Rational nutrition for an athlete is an indispensable condition for good health, high performance and is of utmost importance for achieving planned sports results.
An unbalanced diet significantly reduces the body’s defenses and performance, disrupts metabolic processes, and can contribute to the occurrence of many diseases, including those of infectious origin.
Modern sport places increased demands on an athlete’s diet. The high energy expenditure of athletes does not mean that they can eat whatever they want. Often, proper nutrition for athletes contains many more restrictions than for ordinary people, but in any case, nutrition should always be complete. In other words, whether your goal is to lose weight or gain weight, your diet should include proteins, fats, carbohydrates, fiber and vitamins. Depending on your goals, only three indicators are regulated: the calorie content of a serving of food, the size of a serving of food and the number of meals per day.
Regardless of the type of sport the athlete is involved in, his age and other indicators, there are general rules for rational nutrition:
- it is necessary to follow a diet;
- the diet should be balanced in proteins, fats, carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals;
- the caloric content of food must correspond to the age characteristics of the athlete, the type of sport and the period of preparation;
- the diet must be of high quality and complete, with the obligatory inclusion of vegetables, fruits, and herbs;
- the menu should be designed in such a way that it helps reduce fat mass and build muscle mass;
- monitoring your well-being and weight is important.
There are also rules for eating in accordance with the training regime:
- Meal should be no less than 2 hours before training. The pre-workout meal should consist of easily digestible protein, healthy carbohydrates, fiber and a minimum of fat. You cannot overeat; the food you eat must be digested. Proper nutrition helps muscles replenish amino acids and glycogen, and also avoids excessive damage to the structure of muscle tissue and muscle fatigue. It is better to exclude sweets and flour products.
- During training, it is important to monitor and replenish the body’s water balance. And after finishing the training process, it is better to drink clean water.
- After training, your body has the most active metabolism and absorbs all the nutrients it receives from food much faster. If you refuse to eat after a workout, your body will burn not only fat mass, but also muscle mass, since muscles contain the necessary amino acids for recovery. It is better to eat food 30-60 minutes after finishing your workout.