Nutrition and dietary advice can be a confusing topic. Especially when it comes to the world of sports performance. The reason this can be confusing and difficult to comprehend at times is because we all know great athletes who do not eat the best diet but still perform well and have no issues with recovery. We also know people who eat well and take care of their body but perform not as well as some of those who eat junk food and consume a lot of sugar.
There are a lot of claims out there when it comes to golf and nutrition or diet. Some of these claims include, “improving your diet will make you a better golfer,” or “eating healthier foods will get rid of injuries and pains related to golf,” or “taking certain supplements will help you golf longer as you age.” But then you hear about how Jack Nicklaus took care of his body and we get confused.
Jack Nicklaus, who has won the most major golf tournaments of any man who has ever lived, smoked cigarettes often and did not follow a healthy diet. Yet he was still able to play better than any of the golfers in his era. Even better than golfers that did adhere to a healthy diet, such as Gary Player.
Treating Golfers in 32259
We at St. Johns Chiropractic and Performance want to help you dissect some confusing and sometimes conflicting nutritional information and give you some truth on how you can use nutrition to help you become a better golfer with more longevity. This will help you understand why everyone is different and why diet effects some people more than others. Dr. Grant Speer is a doctor of chiropractic and a strength and conditioning coach who is committed to helping youth athletes and active adults in the St. Johns area reach their health goals.
We have helped youth and adults golfers play pain-free golf rounds with more mobility than ever! Dr. Speer is committed to offering affordable chiropractic near you by using spinal and extremity manipulation, myofascial release, cupping, rehab exercises, stretching, nutrition, balance training, and more to make this happen!
Golf and Nutrition in St. Johns, FL
The claims written in the paragraph near the beginning of the article are certainly not false. Certain supplements have the ability to help you golf longer. Improving your diet can help make you a better golfer and will also aid in reducing injuries and pain that happens of the golf course; however, there is more to it than the claims themselves.
Every person and every golfer is different. We all have different genetics, body types, and activity levels that allow us to adapt and tolerate stressors in various ways. We all have different thresholds for stress. Some golfers can have a certain amount of physical, mental, emotional, and chemical stress and it hardly bothers them while another golfer can have the same amount of stress and they can no longer function like their normal selves.
Inflammation is a major source of stress and many negative stressors in life create inflammation in our bodies. One of the biggest causes of inflammation is a poor diet that is high in sugar, refined and processed carbohydrates, and refined oils that are often found in fried foods and sugary snacks.
Not only do these foods that are typically high in sugar and low in vitamins, minerals, and nutrients create inflammation, but when we skip out of eating vegetables, fruits, and high-quality protein and fats – this creates even more inflammation because we are not consuming these anti-inflammatory foods.
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When we are younger, just about everyone has a high tolerance for inflammation. This means that when we were 12 years old, we could probably eat fast food and candy and feel about the same as when we would eat fruits and veggies. This is because our inflammatory threshold was not succeeded.
As we age, this tolerance decreases and it decreases at different rates for each golfer. An inflammatory lifestyle for some people does not show signs and symptoms until 85 years old for some while it shows up at 25 for others. The signs and symtpoms that show due to an inflammatory threshold being reached vary among golfers as well.
For some this could manifest as low back pain while swinging a golf club but for other is could simply be fatigue trying to make it through a round or maybe even allergies from being on the course during certain times of the year.
So if you are a younger golfer, eating a proper diet may not help you drive a ball further and it may not even help you recover from injury faster but it will help calm your inflammation down and your older self will thank you.
For golfers that are more advanced in years, eating healthy will likely help your golf game more and more as you age. This could mean recovering quicker from pain and soreness, it could mean maintaining your strength so you can still hit the ball hard, and it could mean avoiding fatigue during a long round while your inflammaging (inflammatory aging) buddies start to get tired.
Overall, it is often hard to see how diet and nutrition immediately effects your golf game. But eating well and taking care of your body over the course of months and years, it will dividends down the road.
Nowadays, Jack Nicklaus is visibly in much worse shape than his older counterpart Gary Player, who took great care of his body.
Recovering from Injury in Nocatee, FL
For information about sports injuries, the best chiropractic care near you, athletic therapy, active recovery from injury, back pain, and more; check out our recent blog posts! We are located in the 32259 zip code near Durbin Crossing, Aberdeen, Julington Creek Plantation, and Rivertown. Much of this information is from The DeFlame Diet for Golf written by David R. Seaman.
References
- The DeFlame Diet for Golf by David R. Seaman.
