The Start line Thinking as a runner, I view healthy eating as the ‘Start Line’ for the event of sports nutrition. Getting a good start allows you to build speed, overcome hurdles, reduce injury and ultimately beat your PB time after time. While there is no denying that specialized nutritional strategies can give an edge, they can only be effective when the athlete is building on a solid foundation of healthy eating. This article focuses on the healthy eating diet which will provide all the calories, protein, vitamins and minerals required for day to day life. On the rationale of learning to walk before we can run, subsequent articles will look at nutritional strategies for training, events and recovery but in order to benefit from these, I recommend you start using the Food Pyramid today. Athletes who have mastered the Food Pyramid, have much to gain from further nutritional strategies in training, events and recovery. They have an understanding of the essential components of the diet and their functions. They can clearly identify food groups which play a role in improving the performance or enhancing recovery, and therefore they can make informed decisions about their intake without having to follow a very strict or limited diet plan.
The Food Pyramid balances foods in the amounts needed to make sure that you get all the energy and vitality that you need. Foods that contain similar nourishment are grouped together and can be interchanged, as seen in the shelf system. This allows you the flexibility of choice and provides the variety you need for good health.
You can see at a glance that most of your food should come from the bread cereals and potatoes shelf and from the fruit and vegetable shelf. The more active you are, the higher your energy needs will be. Energy should come from the bread, cereals and potatoes shelf, and from the fruit and vegetable shelf. Together these two shelves provide the majority of your carbohydrate, fibre, vitamin and minerals requirements.
For many reasons it is more appropriate for athletes to choose a low-fat option from the dairy shelf, these play an important role both in pre-event, and recovery strategies and so choosing low-fat dairy products is a good habit to form at this stage. Also, choose lean meat options from the meat shelf and be aware of portion sizes (…probably smaller than you may be used too!!)
Fats, biscuits, cakes, confectionary and high-fat food snacks can be enjoyed as part of a healthy eating plan, but in limited amounts. While certainly there is a role for refined carbohydrate and sugar in sport, on a day to day basis it better to get sugar and carbohydrate from the bottom two shelves of the pyramid.
Choosing foods from each shelf in the food pyramid in the correct amounts will provide you with the balance of energy, protein vitamins and minerals you need each day.
Always ensure you are drinking recommended volume of fluid each day. The more fluid you drink the more your body tolerates and remember thirst is a very poor indicator of hydration status. Making drinking throughout the day a habit is by far the most successful way of meeting requirements every day.
Ruth Kilcawley
BSc Human Nutrition & Dietetics