ARTICLES:
- Carbs, Fat & Protein
- Low Back Pain
- Neurological Training
- Nutritional Guidelines
- Periodization
- Recovery, Weightloss & Gain
- Vitamins, Minerals & Supplements
- Weight vs. Technique
- Youth Guidelines
Carbs/Fats/Protien
Kevin Ebel, M.Ed., CSCS & Ginna Irwin, BS
Athletes often overlook the importance of nutrition for optimum performance despite its key role on the outcome of their sport. Have you ever heard of an athlete “bonking” in the middle of a competition? This and many other problems can be solved if the athlete is educated on the effects that various nutrients have on the body, and finding the optimum combination of nutrients for your sport and body type. Often this is hard to do. There is so much misinformation out there and so many companies make claims that their products will make you faster, stronger, and bigger. So who’s advice should you listen to? There’s no clear cut answer that can be applied to everyone, but some basic knowledge of sports nutrition will help you decide what fuel plan is right for you.
Carbohydrate:
Main source of energy/muscular fuel
- Aids in digestion assistance
- Aids in nutrient and water absorption
Protein:
Energy source if carbohydrates are depleted
Delivery of essential amino acids that the body cannot make
Essential for developing new tissue for growth and injury repair
Essential for maintaining existing tissue such as muscle
Basic substance in the manufacture of enzymes, antibodies, and hormones to regulate your body functions
Fluid balance - the burning of protein as fuel requires the removal of nitrogenous wastes which increases the amount of water that is lost in urine
Carrier of substances in the blood such as transporting vitamins, minerals, and fats to and from the cells
Fat:
Delivery of fat-soluble vitamins (A, D, E, K)
Delivery of essential fatty acids that are required for growth and health
Energy/muscular fuel for low intensity activity
Satiety control
Essential substance in many hormones
Now that we have a brief understanding of some of the key roles each nutrient plays within the body, it is important to discuss some of them in much greater detail. This will allow you, as the reader, to better understand specifically how each nutrient affects athletic performance.
Protein
Protein is an essential nutrient in the diet, being used to manufacture body proteins that have important structural and functional roles in the human body. Proteins are made up of various sequences of about 20 different amino acids. Nine of these amino acids are essential and must come from the diet or from the breakdown of other proteins in the body.
Typically, the average diet provides about 12-15% of energy intake in the form of protein, and the average person easily consumes more than 150% of the recommended dietary intake of protein. Generally, athletes enjoy the advantage of increased energy requirements that make it possible to consume even larger amounts of protein and other nutrients than the sedentary person. The recommended intake of protein for athletes ranges from 1.2g/kg body weight to 2g/kg body weight. Numerous dietary surveys show that the dietary patterns reported by various groups of athletes provide protein intakes that are well in excess of this. Daily protein intakes under 2 g per kg BM in healthy people are unlikely to cause side effects, but less is known about the long-term side effects of protein intakes above 2g/kg/BM.
High protein intakes can increase the amount of calcium excreted in the urine. This may cause problems with athletes at risk of weakened bones - for example, female athletes with low energy intakes who are not menstruating. Female athletes may think that as long as they consume enough protein, although consuming too few calories, they will continue to achieve high performance in their sport. But this is very dangerous for the female athlete because it can lead to increase risk of bone fractures. Their calcium level is not high enough to support the physical demand that their sport is putting on their body. High protein intakes are also known to accelerate the progression of pre-existing kidney disease. So although many athletes often think that they need to overload on protein, this is not the case.
There are many additional unwanted side effects as a result of higher than recommended allowances of protein intake. Excessive intakes of protein tend to be expensive especially if protein supplements are used. High protein intakes based on the consumption of large amounts of animal foods (e.g. meat and dairy foods) can result in a greater fat intake. A high protein intake may increase fluid requirements. However, the main concern is that an excessive focus on protein may displace other valuable foods (e.g. fruit and vegetables) or other important nutrients such as carbohydrate and fiber in the diet.
Endurance athletes in heavy training require extra protein to cover a small proportion of the energy costs of their training and to assist in the repair and recovery process after exercise. Strength athletes interested in gaining muscle size and function, require more protein in the early stages of very intense resistance exercise. However, they seem to be able to adapt to the stress of exercise, thus the bodies requirements to maintain protein balance in very well-trained athletes are only marginally greater than those of moderately active people. However, athletes who are growing, such as adolescents, have additional protein requirements.
Although the majority of athletes eat more protein than is required to meet their special needs for sport, there are some who may eat diets inadequate in protein. Often athletes on low energy diets trying to achieve or maintain a lower body mass/body fat level, especially those undertaking extreme restriction to lose weight rapidly do not consume enough protein. Athletes restricting dietary variety, especially those with allergies or food intolerances have troubles. Athletes with eating disorders and those following fad diets fail to consume enough protein as well. Failure to consume sufficient protein on a regular basis may cause muscle to be broken down to ensure a continual supply of essential amino acids in the body. This will lead to loss of strength and power, or a failure to make optimal gains from training.
Carbohydrates
Athletes should obtain about 55- 65% of total calories from carbohydrate foods. It is important to remember that glucose is the main source of fuel for muscular activity and that the higher the exercise intensity, the greater the reliance on glucose as fuel. Glucose refers to your blood sugar. The availability of carbohydrate stores (muscle and liver glycogen and blood glucose) plays an important role in performance. Consuming carbohydrates before exercise help to increase the glycogen stores. During exercise, consumption of carbohydrates helps to maintain the blood glucose level. After exercise it is important to replenish muscle and liver glycogen by consuming carbohydrates.
Carbohydrates are simple sugars or long chains of sugars, which are linked together [starches]. Carbohydrates are the preferred fuel during exercise of high intensity but they are stored in extremely limited amounts in the body. This storage form of carbohydrate, called glycogen, is found primarily in the muscles and liver. The glycogen stored in the muscle is used directly by the muscle that is being exercised. Once its limited stores of glycogen are gone it cannot "borrow" from other resting muscles. Depletion of glycogen by the working muscles leads to severely impaired exercise performance, which at its extreme is known as "hitting the wall". This makes the need to increase glycogen stores prior to exercise extremely important and to maintain a supply of carbohydrate during prolonged exercise.
Simple carbohydrates (or sugars) are derived naturally from many foods including fruits and vegetables, as well as fruit drinks and candy. They provide an immediate source of energy because of their ability to be easily broken down by the body. Thus consuming simple sugars right before or during exercise to obtain energy is most beneficial. However, simple sugars do not provide lasting .energy, so it is important relying on them as a source of energy. The alternative would then be to use complex carbohydrates, which are found in starchy foods such as potatoes, pasta, bread, and beans as well as fruits and vegetables. Complex carbohydrates are more nutrient dense and are harder for the body to break down for energy, thus making them important to consume in the hours before practice or competition.
The majority of endurance activity takes place at an intensity that allows fats to be used as the primary fuel for muscular work. But there is always a supply of fats in every athlete, so supplying fats during or before the activity is not a big concern. Because carbohydrate is involved in the combustion of fats and the capacity for them to be stored is relatively low they can be easily depleted. Therefore, the goal for endurance athletes should be to find a way to supply enough carbohydrate to last for the duration of the activity or the athlete’s ability to perform will diminish.
Power athletes rely on fast twitch muscle fibers to produce the power in their sport that they need. These power activities are using primarily the phosphocreatine and glycolytic anaerobic systems. When the exercise is intense the predominant source of energy is stored muscle glycogen. Because of this heavy dependence on fast-twitch fibers it is difficult to burn fat as an energy source. These muscle fibers favor carbohydrate over fat. But because so many power athletes require a large mass, it is inevitable that they consume a large amount of fat along with carbohydrate to meet the energy requirements without eating constantly. So although these athletes prefer carbohydrate as their energy source, they tend to have a lower carbohydrate diet than endurance athletes because of the larger body mass that they require.
Fats
Athletes should provide about 20-25% of calories from fats. This helps the athlete to assure sufficient energy and nutrient intake. Athletes require more calories than the average person, and to adequately consume this amount of calories it may be hard to get this amount from carbohydrate and protein alone. Thus fat intake is important because it supplies more than twice as many calories as carbohydrates or proteins per gram. Fat is also important to consume because fat soluble vitamins must be delivered in a fat package and we must consume essential fatty acids that are needed for specific body functions. We also need certain amounts of dietary fat to get the feeling of satiety during a meal so that the athlete can focus on their sport, rather than focusing on when their next meal will be.
Endurance athletes often partake in low fat diets, and this can be ok. They need to focus on carbohydrate consumption even though they use fats as a major proportion of burned energy for activities. The limited storage capacity for carbohydrates can limit the body’s ability to burn fat during the exercise. A high fat intake for endurance athletes is useful if endurance athletes are incapable of consuming enough energy from carbohydrates to maintain their weight.
Since fat consumption is important to the athlete, it is important to also be familiar with the different kinds of fats and how they affect the body. The two broad types of fats are categorized as either saturated or unsaturated fats. Saturated fats have no double bonds and are found in highest concentration in foods such as red meats, chocolate, and fried foods (fats with animal origin). Unsaturated fats have double bonds, and are a much better choice for the athlete (and non-athlete as well) to consume. There are specific types of fats within saturated and unsaturated fats. Some of these more specific types of fats are also better for the body than others because of their effect on cholesterol levels.
Cholesterol is a steroid alcohol that is present in animal cells and body fluids and regulates membrane fluidity. LDL carries cholesterol from the liver to the rest of the body. When there is too much LDL cholesterol in the blood, it can be deposited on the walls of the coronary arteries. Because of this, LDL is often referred to as the “bad” cholesterol. HDL carries cholesterol from the blood back to the liver, which processes the cholesterol for elimination from the body. HDL makes it less likely that excess cholesterol in the blood will be deposited in the coronary arteries, which is why it is referred to as the “good” cholesterol.
Listed below are the specific types of fat and their effects on cholesterol levels, as well as common foods that contain each fat.
Monounsaturated Fat Lowers Raises
Olives, olive oil, canola oil, peanut oil, cashews, almonds, peanuts, avocados
Polyunsaturated Lowers Raises Saturated Raises Raises
Sources
Benardot, Dan. (2000). Nutrition for Serious Athletes. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics
Clark, Nancy. (1997). Sports Nutrition Guidebook. Brookline, MA: Sports Medicine Brookline
Berning, Jacqueline, & Steen, Suzanne. (1998) Nutrition for Sport and Exercise. Garthersburg, MD: Aspen Publishers, Inc.
Australian Institute of Sport: http://www.ais.org.au/nutrition/ Retrieved February 15, 2003.
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