2 mile under the sea of the Kona Hawaii coast. These minerals are uncontaminated by pollution and are in the bloodstream in less than two hours. Athletes need to eat many times more minerals daily to compensate for the minerals lost in workouts and competition. Supplementing the diet with six capsules per day of Kona Minerals might be the wisest thing an athlete could do.
• We also recommend Oyster Max. It has been proven to serve well those who are stressing their bodies to the maximum.
• Finally, we recommend Beet Rooy Powder. Not only does it have plenty of minerals, but it is very supportive of cardiovascular health and hormone function.

Note that the controversial writer of ‘Dead Doctors Don’t Lie’, veterinarian, Dr. Joel Wallach, blames sudden death in athletes on the lack of minerals, caused by sweating too many of the minerals from the body. He points to the addition of a tiny amount of minerals in the feed of animals as being the single most important thing anyone taking care of animals can do for animal health and draws the same corollary to humans.

In addition to minerals, aathletes need to do is increase their antioxidant intake. Antioxidants combat free radicals which attack arterial walls and create scarring and thickened walls. The stress of athletic performance and metabolism of extra fuel as compared to sedentary people mean far greater free radical loads in athletes.

Here are are recommended sources of increased amounts of antioxidants:

• Seven Essentials - 21,000 ORAC units per serving (the highest amount of per-serving antioxidants available at any price).
• Earthing - get infinite numbers of free electrons (each free electron is an antioxidant) while you are sleeping.
• Glutathione precursors - glutathione is the master mitochondrial antioxidant. The mitochondria is where energy is made from food fuel.
• Finally, increased nitric oxide levels afford a greater degree of arterial protection. Nitric oxide is obtained from arginine supplementation. Best natural sources of arginine include snails, walnuts, pine seeds and sesame seeds. These have to be eaten away from other food, however go here for more information on Arginine supplementation.