Athletic Nutrition

When it comes to training and sports healthy eating habits are a must. Proper athletic nutrition is crucial to give you that boost of energy you will need to get you through those intense training sessions.

Indeed, one of the most important aspects of training and keeping at a healthy weight is to take an honest, harsh look at what you put in your mouth. Regardless of whether you are training 1 hour per day or 10 hours per day, the quality of the foods you eat are going to go a long way in either boosting your training sessions or bringing them crashing down on you.

Medical science has proven that one of the most significant health indicators is the food that we eat and athletes need to be hyper vigilant about this. While you are working out, you lose minerals and this is normal - however, it is crucial to replace those minerals with a healthy diet. If you do not eat well, you will find yourself either being very sluggish and tired all the time or you might end up wondering why on earth you are not gaining/losing weight as you should be and the answer is in the foods that you consume.

While it was believed that athletes needed to eat more fats than "usual" people, this has now been disputed. As a matter of fact, athletes should be eating a combination of healthy carbs (such as grains) and protein as well as minimal fats.

It is also important to eat your meals at strategic times. If you like to train in the mornings, then you should eat some light fruit and perhaps an ounce or two of nuts to get you through your morning session.
After you have finished the workout, make sure to eat within two hours. Your body is still in "burning" mode and will easily process a healthy breakfast. It is imperative that you eat breakfast each morning - do not skip this important meal.

If you work out at lunch or later, then consider eating a small, light meal approximately 1 hour before you go for your workout - this should be light and considered a "mini" meal. The goal is to give you the energy that you will need for the workout - without making you feel full. Once the workout is completed, you should have your meal - remember that you should be having a healthy meal and this meal should not be too close to your sleep time. Your body needs time to digest.

For many people, eating more small meals during the day makes a lot of sense. As long as it is healthy stuff! Finally, don't forget to drink as much water as possible - water cleans out your body and removes the toxins that can make you ill.

Tina Avon

http://www.cutting-edgesp.com

Nutrition Label - 4 Deciphering Tips!

One of the great marvels of modern science: the surprisingly complicated nutrition label.

Here's the scene: You're standing in the aisle of the grocery store, staring at the enticing labels and packaging of the foods you are considering adding to your increasingly full shopping cart.

One says "Extra Healthy" right on it, whereas another one reads "For a Healthy Diet" or some other play on a disappointingly false statement. What about "Low Fat" vs. "Less Fat" and the infinite possibilities continue... which do you buy?

Well, there's no truly easy answer to that. Clearly the goal in this scenario is to find the healthier food, but how can we make that determination based on what a well-thought-out marketing label is telling us?

The key is to make sure you're checking the right label and the important information. And no, it's not the gimmicky, brightly-colored cartoon characters on the front; the label you should be checking is the nutrition label.

How to Read Nutrition Labels

1. First, check to see if the food contains any unhealthy fats. These would be your trans fats, in some cases your saturated fats, or perhaps even interesterified or stearate-rich oils.



2. Second, pay attention to the amount of sugar. Do your best to avoid foods that contain too much. Not only will it elevate your blood glucose levels, but it may lead to added weight gain and several other health complications.
   
   Especially, be wary of "drinking" too many calories that come from high-sugar drinks such as soda and fruit juice. You want to enjoy your calories from healthy solid foods, not waste them on a few gulps of liquefied sugar.



3. Third, look for foods high in fiber. Basically, the more, the better. Apples and other fruits and vegetables are a great source, and you're probably getting far less fiber than you need.



4. Lastly, examine the overall number of ingredients. In most cases, more ingredients means you're holding in your hand a highly-process and unhealthy "food."

Try to stick to whole, natural foods that have the fewest number of ingredients, little or no added sugar, lots of fiber, and healthy fats. Once you make this a habit, checking those misleading labels will be a thing of the past!

Once you've got a handle on the nutrition label, it's time to delve deeper and find out what exactly each ingredient and macro-nutrient REALLY means at http://www.fitbuff.com