Nutrition - Sport nutrition tips

Jonathon Fowles
(Phd Candidate in exercise physiology U of Waterloo)

The Basics
Common sense prevails here and we've all heard it. Eat a balanced diet! How do you get a balanced diet? By eating FOOD. Its funny, but too many of us forget that we are designed to eat food, not just calories, proteins or vitamins. That’s why relying on supplements isn't the best eating plan - you miss out on all the good stuff!

A balanced diet works for just about everybody, including high performing athletes. In general, make an effort to increase your fruits and vegetables (we never get enough) and reduce fats (burgers, fries, potato chips, pizza) remembering that low-fat diet doesn't equate to a low fat body. Replacing fats which are a vital component of your diet - especially UNSATURATED with sugar just makes the diet UNBALANCED and UNHEALTHY! You need protein as an athlete, but not absurd amounts.

Pre-race meal

Remember to get something to eat 1.5 hours before a practice or a meet. If you have an early morning practice or meet, at least get some juice and a granola bar so you don't run out of energy when the race finally happens.

General Guidelines:

• Small 'mixed' meal approximately 1.5 hours before warm-up
• Avoid simple sugars (i.e. no cookies, ice-cream, chocolate bars, not too much Gatorade)
• Avoid dense portions of complex carbohy-drates (i.e. no big plate of pasta)
• Take only sips of water in your warm-up period
• The best time to eat dense carbohydrates (e.g. pasta) is the two days prior to your event.

A reasonable pre-game/workout choice could be bowl of cereal and milk and piece of fruit with a few almonds, bagel with cream cheese and a V8 juice, or a small turkey or chicken sandwich and
a juice.

Post workout/meet meal:

Glycogen is the primary fuel source for exercise and is replenished more quickly if carbohydrates are taken directly after exercise. Recent research has indicated that muscle recovery can be enhanced if a small mixed meal or carbohydrate meal is consumed directly after a workout.

• Small 1-2-3 energy snack immediately after exercise until you can have a complete meal
(1-2-3 energy is a combination of 1 fruit/vegetable 2 complex carbohydrate 3 protein)
• If you've exhausted your glycogen, keep eating small meals every few hours
• If there is time for a 'protein-shake' its right after your workout.

The most valuable nutrition tip I can give with regards to athletic training, is to eat a 1-2-3 energy pack directly after every workout/practice or competition. This tip far outweighs any purported
benefits of nutritional supplements or other dietary gimmicks.

A sensible and practical way to eat is to follow the "Rule of thirds", choose at least one item from each of the following lines:

• Fruit or vegetable (orange, banana, salad, tomato)
• Pasta, rice, whole-grain breads
• Meat / meat alternative product (chicken, tuna, tofu, almonds, yogurt)
• Snack on 1-2-3 energy pack

(each component should be about 1/3 of the total portion, remember you don't have to add fat, its usually there somewhere)