A high alkaline diet is also high in calcium from the green leafy vegetables. Calcium is best absorbed in a high alkaline environment; not taking calcium pills surrounded by an acidic diet. Calcium is critical for speed training athletes because it is instrumental in reducing inflammation and muscle soreness. Sore joints after lifting weights can be mitigated by the calcium in green leafy vegetables. It also boosts the immune system to reduce chances of catching a cold.

Yet another essential function of maintaining a diet rich in fresh vegetables is the "interior broom" system. With regular vegetable consumption, the fiber tends to sweep and clean the gut. This allows for more nutrients to come into contact with the intestinal surface and therefore aid with digestion. The interior surface stays stimulated and more capable of processing food. The body then receives the benefits of many more nutrients. The fiber from fresh vegetables is significantly greater than whole wheat or oats. One cup of oatmeal has 4 grams of fiber. Compare that to avocados which have 11 grams per cup, carrots 7, vegetable soup 7, and broccoli 6.

It doesn't matter if you love vegetables or hate them. You already eat them now so the trick is to get more of them down your throat without much fuss. Solve the problem of eating more vegetables the easy way. This is done by taking your vegetables in parts.

Start with salad. Have a big salad every night first, before eating anything else for dinner. Make sure the salad is varied in vegetables, not just lettuce (the least nutritious green leafy vegetable.) Toss in olives, carrots, parsley, sprouts, and almost any vegetable in sight. Have an olive oil and vinegar dressing with herbs for nutrition and taste. Other nights have a Cesar salad, Greek salad, or imitate your own Olive Garden salad. The dinner salad should be considered obligatory.

Next, get into the habit of having a large bowl of vegetable based soup several times per week. A huge pot of homemade soup works best, flavored with chicken or ham bone. Try many different kinds of soup, but double the vegetable amount in each recipe. The longer it cooks, the better it tastes. Freeze the leftovers and enjoy later.

You eat ketchup now, why not just expand dietary intake of this vegetable sauce? Make a variety of vegetable sauces and dump it on healthful chips and later all over your dinner. Get into the habit of having slices of celery or carrot to use as a dipper. Make a lot of homemade salsa and avocado - guacamole. Make flavorful vegetable sauce to top meat dishes the way you use ketchup. Another great way to have liquefied vegetables is juicing. Learn the art of vegetable juicing that has lots of pulp remaining. The great taste will amaze even the most vegetable hating among you.

Slice vegetables and eat. Have them steamed with a cheese sauce, or a butter sauce, or drenched in fresh squeezed lemon. Have fresh tomato slices, fresh cucumber slices, and slices of many vegetables. Most of all make vegetable consumption a habit.

One final note: go organic. There are many toxic pesticides in standard grocery store vegetables that have a disastrous effect on reactions, the very thing that speed is made of. Nerves are dulled or damaged by just a few parts per million of pesticides, chemical Live Good Texas , and preservatives. Toxicology research from Cornell University found that signals from the CNS to muscles (especially to fast twitch muscles) are slower and diminished in intensity in the presence of Chlorpyrifos and Dimethoate, two common commercial pesticides.