(photo from our own Arnold 2008 collection)
“You are what you eat!” This adage may seem dated and cliched, but it is absolutely and literally true! Dr. Deepak Chopra, is one of the world’s most renowned authorities on health and the mind-body connection. In his bestseller, “Quantum Healing,” Dr. Chopra writes that quantum physicists have proven through radioactive isotope studies that 98% of the atoms in your body are replaced within one year. In three months your body produces an entirely new skeleton. Every six weeks, all the cells have been replaced in your liver. You have a new stomach lining every five days.
You are continually replacing old blood cells with new ones. Your skin is sloughing off dead cells and producing a new skin monthly. The proteins in your muscles are in a constant state of flux as amino acids are catabolized and new muscle tissue is synthesized. Even your actual DNA as physical cells were not there six weeks ago. The Greek philosopher Heraclitus said, “You cannot step into the same river twice,” What he meant was that although a river may look the same every day, it is never the same because of the never-ending flow of new water running through it. The same is true of the human body. In the quantum sense, you are not the same person that you were one year ago!
This is a very profound realization for a bodybuilder. As athletes, we already know importance of a good diet for building a lean and muscular physique, but viewing the human organism from a cellular perspective sheds a whole new light on the true importance of nutrition. We perceive our bodies as being solid, yet our bodies are more like a river than a solid piece of sculpture. If you think about it, you will possess many different bodies during your lifetime. As an infant, you occupied a tiny 10-pound body. During your early childhood, you had a body that was three or four feet tall. At maturity, you are five and a half or six feet tall. As you get older, your hair may turn gray and your skin may become wrinkled. Your lean body mass and body fat levels rise and fall with the passing months. It is obvious that every cell in your body is continually changing.
Scientists estimate that there are some 50 trillion cells in the human body. Every one of these cells is composed of several basic elements including Carbon, Hydrogen, Oxygen, and Nitrogen. In fact, all physical matter in the universe, including the food you eat, is composed of these same elements. Because food, along with air and water, are the things we consume the fastest, the molecules from your food literally become a part of your body. New atoms from the foods you eat constantly flow through your body’s cells like water in a river. Dr. Chopra described it like this; “It is as if you lived in a building whose bricks were systematically taken out and replaced every year. If you keep the same blueprint then it will still look like the same building. But it won’t be the same in actuality. The human body also stands there, looking much the same from day to day, but through the process of respiration, digestion, elimination and so forth, it is constantly and ever in exchange with the rest of the world.”
It is quite clear then, that the saying “you are what you eat” is literally true from a molecular point of view. The primary determinant of the physical appearance, purity and health of the new cells your body produces is the quality of the foods you consume over a period of months and years. To create a lean, healthy and muscular physique, you must habitually consume whole, natural, nutrient-dense foods and avoid refined and processed ones. If you pollute your body with refined, artificial, and chemically enhanced junk you will manifest these poisons you are feeding yourself into a sickly, feeble body incapable of performing at peak capacity. As the old computer saying goes, garbage in, garbage out. Yet season after season we see competitive bodybuilders gorge themselves on all kind of nutritional waste the moment the competition is over! By all means you should reward yourself for all your hard work, but make it a one-time affair, then get right back on your usual regimen – which you maintain as a lifestyle.
If your body is progressively transforming itself and replacing all its old worn-out cells with new ones and if the food you eat is where the new cells come from, then it is logical to assume that with proper nutrition you can constantly better yourself every year, and there is virtually no ceiling for improvement. However, you must be consistent, disciplined, and extremely patient. Significant changes in your physique will not occur overnight; this is a gradual process. It is consistency in dietary habits over the long haul that will eventually make you a champion. How many bodybuilders do you know who are “part time dieters?” They eat well for 3 months before a contest and then pig out and party for the rest of the year. Long-term, year-round good nutrition is the key to natural bodybuilding success! What you do six months before a show is just as important as what you do six weeks or six days before a show. It all comes down to discipline, plain and simple.
Just as the psychologists have reminded us that mentally you are what you think you are, remember also that physically you are what you eat! Once you understand and accept this simple concept, you’ll start to be awfully careful about what you put in your body every single day of the year, not just before competitions. Bodybuilding is not just about appearances, it is a lifestyle! If you dedicate yourself to good nutrition all year round, you can create any body you can conceive of, naturally!
