You probably have heard of Leonel Messi.
He is one of the world’s greatest footballers and soccer messiah, he is also happens to be from Rosario, Argentina, where I was born.
I was reading a local newspaper the other day, where I found this story that surprised me and I decided to share it with you.
After Argentina failed to succeed in last World Cup, Messi felt his performance in the pitch wasn’t right and decided to change his diet; a decision quite unusual for a football player.
You would think that nutrition should be an important part of professional football training, especially considering how much money is at stake on the player’s performance?
But shockingly, it is not. Players are left to eat whatever they like.
Messi’s action was clever in my opinion. He felt his diet was not working for him, and decided to do something about it.
He consulted an Italian nutritionist that recommended the foundation of his new diet should be:
Water
Good quality olive oil
Whole grains
Fresh fruit
Fresh vegetables
Nuts and seeds
It turned out that what Messi was prescribed is pretty much a vegan diet, making emphasis in organic wholefoods and plenty of fruit and vegetables; which is similar to the diet I recommend but with some differences.
Let’s take a look at the parts of his new diet I don’t agree with:
• Olive Oil
Olive oil (just as the rest of oils: canola, sunflower, safflower, coconut, etc.) and regarding of its “quality”, is not a healthy food because it is refined.
In their concentrated forms, oils are pure fat, and large amounts of that fat will be directly absorbed into the bloodstream, adversely affecting your blood chemistry and blood thickness.
On the contrary, when you consume “wholefoods” such as fresh olives or sunflower seeds (eaten in moderation), you incorporate all the essential nutrients designed by nature to accompany that fat.
• Grains
Grains are addictive, low in nutrients, and taste bland. That’s why we need to cook grains and add sugar, salt, spices, fats, and deadly “excitotoxins” to them to give them flavor, which compromise their potential health value even further.
I’d only recommend eating grains as “transition” foods while you incorporate healthier raw, plant based meals into your diet.
When you remove grains from your diet, you remove the need to eat cooked food pretty much completely, since healthier vegetables taste much better raw than cooked.
Why is the low fat raw vegan diet more effective?
As I already highlighted the benefits of avoiding oils and keeping your diet low fat, eating raw food is healthier because the act of cooking denatures proteins in foods, renders fats carcinogenic, and caramelizes carbohydrates.
Eating raw tastes better too, without the need to add salt or anything.
Even though the diet Messi was given could have been a lot better in my opinion, the changes he made by restricting the consumption of animal products and eating more fresh fruit and vegetables made a decisively positive impact on his performance.
By implementing those simple changes, Messi lost roughly 3 kilograms in weight and stopped his muscle injury problems. He is also scored 98 goals in 102 games for Barcelona, ending Cristiano Ronaldo’s run of Golden Ball success.
His new, more athletic performance also massively helped Argentina ascend in the World Cup qualifier, which I witnessed watching Argentina play live in South America.
The news of Messi’s success diet spread all over the world, so quickly that other players, such as Manchester City’s Sergio Aguero, is also following suit.
So, how do you know if your diet is working for you?
In the same way a professional athlete takes decisive action to improve his performance, you also need to ask yourself if you are getting any of these symptoms that can affect your life?
• Do you feel you are not energised enough?
• Do you feel tired often?
• Do you get sick regularly?
• Do you have intense cravings for food?
• You feel your digestion isn’t great.
• You are gaining weight.
• You feel you’re not at peace with your body.
Your body never lies.
If you feel any of these symptoms, you too can improve your health – not by taking stimulants or prescription drugs, but by making intelligent changes to your diet.
If you want to fast track your health to greater results, I created a 5 Day Raw Vegan Meal Plan for Endurance Athletes you can download for free (below).
9 Responses
Agreed in the oils, but c’mon grains your way off on this. Grains sustain a large and healthy population of the world today. It also constitutes a great portion of fiber required in our diet.
Not really…in poor countries they eat grains because it is the cheapest and most available food when you earn very little…Yes, grains are WAY better than a diet based on meat and dairy, so those people in poor countries have very small numbers of nasty diseasea such as cancer , etc, but…grains aren’t really the best diet for humans! Grains are the food for birds! Then, about the “great portion of fibers”, do some research, yes, grains contain lots of fibers, but they are not suitable for human digestive tract. Why is that? Because grains contain harsh, INSOLUBLE fibers which are harsh and hurt the intestinal tract and the intestinal “walls”. So fibers in grains are of very little use and are in fact bad for us.
Interesting, but unrefined olive oil is is a whole food. And one cannot eat fresh olives – they have to be cured – which means they are always processed…
‘Raw’ foods are foods in their unrefined state – meaning that even when cooked they are still ‘raw’ foods. Ayurvedic nutrition emphasises the importance of having a balanced diet including cold and hot foods. One cannot be healthy on eating only raw cold foods as the body needs warmth and different energies to be healthy.
Fat is not bad – it’s excess that is bad. the body needs fats and as long as they are consumed in moderation, they will aid a heathy body.
he same goes for grains – wheat is to be avoided but grains like brown rice are a whole food and low GI. And so is unrefined oats
501199 735113Hi there! Do you use Twitter? I?d like to follow you if that would be ok. I?m undoubtedly enjoying your blog and look forward to new posts. 277340
“So, how do you know if your diet is working for you?” – i answered “yes” to all questions and i am HCLF vegan 90% raw. I wish this diet worked for me as smoothly as it seems to work for others.
Any idea if Messi is still vegan?
Love it ??
THANK YOU!
For an excellently written article, I have to congratulate you on your English writing and grammar skills, excellent work, unbelievable to be honest. I am one who appreciates well written articles, which is rarely seen in today’s Internet.
Saludos desde Uruguay!
Grains are good for you if they are whole grains. Eg quinoa or bulgur wheat
Comments are closed.