WWLHD?
If you are not familiar with Laird Hamilton, be sure to look him up on YouTube when you are finished reading this, and be prepared to be amazed. Laird is considered the greatest big wave surfer of all time. Now if your image of a surfer is merely Jeff Spicoli ripping bingers in the back of a Microbus while declaring that all he needs are "some tasty waves, and a cool buzz", well this guy will help you redefine your terms. I have known a ton of surfers, and all of them are tremendous atheletes. What is a 'big' wave surfer you may ask? Let me break it down, this guy gets towed by a jetski onto what can become an 80 foot wave and actually RIDES it! What does that translate into for the regular person? Imagine willingly sliding down the side of an 8 story building at 50+ mph on a reinforced piece of Styrofoam while said building is trying to crash down on you, with mere inches of water separating you and a razor sharp reef...take a moment, breathe in...now out, good. If you were to take a bad spill while doing something like this, you would become fishfood, my friend, fishfood! This is serious life or death business; no time to monkey around.
What the hell does this have to do with food, you may ask. Well, to perform at that level, with the consequences of making a mistake staring you in the face at every moment, one must be sure that they are not only in top physical condition, but that they are fueled properly. Food is that fuel. The fuel becomes really important under those circumstances.
Laird wrote a book a couple of years ago called 'Force of Nature', that I highly recommend, where he talks about food and nutrition from a very practical point of view. He says to eat real food. Simple enough, but he approaches it in a way that makes sense even to us non-pro atheletes. He has a simple equation that states "Potato chip in = potato chip out." It doesn't get more clear cut that that. If you eat poorly, you're gonna perform poorly, no matter what the activity. I know you are gonna read all this when you find the book, but I'll just paraphase a bit. He also says to eat close to the source (where it comes from), eat a wide variety of foods, make quality a priority, and what I like the best, don't be obsessive about it, which is the whole point I'm trying to make. He says he has "friends who eat healthier than anyone, but it takes them 3 hours to prepare a meal. They measure out their food by the gram." Their bodies would freak out at the slightest irregularity. He doesn't want to be like that, me neither. He makes an analogy that I particularly enjoy, "if a car is too high performance, then it's sensitive to any impurities in the fuel. I'm more like a diesel truck. If a little water gets in there, it's still going to be okay." Very well said. Most of us would have a long way to go before someone would accuse us of eating too healthy.
The book is a great read. It includes some really sound advice on food, great recipes from Giada De Laurentiis, plus a lot of "life lessons" which are a pleasant refresher no matter what your age, not to mention surfing. You can find it at the library, but I suggest you just go buy it. You'll want to reference it again and again, plus this guy's got a wife (former pro volleyball star Gabby Reece) and kids to feed.
So the next time you feel that you are about to make a questionable "fuel" choice, ask yourself, "What Would Laird Hamilton Do?"
What the hell does this have to do with food, you may ask. Well, to perform at that level, with the consequences of making a mistake staring you in the face at every moment, one must be sure that they are not only in top physical condition, but that they are fueled properly. Food is that fuel. The fuel becomes really important under those circumstances.
Laird wrote a book a couple of years ago called 'Force of Nature', that I highly recommend, where he talks about food and nutrition from a very practical point of view. He says to eat real food. Simple enough, but he approaches it in a way that makes sense even to us non-pro atheletes. He has a simple equation that states "Potato chip in = potato chip out." It doesn't get more clear cut that that. If you eat poorly, you're gonna perform poorly, no matter what the activity. I know you are gonna read all this when you find the book, but I'll just paraphase a bit. He also says to eat close to the source (where it comes from), eat a wide variety of foods, make quality a priority, and what I like the best, don't be obsessive about it, which is the whole point I'm trying to make. He says he has "friends who eat healthier than anyone, but it takes them 3 hours to prepare a meal. They measure out their food by the gram." Their bodies would freak out at the slightest irregularity. He doesn't want to be like that, me neither. He makes an analogy that I particularly enjoy, "if a car is too high performance, then it's sensitive to any impurities in the fuel. I'm more like a diesel truck. If a little water gets in there, it's still going to be okay." Very well said. Most of us would have a long way to go before someone would accuse us of eating too healthy.
The book is a great read. It includes some really sound advice on food, great recipes from Giada De Laurentiis, plus a lot of "life lessons" which are a pleasant refresher no matter what your age, not to mention surfing. You can find it at the library, but I suggest you just go buy it. You'll want to reference it again and again, plus this guy's got a wife (former pro volleyball star Gabby Reece) and kids to feed.
So the next time you feel that you are about to make a questionable "fuel" choice, ask yourself, "What Would Laird Hamilton Do?"
Nice blog Penn. In all my travels, I've made sure to eat the local food whenever possible, not the tourist food. What I've found is the cost usually goes down and the quality goes up!
ReplyDeleteKeep it up!
Love Laird and family. Love the book. Sometimes I feel like it's ok to be a potato chip... not everyday though.
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