Protein & Performance Nutrition

Can what you eat affect your training and even your performance at a sports event? Balancing your diet, especially looking after protein and carbs, can help you to reach your exercise and fitness goals. You may not need to eat like an elite athlete, but you can use some of the research on sports nutrition to make things a little easier and get the best results.

Start with a Balanced Diet

No matter what your goals are, your body is going to need all nutrients to be at its best.

How to do this?

Make sure you include foods from all 5 food groups every day:

• Carb foods like bread, pasta, rice, potatoes, quinoa and bread. These foods are fuel for exercise and recovery as well as being sources of nutrients like B vitamins and minerals. Go for wholegrain or high fibre as much as possible. A sluggish digestion will slow you down more than you expect.
• Fruit and vegetables. These should make up one third to one half of your lunch and dinner and you should include some at breakfast as well. They are rich in nutrients that your body needs to build collagen and support your overall health.
• Protein foods include all kinds of fish, chicken, turkey, beans, tofu, eggs, meat and lentils. Protein is essential in building and maintaining muscle and protein foods are often sources of other nutrients like iron, zinc and vitamin B12 as well.
• Calcium foods. Dairy foods like milk, cheese and yoghurt are great sources of calcium to support healthy bones and normal muscle function. They can also contribute to your protein for the day. If you do not eat dairy, find calcium in tinned sardines with bones, tofu prepared with calcium and calcium fortified plant based milk. Not all plant based milks have calcium added, so do check the labels. Although green vegetables do have a little calcium, it is not enough to cover you for the day.
• Healthy fats. Fat is just as essential for health as any other nutrient but do choose healthier fats like olive oil, rapeseed oil and sunflower oil over saturated fats like butter and coconut oil. Oily fish, like salmon, sardines and mackerel, are great sources of omega 3 fats for your brain, and nuts and seeds have omega 3 fats that help healthy cholesterol levels.

Hydrate

Being even slightly dehydrated can slow you down. Aim for 1.5 to 2 litres of water per day. This means you have a good level of hydration before you even start training. Then it is best to hydrate before, during and after training.

What to drink?

Water is perfect but if you are exercising for more than 60 minutes, then an isotonic drink with electrolytes can be very useful. When you sweat, you lose electrolytes, including potassium, sodium and chloride, and they do need to be replaced.

Why skimmed milk? Skimmed milk has fluid for hydration, protein for muscle building and recovery, and carbs for replenishing energy stores. It is a great drink to take after exercise.

Carbs for Sports

Carbs are the main source of fuel for your muscles. Your muscles store carbs as glycogen, and this is what you use when you start to exercise. Add some carbs to every meal.

Carbs and training

Aim to have a light meal with carbs like bread, pasta, potatoes or rice around 2 hours before training.

Adding carbs during training or events can be very useful. You do want carbs that are very quickly digested like isotonic drinks.

Add carbs after training to replenish muscle energy stores and get you ready for your next training session. A snack with carbs after training is very helpful and you can add some protein here as well. Try a bowl of cereal with milk, skimmed milk and a banana, a tuna or turkey sandwich, or fruit and high protein yoghurt.

Include some carbs at your next main meal to round out what you need.

Building in Protein

Protein is essential for building and maintaining muscle. It is best to add some protein to every meal and think about snacks that add protein too.

Remember that if you have a kidney condition, you may need to limit how much protein you eat. Do speak to your doctor or registered dietitian for advice.

Protein and training

How much protein do you need?

Recommendations for protein start at 0.8g of protein per kilogram of body weight. However, if you are more active or working to build more muscle you may need higher amounts. Older people often need 1 to 1.2g of protein per kilogram. Competitive body builders may aim for 2.0g per kilogram or more.

The table below is a general guide to how much protein you might need every day, depending on your exercise.

How can you turn advice on protein into your everyday meals?

Add a protein food to breakfast, lunch and dinner every day.

If you do not have high cholesterol, an egg at breakfast is a great idea. You could try a high protein yoghurt with your breakfast or add lots of nuts and seeds to your cereal or porridge.

At lunchtime remember that soup and bread often has very little protein. Upgrade that to soup and a sandwich. Add some cheese, chicken or tuna for protein.

At dinner time, a piece of meat, chicken or fish that is around the size of the palm of your hand is enough for most people. This is around 1 chicken breast. If you are very active or building a lot of muscle, you may need more than this.

Vegetarians and Protein

There are lots of vegetarian sources of protein. One of the richest is tofu. 100g of tofu has around 24g of protein. Beans like chickpeas, kidney beans and lentils are all good sources of protein. Just remember that you need to add a grain based food like bread, rice or pasta to beans to balance your amino acids.

Protein After Training

After training, adding protein can be helpful for muscle building and recovery. Aim to get at least 10g of protein along with 50g of carbs as a snack after training. Then follow up with a main meal with carbs and protein, as well as vegetables.

Some snacks that have both protein and carbs are:

• 350ml fruit smoothie with yoghurt or milk
• High protein yoghurt and banana
• Bowl of breakfast cereal and milk
• Overnight oats with milk and honey
• 250g tin baked beans and 2 slices of bread
• 1 sandwich with a meat filling and 1 piece of fruit
• 2 boiled eggs with 2 slices of toast and avocado

If you struggle to eat a meal after training, protein shakes can be a good option.

Putting It Altogether

For most people, eating a fairly healthy diet and making sure you are getting enough protein and carbs will cover you for most activities. If you are training competitively or have a specific target in mind, some individual advice can really help. Look for a registered sports dietitian or nutritionist.