SPORTS NUTRITION DIET

There is a great deal of discussion about the right sports nutrition diet. There is a controversy over the best things for endurance athletes to eat and what they should avoid.

Scott Jurrek, the great ultra-runner, follows a vegetarian diet, while Ian Adamson (arguably the best adventure racer of all times), recommends protein and carbohydrates, with no supplements (Adventure Racing, Runners World). The diet I most closely follow is the

whole foods diet. Athlete's burn up a lot of energy (glycogen in the muscles) every day that must be replaced for the next day. For that, a high protein, high carbohydrate diet (within reason) has been known to be the best. There is also a sports nutrition diet the helps athletes reduce inflammation recommended by Dr. NV Perricone.

I prefer to eat more complex carbohydrates and not eat protein. My performance suffers however when I go this route. Everyone has to find a balance. I now try to follow the guidelines below recommended by Dr. Bill Misner from Hammer Nutrition.

Many athletes make mistakes with their menu. It can damage your performance. It rates almost equal to fitness in race performance.

WHAT TO EAT ON LONG WORKOUT DAYS

I used to try to drop some weight during heavy training by lowering my carbohydrates. Though I could usually do my short workouts, when it came time to do the long run or bike, I would bonk. I had no energy, because I wasn't taking in the right fuel.

Dr. Bill Misner of Hammer has a good weight loss guide, for in and out of season. Hammer also has a really good supplement for weight loss. On the other hand, protein is also important. Protein can be found in lots of food, especially nuts and beans and meat. Whey protein is my favorite source of protein. About 15 % of the calories eaten every day should come from protein alone. It helps to rebuild muscle and spur growth and fast healing.

For heavy workout days, fat should consume less than 30% of your total calories. On the flip side, saturated fat should contribute to less than fifteen percent of your calories. A high fat diet works against the sports nutrition diet, and lots of fatty foods can slow you and your performance down.

When to eat is so important. This can affect your race greatly. Our article on the Pre-Race Meal goes into detail about this. Following this protocol helped so much with my performance.

Coconut Oil, Olive Oil, Avocados, and EFA Oil are great ways to add fats to your sports nutrition diet.

WHAT TO EAT ON NON-WORKOUT DAYS

Workout days burn up a lot of energy, so the diet for those days should help to replace that energy.

On non-workout days, a fair amount of carbohydrates, protein, and fat should still be ingested within reason, but less helpings of it. So you should keep the above ratios and just reduce the amount of calories you need.

Why is this? If you aren't burning up that much energy that day, your body doesn't need as much food to replace that energy lost. Basically you can get fat!

Since athletes may be very hungry even on "off" days, try to eat foods that fill you up. I love to have soup in the winter and salad in the summer. This can help give you a lot of volume of food and therefore be more satisfied. Whole-grains are also very filling.

Make sure to eat several servings of fruit and greens. This is great for any healthy system and has antioxidants. This will help you ward off sickness. This is my weakness, so I have to be very careful with my sports nutrition diet and include veggies and lots of supplements. A great way to aid recovery is to consider a raw foods diet. It can help with your uptake of minerals, nutrients and increase your energy.

WHAT ABOUT JUNK FOOD

It seems, at least to me, that if you are doing extreme amounts of exercise you should be able to eat what you want!

Keep your goals in mind. Is it really worth your performance? When I was training for my first Primal Quest and craving ice cream, I kept asking myself, Do I want to carry this at Primal Quest?

Sticking to your goals is enough inspiration for many people to resist the temptation of fast food, candy, chips, and other junk. A bite is okay and nothing to feel bad about, but only if you can keep it at that. One bite can turn into more, and that is where the problem with it lies.

When training for extreme sports that require high endurance, the above diet is a good one to try.

If you planning on training for extreme events, you have to be committed to modifying the outside of your body and the inside with healthy foods. Keep junk foods and fatty foods to a minimum.

Since there is a light at the end of the tunnel for extreme sports athletes (the win!) it is well worth the discipline!

RECOVERY SPORTS NUTRITION DIET

Eating within two hours is crucial to recover the muscles and restore glycogen. Eating within the first 30 minutes is even better. To fully do this, you need to to eat protein and carbohydrates in the correct balance.

You should have a 3:1 carb to protein meal. The ideal meal would be 30-60 grams of high quality complex carbohydrates and 10-30 grams of protein, preferably whey isolate.

Supplements, proper diet, active recovery and rest can rebuild your body much stronger than when you began. Massage, ice baths, and saunas other great ways to recover.

You might also consider a diet that reduces inflammation, if you suffer from inflammation and pain in the joints. It is a simple diet with some guidelines that reduce inflammation by certain foods. This is still a hard one for me. I don't put enough time into planning my recovery meals or drinks. I am trying to be more conscious of this and bring a recovery drink with me, when I'll be away from the house.

Recovery though is where you see the gain. You tear your body down during training and racing, and to come back stronger you must let it recover.

SPORTS BARS

You need to make sure it is nutritious, preferably organic and that is fits within your calorie intake for the day. Bars can be used for a nutrition snack, or even fuel for those long workout day.

I do not use these during a workout, unless I was doing something such as a long slow bike ride or hike. I find them to hard to digest for regular workouts at anything higher than a recovery pace.

Although there are a wide range of Sports Nutrition Bars to choose from, most of them are junk. There are only a few bars such as Clif Bar and Hammer Bar that have been successfully fulfilling the needs of every athlete, myself included!

SPORTS NUTRITION ARTICLES

References