Winning Diet - Everyday Nutrition

Everyday Nutrition - Eating well in training

The winning diet isn't just for the day of the game or the race. For most athletes, the hours spent in preparation and training will far outnumber the time spent in the competition arena. Everyday eating must tackle a number of goals. The Everyday Nutrition section of this website provides guidelines to help you achieve your goals. Some athletes describe what is important about their training diets:

Swimmer
"Full training for me means two or three sessions a day – in the pool or in the gym. I need to eat so that I can recover quickly from each session and perform at my best in the next."

Basketball player
"Training is the time to get in top shape. A winning diet and training program will help me to reach my ideal playing weight – whether that means losing body fat or gaining muscle."

Football player
"I want to eat foods that taste good and that I can enjoy with my family and friends. I want all of us to enjoy the benefits of a winning diet, but I don't want to give up all my favourite foods."

Everyday Nutrition - Nutritious foods

Enjoy a variety of nutritious foods.

In Australia we enjoy an abundance of food choices. There are thousands of different food products on supermarket shelves, most fruits and vegetables are available all year round instead of brief seasons, and we can dine out on the cuisine of any country we fancy. Despite this, many of us think there are only two types of food, 'good' foods and 'bad' foods. Some people think that a 'good diet' means giving up all the foods that are 'bad' for us – often the foods they enjoy most.

The good news from sports dieticians is that no foods are 'good' or 'bad' by themselves, and no food needs to be completely banished from the winning diet. The first rule of a winning diet is to explore and enjoy the variety of foods around us. Variety helps us enjoy what we eat and makes sure that we can meet our nutrient needs from a range of good food sources. Priority should be given to nutrient-rich foods that best look after the special needs of training and keep us healthy. However, there is room for all foods, especially those that are fun to eat or part of eating out socially.

Although some popular diet books have spread the myth that certain foods shouldn't be eaten together, the truth is that meals are improved by mixing and matching foods together. In fact, many foods cleverly combine to enhance the nutritional value of the total meal. Make your meals colourful, interesting and nutrient-rich by combining different foods.

Everyday Nutrition - Decrease fats & oils

Decrease your intake of foods high in fats and oils

For most Australians, a high-fat diet is second nature. Although our bodies need some fats and oils, our typical eating patterns well exceed these requirements.

The health disadvantages of high-fat eating include an increased risk of becoming overweight, and problems with heart disease and some cancers.

For an athlete, the most immediate problem is that a high fat intake displaces some of the energy we really need from carbohydrate foods. In a winning diet, lower-fat eating makes way for our new fuel foods. Cutting back a little on fats and oils is good for all athletes.

However, if you are also concerned with losing some body fat or keeping it off, then you should pay special attention to low-fat eating strategies.

Lower fat eating means reducing your intake of foods that are visibly fatty. Many foods hide large amounts of fats and oils, often added in cooking or preparation. These should also be targeted.

Strategies for reducing intake of fats and oils

• Trim the size of the serve of 'meat' at meals. Most importantly, choose the trim cuts of beef, lamb, pork and chicken.Cut off any remaining fat or skin.
• Move to low-fat and reduced fat dairy products. Yogurt, milk, fruche and custard all come in great tasting low-fat versions. Cheese can be found in reduced fat and lower-fat forms.
• Use low-fat ideas in meal preparation and cooking. Cook with minimal amounts of added fats and oils: dry-fry or stir-fry in a little oil or spray, grill, roast on a rack, steam or microwave. Look at recipe books based on 'healthy cooking' for ideas.
• Don't smother your food in oil, butter, greasy sauces or dressings. Try low-oil dressings or herbs and lemon juice on salads. Replace butter and margarine on sandwiches with a spread of mustard, salsa, avocado or light mayonnaise. Spice up your food with sauces and relishes that are light and tasty.
• Be aware of the hidden fat inside many baked or prepared food items. These include treat foods such as cakes and biscuits. Enjoy these in small amounts.
• Remember that some 'healthy' sounding foods are actually high in fat - for example some muffins, toasted mueslis or pasta recipes. Find a low-fat alternative.
• Learn to read labels to identify the total fat content of food. Don’t be mislead by claims of 'low cholesterol' or low in saturated fat, many foods still have a high total oil or fat content. 'Light' is another term that is misleading, and may mean light in salt, flavour or colour rather than low in fat and calories.

Everyday Nutrition - Fluid needs

Look after fluid needs - especially before, during and after workouts

Each day we need to replace about 2 litres of fluid to balance general body losses – even before sweat losses during training are taken into account. Sweating is our body's way of getting rid of the heat generated by exercise, and sweating rates increase as the work becomes harder or the environment becomes hotter.

Being in fluid balance means replacing losses from day to day, but also preventing dehydration during each training session. You can't train your body to get used to being dehydrated, just like your car can’t be trained to run with an empty radiator. Fluid needs will be important to your competition strategies, so start to develop good drinking habits in advance. Apart from the practice, you can look forward to better training when you are better hydrated. Good luck – or even thirst – is not the basis of a good fluid balance plan. Be organised rather than haphazard with drinking plenty of fluids over the day.


Strategies to replace fluids over the day

• Make sure that you drink at each meal. Don't overlook water as a great choice.
• Keep a supply of fluids on hand during the day, especially during hot weather. Carry your own water bottle so that you can get a drink wherever you are. Remember not to share your drink bottle for hygiene reasons.
• Take extra care in hot weather or when you suddenly move to a hot climate. You will not automatically adjust to sufficient fluid intake, at least in the short term. Instead you will need to plan to increase your drinking opportunities.
• Get a feel for your sweat losses during a workout and how well you replace these. Weigh yourself (towelled down and in minimum clothing) before and after the session. Weight changes do not mean you have lost weight (fat); they simply reflect dehydration. Each 1kg of fluid 'lost' is equal to a litre of fluid. Try to keep fluid deficits over a session to 1kg or less by drinking as often as is practical during the session.
• Rehydrate quickly after the session. Remember that you will continue to lose fluid over the recovery time through urine losses and continued sweating. Typically, you will need to drink 1.5 times your fluid deficit over the next 1-2 hours to return to fluid balance. For example, if you are 1kg lighter at the end of the session, you will need to drink 1500ml to ensure that you are fully rehydrated.

Everyday Nutrition - Carbohydrate foods

Focus on high-carbohydrate foods and drinks

Carbohydrate foods play a vital role as a training fuel. The critical source of energy for exercising muscles is your body’s carbohydrate stores – a little from blood glucose and a larger amount from glycogen stored in your muscles. These stores can only provide for up to a couple of hours of continuous exercise, and must constantly be refilled from the carbohydrate in your diet. Running low on carbohydrate causes fatigue – you have probably experienced how bad it feels to run out of fuel.

The more you train, the greater your daily carbohydrate needs are. Athletes who train every day can find it difficult to replenish their muscle glycogen levels, day in day out, and may gradually deplete body carbohydrate stores. This is often the cause of tiredness and ineffective training.

Typical Australian eating habits do not provide adequate carbohydrate. The focus of a winning diet is to increase our intake of these fuel foods. How much do you need? For general health benefits and to provide energy for a light to moderate training program, sports dieticians recommend that carbohydrate foods should make up more than half our total energy intake. Athletes in heavy daily training may need to eat higher levels again or to achieve special carbohydrate intake targets. For maximum daily glycogen storage an intake of 7-10g of carbohydrate per kg of your body weight is needed. This means an intake of 400-700g of carbohydrate for a typical endurance athlete.

Nutritious carbohydrate-rich foods

• Breads.
• Breakfast cereals.
• Pasta, rice, noodles and other grains.
• Fruit in all its forms.
• Starchy vegetables – potato and corn.
• Legumes – lentils, beans, baked beans.
• Cereal bars, breakfast bars and other muesli bars.
• Sweetened low-fat dairy foods, eg flavoured yogurt, fruche and fruit smoothies.
• Pancakes, scones and other foods made with flour.

Everyday Nutrition - Responsible with alcohol 

Be responsible with alcohol

Alcohol has a strong link with sport through sponsorship. Although we have no need to drink alcohol in a winning diet, it can still be part of the healthy lifestyle of an athlete. Whether you drink at all is a personal decision. Unfortunately some sports people use alcohol badly, in terms of their health and their performance.

There are many community health messages that remind us of the problems associated with single or repeated occasions of heavy drinking. One of the issues overlooked in some sports is the effect of alcohol on recovery after exercise.

If you intend to enjoy a drink after training or competition, make sure that you have already refuelled and rehydrated with high carbohydrate foods and drinks.

Alcoholic drinks are not a good source of carbohydrate, promoting less efficient rehydration than other fluids. Put first things first and if you do drink, do it in moderation.

Everyday Nutrition - Balance food intake

Balance food intake with energy needs - spread food intake over the day

Now that we know how foods fit into a winning diet, we must arrange the winning diet to fit our total nutritional needs and our daily timetable. How much you need to eat depends on how much energy you expend and whether you wish to maintain your current weight and body fat levels. These factors will vary from athlete to athlete, and at times you may want to change the balance to lose or gain weight. In other words, eat enough to keep your weight and body fat on target. Don't worry if this seems to be different to other athletes.

We should also arrange our daily plan of meals and snacks to keep pace with energy. Skipping meals - particularly breakfast - and overeating later on is a typical trap. This is not good for 'get up and go' or for weight control. Get into a healthy eating rhythm that fits in with your training times and other daily commitments, such as work or school.