2599: Teaming Up With Good Nutrition by Nancy Clark on Optimal Nutrition to Increase Athletic Performance

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[00:01:51] This is the podcast where I act as your very own personal narrator and read to you from some of the most popular health and fitness blogs online. And with that, let's get right to it as we optimize

[00:02:02] your life. Teaming up with good nutrition by Nancy Clark of nancyclarkrd.com. If you are a solo athlete such as a singles rower, figure skater or runner, the benefits that come from fueling your body wisely benefit you personally.

[00:02:24] Team athletes, however, commonly participate in group meals that may focus less on nutrition and more on fun foods. Nachos and beer anyone? Coaches may find it hard to enroll all their athletes

[00:02:36] in responsible fueling. Yet the team that fuels wisely will have an edge over the team that eats a sub-optimal sports diet, particularly when traveling to competitive events. Team athletes and their coaches as well as individual athletes want to seriously acknowledge

[00:02:52] that smart food choices can help them get to the next level. Nutrition is invaluable for optimizing not just performance during training and competitive events, but also their health throughout a long season. When all athletes pay attention to what, how much, and when they consume foods and fluids,

[00:03:10] their chances for enjoying a winning season get stronger. Preparing for Game Day The day before the competitive event, athletes should train only lightly. This allows muscles time to refuel, hydrate well, the goal being copious light-colored urine, and choose carbohydrate-based meals and snacks. For a 150-pound

[00:03:33] athlete, the goal is about 1800 to 2100 calories from grains, fruits, veggies, sugars, and starchy foods to replenish the muscle and liver glycogen stores that got depleted during training sessions. That's no paleo or keto-ish diet. More precisely, the target is 3 to 3.5 grams of carbohydrate

[00:03:55] per pound of body weight or about 6 to 8 grams of carbohydrate per kilogram body weight. For a 150-pound athlete, this means about 450 to 525 grams of carb the day before the game to refuel, plus for 2 to 3 more days afterwards. Divided into 3 meals plus 2 snacks, we're talking oatmeal

[00:04:18] and a bagel for breakfast, a sub-sandwich and fruit for lunch, a pile of pasta with dinner, plus some pretzels and dried fruit for snacks. Every meal should be carb-based. Athletes who fill up on excessive protein at meals, plus choose protein bars and shakes for snacks,

[00:04:36] commonly eat only half this recommended carb intake. While protein helps build and repair muscles, it does not fuel muscles. Athletes who start a game with low muscle glycogen tend to run less distance and be slower than carb-loaded players. This is particularly

[00:04:52] noticeable in the second half of the game. Game Day Fueling A pre-game meal eaten 3 to 4 hours before start time will optimize liver glycogen stores that can drop by 50% overnight. Anxious athletes who sleep poorly could burn even more. A pre-game

[00:05:11] meal helps fuel high-intensity sprints. It delays fatigue so that players perform better. An adequate pre-game meal is particularly important for a lunchtime kickoff. For a 150-pound athlete, adequate means 300 to 450 calories from grains, fruit or other source of carb that settles

[00:05:30] well and digests easily. This could be a bagel and a banana, oatmeal with raisins and maple syrup, or two packets of granola bars. More precisely, target about ½ to 1.5 grams of carbohydrate per pound of body weight, or 1 to 3 grams of carbohydrate per kilogram body weight.

[00:05:50] Players want to tank up with water, a sports drink, coffee, or a familiar fluid in the 2 to 4 hours pre-game. This allows time for them to excrete the excess fluid. During the Game The overall nutrition goals during the event

[00:06:05] are to 1. Drink ample fluid to prevent dehydration but not overhydrate, and 2. Consume ample carbohydrate to prevent blood glucose from dropping. The brain uses carbs to think clearly and focus on the task at hand. After warm-up, and again at halftime, teammates want to consume about

[00:06:24] 100 to 250 calories from carbohydrate, or about 30 to 60 grams of carbs. In soccer, this has been shown to improve dribbling speed, passing, and shots on goal. Sports drinks and gels can be handy sources of carbohydrate at this time. Most gels offer about 25 grams of carbs. Athletes who poorly

[00:06:44] tolerate gels can get the same benefit from natural foods like a banana, raisins, or honey. Real food works just as well. For athletes who cannot tolerate any food or fluid in their anxious stomach, swishing and spitting a sports drink during breaks in play can potentially enhance

[00:07:01] performance. No need to spit it out if they could tolerate it though. Sweat rates vary from 500 to 2500 milliliters per hour. The goal is to prevent a drop of more than 2 to 3 percent in pre-match body weight, and also to avoid overhydrating. That means a 150-pound athlete should lose less

[00:07:21] than 3 to 4.5 pounds per game. Post-game recovery. Athletes need less time to fully recover if they do a good job of fueling and hydrating before and during the event. This is particularly important in tournament situations and back-to-back games. To rapidly replenish depleted glycogen stores,

[00:07:41] athletes want to consume about half a gram of carb per pound of body weight, or about one gram of carb per kilogram body weight, per hour for the next four hours. This equates to 300 calories for

[00:07:54] a 150-pound athlete and can be accomplished with carb-based drinks and snacks in the locker room, followed by a post-game meal at the stadium and snacks while traveling. Refueling after night games needs to be planned ahead. Athletes with a poor post-game appetite may initially prefer

[00:08:11] commercial sport foods, but natural foods offer more electrolytes along with carbs, protein, and fluid. Tart cherry juice might help reduce muscle soreness. The post-game goal is to maintain a carb-rich diet, or about 3 to 3.5 grams of carbohydrate per pound of body weight, or 6 to 8

[00:08:30] grams of carbohydrate per kilogram body weight in the 24 hours after the game, and again for the next 2 to 3 days. Athletes are either fueling up or refueling. To repair muscles, athletes want to target 20 to 25 grams of high-quality protein at 3 to 4 hour intervals. While more research is

[00:08:51] needed, cottage cheese or another source of casein before sleep might enhance overnight muscle repair. When teams want to celebrate with alcohol after a match, take note. More than two drinks, like two beers, 10 ounces of wine, or 3 ounces of alcohol can impair glycogen replacement, muscle

[00:09:10] repair, and rehydration, to say nothing of hurting the next day's performance. When recovery is a priority, athletes should avoid alcohol. Good thing the thrill of victory comes with a natural high. You just listened to the post titled, Teaming up with good nutrition by Nancy Clark of nancyclarkrd.com

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[00:10:48] Today's author, Nancy, summarized the sports nutrition recommendations really nicely for us. I love that Nancy not only gave us numbers to hit like aiming for 20 to 25 grams of protein every three to four hours after an event or game, but gave us examples of actual foods to eat.

[00:11:05] In this case, Nancy mentioned cottage cheese may be helpful when it comes to getting that protein in, especially after the match, because the latest research shows that casein-rich foods, like foods made from milk, may help with muscle repair more than other foods.

[00:11:21] Nancy also mentioned something about hydrating well before and after a game or event. In fact, before an event, Nancy mentioned drinking coffee along with water, of course. So I wondered whether the combination of drinking coffee and fueling with carbohydrates before an

[00:11:36] event, just like it was discussed in today's post, could possibly improve our athletic performance. Sure enough, I found a published meta-analysis that tried to answer this very question. The authors of this study found that consuming carbs and coffee may improve athletic performance.

[00:11:54] And it may improve athletic performance more than just fueling with carbs would. So, combining the two seems to be more powerful than either alone. Now, does this mean that everyone should drink something caffeinated before an athletic event?

[00:12:10] No. It is important to know how your body responds to caffeine before trying this. So, experiment and then see what works best for you. Alright, that'll do it for another edition of Optimal Health Daily.

[00:12:23] Thank you so much for listening and thank you for sharing this show with someone. I hope you're having a great weekend and I'll see you back here tomorrow as usual where your optimal life awaits!