Although I did not attend the UCI x Fise BMX Freestyle World Series this year, I was interviewed for the FISE UP magazine regarding my take on nutrition. This is what I shared…
Hi, my name is Josh Perry, and I am a professional BMX athlete how has been riding BMX freestyle for about 15 years. I took a risk and left high school to move to Greenville, NC “Proton USA” to train its Dave Mirra and other pro riders in pursuit of making my dream a reality. I won my first contest in 2009 at the “JomoPro” contest, beating one of my idols, Daniel Dhers, as well as winning the best trick contest by landing the first ever doubt truck drive to tail whip. I also rode X-Games as an invited athlete that year and continued on Dew Tour for my third of 7 years on the tour.
When I was freshly 21, I fell on my first attempt at a flair whip on the ramp and hit my head, which resulted in an MRI to detect any traumatic brain injuries (TBI). The scan revealed an 8cm long by 2cm wide by 2cm deep brain tumor taking up the majority of the left portion of my brain, while pushing onto my optic nerve leading me to becoming blind. Long story short, I had it removed, was re-diagnosed two years later, had Gamma Knife Radiosurgery treatments to shrink them, and was recently re-diagnosed with two additional tumors.
This is what led me to seek out information on holistic health and nutrition, and fitness, to combat the tumor growths, strength my immune system, and stay fit to protect in injuries. This all was later revealed to be so much more than that for being confident and strong, both mentally and physically, on my bike. It improved my body composition, my energy, my digestion, my recovery, my immune system, my mood, my strength on and off my bike, and, what I find more important, it strengthened my mental stability. Other riders I have seen take to this path today are riders like Nick Bruce, Logan Martin, Vince Byron, Brandon Loupos, and then the legend, which is who initially inspired me to get on this path, Dave Mirra.
The first step of transitioning your diet is making a decision for yourself to improve and set a goal. My goal was to protect my brain, my body, and to be healthier in general. A goal and meaning fun reason behind that goal will ensure motivation and ability to stay on track. Besides that, ditch the so-called “cool” energy drinks, sugary drinks, candies, sugary snacks, fast-food, processed foods (most things in a bag, box, or some kind of wrapping), and aim for WHOLE FOODS. Whole foods, if you don’t know you can do a simple Google search, basically anything to the closest origin. Examples: fresh meats, eggs and seafood, fresh fruits, fresh veggies, fresh nuts, and fresh grains. Keep it simple and use spices and “clean” sauces and dressing for flavor. More importantly, it’s not a race or destination. The journey is the destination. Take things slow and adopt one change at a time. For me, this was aiming for WHOLE FOODS, followed by eliminating the sugary junk foods, and then going “Organic”, gluten-free, and ketogenic style diet, which is using quality fats as my primary source of fuel rather than carbohydrates. It does wonder, research it or reach out to me and I can explain.
The Don’ts:
– Sugary drinks and food
– Gluten-containing foods
– Juice, even though it seems weird, it’s nothing more than sugary water with some nutritional value. Eat whole fruits
– Processed and fast-food. Basically, anything that just needs to be unwrapped and heated up or of course, drive-through restaurants.
– Dairy, factory farmed meats, and farmed fish
– Judging others, including yourself. We all start somewhere, don’t forget that!
– Giving in to fear!
The DO’s
– Practice Gratitude! ☺ A grateful and positive perspective on life and towards others will just attract more of it in your life and assist in all your desires, needs, and wants. I have put this into practice more and more lately, and the results and benefits are almost comical.
– WHOLE FOOD’s
– Water, water water!
– Low-Carbohydrate foods. This doesn’t mean, no carbs. Just aim for “complex carbs,” which are sweet potato, whole grain rice, quinoa, oats, pumpkin, yams, and carrots as an example
– Quality coffee and if possible, organic. (NO SUGAR ADDED)
– Vegetables! Can’t get enough of them
– Grass-fed meats and butter.
– Healthy quality fats like coconut oil, extra virgin olive oil, avocados, raw unsweetened cacao
– Fiber
Bonus:
Supplementing with quality, raw, organic, woke food vitamins and minerals can be a great tool because most soil is depleted of nutrients today, which results in vegetables being lower in nutrition than ever before. Even organic farming doesn’t yield the nutrition it used to due to lack of crop cycling and producing food at such a drastic rate compared to before with the population growth and food demand. Just watch out for synthetic, cheap vitamins and minerals, which are more detrimental to your health than not taking supplants at all. Get a good probiotic for the gut health!
-Josh P.