Nutritional Advice
by Klaudia Larson
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EAT OFTEN!
Make it a rule to eat something
every third hour!
Don't ever let it pass longer
than 3 hours between meals! This will keep your blood sugar on an
even level all day, which gives you more energy to your workout, keep your
fat burning up all the time and you will never have to get so hungry that
you feel you have to overeat like crazy at any time. It's better to eat
small meals often, than one big ”caloriebomb”! Especially late at night…
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EAT BEFORE AND AFTER TRAINING!
To eat before training is
of course necessary to get energy and strength to do your workout. Depending
on WHAT you have eaten before workout, but it should not be more than 1
hour between partake of a meal and training sessions start.
Be sure to get something
directly after training as well! If you let it pass too long time before
you eat something after workout your body will get into a catabolic state,
in other words, the body are breaking down muscles instead of building!
A good idea is to at least bring a fruit or a yoghurt to the gym and take
as soon as your training is done.
Then you can have a real
meal when you get home. Preferably not more than an hour after your workout.
Without getting into this
matter too deep, I can mention that there are different kinds of carbohydrates.
There are so called slow carbs (low GI) and fast carbs ( high GI ). If
you want to be very accurate it actually has significance WHEN you eat
the different types. To make it easy: The best choice before training is
slow carbs and after training fast. There are a number of reasons to this,
but not necessary to get too deep into at this point. To simplify it I
can say that slow carbs provides you with energy for a longer time, and
therefore suits best before training, while fast carbs, just as it sounds
gives you fast energy, but also consumes quickly.
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INCREASE YOUR PROTEIN INTAKE
Getting enough protein from
your food is often a problem when you are working out. Make it a rule to
always have something with protein in, to each meal! An increase of protein
gives you several benefits. First of all, protein is what the muscles are
built of. Getting too much protein is hardly any risk at all. Recommended
daily protein intake when you are working out is 2,5-3 grams of protein
/ kilo bodyweight. (ex. A person weighing 65 kilos should eat 195 g protein/day.
This would mean 1 kilo of pure meat or chicken every day!! This is the
reason why buying a protein powder could be a good idea. It may seem expensive,
but nothing compared to what it would cost to get your protein source from
purely meat, fish or chicken!)
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DRINK A LOT OF WATER!!!
Water cleans your body from
a lot of bad stuff. It is good for the kidneys, has a positive affect on
the fat burning process etc. Almost all people are drinking way too little
water. I would say that you can never drink too much! So make it a habit-start
drink more water! Always bring a bottle to the gym! And keep a bottle at
your desk in school or at work.
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START IN THE STORE…!!!
Good and healthy food habits
starts in the grocery store..
What you have at home is
what you eat, right? So it really is very simple… ;)
Only buy good stuff!
Buy a lot of protein rich
groceries. ( such as egg, meat, chicken, fish, tuna, and to some amount
also dairy products. Stick to the light/diet alternatives.)
Make it a new, good habit,
to always read the ingredients/nutritional label. ( Your new hobby!?)
You will be amazed by the
stuff some things really contains. In both good and bad ways.. Some groceries
you think is good might turn out to hold a lot of fat or sugar! And other
things you never thought about turns out to be as well rich in protein
as low in fat!
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DON'T BE EXCESSIVELY AFRAID OF FAT!!
First of all, there is a
great difference in fat and fat …
There are so called healthy
fat acids and above all, life essential!! The fat you find in fish and
vegetable groceries are example of good fats! Too low intake of fat will,
among many other bad things, in fact decrease your ability to burn fat!
The body will start saving stored bodyfat instead of using it as energy.
Furthermore fat is necessary for a lot of important functions in the body.
(among others, it's good for healthy looking hair and skin )
Animal fat however is something
you can consume with moderation. Not only is it's potential of being stored
as body fat higher , but also these type of fat contains so called bad
cholesterol, which increase the risk of heart attack and cardiac diseases.
Of course, meat, even pork chops, if you cut off the excessive fat around,
is excellent food! But stuff like sausages and bacon is a good thing to
stay away from! At least don't eat those things every day!!
Many people are very careful
about avoiding fat. But what many don't realize is that ”the villain of
the piece” can be SUGAR! The body needs all kinds of nutritional elements;
Carbohydrates, protein and fat.
But if I should say one
thing that the body really don't need in any way, it would be SUGAR!
Of course there is no harm in eating sugar every now and then. But if you
are a great consumer of sugar, such as candy and drink a lot of soft drinks,
it could be a very good idea to cut down on this.
