Strength & Conditioning - Coach Dave Houser - Nutrition
4/30/2008 4:00:00 AM | Athletics
Nutrition
There are fewer fields filled with as much debate as nutrition, and what the best food choices to improve health and physical performance. Like strength training there are varying thoughts about what a healthy diet should consist of. Carbohydrates are the body's premier source of energy. They are easily broken down by the body to produce fuel, as it takes less oxygen to burn then protein, or fats. Most carbohydrates are fairly low in calories; one gram of CHO contains four calories. Carbohydrates are the preferred fuel during exercise of high intensity but they are stored in extremely limited amounts in the body. The storage form of carbohydrate, called glycogen, is found primarily in muscles and liver.
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 obvious the need to:
1. Increase fuel storage prior to exercise, and 2. Consume carbohydrates during extended periods of exercise
Carbohydrate Snack Ideas
Each time you exercise muscle glycogen becomes depleted to some extent. By providing high carbohydrate intake every day, it is more likely that you will restore the carbohydrate which has been used, thereby allowing for another hard bout of training the following day.
Protein is the building block of our body. Protein helps build muscles, RNA, DNA, hormones and enzymes. It also can be an energy source if inadequate CHO stores are available. Although protein can be used as a fuel source it is considered to be an inefficient fuel source as it requires energy to convert the protein into fat, or CHO for energy production, and produces toxins through this conversion. The body must eliminate any toxins by using water, thus leading to hydration problems.
Lean Protein Snack Ideas
Fats have many functions; making body oils, help formulate hormones, acts as insulation and protection for vital organs, help repair damaged tissues and fight infection, carry fat-soluable vitamins though our bodies, and of course provides us another energy source. And actually provide us with 9 Kcal per one gram of fat. Fats are the way your body stores energy. Think of fat as a tank for stored energy. You want to have enough stored energy in your tank, but not so much that it costs you speed and power.
Weight Reduction
Weight reduction is a simple mathematical formula. For every 3500 calories burned above your basic metabolic rate (the amount of calories needed to survive) you lose 1 pound of fat. This 3500 calories burned can come from a reduction of food, increased exercise or any combination of both. Losing weight through exercise is a very inefficient method. You burn approximately 100 calories per mile walked or ran. Therefore, you would need to run 35 miles to lose one pound of fat or 350 miles to lose ten pounds of fat. Maximally, the human body can only lose 2-3 lbs. of fat per week. Any additional weight loss would come from lean tissue (muscle) and water. A combination of exercise and food reduction is the most sensible approach. If you reduce your diet by 500 calories a day (1 McDonald's Quarter-Pounder with cheese is 418 calories) and do 30 minutes of aerobic activity per day you will lose 2 lbs. of fat per week.
Excess weight in the form of fat reduces speed and endurance of any athlete. We want you bigger not fatter! The following pages contain analysis of foods as to their calories, carbohydrates, protein, and fat content. Also, there are some examples of balanced diets. These pages are to be used as reference material to improve your overall eating habits.
Are Vitamin and Mineral Supplements Necessary?
Athletes tend to consume large amounts of food, and if a sensible selection occurs, then there is an adequate intake of vitamins and mineral daily. If your diet is not balanced, a vitamin-mineral supplementation might prove beneficial. However, the finest source of vitamins and minerals comes from the grocery store.
