It’s 2010 and you are on a mission! Your objective is to become more fit, less fat and to be the best you can be. You have learned of the negative issues strongly associated with being inactive and you no longer want to fall into this category when it comes to life. So, you are off and have begun to integrate healthy habits into your life. Activity levels have increased, poor food choices have decreased and your overall mindset is strong. Good for you! Congratulations, you have started something very important. You have chosen to live a healthy lifestyle and if you continue to do so, you will continue to find rewards. Keep going and creating those healthy habits.
One of the most important habits I would like to share with you is strongly related to your nutritional program. The topic I would like to discuss revolves around the nutritional term called, “nutrient timing.”
“Nutrient timing” is defined by Wikipedia as a sports dieting concept that incorporates time as the missing dimension in superior muscular development. This concept represents a change over the previous school of thought that focused on protein loading without emphasizing the synchronicity between eating and exercising.
Proper nutrient timing takes into account two dimensions that directly correlate to performance: 1) the consumption of the substrates in ideal proportions and 2) the timing between exogenous fueling and exercise. When the right substrates are present at the ideal times, the result is superior performance and growth.
So, to make things simple you will want to make sure to eat within 45 minutes of your training session. More specifically, you want to eat foods which have a 4 to 1 ratio between carbohydrates and protein. A few perfect examples of this would be one pint of chocolate milk, a cup of yogurt with a cut up banana, cottage cheese with strawberries or even a slice of 100% whole wheat bread with natural peanut butter placed upon it. If these types of foods are not available to you, one can always go with a post exercise supplement drink like that of accelerade, endurox, cytomax or another premix post type of drink. These are mixed in a perfect ratio between simple, complex carbohydrates and protein. What ever the case, be sure to have one of these types of foods and or drinks available.
Nutrient timing is just as important as nutrient density, meal frequency, and hydration. All too often people skip the post training meal and miss out on when the body is most able to break down foods to begin the repair of various muscles, organs, cells etc. Most do not realize that when one trains, they actually break the body down. The only time one truly gains strength, endurance, power, reaction, flexibility, balance, agility etc. is the time between sessions– not during. If one does not focus on rebuilding, regenerating or resting properly he or she will miss out on optimal training. The vitamins, minerals, proteins, carbohydrates and healthy fats must all be present for the body to properly prepare for its next set of training actions. One must understand this concept and do all they can to focus upon the post exercise window to advance properly.
So, when the physical training is complete be sure to put the nutritional training plan into action. They truly do go hand in hand. One does not happen without the other. As discussed before and will be revisited again, “We are what we eat!” Eat well, make wise decisions and put in place a solid nutritional training plan equal to that of the physical fitness plan too!
Sending you my best!
Coach T