Of all the supplements I see in my office, protein powder is the most common. But like all products, even the best powder can fail if not used correctly. So, what should you do to make sure your powder does it what promises to? Follow these steps...
1. Assess your reason for using it
Are you trying to lose weight? Bulk up? Lean out? Are you a vegetarian or vegan needing to up your daily protein intake for overall health? Figuring out why you think you need a protein powder is an important step before you buy a powder. This is because powders are often formulated for specific reasons, from different protein sources and with different additives. Using a good powder for the wrong reasons makes it the wrong powder.
A few weeks back, I blogged about tiny nutrition tricks for big weight loss (check it out here). But what if you don't want to lose weight? What if you are just looking to improve your workouts to see better results overall? Here are few more "tiny tricks", but this time for big workout gains....
1. Stay hydrated
Hydration is the number one nutrition-related reason for poor performance. Being hydrated means the entire day, not just right before and during the workout. During the day, drink to stay ahead of thirst (thirst = already a 1% dehydration; performance deficits occur at 2%). Also check your hydration status by assessing pee color (lemonade color is best). Not sure you hydrate enough during workouts? Weigh yourself before and after a workout. If your weight decreases, you didn't drink enough; an increase indicates too much fluid intake; a nearly same number means you hydrated well.
2. Eat to your workout type
Not all types of athletes are the same, so nutrition needs are also not the same.
We are almost to March, which means many of you are about to start the spring season (either in competition if you are a high school/college athlete or in training if you have spring/summer races planned). You have waited all winter to get to this point. You are determined this will be your best year yet. But little do you know, you may be making huge mistakes with your nutrition that will cost you big come game/race-day. Looking to ruin your season? Try this............
1. Don't eat breakfast
Breakfast is the most important meal for athletes. It re-plenishes muscles after an overnight fast. It also gets muscles ready to work that day - regardless of what time your training session(s) will be. Skipping breakfast forces the body to pull from other stores - often times this means breaking down muscle. Have an early-morning workout and think skipping breakfast is okay? Think again. You might as well skip the workout and keep sleeping. Not a breakfast eater typically? Start small - Greek yogurt, bagel with peanut butter, or a piece of fruit....and work up from there. Anything is better than nothing.
2. Don't sleep
Sleep is probably one of the most important things you will do over the course of 24 hours. Sleep is when your body repairs, replenishes and builds. In addition, the longer you are awake, the more opportunities to eat, which can mean too many calories coming on board. Trying to drop fat or gain muscle? Hoping to improve recovery and relieve soreness? Wanting to prevent illness and injury? Looking for more energy during the day or during training? Aim to get at least 7-9 hours of sleep on average to help that happen.
3. Don't eat any fruits and vegetables
No one likes them anyway, right? And you burn so many calories, you can eat whatever you want, right? WRONG. While getting enough calories is important, it's about quality within that quantity. Fruits and vegetables are essential to athletes. They contain vitamins and minerals that help with recovery of tired, sore muscles as well as metabolism of every type of food you eat. In addition, they help hydrate the body. Dehydration is the number one cause of nutrition-related performance deficit. Write down everything you eat for a day or two. Count the number of times you eat fruits or veggies. If it is less than 5, you have work to do. Five servings is the minimum, so get munching.
4. Don't worry about what you eat until the night before you compete
Ah - the pre-competition pasta dinner. The perfect start to a perfect game. While this may be true, that should not be the start of your performance nutrition. It is not just about what you eat the night before, but also the days, weeks and months before. So start assessing your intake now. Meet with a sports RD who can help you meet your athletic goals. Don't waste precious time by not helping your body train (and eventually compete) the way you want it to.
Be Extraordinary,
RDKate
The internet is full of interesting tips, theories and diets for helping athletes and non-athletes alike decrease fat and/or increase muscle. When it comes to sport performance, a desirable body composition for the sport can be the difference between a great athlete and an amazing one. Remember though, that what is considered "desirable" varies based on sport, position, competition level, and gender. There is no one-size fits all when it comes to an ideal body shape. Here is the truth about what it takes to change body composition.
1. Don't cut out sources of carbohydrate.
Many athletes see huge weight decreases when they cut out carbs...and rejoice, believing that they have successfully made themselves a lean machine overnight. Not so fast. Carbs are stored in muscle along with water. If you cut out carbs, you lose the water too. So, while you will lose weight, it is all water weight and you only really succeed is dehydrating your muscles (not good for sport performance). Plus, keep in mind that carb is the body's main source of energy during exercise. If you don't eat adequate carb, your body burns muscle. Dehydration and breakdown of muscle - that sounds like a losing game plan to me. Incorporate good sources of carb - such as whole grain breads, rice and pasta and fruits and vegetables - at all meals and snacks (yes - all!) to make sure you are fueling your body for desirable body composition changes. And we love those whole grains: in one study, people who ate whole grains, such as whole wheat bread, lost more belly fat than those who ate only refined grains, such as white bread and white rice.
2. Don't go overboard on protein.
Most Americans eat 2-3x more protein than they actually need, so increasing protein just because you are trying to build muscle is often unnecessary. In order to build and recover muscles, make sure you are eating lean sources of protein along with twice as much carbohydrate at meals and snacks. While protein may build muscle, carbohydrate opens the door to the muscles to make that possible. If you're an endurance athlete, aim for 1.2-1.5 gm protein/kg body weight per day. So, for someone my size (~60kg), that is 70-90gm protein daily. If you are not an endurance athlete, you'll need closer to 1.7-1.9 gm protein/kg body weight per day. However, this is not really that much when you consider that a typical serving of meat provides 25-35 gm protein (and that is just one meal).
3. Learn to love fat.
That's right - LOVE it. In fact, the more hours you exercise, the more fat your body needs. Fat helps decrease inflammation in the body as well as provides the energy your body needs, while helping you feel more satisfied after meals. Afraid eating fat will make you gain weight? In a 28-month study with nearly 9,000 participants, those who ate nuts at least twice weekly (a source of healthy fat) were 31% less likely to gain weight over the course of the study when compared to those who rarely or never ate nuts. In addition to nuts, choose other heart healthy sources of fats such olive oil, canola oil, nut butters, olives, flax seed, and fatty fish such as salmon and tuna.
4. Sleep is good.
If you take away nothing from this blog, remember this: sleep is the most important thing you will do all day. No matter what type of body composition changes you are making, the majority of those changes happen overnight when you are sleeping. Aim to get 7-9 hours of deep sleep per night. How do you make sure you are sleeping deeply? Here are a few tips: no caffeine after 5pm, no more than 1 alcoholic drink in the evening, eat every 3-4 hours and hydrate properly throughout the day. Not following these steps will affect your body's ability to achieve deep body composition changing sleep.
Be Extraordinary,
RDKate
