Over the past few years, carbohydrates have endured an extreme amount of backlash. Labeled as unhealthy due to their link to obesity (and many other metabolic diseases and health illnesses), it's understandable why so many endurance athletes fear carbohydrates. With so much negative attention placed on this one macronutrient, it's easy to assume that carbohydrates are the enemy and will negatively affect body composition, health and performance.
A refresher, endurance athletes have two different styles of eating:
-Sport nutrition
-Daily nutrition
Your daily diet is the foundation by which your body remains in optimal health. Rich in wholesome foods, fiber, quality proteins, healthy fats, fruits, vegetables and slow-digesting carbohydrates, your daily diet is the vehicle by which you maintain a healthy (realistic) body weight, reduce the risk for disease/illness and optimize quality (and longevity of life). An optimal diet is made of many inter-related parts that constantly need adjusting based on your lifestyle, activity regime and health needs.
Your sport nutrition diet focuses on optimizing performance. Certainly, you can't out-train a poorly planned diet. For your sport nutrition diet to work, you must have a solid foundation of daily nutrition to keep your body in good working order. To optimize performance, what you consume (food, drinks) before/during/after exercise is designed to enhance the adaptive response to exercise.
Unfortunately, sport nutrition is a confusing topic because many strategies conflict with "healthy" nutrition advice given be experts in regards to optimizing health and body composition.
For example, on Sunday morning I consumed over 1000 calories worth of sugar. OK, so it wasn't straight-up sugar but the sport nutrition products I consumed over the course of 5 hours and 45 minutes of riding 103 miles (and over 12,000+ feet elevation) included different forms of carbohydrates - glucose, fructose and maltodextrin.
Because all carbohydrates are broken down into simple sugars (which are then absorbed into the bloodstream), carbohydrates are a very important and readily available source of energy. It would be silly (and potential unhealthy) to not take advantage of the many sport nutrition products available that are scientifically formulated (and easy-to-consume) to support the human body during endurance and/or intense physical activity.
Eating too many refined carbs - such as the sugars found in candy, soft drinks, refined grains and processed foods - are easy to access, easy to overconsume, taste delicious and aren't too filling. It's easy to eat more of them then needed. And truth be told, the nutrient poor options like candy and soda - supply empty calories with no nutritional value so they technically aren't necessary in the diet.
(I'm not against any foods and I don't believe in an off-limit food list so even empty calorie foods can be enjoyed responsibly on occasion).
Although sport nutrition advice may appear "unhealthy," implementing smart fueling practices before, during and after your intense and long workouts can optimize performance and health. While added sugar (not foods containing natural sources of sugar like dairy, fruits, veggies) should be minimized in the daily diet of an athlete, special considerations and attention should be given to the sugar/carbohydrates, sodium and fluids that your body requires to support your training demands.
Sadly, many athletes tend to underfuel in training and overeat later in the day. By understanding the difference between your daily diet needs and your sport nutrition needs, you can improve performance by staying more consistent with training, reduce the risk for injury/sickness and maintain a healthier relationship with food and your body.
For more information on this topic:
Nail your nutrition with these 3 simple tips (article)
Essential Sport Nutrition (book)
Making sense of sport nutrition advice (blog post)
from Trimarni Coaching and Nutrition https://ift.tt/36fOfPO
Comments
Post a Comment