Sports Nutrition 101 - Meal Frequency
10/30/2009 12:00:00 AM
Oct. 30, 2009
Meal Frequency
Meal frequency is essential to maintaining adequate energy levels and proper nutrition balance. Athletes should consume 5-7 meals & snacks/day; this typically looks like breakfast, lunch, dinner and 2-4 snacks throughout the day. Aim to never go longer than three hours without eating.
When you eat often, your metabolism stays elevated helping you burn calories and maintain energy levels all day long. You function more in "hungry" and "full" mode instead of "starving" and "stuffed". On the other hand, when you do not eat often, your body thinks it is "starving" and will begin to slow down metabolism and thus "conserve" calories.
In addition, when you only eat 2-3 times a day, you tend to overeat and take in more calories than you need. So whether it is an energy bar, peanut butter crackers, yogurt & fruit, a bag of trail mix, etc., keep small snacks in your backpack so that you stay fueled all day long. Eating often will make you feel better... you will have more energy!
The Window of Opportunity
The "window of opportunity" is the two-hour time period post-exercise where your body has an enhanced ability to take up carbohydrates and protein to start the recovery process. Think of your muscle cell as a sponge... once carbohydrate and protein are supplied to the body, the muscle cell immediately soaks it up.
An intense bout of exercise causes muscle glycogen levels to decrease and small tears to occur in muscle fibers. Thus - as soon as exercise is over the body wants to restore glycogen stores from carbohydrate and begin to repair muscle tears from dietary protein.
Your goal as an athlete is to eat a snack as soon as possible after a workout or game - specifically within the first 45 minutes post-exercise. Your snack should be a 4:1 ratio of carbohydrate (4 grams) to protein (1 gram). Try to eat a complete meal of carbohydrate, lean protein, vegetables and fruit (low-fat meal) within two hours post-exercise.
Sleep
Muscle repair and recovery occurs during rest and sleep, not during training! You have to rest if you want to fully recover. An athlete should aim to get 7-9 hours of sleep/night. It is also important that athletes go to bed at a decent time and wake up at a decent time - if your sleep is all over the place... so is your eating.
Athletes that sleep until late in the day miss valuable eating opportunities and thus miss essential calories needed for energy. Everyone sleeps in a day or two a week, but make it your goal to attempt to sleep on a normal schedule so you can eat on a normal schedule.
Effects of sleep deprivation
- Suppression of immune system
- Decreased mental acuity/alertness
- Increased risk of injury
- Decreased recovery
- Decrease in performance potential
