Tag: Vitamin Supplements

Energy Levels and High-vitamin Diets

Good nutrition is very important regardless of which sport you do. A variety of nutrients are needed in your daily diet to keep fit and healthy. A balanced diet should provide the right proportions of carbohydrate, fat, protein, vitamins and minerals, water and dietary fiber.

Energy is the most important nutritional factor for any form of physical activity. Carbohydrate and fat are the main fuels used by exercising muscles. Vitamins and minerals are also crucial in energy metabolism. A diet deficient in vitamin and minerals can compromise sporting performance.

The importance of a high-vitamin diet

In order to obtain vitamins and minerals, athletes need to eat a wide assortment of nutrient-dense foods in amounts that will maintain energy balance. This means that a person must consume 1,200 to1,500 kilo-calories a day.

Meeting vitamin and mineral requirements when energy intake is 3,000 kcal/day or higher (as is among male and female ice hockey and cross country skiers) is actually easy. Even athletes whose energy intakes may be about 2,000 kcal/day can meet their vitamin and mineral needs from food alone.

As long as a wide variety of foods are eaten, vitamin and mineral intake is adequate. Supplementation therefore is not necessary.

Is more better?

Athletes usually meet two-thirds or more of the Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDAs) for vitamins and minerals. Athletes who have high calorie intakes of about 5,000 to 6,000 kcal/day may achieve 200% or more of the RDA for some vitamins and minerals just from foods they eat.

Despite this fact, most of the athletes who are concerned with sports nutrition take supplements to boost performance. While vitamin and mineral deficiencies impair physical performance, research indicates that supplementation of a nutritionally adequate sports diet does not improve physical work capacity, endurance, oxygen consumption, cardiovascular function, muscle strength, or resistance to fatigue.

When are vitamin supplements needed?

Vitamin supplements are commonly used if an athletes diet is not enough for his energy requirements. Vitamin supplements provide “health insurance,” as sort of back-up to ensure optimal sports nutrition.

Multivitamin supplements with no more than 100% of the Daily Value (DV.) provide a safe and adequate balance of vitamins. However, it should not be forgotten that the goal is still to eat a wide variety of foods. Food contains fiber and a multitude of phytochemicals that provide many health benefits.

Supplements should never be replacements for food. While many sports supplements contain the antioxidant beta carotene, at least 450 carotenoids are only found in food. Antioxidant value exists in other carotenoids as well.

Minerals for injury prevention

Minerals like calcium, iron, and zinc are especially important for athletes.

Recommendations of calcium intake are based on levels than can promote calcium retention, maximize bone mineral density, and inhibit bone loss. Food that provide good calcium stores are the following: dairy products, fish with bones, broccoli, and fortified cereals and juices.

Iron depletion, the first stage of iron deficiency is the most common type of iron deficiency among athletes. Lean red meats, dark poultry, fortified cereals, whole grains, and legumes are good iron sources.

Zinc, which is found in meat, poultry, seafood, and whole grains, is essential for protein synthesis, healing, and immune function.

Although minerals are needed to work hand-in-hand with vitamins to ensure good sports nutrition, we must remember that consuming any mineral excessively can interfere with digestion and the absorption of other minerals. This may lead to mineral imbalances. Also, all minerals can be toxic in large doses.

Food Allergy and Food Intolerance: Identification and Treatment

Most medical doctors nowadays are giving much attention to food allergies and intolerance unlike before. Although there is no particular drug that can be used as treatment for food allergies, there are other alternatives that can be pursued to control your addiction to certain foods. Some doctors also prescribe vitamin supplements and other drugs that can be helpful in controlling your cravings for certain foods.

Jonathan Brostoff and Linda Gamin wrote a book which was published way back in the year 2000. It’s a book all about food allergies, food intolerance, and their treatments. If you want to get invaluable advice to achieve long-lasting and dramatic health improvements, this is the best book to add to your book collection.

This book explains how food sensitivities cause misdiagnosed and chronic ailments like migraines, persistent fatigue, and sinus problems. It also features a gradual process of identifying certain food allergies, intolerances, and helps you reshape your diet to achieve better health.

Some chronic ailments like the ones mentioned above remain elusive, and doctors find it quite hard to diagnose such ailments. If all conventional tests can’t provide comprehensible diagnosis, the likely culprits are food intolerance and food allergies.

You can find clear explanations about the causes, differences between allergies and intolerance, and various case studies on certain problems that the readers are quite familiar about. Most importantly, the needed solutions or treatments for such problems are also provided. Many charts and illustrations are provided, including an elimination diet divided into three stages and a gradual reintroduction food system.

If you suspect that you have a persistent condition that is linked to any dietary sensitivity, this book can provide you with the necessary information that you will need in achieving sound results. You’re not only improving your health, but your life as well.

Most critics gave the book high ratings and they claim that the texts are thorough and detailed. The critics recommend the book for public health collections and for the general consumers. If you’re studying about food problems and allergies, this is a must-have that you shouldnt miss. Of course the book can’t please everyone, and there are those that say the book lacks adequate examination of complementary and/or alternative practices which most readers and allergy sufferers are looking for in a book.

Many consumers also gave the book high ratings. Most of them claim that it’s truly a helpful book that it unlocks the door that leads to the better understanding of food intolerance and food allergy.

The good news is that the book is sold at approximately $20, and is shipped to you in twenty four hours. If you can’t afford it, you can settle for used copies, but make sure that you get it from authorized dealers.

The authors of the book are Brostoff and Gamlin, and they are an honorary professor/consulting physician and biochemist respectively. Brostoff is highly recognized as the leading authority on intolerance and food allergy internationally while Gamlin specializes about health matters, allergies, and immune system. Gamlin is also a well respected writer.

So if anyone in your family suffers from any health condition and you think that it is brought about by food allergy, or perhaps food intolerance, dont hesitate to buy the book. This is the key to discover what causes such health conditions.