Carrie Underwood is not one to get in bed with

The National Football League is apparently working some political games in order to change the game and avoid a huge settlement on behalf of its former players. One thing is for sure, they appear to have a desire to move away from the image of rough and tough muscled- up hard hitting players. Why else would they secure a deal with Carrie Underwood to sing on the Sunday Night Football broadcast?

In case you have not heard, NBC announced that Carrie Underwood would replace Faith Hill as the person who sings the opening song “Waiting All Day for Sunday Night.” So why on earth would they want a self-proclaimed vegan, who stumps every chance she gets about eliminating milk, meat and eggs from your diet, involved in any way shape or form with football players?

First of all the consumption of animal protein and fat has been scientifically linked to improving individual intelligence. Numerous scientific studies exist that document this that but here is one from Australia that gives you the idea.

Scientists have found that adding extra "creatine" - a naturally occurring compound found in muscle tissue - to someone's diet can significantly improve memory as well as increasing general intelligence.

Caroline Rae of the University of Sydney in Australia, who led the study, carried out memory and IQ tests at the end of each six-week period to see if there were differences between the sets of volunteers.

Here are the results from Psychology Today that give a great explanation of the need for a proper diet:
Next to water, protein makes up most of the weight of our bodies. Muscles, organs, hair, nails and ligaments are all composed of protein, so it's obvious why protein is an important part of the diet.

But it gets more complex with the brain. The brain and its long spidery neurons are essentially made of fat, but they communicate with each other via proteins that we eat. The hormones and enzymes that cause chemical changes and control all body processes are made of proteins.

So what part of that would not be beneficial to a football player?

Remembering plays and patterns seems like a good thing. And there’s more:

Then of the course you have the strength aspect of meat consumption. Is there anyone in the world that can argue to the extreme benefit of protein from meat that makes a man stronger?

All athletes need protein after vigorous exercise. Protein helps repair and rebuild muscle tissue that is broken down during hard exercise. Because protein is the basic building material for muscle tissue, if you strength train, or want to increase muscle size, you need to consume more protein than sedentary individuals or non-athletes.

In fact, these researchers recommend consuming between .6-.8 grams of protein per pound of body weight per day.

Of course one could make the case that the NFL, who is currently being sued by a group of former players for concealing the emerging science about concussions over several decades, is trying to lower the IQ and strength of its players. It did create a Mild Traumatic Brain Injury committee in 1994 but players feel it was ineffective and did nothing to prevent life-threatening injuries.

So possibly this move to have Underwood join the NFL is all about reducing the strength and intelligence of its players. If they aren’t as strong and can’t hit each other as hard, they will have fewer brain injuries to defend in court.

Then you could make the case that is it simply a publicly stunt because the NBA is getting all the national press in the past couple of weeks because they had a player come out of the locker room closet. If Underwood’s influence actually works on players, considering what the Pyschology Today researchers have learned, a diet WITHOUT milk meat and eggs is much higher in estrogenic hormones. So one could fairly see that the NFL would have more man-bag carrying lightweights than hard- hitting he- men if they jump on the Underwood bandwagon.

In reality, football players are no different than every other consumer in this country: they need to consume a variety of all food groups and exercise more than they eat as a recipe for good health. The NFL, like all of us in American Agriculture, should take a hard look at the people we are getting into bed with and Carrie Underwood should never ever be on that list.

Trent Loos is a 6th generation United States rancher who ranches in Central, Nebraska but also host several daily radio programs debunking the myths about modern food production. To get more information log onto his website www.LoosTales.com or email him at TrentLoos@gmail.com