10 Diet Rules An Athlete Must follow
By khelkit on 30 Jul, 2015
An athlete is one who participates in physical exercises or sports, especially in competitive events. To become an elite athlete what it needs is: good genes, good training and conditioning and a sensible diet.
10 diet plans an athlete must follow are as follows:
Load your diet with Carbohydrates
Carbohydrate is considered as the fuel for the athlete. The athletes get benefited mostly from the stored carbohydrate in their body. In the starting stage of normal exercises, the stored carbohydrates provide 40-50% of the energy required. Carbohydrates yield more energy per unit of oxygen consumed than fats.
Spaghetti, potatoes, lasagna, cereals and other grain products are a good source of complex carbohydrates; while Simple carbohydrates are found in fruits, milk, honey and sugar. While the process of digestion takes place, the body breaks down carbohydrates into glucose and stores it in the muscles as glycogen.
Get sufficient Protein
It is known to us that protein is the body-building element; with no or less energy giving quality. Rather, it helps the athlete in building the muscles. As per the reports say, 10-12% of protein intake is sufficient. After doing exercise, the body of the athlete calls for protein. Milk provides a good balance of both protein and carbohydrates. Both casein and whey protein are contained in milk. The presence of both the types of protein may be particularly helpful for athletes. Protein helps in speedy recovery.
Fat: substitute for carbohydrate
Fats also provide the body with energy fuel. If the carbohydrate in the body gets low, the body looks to the sources of fat.The athletes undergoing training, use fat for energy more quickly than untrained athletes. The fat consumption should not fall below 15 percent of total energy intake because it may limit performance.
Vitamins and Minerals: From varied diets
A good amount of vitamins and minerals are easily obtained from the different varieties of food. Minerals play an important role in the performance. Thepresence of sodium, potassium, calcium, and iron is affected by a long hour of intense exercise. Mostly the female athletes require much vitamins and minerals during their practice sessions.
Drink plenty of Water
A long hour of workout or exercise in the hot weather is enough to dehydrate the athlete. But, this can affect the professional life of the athlete. Water is therefore an important nutrient for the athletes. Drinking chilled water whenever possible can be helpful as it quickly helps in the digestion process than the water at room temperature. It also helps to cool down the body.
Replace lost electrolytes
Sweating leads to the loss of fluids and electrolytes both. To tackle this situation, the best option for the athlete is to take sports drinks. The best way to get the best balance of fluids and electrolytes is to take sports drinks diluted with equal amount of water.
Get rid of the food that are considered ‘Healthy’, But they aren’t
The food products that pretend to be healthy and claim that their health benefits right on the package: low fat, fat free, etc.. are actually not. Instead, they can be made from the worst type of floor that is actually processed. The bad quality sugar are made gluten-free. All of them will do one thing and that is to make you fat.
Follow a proper diet schedule
The athlete needs to follow a proper schedule for diet. That must include:
Post Training Second breakfast
Post Training snack
Bed-time Snack
Don’t skip Breakfast
As stated by Dan Benardot, who works with Olympic distance runners (10,000m and up) and oversees the nutrition programin US; One of the biggest mistakes athletes make is heading out for a run in the morning without eating anything first.
So try your best not to skip the breakfast at any cost.
Be Strict to follow the rules
It’s easy to make diet rules, but the hard part is to keep it following. The athletes who are under their training period; it’s important for them to be strict towards the rules to get the best results. The rules if followed reguraly, will surely help in increasing the stamina.