Eat like an athlete

HIGH protein, low fat, single food, no sugar, blood type, body type and no carbs! This is just some of the most recent popular diet plans my clients have tried. Whether they are athletes or not, I encourage them to ignore the hype and follow the same sound nutrition principles with which sports nutritionists have been winning for years. Whether you are eating to prepare your body for your respective sports activities, following a few basic dietary principles will help you successfully fuel your muscles for maximum energy. If you are an active person paying attention to getting enough of the right types of fuel will help you successfully reach the goals of your exercise program. Even more important, learning to eat like an athlete can ultimately improve your overall health.

Food as fuel
Judging from the tremendous number of eating plans, diets and supplements endorse by athletes and other celebrities. it is easy to develop the impression that eating right is a confusing, sophisticated equation. The truth is however, that eating to fuel your life in general and your exercise performance in particular could not be easier. You don’t need Ph.D. in nutrition but just a knowledge of the basics and a dose of common sense.

Fuel or food as we more commonly call it falls in one of three basic categories: carbohydrate, protein or fat. You can think of these three basic categories of fuel for the human body in the same way you might think of gasoline, electricity or oil. Each has its own benefits and limitations as a power source. Many people refer to specific foods as bad or good but in reality all food is just fuel. Some is premium quality, some has lots of additives, some is cheap, some is expensive, some is abundant, some is scarce. None of these factors affect the fact that food is just fuel.

What these factors do affect however is how efficiently your body is able to use and store the energy provided by the foods you eat. This is most obvious when you exercise because exercise requires the presence of fairly large quantities of fuel. In general carbohydrates provide the best source of calories for exercise because carbohydrates are the easiest source of fuel for the muscles to use. That’s why most nutritionists recommend that 50 to 60 percent of your dietary intake comes from carbohydrates. Once ingested carbohydrates are broken down into glucose. The glucose is either burned for fuel immediately or stored as glycogen in the muscles and liver where it is readily accessible. Once your muscle and liver, glycogen stores are stuffed, excess carbohydrates will be eventually be stored as body fat.

Fat can also be used as fuel but only after a complicated digestion process during which the body repackages it in a more easily form. Unfortunately, while less than efficient at using dietary fat for fuel, the body is very efficient at storing dietary fat as energy reserves. once stored as body fat this fuel isn’t as easily accessed by the exercising muscles, but the longer you exercise the more time your muscles have to get this source of energy out of storage so it can be used. That’s why women who want to lose weight need to have to exercise sessions longer than those whose exercise goals are purely health related.

It’s important to know that although the muscles can use fat as an energy source, they need some glucose around to function well. In addition, the brain won’t settle for fat but rather demands glucose for energy. For these reasons, dieters who try to avoid eating glucose supplying carbohydrates with the hope of burning fat stores instead will fail. Such a plan will ultimately leave you feeling exhausted, clumsy and without the mental power to stay committed to your exercise plan.

The third type of protein can be used to provide energy for exercise but your body won’t be too happy about it. It prefers to save protein for other uses such as building and repairing muscle tissue and constructing new cells and hormones. A common misconception is that  women who participate in weight training have a greater need for dietary protein. Generally that is not true. Whether your favorite activity is lifting weights, running, playing soccer, badminton, or practicing yoga, your muscle prefer carbohydrates for energy. Only a small amount of protein is actually needed to provide enough raw material for the building and repairing process that takes place in muscles undergoing weight training. It does not take much to fulfill your daily need for protein. No matter how much protein you choose to eat there is a limit to how much your body is able to use. And just like with fat and excess carbohydrates, your body stores excess protein as fat not as muscle, as some advocates of high protein diets would have you believe. For most women, four to six ounces of protein daily meets their bodies requirements. (For reference, a piece of fish or meat the size of a deck of cards is three to four ounces.) Of course if you limit the total amount of calories you consume your diet may be deficient in all three fuel sources. This is a situation I encounter frequently when dealing with an athlete with recurrent or chronic injuries. Adequate nutrients including sufficient total calories, protein and vitamins C and E have been implicated as critical often overlooked elements of the injury, healing process. So, food not only fuels your exercise program, it helps fuel your ability to get healthy and stay that way.

Some people especially those who engaged in an exercise asked me if does it matter how soon they eat after a workout. My answer is it depends. After exercise your muscles refuel with glycogen, a storage  form of carbohydrate. Carbohydrate is stored more rapidly if eaten within two hours after a workout. If you’re training twice a day or if you are one of an increasing number of people taking an active vacation that involves several hours of activity a day, it’s a good idea to eat a carbohydrate-rich meal or snack within two hours of completing your activity. But for the rest of us who are exercising once a day or less, the timing of your next meal or snack is not crucial.

Another question is about drinks. Conventional wisdom is that if you are exercising  for less than an hour, water is all you  need for fluid intake. But if you are exercising for more than an hour or two, you need fluids like sports drinks which provide a quick source of energy. You can buy prepared commercial sports drinks or make your own by diluting an ounce of juice (like pineapple) with four or five ounces of water.

During exercise try to drink cold water as it is absorbed more quickly. It also helps to cool you off because muscles work so hard during exercise that they cause the entire body to heat up. Even if you’re exercising in very cold weather or in air conditioned room, you still need fluids although you may want to consider getting them from a warmer source like herbal tea, hot chocolate or broth. And remember, drinks containing caffeine and alcohol don’t work for fluid replacement. They increase fluid loss through the kidneys making it more likely that you will become dehydrated.

You can lose a great deal of water through exercise before you become thirsty which will affect your performance. How can you prevent this from happening? There are formulas you can follow such as the recommendation to drink a cup of water for every fifteen to twenty minutes of exercise. Or you can weight yourself before and after exercise and drink two to three cups of water for every pound of water loss during exercise. The simplest method is to monitor the color and volume of your wine: when it’s plentiful, clear and pale yellow, you’re well hydrated. When it’s scanty and dark yellow to golden, you are dehydrated and need to drink water until your urine becomes pale again. Be aware however, that if you are taking vitamins, supplements, or certain medications that affect the color of your wine, this may not be a reliable way for you to monitor your state of hydration.