ashley2212
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Joined: 12/13/2007
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Subject: The Top 5 Sports Nutrition Myths
Athletes are exposed to a lot of bad nutritional information. This article exposes the most common sports nutrition myths.
The Top 5 Sports Nutrition Myths
In my work as a sports nutritionist and health and fitness writer I communicate with a lot of athletes—especially endurance athletes—about nutrition. Through these interactions I have gathered a robust knowledge of the nutrition beliefs that are most common among endurance athletes. Among these beliefs are many false beliefs, or myths. Here are my top five:
Myth #1 – Athletes should avoid high-glycemic carbohydrates
By now most athletes are familiar with the concept of the glycemic index, which classifies various food types according to how quickly the body absorbs their carbohydrate content. We have been taught that low GI carbohydrates are “good” because they are absorbed slowly, giving the body a steady supply of energy, and that high GI carbohydrates are “bad” because they result in a “spike” in blood sugar and energy followed by a blood sugar “crash” and low energy.
For athletes, however, it’s not that simple. High GI carbohydrates are actually preferable for athletes before, during, and immediately after exercise. During exercise, the muscles burn carbohydrate faster than the body can possibly absorb carbohydrates consumed in food. Consuming carbs immediately before and during prolonged exercise has been shown to enhance performance by providing an extra fuel source to the muscles. But this benefit can only be realized if those carbs are absorbed quickly. They don’t do the muscles any good if they’re just sitting around in the stomach being processed. This is why sports drinks and energy gels contain sugars such as dextrose that are rapidly absorbed.
High GI carbs are also beneficial in the first hour after exercise, because they result in faster replenishment of the muscles’ depleted carbohydrate fuel stores. Also, when high GI carbs are consumed along with protein after exercise, the muscles are able to repair and rebuild themselves faster.
Myth #2 – Athletes need supplements to achieve maximum performance
Heavy marketing by the sports nutrition industry has convinced many athletes that they cannot achieve their full athletic potential without using nutritional supplements such as creatine and whey protein. While some such supplements offer proven benefits under certain circumstances, there is no evidence that these benefits can’t be matched with regular foods.
For example, a veritable avalanche of research has shown that consuming protein and amino acid supplements after exercise enhances the muscle recovery and muscle-building effects of exercise. However, plain old skim milk has been shown to provide the same benefits, at a fraction of the cost.
Myth #3 – Only strength athletes need to worry about eating enough protein
Protein is generally thought of as the strength, speed, and power athlete’s macronutrient. In reality, however, endurance athletes require almost as much protein, per pound of body weight, as football players, bodybuilders, and others who are concerned with maximizing the size and strength of their muscles. While runners, cyclists, and other endurance athletes don’t share this concern, they do break down a lot more muscle protein during training than strength athletes do. Therefore endurance athletes must consume plenty of protein simply to maintain their muscles and avoid losing muscle tissue and the loss of performance than comes with it.
A recent study found that runners need to consume at least 0.55 gram of protein per pound of body weight daily to maintain their muscle mass. So, if you weigh 150 pounds, you should try to consume at least 82 grams of protein each day.
Myth #4 – Dehydration must be avoided at all costs during exercise
For decades, athletes have been taught that even a very slight degree of dehydration wreaks havoc on athletic performance and puts one at risk of overheating. Athletes have therefore been advised to drink enough fluid during exercise to completely offset fluid losses incurred through sweating.
It is true that dehydration can have a negative impact on performance. However, this effect has been overstated in the past. The best recent research has demonstrated that athletes perform best when they drink at a natural rate that merely slows the rate of dehydration instead of completely preventing it. In fact, in many circumstances, it’s simply impossible to drink enough to prevent dehydration, or impossible to do so without getting sick. This is especially true for runners, who cannot tolerate as much fluid in the stomach or absorb ingested fluid as quickly due to the stomach jostling that occurs during running.
The link between dehydration and heat illness has also been exaggerated. According to research, only one in six runners who experiences heat illness during an event is dehydrated. That’s about the same level of dehydration that is seen in runners who do not suffer from heat illness in an event.
For the sake of both your health and your performance, it's best that you simply drink fluid according to your thirst during exercise.
Myth #5 – There’s only one “right way” to fuel the body for maximum performance
Each human being is genetically unique. Consequently, each of us has a unique set of nutritional needs. The same foods may have very different effects in different bodies. For example, some people function best on a high-carbohydrate diet, others on a moderate-carbohydrate diet, and still others are able to adapt to either. Some people can tolerate a higher rate of nutrition intake during exercise than others. Some people are unable to digest dairy foods properly, and others are. Some people tend to store excess fat very easily, while others seem able to eat all day and still stay lean. And so forth.
You can’t truly optimize your nutrition for your body by following general guidelines. The guidelines will take you most of the way, but to finish the job you have to pay attention to how various foods and eating patterns affect you. One helpful way to connect nutritional cause and effect in your body is to keep a food journal. Record everything you eat throughout the day and also note how you feel and function after each meal.
Dietary self-awareness can also be enhanced with tools such as a Calorie Scanner (www.trainingpeaks.com/caloriescanner), a key chain-size device that records the nutrient content in a serving of every food you eat by reading bar codes. I began to use one these devices recently and it really opened my eyes to some imbalances in my diet that I was not aware of, such as how much sugar I eat.
It’s also very important that you experiment with different nutritional practices before and during workouts. Figure out which pre-workout meals, ergogenic aids (sports drinks, etc.) and fueling schedules work best for you. Then do what you know works best on race day to avoid the nutritional mistakes that too often sabotage race performances.
http://www.poweringmuscles.com/Article-73,Top_5_Sports_Nutrition_Myths.html |