Tag: Sports Nutrition

Nutritional Health in Sports

Nutritional health is very important. The nutrients that we take in are practically the reasons why we are healthy or why we are not. It could also be a grid to determine if we can eventually become sports superstars or not. Nutritional health may be the main reason why you are tall, strong and have the skills to be good in sports. This is also vital for having a strong mind and a healthy body because of the fact that these nutrients fuel almost all bodily functions.

In reality, many people fail to achieve a high level of nutritional health. Some reasons why they are not adequately nourished is because of their lack of information. Some people do not even know that what they are eating is bad for them. Some food also lack nutritional facts that they should have on their labels. And some just do not care at all.

People also have this misconception that what is tasty is good for your health. It is really hard to resist unhealthy food because of their availability on the market. Media also advertise more on unhealthy junk foods rather than healthy ones. Unhealthy food may be a reason for us to be fat. If you want to keep healthy, you must first get rid of unwanted fats and be fit as possible.

Some athletes also have low nutritional levels because of certain factors. One is poor understanding of sports nutrition principles. They think that eating many will make the healthy.

Nutritional requirements also differ among people depending on their training program and personal characteristics like age, sex and body type. Their failure to recognize these may also cause malnourishment as they may take too much or less of their nutrients required.

Some athletes also diet too much compromising their nutritional needs. Their lack of knowledge on nutritional facts also contributes to it. Their lack of time and opportunity to eat and the tendency to skip meals is also one reason. Overeating is also a factor of malnourishment because you might eat and take in a lot of fats and unwanted chemicals that may be unhealthy.

The sports nutritional health can be broken down into the foundation of what food is basically made of namely proteins, carbohydrates and fats. We should get optimum amounts of these types for more energy and more muscle gains. You can only lose more than one pound of fat per week if you exercise properly and eat the right food instead of starving yourself. Starving will only bring you malnourishment.

If you are losing fat quickly by starving yourself, over dieting and doing too much exercise, you may be at a risk of slowing down your metabolism and your body might start using the glucose found in your muscles as a source for energy. That is why losing weight bit by bit for a long period of time instead of losing weight quickly is much more preferable.

There are toxins found in our fatty tissues and when we loose fat, these toxins are released back into our body. Losing too much fat in a short period of time means that you are releasing more amounts of toxins into the body causing us to be sick.

On your diet, try to avoid eating food with too much saturated fat because they are bad fats and will make you gain more weight. What you should do is to ingest unsaturated fats of the good fat because it will help you lose weight.

By eating good oils like deep-water fish oil, flax seed oil and linseed oils, you are actually aiding yourself as it rids your body of fatty deposits helping you lose more fat. This weight loss program actually takes a lot of time so only take measurements every two months to give you a better look on how your are progressing on keeping fit and sexy and how much fat you are actually losing.

I discourage you on taking those commercial diets because they will only set you up for failure and disappointment. These diets make you lose fat so quickly that when you try to start eating again more than you did while on diet, you will gain weight very fast. You should look for a way to lose weight in a slow and realistic rate.

Here are some tips: First is to stay away from white sugar and all other natural sweetener. You should also stay away from simple sugars and take in slowly digested complex carbohydrates. Eat food high in fiber in order to detoxify. And lastly, exercise. The right combination of exercise and nutrients will give you a high level of sports nutritional health.

Essential Oil For Sports Nutrition

Fat; people on a strict diet are afraid of this word. As much as possible, they will avoid any food that will increase fat in their diet. In fact, if you will look at their refrigerator, all you will see are food with less fat, and sometimes, even zero fat.

Despite all the concern of dieters about having fat in diet, our body needs healthy oils and fats to function properly. Athletes most especially, need essential oil for sports nutrition. These essential oils can be compared to all-purpose machine oil that lubricates stuck and rusting metal hinges, screws and other moveable parts of a machine.

The only problem to most people, they get the wrong kinds of fats. They lack the good, healthy fats and essential oils for sports nutrition.

Fats carry fat-soluble vitamins such as vitamins A, D, E and K from the food we eat to our body.

These essential oils for sports nutrition are good for athletes who need to be in tip-top shape all the time. These life giving oils are one of the best sources of energy and help in the production of new and healthy cell membranes and other hormone-like compounds, the eicosanoids. These amazing compounds help the body in regulating heart rate, blood pressure, constriction of blood vessel and clotting, and even the nervous system.

Essential oils for sports nutrition

So, what are the essential oils for sports nutrition?

– Flaxseed oil, essential oil for sports nutrition.

Our body can’t function well without the two important polyunsaturated fats: the linoleic and the alpha-linoleic acid.

– Cod liver oil, a fish essential oil for sports nutrition.

Cod liver oil is rich in Vitamin A and D. This two-in-one essential oil is on the list of athletes’ favorite essential oil for sports nutrition. Cod liver oil releases large amount of Vitamin A that help athletes maintain clear eyesight.

Athletes can get vitamin D from sunlight. But because of the harmful effects of ultraviolet rays found in sunlight, the only available time for athletes to sunbathe and get vitamin D is during the early mornings till 9 am only. After that, physicians don’t advise athletes to expose themselves from the harmful rays of sunlight.

So, to get the proper amount of vitamin D in their bodies, physicians prescribe cod liver oil as a supplement to athletes. Vitamin D regulates calcium metabolism in the body. Vitamin D is so important to calcium that there will be loss of calcium if vitamin D is lacking in the body.

Omega 3, a fish essential oil for sports nutrition

A can of tuna or the fatty parts of a fish such as the belly and the head contain omega 3, a fatty oil that is good for the heart. Omega 3 helps the heart to pump well and clears the arteries of bad cholesterol.

Omega 3 is a fish essential oil for sports nutrition. With omega 3, an athlete’s heart is ready for long hours of strenuous activities. Omega 3 also helps in reducing heart rate; thus the heart releases enough oxygen to the brain and other organs. An athlete is less tired and weak if his heart pumps slower even when his body is at work.

Any athlete who would want to take these oils as supplement should consult their physicians first. There are overdoses with these oils if taken in large quantities since they are fat-soluble; the extra doses are not excreted through urine or feces.