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Did you know the best diet for health is also the best diet for athletic
performance? It’s true. Eat a good, healthy basic diet—foods low
in saturated fat, with plenty of fruit, vegetables, and whole grains—and
you’ll create a foundation for athletic success and health, weight control,
cancer prevention, and cardiovascular protection.
Basic Terms
To get started, let’s define several important terms. Carbohydrates are
a source of calories from sugars and starches that fuel your muscles and brain,
the primary energy source when you’re exercising hard. Carbs are found in fruits,
vegetables, breads and grains. Fat is a source of stored energy that is
burned mostly during low-level activity like reading and sleeping, and
long-term activity like gentle runs and bike rides. Limit fat intake in meat,
nuts, fish and oil to about 25% of daily calories. Protein is essential
for building and repairing muscles, red blood cells, hair, and other tissues
and for synthesizing hormones. About 15% of your calories should come from
protein–rich foods like fish, meat, poultry, tofu and beans.
Four Guidelines
To perform at your best, and feel great too, follow these four simple
guidelines:
- Drink lots of fluids.
Working out can cause dehydration. Losing as little
as 2% of your body weight in sweat can impair athletic performance. But
here’s the catch: You rarely notice your thirst until you lose 3% body
weight. The lesson: By the time you feel thirsty, it’s too late. So drink
8 to 16 ounces of fluid about 15 minutes before exercise and another 4 to
8 ounces every 15 minutes during a run or ride. Weigh yourself before and
after your workout and guzzle another 16 ounces for each pound of body
weight you’ve lost. Plain water works best except during exercise lasting
an hour or more. Then you need a sports drink, like Gatorade, containing
carbohydrate.
- Load up on carbs.
Carbohydrate fuels endurance activities. As you exercise, you burn
glycogen—the substance that fuels your muscles—and consuming
carbohydrate is the only way to replace it. So make sure your diet is about
60 percent carbohydrate in the form of fruits, vegetables and whole grains.
Every 15 minutes during exercise, swig about eight ounces of a sports drink
containing about six to eight percent carbohydrate, the concentration that
is absorbed most easily. For an active person, daily intake of carbohydrate
should be about 6 to 10 grams per kilogram of body weight. So if you weigh
70 kilograms (154 pounds), you’ll need 420 to 700 grams of carbohydrate,
depending on your activity levels. A baked potato contains 30 to 35 grams
of carbo, a banana about 30 grams.
- Carb up during the glycogen window.
Studies show that your muscle cells are most receptive
to replacing glycogen lost in exercise during the period immediately after
your workout. This so-called glycogen window is wide open 15 to 30 minutes
after you stop but gradually closes during the two hours post–exercise.
So, 15 to 30 minutes after your workout, eat or drink 60 to 100 grams of
carbohydrate in the form of sports bars, a carbo-rich sports drink, or plain
food like bagels or bananas. (A sports bar contains about 40 grams of
carbohydrate.) Over the next 90 minutes put down another 60 to 100 grams.
Sound like a lot of food? Hey—exercise burns a lot of calories.
You’ll perform better the next day, at work as well as while riding or
running, if you fill up the tank quickly.
- Variety is the spice.
A severely restricted diet, no matter how healthful it might be
when consumed on a given day, lacks the variety needed for long-term health.
The “3-B” diet (broccoli, bagels and bananas) might work for a while but
you’ll get sick of it quickly. So browse widely. And give in to cravings
occasionally, too. A scoop of ice cream won’t kill you and denying yourself
something you really want will only make you vulnerable to an impulsive
binge when your willpower weakens.
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