Can’t athletes eat whatever they want?

Dwight Howard, basketball player for the Los Angeles Lakers

Athletes burn a lot of calories so they can eat a lot and may look great with their washboard abs, so many think they can eat whatever they want without consequences. What you eat, not how much you eat is the key to a lean, fit body. Dwight Howard, a 27 year-old basketball player for the Los Angeles Lakers was a sugar addict and it was negatively affecting his health, but you wouldn’t know it by looking at him.

You would think that an athlete under 30 would be healthy as a horse. Due to his terrible diet of sugary foods, he had high blood sugar, low energy, and his performance was declining. “It turned out that Howard was consuming the equivalent of 24 Hershey bars a day in the form of candy and soda… Howard had candy and sugary drinks stashed everywhere — from his kitchen cabinets to a drawer next to his bed to the backpack he toted to games and practices.” (1).

Maybe no one told him previously that sugar produces inflammation and slows healing. Now that he knows that sugar was hurting his career and his heath, “he agreed to get rid of it all and start over.” (1).

Eating well is not a short term diet or about getting slim, it’s about being well. No one wants to be sick and on medication. If you’re a sugar addict, start cutting back now so you can eliminate it from your diet. It’s totally worth it. I know first-hand, because I’m also a former sugar addict.

Click the link below to read the entire article and watch the video.

1. Source: CBS Sports Nutrition in the NBA; Part I: Lessons learned in L.A. help Howard’s career , by Ken Berger. Link: http://www.cbssports.com/nba/writer/ken-berger/24370416

Photo: Dwight Howard, professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Lakers