Know Your Nutrition

No matter how hard you exercise, or how often you do, you won’t get the fitness results you’re after if your nutrition doesn’t support the demands you place on your body. Recommended daily allowance, food pyramids and ‘traffic light’ labels are, or at least should be, a thing of the past as the science behind nutrition and diet supplementation continues to show amazing results – when adhered to correctly.

Traffic light labels - a thing of the past?

We have three macronutrients that we should be consuming on a daily basis, which enable us to function. But are you getting the right amounts of each to function optimally?

Protein

Protein is, simply, the most important macronutrient. Yes, I said it. Many will be shocked, as we’re often led to believe that carbohydrates are the most important dietary element. But protein is important because it provides your body with the building blocks that you need to grow and repair – and I’m not just talking about muscles. The protein building blocks, amino acids, help the growth and repair of skin cells, nails, and living tissues. Protein gives us mental focus and has a greater thermogenic effect, which not only keeps us feeling full for longer, but also means we burn more calories whilst it digests, due to its density.

You should consume at least 2g of protein per kilogram of lean body mass per day. If you were to weigh 70kg and have 20% body fat, you would work on the basis that you have 56kg of lean tissue. From this, you multiply by 2 to achieve the result of 112g of protein. Divide this by the meals that you are likely to consume that day, i.e 5 meals, and you end up with a target of approximately 22g of protein, per meal.

Carbohydrate

Carbohydrates are mostly consumed in starchy forms such as bread, pasta, rice and potatoes. However, a high percentage of individuals are intolerant to such carbs. Adding to this bad news is the fact that a table spoon of pasta, rice or potatoes has the same effect on your insulin response as normal table sugar, so if you are looking to lose weight, these types of carbohydrates wont be helping.

The best forms of carbohydrate to consume are vegetables. Fibrous vegetables such as broccoli, asparagus and cauliflower, to name a few, are where we should be consuming most of our ‘energy’ foods from. Not only do they aid weight loss tremendously, they are full of fibre, which again keeps us feeling full for longer, and are jam packed with vitamins and minerals. Never consume less than 200g of carbohydrate per day. Whilst you should try to limit starchy carbs, you can have an unlimited intake of fibrous carbs like the vegetables mentioned above.

Fat

Firstly – fat DOESNT make you fat. Excess starchy carbohydrates and excessive ‘bad’ fats make you fat. ‘Good’ fats, i.e. monounsaturated fats found in things like olive oil, nuts and avocados are very important, hence why they are also called ‘essential fatty acids’. These are important for us to consume as they aid vital daily functions of the human body. Our central nervous system, the system that sends all our signals around the body, makes us feel alert and on top of work loads, is predominately made up of fat. Fat is vital for nerve transmission, insulation and again as an energy source.

Nuts - a good source of monounsaturated fat

Key advice for fat consumption is: limit the amount of saturated fats in your diet – these are the type that you find in cakes, dairy products and chocolate. Instead, try and increase your consumption of monounsaturated fats.

The above is a small breakdown of what each macronutrient is used for. They each have a very important role and need to be consumed in the right amounts for us to fully benefit. However, are ‘official’ recommended daily allowances a true guide to what we should be consuming? And do your requirements ever change once you start placing greater demands on the body?

From experience, a huge number of individuals do not get the minimum requirements needed to function optimally, and by extension fail to grow and progress. Whether this is down to lack of knowledge on nutrition, poor preparation of meals or just pure laziness, to get the results you’re after, such excuses need to change.

I understand that some individuals are very busy and have hectic daily schedules. To them, I’d suggest considering the help of dietary supplements. As a fitness professional, I would always advise my members to focus primarily on their nutrition before considering the aid of a supplement, for the simple reason that you should always try to eat your nutrition ather than drink it. It also encourages the individual to be organised, take care of themselves and not take short cuts towards benefits.

Could dietary supplements boost your work out?

• Protein Powders
  Not as ‘dodgy’ as they sound, and no, they wont result in you ‘bulking’ up if you’re a female worried that may be the outcome. They are a great, easy and convenient product that will enable you to achieve your daily requirements of protein intake. Liquid protein is absorbed into your blood stream quickly – ideal after you’ve been exercising to aid recovery and speed up the muscle recovery. Be careful on the type or brand that you buy, though, as some have hidden calories and high sugar quantities.
• Carbohydrate ‘Energy’ Drinks
  For those of you who are wanting to lose weight, avoid these! They keep you in sugar-burning mode, instead of burning fat whilst you exerce. So if you currently sip away at a lucozade whilst running on the treadmill, unfortunately you are just burning off the lucozade you have just consumed rather than the fat that you want to shift. The only time I would recommend an energy drink is after a long duration athletic event, where hydration levels are low and blood sugar levels are depleted.
• Fat Supplements
  These come in forms like omega fish oils, oil tablets and liquids – ALL very good for you. They’ll improve your general health, lift your mental state, increase your productivity levels and boost overall energy. Depending on your current healthy fat consumption, you may instantly benefit by taking one of the above. Most capsule forms you will take twice a day, oils you can drizzle over your salads, cook in or even drink straight from the table spoon.

So, don’t just aim for daily guidelines. Eat for YOUR body, and the lifestyle YOU lead. Nutrition is fuel – you should be functioning as well as you can.