A Primer on Sports Nutrition

Considerations

Much has been written about sports nutrition. Not all of it makes sense, and not all of it is valid. Cutting through the clutter is important to help you prepare your body to the best of your ability. A well nourished body will run faster for longer with a lower injury rate than a poorly nourished body.

First, the basics. There are basically three fuel sources to consider. Protein, Carbohydrates, and Fat.

Protein

Everything you see when you look at a person is protein. The way a cell expresses itself is by making protein. Insufficient protein in a diet leads to a whole host of stress induced injuries such as stress fractures. As a rule, we advise athletes to eat "enough protein." How much is that? Imagine a deck of cards. Protein is a very efficient fuel source, and if you eat that much protein, you will probably get enough protein. Our body moves proteins around. If you don't need a protein, it get taken up, and used elsewhere. In the US our diets are pretty protein rich, so we generally get enough. My concern here is that protein usually comes along with fat, and some sources of protein are loaded with poor quality fats. Which is great segue to...

Fat

If you eat fish as a source of protein, then you get the best source of fat. That is unsaturated fat. Mammals generally have saturated fats in the meat, and as a result you get more of the poor quality fats than the high quality fats. Do we even need fat in our diets? I think we do. Every cell membrane is fat, the nerve cells need a lot of  fat, which means our brains are largely fat. Unsaturated fats are very important in our diets. Flak seed oil offers one type of unsaturated fat, but fish oil offers the other. If you are not a big fish eater, then you need to take a supplement to get high quality unsaturated fats in your diet. Nordic Naturals produces a great product.

Carbohydrates

Carbs are divided into simple and complex by their chemical structure. Sugars are generally simple carbs, and are also known as empty calories. Complex carbohydrates are the carb of choice. These are found in fruits and vegetables and grains, and should be eaten in abundance. More to the point, it is these fruits and vegetables that provide the important antioxidants that protect us against aging. We need carbs in our diets just for normal function, but for higher level performance, we need rocket fuel. Think of complex carbohydrates as rocket fuel for athletes. Many of the high level athletes we work with eat as many as 20 pieces of fruit and vegetables a day.

Calories

How many, and how often are the most common questions we get asked. To establish a minimum level of caloric intake, multiply 12 calories by your lean mass (where your lean mass is your weight minus your weight of body fat as measured by calipers for example). You will need AT LEAST that many calories every day. Now if you are surprised at the result, consider that 55% of Americans are overweight, or even obese. In part, this is due to he massive amount of empty calories we consume. A Big Mac has about 1500 calories for example. So eat just what you need in terms of calories. We actually do better physiologically when we are a little hungry than when we are a little full. I also suggest that people eat breakfast, lunch and dinner. And that they get most of their calories at lunch time.

Hydration

As a culture, (I am on my soapbox now) we are seriously dehydrated. We need to drink a lot more water than we generally drink. I tell people to drink as many as 16 cups of water a day. Most of the muscle and joint injuries we see on the playing field are most likely secondary to dehydration in my opinion. 

Supplementation

Protein powders, vitamins, and Creatine phosphate are the topics of the questions we field most often. We generally disapprove of the use of all of these supplements. Protein can be gained by eating well. Vitamins are most likely to be as harmful as they are claimed to be helpful. We generally support the idea of the anti-aging qualities of vitamins, but which ones? There are over 10,000 anti-oxidants, so why try to outsmart mother nature. Taking one vitamin over another is silly considering that we really have no idea which one is the one. There is more than vitamin C in an orange for example. If you want to take a nutritional supplement, and we think you should, take a powdered fruit and vegetable extract to get the most out of your nutrition.

Special Nutrition Considerations for Athletes

• You are doing more work than a non-athlete, so you will need to eat more calories than when you are not active in your sport.
• If your performance is lacking in quality on a consistent basis, you are probably lacking sufficient calories.
• If you find yourself eating sugar at night, you are probably lacking calories and sleep.
• If you find that you are suffering chronic injuries like stress fractures, you are probably short of protein.
• As an athlete, you need much more water than otherwise...as I previously noted, we are already a dehydrated society. So make sure you drink more than before when you are active.
• Eating three meals a day is critical, and if you are still hungry, try using a protein supplement as an EXTRA meal before or after you exercise. 
• Do not use Creatine Phosphate, but if you do, make sure you stay off it for at least as long as you use it. Same goes for protein powders.
• Energy bars generally have a lot of sugar in them, but if you can find one that does not, and it is tasty, feel free to use it as a snack. BUT...drink a lot of water if you do since they are usually a dehydrating source of fuel.
  
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