Eat Well Perform Well
Thursday 18th October 2012
Oxford University
RENEE MCGREGOR
SPORTS NUTRITIONIST AND REGISTERED
DIETITIAN
Why is Nutrition Important?
A well chosen diet offers many benefits to all
athletes, irrespective of event, age, sex or level of
competition.
These include:
 Optimal gains from the training programme
 Enhanced recovery within and between workouts/events
 Achievement and maintenance of an ideal body weight
and physique
 A reduced risk of illness and injury
 Consistency of achieving high level performance
Do You Meet your Requirements?
Carbohydrates
 Supplies the muscles and brain with the fuels they need
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to meet the stress of training and competition.
Stored in muscle as glycogen
These glycogen stores must be rapidly restored to enable
quality training and adaptation to training to be
maintained.
The best time to restore the muscle glycogen stores is
during the first 15-30 minutes of finishing training
Recommended 1.0-1.2g/Kg body weight per hour until
your next meal.
This is particularly important if the athlete has more than
2 training sessions a day
How much do you need?
 Generally work in grams/Kg Body Weight/day
 Your requirements are around :
5-7g/Kg BW/day
So for a 50Kg athlete this will be 250=350g
and for a 65Kg athlete this will be 325-455g
across the day always aiming to choose
wholegrain, slow release carbohydrates at
mealtimes
However all athletes are different so no one size fits all
and nutrition plans need to be individualised for optimal
body composition and performance results.
What does 50g of carbohydrate look like?
 50g Breakfast cereal with milk and fruit
 150g natural yoghurt with 1 tablespoon honey
 500ml low fat flavoured milk
 300ml Fruit smoothie
 2 pieces toast with honey or jam
 Wholemeal fruit scone with jam or honey
 2 x small cereal bars
 Large jacket potato
 60g dry weight wholemeal pasta
 50g dry weight wholegrain rice
Protein
 Plays an important role in the response to exercise.
 Amino acids from proteins are the building blocks
for the manufacture of new and repair of old muscle
tissue; hormones and enzymes that regulate
metabolism and other body functions
 Provides a small source of fuel for the exercising
muscle
 Requirements: 1.2g/Kg BW = 60g for 50Kg athlete
and 78g protein for a 65Kg athlete.
 Recent studies have shown that protein intake is
particularly important in the recovery phase:
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Helps to counteract the increased rates of protein breakdown
that occur during exercise.
Promotes muscle growth, repair and adaptation following the
exercise stimulus.
This can be achieved with as little as 10g protein, while
maximal effects occur with 20-25g protein
What does 10g protein look like?
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2 small eggs
300ml cows milk
20g skim milk powder
30g cheese
200g yoghurt
35-50g meat, fish or chicken
400ml soy milk
60g nuts/seeds
120g tofu
150g legumes or lentils
200g baked beans
Recovery Nutrition Ideas
The Following provide around 65g carbohydrate
and 10-20g protein:
300ml flavoured or unflavoured low fat milk
followed by:
 Wholemeal sandwich with tuna/chicken/houmous or egg
 Medium jacket potato with baked beans
 2 pieces wholemeal toast with 2 x poached or scrambled
egg
 Large tortilla wrap or pitta with houmous and salad
 Large bowl of soup like sweet potato and lentil with small
bread roll
Fruit and Vegetables
 Provide vitamins and minerals essential for good
immune function, metabolism and recovery.
 High in fibre, low in fat so great choice of snack –
can incorporate into cakes/muffins – TRY carrot
cake, courgette and lemon muffins, date and walnut
muffins.
 Smoothies are also easy to prepare and great as a
snack choice between meals – add oats and ground
almonds for a breakfast smoothie.
 Aim to include at least 5 a day – remember include a
variety of colours
Fats
 Important to include essential fatty acids
 They help absorb fat soluble vitamins – A, D, E and
K.
 Studies have linked to improve cognitive function,
weight maintenance and also reduced fatigue.
 Good sources include: oily fish, walnuts and walnut
oil; flaxseeds and flaxseed oil; avocado; all other
seeds and nuts/nut butters
Training Complications
1)Struggle to eat Breakfast before morning
session:
Try one of these carbohydrate heavy
and easily digestible breakfast – aiming for 5070g carbohydrate 1-3 hours before training:
 Wholegrain bagel with honey or jam or marmite
 50g porridge oats with milk and banana or 30g raisins
 50g unsweetened muesli with low fat natural yoghurt
 Milkshake: blend 300ml skimmed milk with 30g oats
and 1 x pot flavoured fruit yoghurt
2) Long travel times to races= be prepared
 Try pasta salads by making extra pasta the night before;
add salad veg and tinned fish or chicken or try beans and
pulses. Add lemon or lime juice/herbs and spices for
added flavour and antioxidants.
 filled rolls/sandwiches/bagels/wraps with
houmous/chicken/fish/egg are great pre-match
 Use homemade sports drinks – 300ml juice diluted with
300ml water
 Take sweet and savoury oatckaes
 Wholemeal fruit scones, currant buns or malt loaf
3) Late Training
 Aim to eat your main meal during the day, followed
by one of the following as a light meal/snack post
training:
 Scrambled egg pittas
 Beans on toast
 Sweet potato and lentil soup with bread roll
 Cheese on toast
 Jacket potato with tuna
Pre-event meal suggestions
Try some of these which provide
around 100g carbohydrate and 20g protein:
1) 120g (dry weight) wholemeal pasta with tomato
and vegetable sauce and matchbox size piece of
cheese grated on top
2)90g (dry weight) wholemeal basmati rice with
chickpea and spinach curry
3)100g (dry weight) soba noodles with chicken (1
medium breast) stir fry
4)250g (raw weight) jacket or sweet potato with
(palm of hand) size portion oily fish and salad
Further Easy Meal Suggestions
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EGG FRIED NOODLES:
In a pan boil 2 portions noodles (you can buy these really cheap in most supermarkets and they come
in ready portions – look in the pasta aisle); add some frozen or fresh veg. of your choice; drain. while
the noodles are cooking (about 3-4 min.) whisk 2 eggs in a bowl. In a frying pan heat a small amount of
oil, add the drained noodles and veg. mix, add the beaten eggs and stir until the egg is cooked – serve.
You can add soy sauce, garlic and spring onions for added flavour.
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SALMON PARCELS WITH SWEET POTATO:
Take one salmon fillet and put in some cooking foil, squeeze half a lemon and add chopped garlic –
wrap and place in the oven at about 190-200oC for about 30 – 40 min. At the same time place one
medium sweet potato in the oven too. 10 min before the salmon and sweet potato are cooked, boil up
some veg. – frozen or fresh, serve with cooked fish and baked sweet potato.
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SIMPLE SAUSAGE CASSEROLE:
Chop up veg. – try courgettes, carrots, green beans, sweet potatoes, broccoli and place in an oven proof
dish. Add chopped garlic and ginger for flavour (but optional) and also add to dish. Cut uncooked but
defrosted sausages into 2 inch pieces and add to dish. Pour over tomato based pasta sauce of your
choice, add the same amount of water. Place cover on dish and put in a medium hot oven for 1 hour.
Check all veg. and sausages cooked, serve with toast or jacket potato.
VEGETABLE AND BEAN HOTPOT:
makes one large pot and should last 2-3 servings.
chop garlic and ginger and place in an oven proof dish
chop a variety of veg. broccoli, carrots, green beans, courgettes, peppers
etc and also place in the dish.
Add I x 400g drained tin of beans – chickpea or kidney or red lentils.
Add 1 x jar tomato based pasta sauce.
Season as required.
Place dish into oven for 1 hour – serve with toast or jacket potato.
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SWEET POTATO AND LENTIL SOUP:
should last 2-3 servings.
chop garlic and ginger and fry in a pan in a small amount of olive oil.
Add 2 peeled and chopped sweet potato and ½ a cup of uncooked
Red lentils.
Add 1 litre vegetable stock.
Bring to the boil and simmer for 30 minutes; blend and serve with a small
bread roll.
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Other Essential Nutrients
 Calcium - necessary for strong bones; studies have
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also shown a favourable body composition with high
intakes of calcium, particularly from low fat dairy
sources.
In athletes requirements are 1300mg/day which is
the equivalent of 4 servings of dairy/day where one
serving:
1/3 pint of milk
Matchbox size piece of cheese
150g portion yoghurt
 Iron –necessary for good oxygen transport within body.
 a deficiency can cause: tiredness; shortness of breath;
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poor appetite; lack of concentration;
Often pale with dark blue tinged circles under eyes.
Requirements: boys 11.3mg/day; girls 14.8mg/d.
Good sources: red meat; eggs; beans and pulses; green
leafy vegetables; some dried fruit; fortified cereal but all
plant based sources should be taken with a dose of
vitamin C.
E.g. Bowl of wholegrain cereal with a glass of orange
juice
Immunity
 Aim for a balanced diet to ensure all vitamins and
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minerals.
Ensure you are well hydrated at all times as this will
ensure saliva production which is first defence against
cold and flu bugs.
Sleep and rest – studies show a minimum of 8 hours
sleep a night can reduce risk of infection.
Studies have shown that probiotic drinks can reduce
occurrence of infection - may be related to better
maintenance of saliva IgA levels during a winter period
of training and competition.
Studies have linked low Vitamin D levels with increased
occurrence of infections.
Hydration
 Dehydration can contribute significantly to fatigue
and be detrimental to performance – not just
physically but also mental skill and decision can be
affected.
 To calculate how much an athlete is losing in sweat
during a session they can weigh themselves before
and immediately after the training session.
 A loss of 1Kg is equal to losing a litre of sweat
 The athlete should aim to rehydrate by drinking 1.5
times the fluid loss over a period of 1-2 hours.
How to Avoid Dehydration
 Drinking plenty of fluid throughout the day not just
when in the pool
 Never being thirsty – being thirsty means you are
already dehydrated
 Take a sports drink – homemade or commercial or
water to all training sessions.
 Sports drinks can have an advantage over plain
water as they are rapidly taken up by the body and
provide extra carbohydrates- but watch out for
dental hygiene.
How to check!
Alcohol and Sport
 Social aspect of university life
 Excessive intake will affect performance:
- causes dehydration
- causes low blood sugars
- poor decision making
- your body will always absorb alcohol first instead of
essential recovery nutrition
- be sensible; aim to eat before drinking and try to
rehydrate alongside
Take Home Messages
 Good nutrition will improve performance
 Recovery nutrition is very important especially if you
are training more than once a day or have less than 8
hours between sessions.
 Every day try to include:
1) complex carbohydrates
2) lean sources of protein (especially in recovery)
3) At least one portion of good fats
4) A minimum of 4 servings of low fat dairy
5) Aim for your “5 a day”
 Every week aim for :
1) At least one portion of oily fish
2) One portion of red meat
Any Questions?
 Contact details:
renee@eatwellfeelfab.co.uk