Sports Nutrition
Having spent a large part of my adult life in the French Alps near a town called Annecy, I was fortunate to have the ultimate playground at my doorstep enabling me to gain a wealth of experience hiking, trail running, climbing, cycling, and skiing in absolutely stunning and challenging mountain terrain.
I have competed in ultramarathon and other endurance events over the years and have fine tuned managing nutrition for endurance sports, but also for more intense short activities and sports. I currently look after the sports nutrition needs for Farnborough Football Club Women’s First Team.
Ben Coffey
Fuelling for sport
Top tips:
1. As a general rule try to maintain a healthy diet and lifestyle overall.
2. Always ensure you are adequately hydrated.
3. Consume the correct amount of carbohydrate depending on your needs.
4. Ensure you have sufficient protein in your diet and spread out your intake over the day.
Understanding hydration
The healthy human body is made up of over two-thirds water. This ensures a perfect balance of minerals in the body, aids the gastrointestinal tract and digestion, flushes out waste products and toxins, ensures lubrication of joints and the eyes, and keeps the skin healthy.
When the normal water content of your body is reduced this can upset the balance of minerals (salts and sugar) in your body and as a result of this affect the way it functions.
Signs and symptoms of dehydration:
1. feeling thirsty
2. dark yellow, strong-smelling pee
3. peeing less often than usual
4. feeling dizzy or lightheaded
5. feeling tired
6. a dry mouth, lips and tongue
7. sunken eyes
8. skin turgor
To stay properly hydrated drink fluids regularly throughout the day. A sign that you are drinking enough during the day is that your pee will be a pale clear colour.
NB: caffeinated drinks and sugary energy drinks should not be a regular part of your hydration.
Understanding carbohydrate intake
Carbohydrate meals should be low fat, easily digested, and well tolerated by the sportsperson. Most carbohydrates are stored in our liver and muscles in the form of glycogen. Think of your muscles as your fuel tank. Your muscles use glycogen and oxygen for power. Once glycogen is depleted, the sportsperson will feel fatigued and performance will suffer. So it is extremely important to start an event or training session with a full tank and properly refuel throughout the effort. Refuelling involves taking on between 50 and 120 g of carbohydrate every hour as tolerated. Carbohydrate energy gels work well for this.
An energy gel just before the start of an event or training provides carbohydrate which is immediately available in your bloodstream. Taking sugars into your bloodstream too early, hours before an effort is counter-productive because it can spike your insulin and make you tired. Drinking sugar-based energy drinks leading up to a game will affect your performance negatively.
On the other hand, replenishing glycogen stores with 50-120g of carbohydrate in the first 20-30 minutes after an effort is extremely important and can be done with good quality energy drinks (ideally glucose and maltodextrin with some electrolytes) . This is because there is a critical window when the body can replenish glycogen quickly and efficiently. After that window closes it becomes much harder to replenish your glycogen stores, and your overall recovery will be impeded.
Remember that taking on too much carbohydrate (which is often the case when we are more sedentary) encourages the body to convert excess glycogen to fat when the glycogen stores are already fully replenished.
Understanding protein intake
Protein intake is necessary after intense exercise. Protein refuelling with 10-20g within the first 20-30 minutes after the effort helps speed up muscle repair and glycogen replacement, leading to faster recovery.
Key points on refuelling after exercise
The key is to refuel in the first 20-30 minutes after an intense effort with 10-20g of protein and 50-120g of carbohydrate as tolerated.
But remember that it is also important if possible to eat a low fat, high carbohydrate based meal with protein in the first 1-2 hours after an effort to ensure complete recovery in the 24 hours following the effort.