Amazingly, athletes often put so much work into exercise and training every day, but many of them forget about basic nutrition.
However, eating the right kind of foods works right alongside training and leaving out this important factor will make it harder to reach the goals that you are trying to achieve.
Some foods contain nutrients that your body needs to train and become your best athletically.
One thing to keep in mind is that consuming carbs gives you energy.
Also, fat contains vitamins and protein allows the body to fix itself when you strain too hard in training or in the actual competition.
Eating like an athlete doesn't really vary that much from following the healthy diets recommended by nutritionists.
Here is a list of what you need to know about athletic performance and proper nutrition.
Three factors that are most important in a healthy eating plan are carbs, fat and protein.
All three of these are extremely important in developing your athletic ability and for healthy eating in general.
Around sixty percent of your diet should be carbs.
This is because they are vital to the energy that you need to perform, not only for your muscles but also your brain to tell your muscles what to do.
When you don't eat enough carbohydrates, your body uses the stores of protein instead and that can make it difficult to have the energy to perform.
By general nutrition standards, but especially for working out and training, you should have 6 to 8 grams of protein every day.
There are three reasons why this is so.
First, it is vital in many things that your body needs to do, it is critical for recovering from any injuries or strains on your body and protein rebuilds tissues that have been damaged.
However, stick to proteins that are lean and nearly fat-free.
Most people think that they should avoid fat, but in fact, some fat is vital to the working of your body.
It allows you to have more shock absorption when falling, and it gives you energy to run.
Also, fat contains certain compounds that are vital to your body's needs and it helps to keep your body at the right temperature.
Plus, some essential vitamins are stored in fat.
Despite what you might think, fat is equally as important as carbs and protein - fat plays a critical role for the body because it: Food that is consumed right before you participate in a competitive event or train are just as essential to pay attention to as what you eat daily.
What you eat before a match or tournament allows you to "fill your fuel tank" so to speak, which allow your body to stay full and focuses, and hydrated, and give you enough energy to perform at your peak level throughout the entire athletic event.
Also, you may need to refuel during your workout, and you definitely want to keep hydrated.
You'll want to drink around six ounces of water for every thirty minutes of exercise at the very least, but drinking more water will not hurt, unless you overfill yourself with water and get sick.
However, even better than water is a drink that has electrolytes such as a sports beverage.
Keeping your body fueled is just as vital as fueling before you start.
For each half hour that you work out, drink something and eat something with carbs and protein in it.
Also, remember that breakfast is super important, because your body's energy reserves are depleted after sleeping (yes, you use energy when you sleep) so make sure that you eat in the morning and don't skip breakfast.