Healthy diet for athletes

Proper nutrition for athletes

Essentially important role in the life of every athlete must play nutrition. It is well known, that only balanced nutrition is good one, so we are going to discuss over good and bad foods, as well as the proper amount of the calories intake.

During the intensive and long exercises, athletes spend great amount of energy and strength, which must be compensated with proper, healthy diet. Furthermore, their nutrition and must be consisted of balanced, carefully chosen foods so that boost energy and provide strength. Having in mind that an average athlete needs from three thousand to five thousand calories per day, essentially important is to make proper division of them on right amounts of each kind of food. It is considered that balanced diet is consisted of fifty to sixty percents of carbohydrates, twenty to twenty-five percent of protein and twenty to thirty percent of fat.

Foods which boost energy

As already mentioned, carbohydrates play very important part in nutrition which requires higher amount of energy. Foods which are rich in this substance are bread, rice, pasta, cereals, whole grain products, potatoes, fruits and so on. It is good to know that food which is less processed has better nutrient value. Carbohydrates not only provides you with great amount of energy, they also help in digestion, which, that way, speeds up metabolism and prepare body for long, heavy workouts. Other good thing is that they provide feeling of full stomach without any heaviness. Of course these all fact only stands for foods which are prepared on healthy way, which means without frying in fat and grease.

Proteins are also very important for athletes diet, because they help in muscle building process and tissue regeneration. Protein rich foods are every kinds of meats (especially poultry), eggs, dairy products (especially whey), fish and so on. If one is vegetarian, he or she shouldn’t be worried because there is plenty of substitutes for meat products in vegetables which are also great source of proteins. Vegetables which are partly consisted of proteins are legumes, sprouted grains, soya, mushrooms and so on. It is good to know, that sprouts are also very rich in vitamins and minerals, and therefore, it is highly advised even for persons who are not vegetarians.

To complete nutrition of the athletes, fats are unavoidable. If consumed in proper amounts, they also provide our bodies with extra energy. Great sources of healthy fats are nuts, dairy products, seeds and so on. Important is not to exaggerate with fats intake, keeping in mind that they should represent only twenty to thirty percent of the nutrition.