Professional Athletes as well as amateurs are aware of the fact that they must meet certain dietary requirements in order to stay fit and maintain peak performance levels. What athletes eat, drink and supplement influences greatly improvement, endurance and strength.
– Athletes Diet No 1 Fact – Calories / Carbohydrates: Athletes should consume about 1800 or more calories a day. They should replace the estimated calories they burn by eating carbohydrates twice each hour. Carbohydrates are important once athletes want to increase power and endurance, as sugars and starches are the body’s preferred source of energy. Consuming sufficient carbohydrates balances muscle glycogen stores and energy levels.
– Athletes Diet No 2 Fact – Avoid Certain Foods: Athletes should try to avoid gas-forming foods, high fibre foods, and very salty foods and stay with foods they know. Don’t experiment during the event! Try pH neutral or alkaline foods.
– Athletes Diet No 3 Fact – Hydrate: Athletes should hydrate daily with 2-3 litres of water, as well as before, during and after the event. They should also consider sport drinks or electrolyte replacement drinks as they provide the body with sugar that store
as energy and refill the body with lost electrolytes after the event.
– Athletes Diet No 4 Fact – Minerals & Vitamins: Athletes who avoid certain foods (diets without milk) or who follow Vegetarian diets may need additional supplementation to make up for the minerals and vitamins not being supplied by their food.
– Athletes Diet No 5 Fact – Lactic Acid Problem: Athletes know the harder they train and work out, the more muscle glycogen is used for energy production, and the more lactic acid builds up in their muscles. As Lactic / Muscle Acid builds up, fatigue, muscle burn and muscle pain begins. Endurance supplements might help.
Endurance athletes, “normal” athletes, triathletes, runners and cyclists all have the same fundamental nutritional needs. But individual health conditions, training programs and exercise requirements may require some of them to have higher calorie, fluid or supplementation demands.
