Health-e-news | Sports nutrition

Sports nutrition

Exercise has numerous benefits for every single one of us, including, reducing the risk of heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure and helping to maintain healthy bones, muscles and joints. Exercise also helps control our weight, reduces feelings of depression or anxiety and promotes a much better psychological well-being. In order for us to live healthy, less stressful lives and really benefit from exercise it is essential that we are physically active for at least 30 minutes every day.

Exercise comes in many different forms; it could be a walk through the park with your dogs, a 5 kilometre time trial run at your closest running club, a strenuous weight training session at the gym or a calming session of Pilates or Yoga.

In order to perform at our best, while feeling energetic and lively during our exercise sessions it is important to become aware of the impact that our diet can have on how we feel. Here are 5 healthy diet and lifestyle tips that will help ensure you are getting the best results for each sweat droplet.

Tip 1 - Hydration, hydration, hydration!
The average person loses between two and three litres of fluid a day through breath, sweat and urine. This can increase drastically depending on the type of exercise that you are doing. When our bodies lose up to 2% of its total fluid we start getting signs of dehydration. The first of which is thirst - we can also experience dry skin, dark coloured urine, dry mouth, fatigue or weakness. If we allow this fluid loss to continue we may experience more severe symptoms like increased heart rate, increased body temperature, extreme fatigue, muscle cramps, nausea and headaches. To prevent dehydration you simply need to replenish all the fluids that you lost throughout the day.

It is recommended that you have a minimum of 6 – 8 glasses of water (About 2 litres) per day and an extra 500 ml (2 glasses) per half hour of exercise. So keep the water bottles full and keep on sipping.

Tip 2 - Make low fat food choices.
Fats take a lot longer to digest when compared to proteins and carbohydrates because fat is made up of two separate parts; a fatty acid and a glycerol. Only once these two components are split can they be digested. This dividing action does not happen in the mouth or early in the stomach thus delaying digestion of fat. While our bodies are digesting food it is very difficult for us to concentrate and perform at our peak while doing exercise. Therefore, choose low fat or fat free food options throughout the day e.g. low fat or fat free milk, skinless chicken, lean or extra lean red meat. Try to avoid any hidden fats (in pies, pastries, etc.) and reduce the fat used while cooking by grilling, steaming, baking, poaching and boiling instead of deep-frying.

Tip 3 – Get natural vitamins in
Fruit and vegetables are abundant in numerous vitamins and minerals that we need to fight off illnesses, keep our nervous system protected, and strengthen our teeth, bones, nails and hair. To take advantage of all these brilliant nutritional properties it is recommended that you have at least 5 portions of a variety of fruit and vegetables daily.

Tip 4 – Look after those bones
Exercise is essential for maintaining and building the skeleton and bone structure. Weight-bearing exercise or resistance training has been known to be very effective in preventing bone density loss, especially in women. To ensure our bones are kept healthy it is important to include calcium rich foods in our diet e.g. fat free yoghurt, low fat or skim milk, spinach, low fat cheese, cottage cheese, almonds, baked beans and oranges. Try and avoid excessive intakes of sodium, caffeine, and alcohol as these tend to increase the urinary losses of calcium experienced. Smoking has also been linked to reduced bone strength.

Tip 5 – Ever heard of GI?
The Glycemic Index or GI of food is a measure of the effects of carbohydrates on blood sugar levels. Carbohydrates that are broken down quickly during digestion and release glucose very quickly into the bloodstream have a HIGH GI, while carbohydrates that break down much more slowly, releasing glucose more gradually into the bloodstream have a LOW GI.

A daily meal plan that includes low GI foods helps to support weight loss and weight control because they help you feel fuller for longer, minimise insulin spikes and maintain insulin sensitivity. To avoid lethargy and discomfort it is recommended that you have a snack from the low GI food group list one and a half to two hours before exercise, and again after exercise to replenish your lost stores with a well balanced, low GI meal.

Good examples of low GI foods include:

Low fat muesli, Durum wheat pasta, Basmati or Brown rice, Lentils, barley and dry beans, Low GI or seeded bread

I hope these few tips help to keep you feeling great every time you exercise! Keep it up!

Article by Chantal Walsh – Dieticians at Work