First W of Sports Nutrition
: (What)
Sports nutrition can be defined as a proper diet or food system an athelete or player needed to overcome the stress and energy deficiency. This could be made up of primarily carbohydrate, protein and fluid intake that are used to improve athletic performance.
Sports Nutrition is not a new thing, from medieval times the soldiers were treated better than the normal personals, because of their hardwork they have been provided with extra food and extra allounces to remain healthy and energetic.
In modern days this scenario has developed and enahanced on scientifical and logical basis. It has been proved that an athelete or sport personal required more amount of energy and power to coup with the demands of their tough work, this thing can be maintained by a proper sprot nutrition plan.
Mainly a sport nutrition plan (or dietary plan) is consisting of three simple rules.
- Maintain a healthy weight by having a proper food intake and exercise.
- Fats should be as low as possible in the diet plan (especially saturated fats).
- Increased amount of carbohydrates (Including complex carbohydrates).
These simple rules can be followed by any one either a sport personals or professional athlete or by a software engineer.
Second W of Sports Nutrition: (Why)
Normally athletes and sports personal can face several problems, mainly caused by deficiency of proper nutrition, problems like lack of stamina, dehydration, mental and physical stress, early tiredness, laziness, low and high blood pressure and no muscles growth or sometimes loss of muscles mass. In such cases risk of injuries and illness rises up to 80 %.
Sports Nutrition can improve physical activities, increased stamina, high performance level and quick recovery from exercise tiredness or competition trainings. Sport Nutrition is basically consuming proper food adequate fluid before and after exercise.
Sports Nutrition
supplements are also a good source of having all that body requires including carbohydrates, proteins, fats (limited amount) and glucose and sugar level in the body. Before taking any sports nutrition one must see few things in that. A good sport supplement is always a balanced thing to have i.e. a beautiful combination of proteins, carbohydrates, fats and vitamins if any supplement is short of anything mentioned above it might not help the way a sports supplement should be.
Details of Sports Nutrition
:
Energy requirements vary from person to person, as lined out by a research a normal person requires between 2,200 to 2,900 Kcal in a day, however it rises in the case of athletes and sports personals which is 5,000 Kcal per day.
During exercise body first utilizes the carbohydrates, using blood glucose during the first minutes of exercise. Then stored carbohydrates form (glycogen) becomes depleted to some extent. A diet consisted of 55-60% of carbohydrate is sufficient for most athletes since daily recommendation is 6-10 gm/Kg of body weight, depending upon factors like type of sports, energy expended, sex and environmental conditions.
A process carbohydrate loading is used in cases of athletes performing exhausting events, this process first deplete glycogen stores and then restores them with a 70% carbohydrate intake.
Proteins and fats are also required to maintain a healthy diet for athletes and it requires special attention as far as protein factor is concerned but at the same time balance diet normally completes the requirement of protein usually.
The most neglected aspect of nutrition program is fluid intake. Muscles activity produces heat which body gets rid of through sweat. It is very important to have water continuously to prevent dehydration since performance becomes impaired due to dehydration.
Last But Not Least:
By following these simple guidelines fluid losses can be prevented and also helpful to maintain carbohydrates level.
- Drink small amount of plain water (6-12 oz) every 15-20 minutes during workouts particularly if it is hot or humid or during longer period of exercises.
- For longer period of exercises or in workouts in high humidity, a sport drink like Gatorade or PowerAde, which contains 6% carbohydrate can maintain blood glucose levels, preserve glycogen stores and improve performance. Undiluted juices should be avoided since they contain more than 8% carbohydrates and may cause intestinal upset.