What's in your nutrition?
A common theme I hear among triathletes is the importance of
nutrition. It’s a weakness in all of us
whether we’re athletes or not. Did you
know that you can burn 6,500-7,000 calories during a 10-11 hour Ironman? So what’s the worry about what to eat and who
would have thought the most critical piece to training and race day performance
is what we feed our body? Joe Friel,
author of the Triathlete’s Training Bible points out that nutrition can make or
break us in our performance on race day.
Let me translate, poor nutrition planning = do not finish (DNF). If you could imagine training hard and long
for months and all of a sudden on race day (and it really does happen) your GI
says, “sorry, I don’t like what you just fed me so you’re not allowed to finish
your race.” Eeek, right? Needless to say, my focus is not only gaining
bike strength but really studying what I should be eating and drinking before,
during and after training days and race day.
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| Great resource for triathletes in training! |
It’s not just for athletes
Good nutrition for our bodies is not just for enhancing
athletic performance, but it’s also good for fighting off bad
diseases/illnesses/infections, improves our cognition, strengthens our muscles
and bones, and gives us the energy to perform our daily activities. We always hear about healthy eating, the food
pyramid, and diets galore! It is overwhelming!
Well, I have taken on a nutrition project for part of my apprenticeship.
This led me to think, “how am I going to
provide nutritional health education for kids if I don’t know much about it as
an athlete?” I certainly know the basics
and what my stomach cannot tolerate but it’s not the same for everyone. However, as I research and develop a nutritional
presentation…it’s all coming together and finding myself enjoying learning from
great resources and even family members.
Simple nutrition tips (sugar, salt, & fat)
I have eliminated high fructose corn syrup from my diet long
ago, but something new I learned during my research, is that there are more added
sugars to eliminate or eat less of: maltose,
fructose, glucose, lactose, syrup, sucrose, brown sugar, corn syrup, sugar,
molasses, etc. Don’t let those 100%
juices fool you! My husband is not too
fond of juices in general, but when I do get them once in a blue moon, he has
me reading the ingredients and then I find out it’s not what we think it
is. Reading
the ingredients is a key factor in purchasing the right stuff. Too much sugar can rob you of energy, your
health and even sneak in those extra calories you don’t really need from the
drinks.
Fun Fact: Sodas, energy and sports drinks are currently
the largest source of added sugars among the U.S. population from ages 2 and
older!! (NHANES 2005-2006). There are
about 16-17 teaspooons in a 20oz bottle of soda, specifically 7up...scoop it
out to see what that looks like.
Sodium (or salt) is another ingredient most health
professionals will tell Americans to keep a close eye on. We have heard the negative outcome of sodium:
high blood pressure thus leading to secondary problems such as heart disease. Sodium is actually a nutrient for our body
but it’s not something my taste buds enjoy.
Taking in sodium during training and race day will be crucial for me to
balance out my electrolytes. You can
have too much water and not enough sodium causing something called, hyponatremia. So you can see it’s important to have enough
sodium especially when you’re sweating or during hot weather, but too much can be consumed if we don't sweat it off. It’s recommended by the American
Heart Association and the American Dietary Guidelines to eat less than
1,500mg/day.
Fun (crazy) Fact:
Americans ages 2 years and older consume approximately 3,400mg of sodium a day…Holy
Cow!! (2010, American Dietary Guidelines)
Fat is tricky. Let me
just keep it simple. Fat is actually
good for us and good sources of fat come from fish, lean meats, certain nuts
and more. What we want to pay attention
to on labels is the saturated and trans fats because it can certainly sneak its
way into our foods. I have learned that
our bodies need fat for endurance performance so there is some benefits of
having that good fat.
Fun
Fact: “Because products containing less than 0.5 grams of trans fat
per serving can be labeled as having 0 grams trans fat, checking the Ingredient
List is important to avoid all artificial trans fat” (CDC Nutrition Basics). Like I said fat is tricky!
Disclaimer: Again, please note I'm not a certified dietician...just a triathlete in training learning and sharing the benefits of basic nutrition. To explore beyond the basics I have provided, please check out the credible resources below by clicking on the links:
1.
Dietary Guidelines for Americans (2010) – very helpful and if it’s too much to read all
at once, go through sections at a time…it’s quite interesting and based on
scientific evidence!
2.
American Heart Association on How to Read the Label – there are also
many other helpful nutrition information to check out on this link
5.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Nutrition for Everyone – provides information on various topics from carbohydrates to
fats and vitamins and minerals
Quote of the day: The doctor of the future will no longer treat the human
frame with drugs, but rather will cure and prevent disease with nutrition.
~ Thomas Edison
Bible verse of the
day: “So whether you eat or drink or
whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” ~ 1 Corinthians 10:31
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