Though I'm sure many of my readers don't know who Mark Martin is, he has always been someone who has inspired me. Some would argue that Nascar is not a sport, but not knowing the physical and mental demands of the sport I can understand that argument. That said Martin is a 50 year old I've watched race ever since I was a kid and though he's always a force to be reckoned with, he's never won the coveted Daytona 500 nor captured a Nascar championship.
So Close...
So what does this have to do with fitness and health. Well Mark is arguably the fittest guy out there. He trains harder than any other driver and now he can couple that with some of the best equipment which gives him the ingredients to a recipe for victory.
Today Martin will race in his 25th Daytona 500, and he's starting just outside of the pole. I don't think anyone will take him lightly in this race as he is sure to contend. There is nobody that deserves this win more than he does. Nobody is going to hand it to him though, he'll have to go out there and take what is his.
I was recently at a meeting where they reviewed the "new" food pyramid. Yes I realize it's not all that new as it has been around for at least a couple years now.
These so called health experts went over the differences from the old to the new. One of which is that all food groups are essential. The thing that bothered me the most is that they missed what I would deem the largest change, which was the silhouette climbing the stairs signifying the need for activity.
They spent so much time going over the food that they forgot to mention the fact that exercise plays a crucial role in overall health and fitness. It's important to have a mixture of both. So oddly enough I think the food pyramid is making strides in the right direction. Though I don't necessarily agree with it 100%, it certainly can be a valuable tool to someone that is a nutritional degenerate.
With all the hype surrounding precision nutrition, it was inevitable that they began branching out and listening to what used to be a small group of vegans and vegetarians on their site. With what I assume is the help of Ryan Andrews, the rising star nutritionist that eats a plant based diet, they've added a new vegan approach to the precision nutrition lifestyle. You can pick up a copy of Precision Nutrition V3 here. For those of you meat eaters out there don't fret. There is something in PN for everyone now.
In fact John Berardi is even giving a plant based approach a try. Blasphemy?