If you're training for fitness, you're likely focusing more on improving your strength, speed and endurance than losing weight. Although diets are often associated with weight loss, the adage is as true for athletes as for anybody else: you are what you eat. According to Brendan Brazier, author of "Thrive," prolonged exercise that is not supported with proper nutrition unduly stresses the body, resulting in poor performance and, ultimately, poor health--not what you want!
Fuel and Recover
To benefit from training, your body needs adequate nutrition to fuel and then recover from your workouts. According to Matt Fitzgerald, author of "Racing Weight," fueling up allows you to perform your workout at the highest level and thus for the greatest benefit. It also gives your body a head start toward recovery, says Brazier, who rates recovery as the most important factor in improving performance: quicker recovery allows for more frequent workouts that lead to faster performance gains.
Balancing Macronutrients
Carbohydrates, protein and fat are all necessary to any balanced diet, and your training diet is no exception. Training, however, calls for higher consumption of simple carbohydrates than generally allowed by a sedentary lifestyle. Brazier explains that simple carbohydrates are the body's first choice for fueling intense exercise because they're the easiest to convert into energy, as opposed to complex carbohydrates, protein, or fat. According to Fitzgerald, heavier training loads should be matched with higher carbohydrate consumption.
Maintaining Diet Quality
Both Brazier and Fitzgerald advocate maintaining a high-quality diet of whole foods that are nutrient- but not calorie-dense: fruits and vegetables, lean proteins, whole grains, low-fat dairy, and essential fats. Being an athlete doesn't make you more fit to eat junk food, Brazier cautions. If anything, it increases your need for excellent nutrition. Remember that fitness gains result from a two-part process: breaking down body tissues through training, and repairing them with the building blocks from a nutrient-rich diet.
Timing for Recovery
According to Brazier, timing is as important as quality for recovery, and the quicker, the better. Both Brazier and Fitzgerald recommend consuming a post-exercise snack within forty-five minutes of working out. Getting a fast start on recovery limits stress due to the body being in a nutrient-deprived state. Additionally, nutrient absorption is better immediately after a workout, according to Fitzgerald, with protein more likely to be absorbed into muscle tissue than at any other time.
Considerations
Brazier warns that food eaten to fuel a workout should be easy to digest, or the body will be split between working out and digestion--and probably perform poorly at both. Fitzgerald otherwise notes that the sheer abundance of processed foods presents the same challenge to fitness and weight loss diets, and Brazier acknowledges that exercise, being a form of stress, can trigger junk food cravings at a time when your body most needs the best nutrition.
Big-Picture Benefits
The principles of a fitness training diet can be adapted to any level of activity, Brazier says. If you exercise at a moderate intensity, proper nutritional support will increase the effectiveness of your workouts without increasing their duration or intensity. Recovering quickly from any amount of physical activity uses less of the body's energy and returns it back to other systems, such as the immune system, benefiting athletes and non-athletes alike with improved overall health.
References
- "Racing Weight: How to Get Lean for Peak Performance"; Matt Fitzgerald; 2009
- "Thrive: The Vegan Nutrition Guide to Optimal Performance in Sports and Life"; Brendan Brazier; 2007
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