What should an athlete eat? part 4

An athlete should eat fat, and plenty of it with no worry that they will get fat!!!

Coach Nack is about to say something borderline controversial: fat doesn't make you fat, sugar from carbohydrates does (or too much fat with too much carbohydrate will also make you fat). That said, eat fat and enjoy it. Fatty foods often taste delicious, but just make sure you are eating the right fats.

Here are some fatty foods I recommend you eat:

Almonds, pecans, walnuts and other nuts and seeds- (a peanut is not a nut, by the way, so remove it from this conversation) The great thing about nuts is that they are easy to have around. Anyone can carry a bag of almonds with them, and can benefit from the awesome energy boost they can provide. All athletes should have these in their "Go Bag" when they are competing at a meet.

Almond butter- this is the creamed form of the nut mentioned above. This is a preferred option to peanut butter, because of the better health contents within the spread. Find some almond butter, and bring it to meets to put on fruits, vegetables, or even some bread (that last one pains me to say).

Olive Oil- Always try to go with extra virgin olive oil, or EVOO as we used to call it in the restaurant biz, because it is less refined then its counterparts. The one thing about EVOO is that it is hard to carry around, and hard to decide which foods to eat it with, so bringing it to meets may be unrealistic. I would simply suggest replacing the dressings on your salad with this (try a mix of EVOO, red wine vinegar, salt, and pepper; it might not have the taste of your ranch dressing, but you will feel better and your performance will improve). EVOO is great not just on salads but on any vegetable. Let yourself get used to it for a couple weeks, and I can almost guarantee you will love it. Like nuts, this is another great energy booster, as well as an appetite suppressant. In fact, ultramarathoners (100+ Miles) carry tubes of olive oil on them and pound down shots of olive oil as the only means to get them through their events.

Coconut milk- Yummy, yummy, yummy! A million things to do with this, but I would recommend adding around 4oz of it to our post workout protein shakes.

Avocados- you might have hated these things as a kid, but make a return to it and you might just love it (I speak from personal experience). What self-respecting adult doesn't enjoy some delicious guacamole every now and again?!?

Meat- This should primarily be considered a protein source, but it can be a good source of fat, when the source is fish. Fish contains a healthy amount of Omega-3 fatty acids that are essential to our well being as people.

Avoid these things when looking for good fat sources- French fries, things cooked with vegetable oil, donuts, potato chips (my weakness), lard, butter, dairy fats(I question this for young athletes), margarine, and shortening.

To wrap it up I would tell you to learn what good sources of fat are, get some in your kitchen pantries, add some to your "Go Bags", and see what fat can do for you. Fat is probably the most misunderstood macro-nutrient we consume. Almost everyone presumes that fat is bad, because "it makes you gain weight" or "it causes heart attacks" , but I assure you that fat is fine when you take it from good sources, and eat it in moderation along with carbohydrates.

Nack

Note: if you are interested in the debate of the effects of fat compared to carbohydrates in the human diet I would recommend Gary Taubes' book Good Calories, Bad Calories. It is a book that will make your head spin with its thoroughness, and ability to make you say "wow! I never knew that." I definitely recommend this book for those of us over 30 wanting to know a little (rather a lot) about diets. Here is a good interview with Taubes where he talks about many things, including his findings over fat consumption and the poor science that has gone into labeling it as a killer.

What should an athlete eat? part 3

Carbohydrates

This post comes on the heels of our last pasta dinner, a meal stuffed with all kinds of carbohydrates. I would like to start by thanking all those in charge of the pasta dinners, especially Darin and Linda Lake--it takes an amazing amount of set-up and they can never be thanked enough for it.

I am going to keep this short, because this could be a HUGE post. Here goes...

First off, remember that all carbohydrates turn into the same thing: sugar. Please realize, unlike the majority of Americans, that too much sugar is a bad thing. You must regulate your sugar intake, or bad things happen. If you consider something a sugary food then it would be considered a carb-dominant food.

Why Avoid Sugar? (This section is an edited piece that comes from Mark's Daily Apple)

• Sugar stimulates a physiological stressor-reaction cascade that provokes adrenaline and cortisol release and thickens the blood.
• Sugar effectively disables your immune system by impairing white blood cells’ functioning.
• Sugar decreases your body’s production of leptin, a hormone critical for appetite regulation.
• Sugar induces significant oxidative stress in the body.
• Sugar appears to fuel cancer cells.
• Sugar promotes fat storage and weight gain.
• Sugar disrupts the effective transfer of amino acids to muscle tissue.
• Sugar intake over time spurs insulin resistance, subsequent Type II diabetes and the entire host of related health issues like nerve damage and cardiovascular disease.

How many carbohydrates am I eating?
I'm willing to bet a lot. I would check the labels on everything to see the amount of carbohydrates just for a good learning activity. If you looked at all the food you ate in the span of a day I am fairly confident (because I ask you guys what you eat) that you would have a great imbalance of carbohydrates compared to fat and protein. For those of you willing to measure, carbohydrates should be about 40% of your daily intake.

What foods are full of carbohydrates?
Well, in our country that would be most every food. But these would include breads, pastas, vegetables, fruits, candy, and most snack foods (amongst many many others).

What should I eat?
Remember I am not a fan of eating grains, especially wheat. I think we could all do with limiting the amount of wheat we eat in a day at the minimum. That aside I recommend you eat...

• Limited breads, especially white bread
• Some rice and other grains
• Extremely limited candy
• Very limited snacks
• Great amounts of vegetables; especially broccoli, spinach, cauliflower, but hey any of them will do (the advice I like the most "eat a rainbow" of vegetables as often as you can)
• Oh yea, because I know you guys...eating your vegetables with a bucket of ranch dressing is not what I have in mind. Sort of defeats the purpose. Maybe try an olive oil based dressing.
  
• Eat a lot of fruit; especially berries. Do not rely on bananas or oranges for long term energy, those are very quick burners. This means that they will give you quick energy (10-20 min after eating) but will not help you in the long run.

After a workout, what should I eat?

• Protein: Remember from part 2 of this series protein should be consumed within 15-30min of a workout. For instance, a protein shake would be perfect.
• Carbohydrates: The emphasis of "Car" is not a mistake. Carbohydrates are basically a vehicle for protein to get to your muscles. Without them protein is provided to muscles much less efficiently. Make it easy on your body!
• Easy carbohydrates for you: heat up a sweet potato in the microwave (instructions); eat a cup (or two!) of unsweetened apple sauce; mix together a sweet potato + applesauce (yum!); dried figs (can replace those Fig Newtons and the breading they have that we all love so much); fruit; and when in a pinch a sandwich (love your body and do not use whitebread); I have never used it, but you could by a Glucose supplement that is carb loaded.
  
• And follow Sep's advice and try not to eat things that you cannot pronounce. I would also add that you should limit foods that have more than 5 ingredients.

After a race, what should I eat?
That depends. If you are done competing I would recommend what I have typed directly above. However, most of you do more than one event and need sustenance between events. I have never seen a failure with Goo. Ask Sep for one, he is more than generous in handing them out when it will support an athletes or the teams performance. Many athletes complain about the taste and refuse them. My advice: suck it up! I would prefer the nasty taste of those things than the nasty taste of not being ready to compete, and getting destroyed by the competition, and then wondering what happened. That is a bad taste all athletes should avoid. If you have a long time between events, have a Goo, and then about 15 minutes later eat a meal that has carbohydrates, fat, and protein (try to make sure you eat 1-2 hours before your event). If you have a short time between events, or are going back and forth between events, have a Goo ten minutes before you are to begin top performance.

Please post comments, questions, or criticisms. I would love to talk to any of you about your diet. Please just ask.

Nack

And now the obligatory disclaimer:
I am not a registered dietician, I am a high school SPED teacher, so take everything I say with a grain of salt. Also, I am not a medical doctor, so never pretend that what I say will cure what ales ya'.

A point of potential bias: I have Celiac disease, which means I cannot, and do not, consume gluten which is in wheat, rye and barley. I must say that since I have adopted a gluten free diet, I feel much better, have lost weight, am much healthier, am now "missing" some strange health problems I once had, and, well again, I feel much much better. Honestly, if I could I would remove it from most everyones die.However, I realize the impossibility of that. So I recommend we all try to eat just a little (or a lot) less of it, i.e. from the 6-11 (!!!) recommended daily servings of grains to perhaps 2-3 daily. For high school athletes, eat it, but make sure you eat plenty of fruits and vegetables also.

What should an athlete eat? part 2

An athlete should eat Protein and lots of it!


RULE: Eat around 1 to 1.5 grams of protein per pound of bodyweight during a period of heavy training. An increased level of training, such as a track season, requires higher levels of protein. Proper protein intake will help your recovery, thus also help your muscles, thus also build your strength, which will in great likelihood translate into greater speed. So for someone that weighs 150 pounds they should consume 150-225g of protein everyday.

What to eat/drink:

• chicken
• eggs
  
• fish
  
• beef
• turkey
• Bison
  
• pork
• venison
• elk
• bear
• giraffe
• crocodile
• pterodactyl
• drink milk
  

As you can see, meat is full of all kinds of protein. I would recommend eating more white-meat proteins like chicken and turkey, and less red meat proteins (beef, bison, etc), but sometimes it comes down to what is available. Also, fish is what I might call a superfood, so eat plenty of it, but be aware of freshness and where the fish came from--some nasty stuff gets dumped in our oceans, lakes, and rivers and all of those fish get pickled in that stuff so have caution.

Try this: when you eat meat at any meal of the day, try to double the amount until the end of the season. I am willing to bet you will see quick gains, as this will bring you closer to the 1-1.5Grams of protein per day.

Perhaps you are opposed to consuming animals. Okay, simple solution: eat a variety of beans or nuts, and if you allow it, fish. Dairy might also be a good place to look. You may also look into finding a protein powder to give you adequate levels of daily protein intake. They make some that have no product or byproduct of animals. I own a protein powder made of garbanzo beans...almond chocolate flavored...nasty, but it does the job.

About Supplements:

• it is always a better idea to get your diet from real food, but that is often hard when you look at our schedules. So sometime it is very smart for us to use them.
  
• protein powder- I personally recommend Isopure, but I believe Optimim Nutrition brand products are a good place for people to start; they are low in price, decent quality, and not too bad in the taste department either
  
• protein bars- Good, in moderation
  
• Amino acids- basically that's all that proteins are, because Amino Acids are the building blocks of protein. Supplementation with these can do awesome things, but of course do your own research! When purchasing, look for Branch Chain Amino Acids (BCAAs).
  
• Glutamine- I have *never* seen a bad thing about Glutamine anywhere, but that does not mean that it does not have potential side effects, so do your own research before purchasing. However, you may not find a more important amino acid for your recovery as an athlete. You will never know what glutamine does, because it gives you no feeling other than returning your body to a state of balance after a workout. So, basically glutamine helps you feel "normal" after a workout. This feeling should not be undervalued.
  

Buying supplements?

• I do not recommend GNC, based on price alone.
• I am not sure what to think of specialty supplement stores (ie, Max Muscle). Some athletes have told me of shady dealings, and many of the employees and stores like that might have an agenda to push, or a specific product to sell that may not be appropriate for you.
• I would recommend a site like www.dpsnutrition.com; they tend to have the lowest prices (even after shipping costs), and until recently the site was fairly advertisement-free. I recommend just getting on, finding your protein, your Branch Chain Amino Acids, and your Glutamine and getting out.

That's it for now. Feel free to leave questions in the comments. Nutrition topics are huge and you (nor I) can ever know enough about them so please forgive any thing I left out or cut off short on info. The next post in this line on athlete nutrition will be on carbohydrates.

Coach Nack