Eating To Win: Nutrition For Optimal Athletic Performance

Sports nutrition is an integral part of sports performance for athletes. When I think about performance, I typically divide it into the training aspect of performance, and then the recovery aspect of performance. So training is of course, going to practice and doing off-season conditioning and lifting. And then the recovery aspect has nutrition, hydration, mental health, and sleep. And so if nutrition isn't optimized, then you're not getting the most out of what you're already putting into all of those other aspects of performance.

Sports nutrition is different than nutrition for the average person, because athletes typically need a higher caloric intake depending on the demands of their sport and the demands of their off season training. And they also need different macronutrient ratios. So macronutrients are your fats, your proteins, and your carbohydrates. Those are the big three. And even day to day with the same athlete, between a hard day of training and a moderate or light day of training, those macronutrient ratios need to be slightly adjusted, and same with caloric intake.

All three of the big macro nutrients: fat, carbohydrates, and protein are important to athletes, but it's more than just getting those three nutrients. It's also getting them in high quality form. So you could eat a cheeseburger and get all three of those macronutrients, but it's low quality fuel. So instead I try to have athletes eat healthy fats, like eggs or hard boiled eggs, almonds, almond butter, peanut butter, another example of a high quality fat that also has high calories for athletes is an avocado which has 300 calories and great healthy fat.

As far as the carbohydrates go, instead of having very processed sugary carbohydrate sources, I try to have athletes aim for more of the whole grain, whole wheat type of carbohydrates, things like whole grain bread, whole wheat crackers, brown rice, whole wheat pastas. Those have more fiber with them and higher micronutrient qualities, so good vitamins and minerals.

The nutrition an athlete needs is variable depending on what sport they play, and also within one sport. For example, someone who's an endurance athlete is going to have a completely different nutritional demand than someone who's more of an explosive, power/strength type athlete. If you take football, for example, even within that same sport, your linemen are going to need something totally different from your special teams, your kickers. So it's very important to make sure that each athlete has an individualized nutrition plan for that reason.

When we talk about in-season versus off-season and how to figure out what nutrients you need in each of those categories, it's going to be different throughout the year, but it's important all year round. So the off-season component of nutrition really focuses on that recovery. So making sure you're still feeding your muscles the amount of protein that you need to maintain the muscle mass that you gained during in-season. Athletes usually have a lower body fat, but a higher lean muscle mass. So even if they have the same exact weight as somebody who's a sedentary non-athlete, their nutrition requirements are going to be different despite their training.

Another way that nutrition impacts performance is it can put athletes at risk for injury if it's deficient. So for example, endurance athletes not taking in enough calories can be at risk for stress fractures, same thing with athlete fatigue. So even if you're not an endurance athlete and you're an explosive power athlete, your muscles are more likely to fatigue more quickly if you don't have adequate stores of nutrients. And so when you have muscle fatigue, you're at risk for your body mechanics being off and having musculoskeletal injury.

 

 

Title slide: Signs Of Poor Nutrition

 

8)  Some of the signs that can indicate that an athlete's diet is potentially inadequate are things like generalized fatigue. Of course, when you're in sports in season, some fatigue is expected after practice and after games, but if it's all day fatigue, and it's really affecting an athlete's ability to perform and also perform in school, that might be a sign that they're nutrient deficient.

 

9)  Another sign for an athlete to look in more detail at their nutrition for female athletes is if they lose their menstrual period. So if they have a menstrual period, and it's typically very regular and they start to either have very light periods or lose periods or skip months, that can be an indication that they have a significant calorie deficiency. And that's important because with a calorie deficiency that causes that much of a hormonal imbalance, you're at very high risk for a stress fracture, which can put you out of sports for eight to 12 weeks.

 

10)  Another indication that an athlete should look closer at their nutrition is if they're losing weight throughout the season. Sometimes athletes, especially adolescent and teenage athletes, think that's normal because they're exercising so much, but it's important to make sure that they're meeting their exercise demand with nutrient intake so that their weight is stable through the season.

 

11)  If an athlete is training really well, but they're not necessarily getting the proper amount of nutrients or the correct calorie intake or macronutrient intake, they can reach what's called a performance plateau. So they're training and they're practicing, they're doing everything right, but then suddenly their performance reaches a plateau, and it can be very frustrating, but a lot of times that can be corrected with improving their nutrient quality.

 

Title Slide: Nutrition Evaluation

 

12)  Because diet and nutrition is so individualized, the best way for an athlete to determine what diet is best for them is to have an appointment with a physician who can do a detailed assessment, go through a dietary recall to see what they like to eat and what they typically eat, and then do lab work, if that's indicated, to come up with a very customized plan for that specific athlete