After all the attention surrounding Lamar and his sugar addiction, I decided to write to the Lakers organization to tell them why they need a brain coach on their staff. Here’s an excerpt from the letter:
The Lakers have a head coach, an assistant coach, an offensive coach, a defensive coach, a shooting coach, a big-man coach, an athletic trainer, and a host of others. But why don’t the Lakers have a “brain coach?” After all, it’s the players’ brains that control every move and every decision they make on – and off – the court.
When players have healthy brains, it’s easier for them to make the smartest game-time decisions, and it makes them more coordinated. When they have troubled brains, they have trouble with their game. Players’ brains are behind every decision they make on and off the court. To make the right decisions and the right moves, players’ brains have to work right.
The brain plays a key role in athletic excellence and athletic slumps. The quality of our diets and the quality of our thought patterns enhance brain activity or deteriorate it, which means coordination and decision making are enhanced or made worse by our moment-by-moment brain function.
Based on my experience, I have realized that by changing your brain, you can improve athletic performance, improve decision-making and judgment, improve attention span, and more. I know that in order for players to perform at their highest potential, they need to have the best brain possible.
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It was wonderful to receive these follow-up installments to Chapter 1 of the Lamar Odom Sweet Tooth story.
Mr. Odom may not become the Most Valuable Player in the championship series, but he will forever be the poster child for what I’ve come to term, “toxic nutrition,” a problem plaguing whole societies throughout the modern, civlized world.
“Toxic nutrition,” for instance, plays a key role in both the education and health care crises with which our nation is currently grappling. Until the American people choose proper nutrition over the sugar-laden, “toxic” type, no amount of money poured into hospitals/universal health insurance or schools/colleges will make much difference.
In closing, I was thrilled to learn of Dr. Amen’s TV appearance and offer to become the Lakers’ brain coach.
But not only do the Lakers need someone in that capacity. Among countless other entities — e.g., school districts to police departments — across the country, the U.S. Military desperately needs one, too.
Susan Kross, DVM
Kross Consultative Health & Fitness Services
Ellenville, NY