He is the world’s greatest footballer, and he is also happens to be from Rosario, Argentina, where I was born. I was reading a local newspaper the other day, and I came up to this story that surprised me and I decided to share it with you. After Argentina failed to win the world cup in 2014, Messi felt his performance in the pitch wasn’t right and decided to change his diet; a decision quite unusual from a football player.

You would think that nutrition should be an important part of professional football training, especially considering how much money is at stake on the player’s performance?

But shockingly, it is not. Players are left to eat whatever food they like.

Messi’s action was very clever in my opinion. He felt his diet was not working for him, and decided to do something about it.

He consulted an Italian nutritionist that recommended for him as the foundation of his new diet to be:

Water
Good quality olive oil
Whole grains
Fresh fruit
Fresh vegetables
Nuts and seeds

It turned out that what Messi was prescribed is pretty much a vegan diet, making emphasis in organic wholefoods and plenty of fruit and vegetables; which is similar to the diet I recommend but with some difference.

Let’s take a look at the parts of his new diet I don’t agree on:

• Olive Oil
Olive oil (just as the rest of oils: canola, sunflower, safflower, coconut, etc.) and regarding of its “quality”, is not a healthy food because it is a refined food.
In their concentrated forms, oils are pure fat and large amounts of that fat will be directly absorbed into the bloodstream, adversely affecting your blood chemistry and blood thickness.
On the contrary, when you consume “wholefoods” such as fresh olives or sunflower seeds (eaten in moderation), you incorporate all the essential nutrients designed by nature to accompany that fat.

• Grains
Grains are addictive, low in nutrients and taste bland. That’s why we need to cook grains and add sugar, salt, spices, fats and deadly “excitotoxins” to them to give them flavor, which compromise their potential health value even further.

I only recommend eating grains as “transition” foods while you incorporate healthier raw food into your diet.

When you are removing grains from your diet, you are removing the need to eat cooked food pretty much at all, since healthier vegetables taste much better raw than cooked.

Why is the low fat raw vegan diet more effective?

As I already highlighted the benefits of avoiding oils and keeping your diet low fat, eating raw food is healthier because the act of cooking denatures proteins in foods, renders fats carcinogenic, and caramelizes carbohydrates.

Eating raw tastes better too, without the need to add salt or anything.

Even though the diet Messi was given could have been a lot better in my opinion, the changes he made by restricting the consumption of animal products and eating more fresh fruit and vegetables made a decisively positive impact on his performance.

By implementing those simple changes to his diet, Messi lost roughly 3 kilograms in weight and stopped his muscle injury problems. He is also scored 98 goals in 102 games for Barcelona, ending Cristiano Ronaldo’s run of Golden Ball success.

His new, more athletic performance also massively helped Argentina ascend in the World Cup qualifier, which I happened to witnessed myself by watching Argentina play live here in South America.

The news of Messi’s success diet spread all over the world, so quickly that other players such as Manchester City’s Sergio Aguero is also following suit.

So, how do you know if your diet is working for you?

In the same way a professional athlete takes decisive action to improve his performance, you also need to ask yourself if you are getting any of these symptoms that can be affecting your life?

• Do you feel you are not energised enough?
• Do you feel tired often?
• Do you get sick regularly?
• Do you have intense cravings for food?
• You feel your digestion isn’t great.
• You are gaining weight.
• You feel you’re not at peace with your body.

Your body never lies.

If you feel any of these symptoms, you too can improve your health – not by taking stimulants or prescriptions drugs, but by making intelligent changes to your diet.

It’s important you pay attention, notice when things aren’t flowing, and make adjustments until you feel happy, glowing, and at ease. It’s really that simple.

If you’re ready to eat in a way that feels good to your body, make sure you check out my Raw Vitality Starter Kit program.

Ariel Belloso, Source

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