Athlete's Nutrition

Balanced and regular nutrition is important for people in every age group. The diet is personal. It must be evaluated considering the age, sex, weight, daily physical activity, activity’s type, and frequency and medical condition of the person. The key to a healthy life is balanced and regular nutrition as well as actively doing physical exercise.
Routine habits during the day, for example, if we think of a housewife, cleaning the house, hanging out the laundry, washing the dishes or cooking, constitute part of the physical activity. Spending energy for burn fat requires physical activity even more than routine habits. If you want to lose weight, you need to burn calories higher than the energy that you need to spend during the day. You should make physical activity your lifestyle in order to keep your body fresher and dynamic.
The most important issue is to find the right exercise for your body. More precisely, choosing an activity that you enjoy would be enough to keep you away from the sensation of doing sports. Even going up and down the stairs instead of using the elevator, getting off the bus one stop before and going home from different ways would make serious differences.
The energy spending and energy needs of the people doing exercise are different depending on the type, frequency, duration, and intensity of the exercise they do. A healthy weight for those who do exercise must be the sustainable weight and this weight shouldn’t affect the exercise performance negatively nor constitute a risk of injuring and chronic disorder. It should definitely be followed by your dietician.

Nutrient Groups

1. Carbohydrates
Carbohydrates are the main energy sources during the exercise. Therefore, those who do exercise should increase their carbohydrate consumption. Those who do exercise should gain 55-65% of the energy from carbohydrates. The complex, high-in-fiber and rich-in-vitamin and mineral (brown bread, bulgur, pasta, other grain products, legumes, vegetables, fruits) must be preferred in the carbohydrate consumption. The vegetables and fruits must be preferred in their own season. Their diet must include at least 5 portions of vegetables and fruits per day. Carbohydrate foods and beverages must be consumed right after the exercise in order to fill the carbohydrate storages back.
2. Proteins
The protein need differs depending on the weight and the physical activity of the person. Proteins support an increase in muscles since they are responsible for tissue generation and repair in the body. According to the American Dietetic Association, those who do performance (condition) sports must take between 1.2 and 1.4 gr/kg of protein per day. On the other hand, it is suggested for those doing enhancer exercise (lifting more weight) to take between 1.6 and 1.7 gr/kg of protein per day. Milk and milk products (cheese, milk, yogurt, etc.), dried nuts, meat and meat products (except for offal), fish, chicken and red meat, egg are in the protein group
3. Fats
Fats help fat-soluble vitamins to be used in the body as well as providing energy. Moreover, intake of some fatty acids which are contained in the compound of fats and which cannot be produced by the body with foods are important for growing and skin health. The rate of energy coming from the fat for the athletes must be kept around 20-25%. Increasing fat consumption may affect the performance negatively depending on decreasing the carbohydrate consumption. However, it has been specified in the researches that keeping the fat intake under 15% affects the performance and blood lipids negatively.
In order to reduce the fat intake;
• Stay away from the high-fat foods (mayonnaise, heavy cream, butter, potato chips, etc.) and frying methods.
• Prefer oils (sunflower oil, olive oil, maize oil, soy oil) instead of butter (margarine, butter, fat rendered from the tail of a sheep, etc.).
• Use low-fat milk and milk products and reduce your fat intake.
4. Water
Abundant water must be taken to compensate for the water being lost. The dehydration in the body reduces exercise performance. Therefore, a sufficient amount of water must be consumed for optimal performance and health before, during and after the exercise. The person should drink water with certain intervals (around 1 glass every 15-20 minutes) in order to compensate the dehydration. Some beverages with 6-8% carbohydrate and electrolyte under the supervision of a specialist in the tiring, long exercises taking more than 60 minutes. Moreover, it is necessary to consume more liquids in very hot and moist weather. The very light color of urine shows that a sufficient amount of liquid is being consumed. If you don’t have any blood pressure problem, drinking 1 bottle of natural mineral water (with no flavor) after the exercise would both prevent muscle pains and put the minerals sweated out of the body back.
5. Supplements and nutritional supplement
Those who do exercise can take all the vitamins and minerals when they eat sufficiently and in a balanced way. Therefore, they do not need additional vitamin-mineral support. It is necessary to avoid random product use and to apply to a physician and your dietician before deciding on these products. If the people doing exercise have any diseases such as diabetes, the exercise and nutrition suggestions specials for their disease must be followed.
How should we wat before and after the exercise?
Having the main meal right before the exercise is not suitable. The main meal must be taken 3-4 hours before the exercise. The content of the main meal must be carbohydrate and protein weighted. Meat meal with a vegetable, bulgur rice, ayran or yogurt or pasta, meatballs, salad, and yogurt is a good example for the main meal.
Exercise should not be done on an empty stomach. A small refreshment can be taken 1-2 hours before the exercise. The refreshment must be taken up to half an hour before the exercise at the latest. The refreshment before should not include milk. The milk sugar lactose causes the lactic acid to be produced more during the exercise and this causes the muscle pains. Bread-cheese, non-fatty toasted sandwich-fruit or 1 portion of fruit-dried nuts is a right alternative for the refreshment.