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The adequate diet will in many cases lead to an increase in
efficiency. Fit or fat, success or failure, this may all depend on
the diet. The effects of the diet become apparent not only in sport
but also in everyday life. An inadequate diet will have a negative
effect on both your efficiency and your well-being.
Considering the increasing demands in the field of sport, the diet
may prove to be the crucial factor deciding on success or failure.
Too many sportsmen, both amateur- and competitive sportsmen have
not realized this yet. Therefore, it is necessary to provide for a
specific diet for sportsmen, supporting their physical and
intellectual efficiency as well as their optimum relaxation after
the training. This can be realized on the pre-condition that the
basal requirement is satisfied adequately with regard to the kind,
the quantity and the best time of supply of food and fluid. In the
following, you will be informed about the functions of the various
diet components and about the tasks which the three main nutrients
carbohydrates, fats and proteins have in sport.
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Vitamins and minerals have a considerable influence on the
capacity of sportsmen, as they are involved in all metabolic
processes. A number of vitamins such as thiamin (B1), riboflavin
(B2), niacin, pyridoxine (B6) and panthotenic acid are important
for the provision of energy from carbohydrates and consequently for
the contraction of muscles. These B-vitamins are closely related to
the carbohydrate metabolism. Especially vitamin B12 and folic acid
are required for the production of the red blood cells
(erythrocytes) which transport the oxygen into the muscle fiber.
Vitamin C is required for the production of adrenaline in the
adrenal body, which is a key hormone when you are under physical
stress. Consequently, vitamins are indispensable metabolic
regulators during sport.
In addition, vitamins have functions, protecting the sportsman
against active cell damage, for example caused by an increased UV
radiation or exaust fumes (smog). So especially when doing sport
outdoors, there is the problem of free radicals having negative
effects on the immune system. A prolonged physical strain, such as
e.g. long-distance running, may have the effect that reactive
oxygen compounds develop in the body, which are damaging to the
body cells. Free radicals attack the cell membranes and destroy
important cell components. To prevent this cell damage, it is
advisable to take radical scavengers, so-called antioxidants, in
time. The provision with antioxidants is of particular importance
while doing sport, in order to protect the body against harmful
reactive substances.
Antioxidants for sportsmen: - vitamin E
- vitamin C
- beta-carotin
- selenium
Vitamin E e.g. protects the cell membrane of the red blood cells
against the destruction by free radicals. In this way, it prevents
harmful oxidation processes (oxidative stress).
People doing sport specifically for the purpose of weight
reduction, should control their vitamin- and mineral balance
regularly. They belong to a risk group as they are not only
motivating themselves by their sport to unaccustomed athletic
performance but at the same time are going on a sub-caloric diet in
order to accelerate weight reduction. The provision with
micronutrients is therefore recommendable for all those people
reducing their weight with sport and diet and who up to now have
not really thought about an adequate provision with vital
substances. Especially after doing sport/after a competition it is
of a crucial importance to supplement the diet with vital
substances.
The period of regeneration after an intensive physical strain, e.g.
after a marathon, may take several days. Especially in this case a
preventive provision with orthomolecular micronutrients will
shorten the time of regeneration. Also acute symptoms of
overtraining after training or competition, such as nausea and
vomiting, tendency to collapse and cramps, may be compensated by
means of filling up the water balance and providing nutrients.
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The carbohydrates with their simple sugar glucose and the storage
form glycogen are the most important energy source for sportsmen.
The brain and working muscles constantly need glucose. The
sportsman can provide this glucose from his glycogen reserves.
These reserve carbohydrates are principally bound as glycogen in
the liver. In all, a human organism has stored about 500 g of these
reserve carbohydrates. If these emergency reserves are used up too,
e.g. after having done sport with staying power without eating or
drinking anything, a hypoglycaemia will occur. The symptoms of this
will be loss of power, trembling, sweat accompanied by nausea. If
these symptoms of the body are not taken seriously, the sportsman
may faint. Therefore, it is very important to provide the body with
carbohydrates while and after doing sport.
As the energy production is based on a combustion process, it
requires oxygen. This combustion taking place in the presence of
oxygen, is called aerobic energy production. However, if a
sportsman overstrained himself, e.g. when doing springiness sport,
the aerobic energy production would be „too slow“. Therefore, the
organism will start the glycolytic, anaerobic energy production. In
this energy production taking place without oxygen, the glucose
will not be degraded completely (for the degradation of lactic acid
the organism needs oxygen again). The advantage of this is the
rapid supply of energy, the disadvantage of the anaerobic
production is the low release of energy.
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Fats are not only carriers of flavourings, making the diet of
sportsmen tastier. They also have different functions in the
metabolism of the sportsman: fats are carriers, i.e. they transport
many important vitamins, e.g. vitamin A, D, E and K. In addition,
they provide a very rich energy source with 9,3 kcal per gram. The
fact that fats are degraded only very slowly during sport and that
the fat combustion requires large amounts of oxygen, may have a
negative effect on the physical efficiency of the sportsman.
Consequently, carbohydrates should be prefered to fats at least
when doing sport for a shorter period of time. However, in cases of
long-lasting and not too intensive physical strain over an hour,
the muscle cell will draw its energy mainly from the fat
combustion. Only if the strain increases, the body will more and
more replace the fat combustion by the combustion of carbohydrates
again. Therefore, a trained organism may be recognized by the fact
how long it keeps up the fat combustion under continual physical
strain.
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The sportsman can produce only 8 to 10 amino acids, which are the
components of the proteins. The other amino acids have to be added
to the food as they are essential for the sportsman. Protein is a
vital nutrient for the human organism. Although not more than about
20 amino acids are involved in the formation of our proteins, the
proteins are different between persons and between
organs.
Between the various protein forms there are differences in quality,
which are interesting for sportsmen and which depend on the
spectrum of amino acids: the quality of proteins is defined by the
biological valency, which indicates how many grams of body protein
can be produced by 100 g of protein taken with the food. Vegetable
protein is of a lower quality than animal protein. The adequate
diet for a sportsman, however, should combine both protein sources.
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