Performance Nutrition

The first question we often ask athletes when they enter our office is out of 100 percent,
how much does nutrition affect their performance? Typically, most athletes are kind
enough to give nutrition about 10 to 15 percent and attribute the rest to training and
recovery. This response tells us a great deal about how these athletes are viewing their
food. When we point out that an athlete’s nutrition should be designed to support
training and enhance recovery, athletes realize that nutrition can affect performance
100 percent.
Timing nutrient ingestion is a concept that has become increasingly popular in
the world of sport performance. When the primary goal between training sessions
is to recover, nutrition becomes a key component that will allow the body to adapt
to the imposed training demand; thus nutrition to support the recovery process and
adaptations to training must start before training even begins. This concept might best
be understood by viewing the body as a furnace and its energy supply as the fuel for
the furnace. The furnace in a house functions best when we ensure that enough fuel
is readily available, and a steady supply of fuel to the furnace keeps it functioning
most efficiently. The furnace also runs best when we consider the type of fuel we use
to maintain the fire. A high-quality fuel will ensure that the furnace runs most effectively, whereas low-quality fuel can lead to eventual breakdown of the system. In the
same sense, if an athlete does not fuel the body at regular intervals throughout the day
and provides the body with poor food choices for the energy demand it is under (i.e.,
training load), then recovery from training cannot occur and adaptation cannot take
place. The furnace is equal to the engine of the human body, which is also known as
metabolism. The rate of metabolism is dependent on consistently needing to operate the body within an optimal range. If the body is deprived of food, metabolism is
reduced to compensate, and over time the body will operate continuously under this
reduced rate. When quality food such as whole grains, fruits, and protein is provided
steadily throughout the day, metabolism increases and thus helps minimize fat stores
while improving muscle mass.