Watching Novak win the US Open today brought me back to when I first saw him play in person at the US Open in 2011 and I was like who is this guy? He had a different game than what I was used to. Watching him on TV you noticed he played differently but in person it was even more confusing. I love watching tennis and played in high school. When I watched him that day in person I wasn’t sure if he was bringing to the court a Serbian way of playing or just his way. I wasn’t sure if his wins were pure luck or actual skill. Did he have an actual strategy or was he just that fast and flexible as he literally skidded from side to side at the baseline?
After reading his book, Serve to Win, I know now he had a strategy and was playing differently because he was accentuating his strengths which happened to be his speed and agility which he attributes to only having after giving up gluten. Before giving up gluten any major tennis match he would lose his endurance and start making errors but once he gave up gluten he became number one in the world in 2011 and continues to go strong 11 years later, winning Wimbledon just a few months ago in July.
What you eat makes a difference in your health and your performance. What you eat can make the difference between being number 1 in the world versus number 2 and Novak is a walking testimonial of that. The idea of going gluten-free was introduced to him by a doctor who uses muscle testing. We use homeopathic test kits in the office to muscle test the body for all sorts of foods and toxins but what this doctor did was put a literal piece of bread to Novak’s body and his arm went weak showing Novak he is sensitive to gluten.
Novak couldn’t believe what he was feeling. He describes the first time he gets muscle tested in the book as mind blowing. I can’t imagine what it felt like for Novak to be muscle tested, for his arm to go weak. We innately want to be strong but Novak’s life dream depended on the strength of his arm. He also writes about how hard it was to give up gluten for his family owned a pizza parlor. Bread was his life, literally. He writes, ‘‘The idea of giving up bread and other gluten content, foods that are so precious to me, so ingrained in my life, my family, and my culture, was scary. I’m sure you can relate.” He went threw withdrawal. His family thought he was crazy but he was determined to give it up for 2 weeks. After 2 weeks the doctor told him to have a bagel and see how he felt. Novak was miserable and since then he has never had gluten and this was 13 years ago.
The book is an easy, enjoyable read. Novak gives reference to one of my favorite books, Power Vs Force, that explains more about muscle testing. For more about Power vs. Force watch this video https://youtu.be/tFH_LoR1syM of my explanation. He even explains that if you muscle test with your cell phone as a party trick the radiation from the cell phone will make your arm go weak and it’s fun to watch people’s expressions.
There is a section of the book titled New Food, New Life where Novak explains the Chinese medicine theory that not only does your body have an innate biorhythm but so does each of your organs at a different time of day. I already knew about this Chinese medicine theory of each organ having a different biorhythm and believe in it. For example Heart is weakest at 11pm-1am and strongest 12 hours later 11am-1pm. So sleep during this time is so effective for restoring the body. It is also why medical doctors say that after a heart attack if the patient makes it through the night then their chance of survival skyrockets.
The book has meal plans, great recipes and chapter 6 is about mindfulness. He titles it ‘Training the Mind’. Novak gets it. How important it is to manage stress, what stress does to the body and how important mind AND body health are. The body cannot heal if the mind keeps stressing out. It’s that simple. He then shares easy mindfulness tips that can make a big difference in your life. If you need motivation on your healing journey I highly suggest this quick easy read to inspire you!
