What’s best to eat?

The topic of “nutrition” is very extensive. It is generally difficult to make a real statement about which food is best for the body.

It feels like every year there are new food trends, which are picked up by new studies and then again spread by the media.

One hears from friends and acquaintances that they swear by the protein powder of brand X and eat only low-carbohydrate food.

However, in order to really eat what is good for you, you should first of all avoid fast-food products. This means that everything that is already packaged and ready to eat in the supermarket is not as good for your health as fresh fruit, vegetables or a homemade lunch.

Basically, the body needs to be supplied with nutrients in order to function as it does now. These nutrients are present in every food in different amounts. The composition of nutrients in a product then determine the quality of the food.

Nutrients for training

The body has an energy metabolism. This means that the nutrients ingested are processed and transformed to get you through your day.

It is therefore logical that if you train, your body has a higher energy demand.

This energy demand depends on many factors, such as your daily steps, your awake time, your completed or to be completed workouts, the intensity of the workout, etc.

To check your energy consumption you can find a lot of apps, programs or websites online where you can calculate it.

What you should really know about nutrition in my opinion:

• proteins
• carbohydrates
• fats

Proteins

Proteins are the 2nd most common form of nutrients that the body needs.

With protein intake promotes muscle growth, bone growth, skin growth and even blood cell production.

This property makes it one of the most important nutrients for an athlete and is also the reason why you can find so many different types of powders in the industry.

A distinction is made between:

• animal protein
• vegetable protein

Depending on the protein is found in, for example, meat, fish, dairy products, legumes, nuts, etc..

For a healthy diet it would be advisable to mix these different sources of protein as food intake. Once meat, then again try to cover the protein requirement by vegetable proteins and then perhaps sometimes fish etc.

Practice has shown that there are many athletes who completely do without animal proteins. Therefore all this is possible.

Carbohydrates

Carbohydrates are among the most important energy suppliers of the body.

In the case of medium endurance in training, it is the primary source of energy for physical exertion. Carbohydrates enter the blood particularly quickly and are abundant especially in plant foods such as fruits.

Foods of this type should nevertheless and precisely for this reason not be on the menu too often, as this causes the blood sugar level to rise and fall again quickly.

With the Low Carb nutrition one tries to avoid these food as well and relatively few carbohydrate and/or carbohydrate-poor food to take up.

However, if the goal is to burn calories through exercise in order to reduce body fat, you should eat fewer carbohydrates. This will cause the body to mobilize more calories from the fat store.

Fats

Since the body tends to get its energy from fat reserves during prolonged exercise, it is also important for athletes to consume fats.

Among other things, fats help the body to absorb various vitamins from food.

Today’s problem, that a lot of low-quality fats are contained in ready-made meals, can be made up for by fresh products.

Particularly important keywords on the subject of fats are Omega 3 & 6.

These fatty acids cannot be produced by the body itself and therefore should be supplied by food.

Drink water

What is almost logical, but should not go unmentioned:

Water is the most important “food” for our body. In order to perform well during training, it is essential to drink enough water. In principle, you should drink two liters of fluid a day.

After or during a training session, it is best to refill your fluid reservoir, because you also consume a lot of it during training.

When to eat?

Before training should eat mainly food that is easily digestible.

Everyone should know that if too much food is consumed just before the workout, it is rather detrimental to the workout itself.

After training, you can replenish your glycogen stores with a substantial meal.

A science in itself

Nutrition with regard to sports is a science in itself and very extensive.

It would go beyond the scope here to go into all the details.

But with this post you should now have a rough overview of food itself.

If you are still interested in this topic, there will certainly be another, more detailed blog post in the future.