Nutrition for dummy’s

There are four main food groups that must be understood in order to provide yourself with nutritional knowledge if you train or if you want to lose weight – and when you should eat certain types of food ar just as important..

 

What do you think the ratio is between training and nutrition i.e. which one is more important to get fit, training or nutrition? 50/50?

It’s more like 75/25 in favour of nutrition. Shocked?

It’s only at an elitist level that the ratio sways towards the direction of intensity of training and even then nutrition is still as, if not more, important than the training. 

So what changes to your diet could you make and why?

1. Wholegrain foods -

Brown carbs, such as whole grains, in bread, couscous, rice, pasta, noodles, muesli, porridge oats and bulgar, are better for your energy than the white variety.

The reason being, say you eat a white bread sandwich, the white carbs cause an upsurge in your blood sugar levels, which force your body to try and take in all the energy from the meal in one go.

Your body can’t do that. So what happens is you get a spike of energy then an energy slump – hence why at half 3 you’re looking for your mars bar and a big coffee…(For more on wholegrains… and here)

How can I get it in my diet -

Simply swap the white carbs you have to brown, easy enough – because carbs should accompany every meal you have during the day.

2. Fruit and veg - 

An obvious one and it isn’t hard to get them into your diet.

Essesential vitamins and minerals in fruit and veg prevent cancer - although many foods claim to have this particularly good claim, have you noticed how their always some form of fruit or veg?

Dont believe it? Check here and here.

Superfoods have had big headlines because of their anti-toxin benefits. See their potentials in this video:

How can I get it into my diet -

Getting an apple, orange, banana as a snack isn’t hard – a breakfast of muesli with fruit, dried fruit yogurt and honey is the best thing you can have for a proper diet – pineapple with a bit of cottage cheese before bed is perfect too.

3. Protein -

This food group gets some bad press (mainly due to the Atkins Diet) - but if you want to get fit, it can be a hugely beneficial.

Up-ing the protein content in your diet is good for weight-loss as it can be more filling than more carbs and fat, and comes in a variety of forms.

If you want to build muscle you need at least 1g of protein per pound of bodyweight so that these and these kind of things don’t happen, and so this does - growth and not deterioration.

Protein repairs your muscles; it is the building blocks of your body, and without a significant amount you deplete and your body turns against you.

Vegetarians are often ill because of the lack of protein in their diet (if you’re a veggie and need some protein sources look here). 

Meat, eggs, fish, cottage cheese, nuts, seeds and different types of beans are the best sources of protein.

If you want the leanest types of protein you want eggs, chicken, turkey, cottage cheese, any type of fish (but not much (don’t take this to literally) tuna because of the high mercury content).

How can I get protein into my diet -

Protein should be in every meal you have. It should be the core of your meal i.e. you wouldn’t have a roast without the chicken e.t.c.

4. Water -

If you want a healthy lifestyle you need to up your water intake, the guidelines state that you should drink around 1.2 litres a day, but really it should be around 2.5-3 litres.

If you regularly exercise you’ll simply suffer unbelievable headaches, poor skin and you’ll be very tired unless you drink around the 2.5 litre amount a day.

Fizzy drinks such as coke are a killer. They spike your sugar levels like white carbs, which makes you hungry later in the day meaning you eat more and so the cycle goes on.

Tea and coffee shouldn’t be seen as a substitute for water, although they have benefits.

Coffee is recommended for giving a boost, and many different types of tea can help you sleep or anxiety (check down the bottom here).

The importance of water in your body can be scene in this short film:

 

How can I get it into my diet -

Well you’ll have it in already, just try and keep a tab of how much you drink everyday to make sure you have enough.

5. The window of opportunity after exercise -

I don’t need to say that obviously both the diet and excercise go hand in hand (although I did say diet is more important, you need to excercise too!).

After training, what you eat in the half an hour window is almost more important than the rest of your diet.

For example, if you go for a run in the morning, then go to work without eating anything, an hour into your working day your going to be physically and mentally drained; you should have eaten a decent meal after training!

After excercise is the only time in your diet that you can eat ‘rubbish’ i.e eating white carbs and chocolate gives you the insulin spike we discussed before.

But this time because you’ve been training, your body can handle it and your energy sources are replenished without putting on the weight your trying to lose as your body uses the food as fuel to heal your body; it WONT be stored as fat.

What should I eat after excercise -

If cardio training (i.e. running, boxing, swimming) you need around 25g of protein and about 75g of white carbs.

If weight training you need more protein but just as much carbs say 50g of protein and 100g carbs (protein shakes are prefered as they have the quickest digestible type of protein, whey).

Diets - Lose weight, Veggy diet, Healthy diet, Muscle diet; Protein source content percentages.