Gluten Free is the New Athleticism

You gotta love Novak Djokovic. He’s been blowing minds the athletic world over. On the tennis court he is seamlessly slaughtering everyone in his path, including tennis titans Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. He won the coveted Wimbledon title, was named the athlete of 2011 by the Wall Street Journal, and is now ranked #1 in the world. What a badass and everyone knows I love me a serious badass.

What makes Djokovic’s story all the more remarkable is that he attributed all of his success (never mind the hours of toil on the courts) to his gluten free diet, which makes me love him even more. He’s a Ferrari and he knows it, which means he also knows that you don’t just put regular unleaded gas into a machine like his. No ma’am. Only the best for this Testarossa. Gluten free is the new premium, with Techron.

Naturally, now, more and more athletes are giving low-gluten and gluten free a chance. On July 24, the Garmin-Cervélo Professional Cycling Team earned a spot on the final podium in Paris at the close of this year’s Tour de France.

In 2008, the Garmin-Cervélo Professional Cycling Team began experimenting with a low gluten diet, and the results were so phenomenal, they haven’t changed their ways. But this is not new in the world of cycling. Lance Armstrong was known in these parts for going gluten free while he was training for the Tour and his team followed suit.

“My performance really improved a lot- there was definitely a correlation,” rider Tom Danielson told Men’s Journal. “ I think that my digestion is better, and because of that my sleep is better and my recovery is better.” This seems to be the deal breaker for all athletes that go gluten free—it markedly improves their recover time.

So there you have it my friends. Straight from the French horse’s mouth. Gluten free is fabulous not just for those of us already living it from day to day, it’s clearly putting the lead in these athlete’s pencils. Meow.

I for one, can’t wait to see who else comes out of the gluten free closet….