Nutrition & The Mental Game

Nutrition

We can not separate mind and body.  Nutritional support is critical to performance.  It is at the very base of performance both physically and mentally.  Because this area is so important I work with a sports nutrition consultant.  Her name is Ellen Chow and her company is Endgame Nutrition.  I have more on her on the Team Tab.  What is important to understand is that all of the performance work an athlete can do will or can be undone through poor nutrition.  Many athletes succeed in spite of  poor nutrition.  Here at SPC we are all about Maximizing everything to enhance performance.  The mental, physical and nutritional.

Supplements

For almost as long as I have been practicing sport psychology people have been asking me to either recommend or sell nutritional supplements to the athletes I work with.  Having been a researcher at two universities and the USOTC I always ask for research.  I mean real research of not only the effects the ingredients might have on human beings, ,but also what the effect on an athlete might be.  In all this time I have seen very little direct evidence for a specific product.  Yes there are supplements that will aide performance.  But until recently I have not seen any natural products from a single company that would have a significant benefit.  Absolutely, for many athletes adding protein or making sure they have a vitamin reach balanced diet is helpful especially in our overly food processed world.  But product specific solutions I have not been able to do.

Recently I was again approached to test this time some products.  I asked for the research.  It was in an email before I got back to my office along with a link to the companies research site.  Shortly thereafter I was invited to tour the research and development lab.  As you might guess this did make a difference to me.  Also meeting the people and hearing many of their stories on how this group of products helped them.

I’m not going to try and sell products here, that is not my aim.  I will try and provide information about them when asked and I’ll provide a tab for people to investigate here if they feel inclined.  I just want to say that there is a relationship between nutrition and the Mental Game and Univera Products can be beneficial.

In this line of products I have found nutritional supplements that help in providing more energy, help with concentration, reduce stress and even decreases inflammation.  They also provide needed antioxidants.  The entire line of products helps provide healthy solutions without the aide of sugar or caffeine.  There is a food supplement that is basically a meal, providing needed protein, AFA, carbs in a 3 ounce drink and is bio-available in minutes.  For a pre-game snack and after game restorative supplement this is great.  The Tab below will take you to MY Univera website.  I also include a Tab to take you directly to the Univera Science site.  It will be worth the effort.

Nutrition and The Mental Game

I belong to a new group of like minded individuals in the area that are exploring the relationship between nutrition and mental health.  This is a group of psychology people (Clinical Psychologists, Psychotherapists, Counselors, and yes one Sport Psychology Consultant.  There are also nutritionists and dietitians involved.  Most everyone is exploring how nutrition effects mental health.  I’ll add discussions as time goes along, but for now I’ll ask this question.

If we reduce stress via nutrition into a more manageable range would it not be easier for an athlete (or anyone) to learn to self manage stress (pre-competitive or competitive) ?  when I teach a highly anxious athlete a relaxation skill it takes some time.  If their stress is reduced naturally through good nutrition and some supplements, the learning process is faster.