Health
Carbohydrate: The Fuel of Champions
Chad Collins
Athletes training hard (more than one hourdaily) should consume well over half of their daily energy fromcarbohydrate (CHO) foods. This means choosing extra servings ofGrain Products each day, enjoying plenty of fruit and starchyvegetables, and choosing legumes (peas, beans, lentils) more often.
CHO in the form of blood glucose and muscleglycogen, is the main fuel during intense training and competition.Once glycogen stores have been depleted, athletes experience reducedendurance, fatigue and exhaustion. Muscle glycogen depletion occursduring marathon type events. Depletion can also occur during tournaments,or repeated training sessions in which glycogen stores are depletedover several days, and not adequately replaced with dietary CHO.
CHO foods are needed to refill muscle glycogenstores. The best food choices are "Complex" CHO's suchas bread, potatoes, pasta, rice, cereal, legumes, starchy vegetablesand fruit. These are preferable to "simple" CHO's (sugar,candy, pop) as they contain fibre and additional nutrients forgood health and performance.
Athletes in most sports should choose atleast 8 servings of Grain Products and of Vegetables and Fruiteach day to maintain energy levels. Endurance athletes (marathonrunners, road cyclists, triathletes) need 15 or more servingsfrom these 2 food groups to meet their high-energy demands. Athletesin sports where calorie intake may be monitored (diving, gymnastics)need at least the minimum 5 servings suggested in each of thesefood groups to ensure health and energy for training and competition.
To maximize muscle glycogen stores Afterintense exercise, muscle glycogen stores take 24-48 hours to refillcompletely. Athletes should be sure to include rest days afterhard training or prior to competition (with adequate CHO intake),to ensure maximum filling of muscle energy sites.
Before competition, trained endurance athletescan maximize muscle glycogen stores with a "modified CHOload". This means resting (tapering activity) and consuminga high CHO diet for a few days prior to an event. This gives musclesa chance to fill CHO stores. For athletes who eat a high CHO dietdaily, 2-3 days rest is important before competition.
To activate glycogen storage after competition,athletes should eat or drink high CHO foods immediately afterexercise (ideally within the first 15 minutes). Eating small,frequent CHO snacks in the 2-4 hours after exercise is the bestway to replace muscle energy (fruit, yogurt, crackers, bagels).
Note: Recent research has shown that a CHO-proteincombination consumed immediately after intense exercise may bemore effective than CHO alone in refilling muscle glycogen stores.Enjoy chocolate milk, a tuna sandwich or fruit sweetened yogurt;or choose a product specially designed for this purpose.
For more information on sports nutrition, contact:
Chad Collins, BSc,RD, CNSD
(Registered Dietitian)
at 946-8749