Tough to Swallow

Sports nutrition advice abounds. Can you separate the help from the hype?

By Kathleen Laquale, PhD, ATC, LAT, LDN

Nutrition has always been a hot-button topic in health care, and when the client is a competitive athlete, opinions and recommendations become even more diverse.

Though it gets confusing, all the attention and research into nutrition is understandable. Whether your client is a recreational athlete, a competitive athlete or merely physically active, proper daily nutrition affects overall health, heightens exercise performance, averts injuries due to fatigue, provides energy during high-intensity training and maintains weight.

Quick fixes and fad diets may deliver instant results, but they're usually temporary and don't provide long-term, healthy benefits. Sticking to formal recommendations provided by credible, time-tested authorities is the best strategy.

Over time, clinicians can understand the intricacies of how nutrition and exercise meld together for optimal health, and can impart this knowledge to their active client population.

ATHLETIC VARIATIONS

Before providing specific nutritional guidance to clients who are involved in sports, you must classify them based on activity level.

• Recreational athletes. Recreational athletes are physically active, but they don't train at the same intensity level as competitive athletes. Recreational athletes play sports to be physically fit, get involved socially and have fun.

  Some recreational athletes are former athletes who still enjoy competition in their age group, such as master's events. Others may play in a league one night a week for a 2- to 3-month season. Even playing backyard badminton is considered a recreational activity.

• Physically active. Physical activity is defined as any body movement produced by muscles that results in energy expenditure. "Physically active" describes athletes who participate in planned repetitive physical activities structured to improve and maintain physical fitness.

• Competitive athletes. These athletes participate in competitive physical activities, defined as sports and games requiring physical strength, agility or stamina.

  No matter how you classify an athlete, their nutritional needs are specific to intensity levels during an activity. Some researchers suggest a recreational athlete doesn't require specific sports nutrition advice—just general nutrition guidelines. These proponents believe a recreational athlete doesn't compete or train at the intensity of a collegiate, competitive or professional athlete.

However, recreational athletes train at various intensities for various reasons. They require adequate energy intake in the form of calories, and fluid to maintain hydration and electrolyte balance, along with a variety of food choices to provide nutrients to perform at their best.

Nutritional guidelines for competitive athletes also benefit re-creational athletes. For example, competitive athletes should consume carbohydrates as their main source of energy from foods such as whole grains, fruits, vegetables, legumes and low-fat dairy products. This advice holds true for non-competitive people as well.

And although weight lifters and endurance athletes require higher amounts of protein, most athletes consume the same percentage of protein in their diet as the general population. Athletes and non-athletes also follow similar recommendations for vitamins, minerals, water and electrolytes.

BACK TO BASICS

Following unhealthy dietary behaviors can result in fatigue, an inability to focus and lack of energy. And because a correlation between diet and lifestyle choices has been established, sensible nutritional guidelines can reduce the risk of many diseases.¹When devising a diet strategy for a recreational athlete, return to the basics. Recreational athletes must determine whether they're ingesting a healthy diet. A helpful measuring stick is the 2005 guidelines by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.²These guidelines form the cornerstone of most sound dietary plans.

The guidelines encourage people to consume a variety of nutrient-dense foods and beverages among the basic food groups, while being careful not to exceed the amount of daily calories to maintain a healthy weight. Also, maintain a balance between the amount of calories consumed daily and the amount you need to maintain a healthy weight, and try to be physically active every day.

When athletic activity enters the picture, calculating energy expenditure becomes important. Every recreational athlete works out at different intensities and for specific goals. You must determine how many calories a client must consume to perform recreational activities, in addition to normal daily activities.

Most people can be classified into one of three activity levels.³

• Sedentary. These people partake in less than 30 minutes of moderate physical activity per day, in addition to daily activities.

• Moderately active. This category is for those who perform 30 to 60 minutes of moderate physical activity per day, in addition to daily activities.

• Active. Active people partake in at least 60 minutes per day of moderate physical activity, in addition to daily activities.

After determining intensity level, figure out the number of calories per day your client requires, based on age, gender and intensity level.^4,5Recreational and elite athletes may need to seek the expertise of athletic trainers, registered dieticians and licensed nutritionists to fine-tune a program. Specific nutritional needs hinge on current body weight, total energy needs, specific metabolic demands and the current stage of training.

For instance, consider a 28-year-old female who swims 1 hour a day to prepare for a master's level swim meet. She sits at a computer from 9 to 5, and looks forward to her daily workout. Based on this information, this person is considered active, and should consume 2,400 calories per day, with 8 ounces of grains, 3 cups of vegetables, 2 cups of fruit, 7 teaspoons of oil, 3 cups of milk and 6.5 ounces of meat and beans.⁴

ASSESSING MEAL PLANNING

Once you've consulted the guidelines and determined activity level, you can recommend specific meal plans for a client.

Setting up a healthy meal plan based on the number of servings for each food group can be a challenge. The exchange system is commonly used by dietary experts.

Exchanges are organized according to the amount of carbohydrate, protein, fat and calories in each food.⁶There are six exchange lists, which can help meal planning. Athletes should select food from each list based on the designated number of servings they enjoy. This approach empowers athletes to design their own meal plan, which ensures compliance.

Under this system, the 28-year-old swimmer described above could meet her daily allotment of grains by eating 2 slices of toast, 3 graham crackers, 2 slices of bread, ¾ cup of cereal and ²₃cup of rice spread throughout the day. She could hit her protein requirement with 1.5 ounces of cottage cheese, 3 ounces of chicken breast and 2 ounces of fish.

Once a meal plan is in writing, athletes should remember a few basic tips.

• Drink up. Proper fluid intake is essential to maintain hydration and electrolyte balance. Sports drinks, which contain electrolytes, should be used on an individual basis, dependent on environment, intensity and conditioning level.⁷

• Time meals. Athletes should eat meals 3 to 4 hours prior to an event. Avoid meals that contain high fat and high protein. Post-event meals should occur 1 to 2 hours after activity. Consuming water, carbohydrates and a small amount of protein within 1 to 2 hours of activity determines recovery and subsequent energy levels.⁸

• Dodge the hype. Nutritional training is always a sizzling topic. Web sites, infomercials, fitness magazines and self-appointed authorities all offer opinions. Look past the headlines and determine if there's a motivation behind promoting a product or program. One tip is to look at the end of the web address: addresses ending in .org, .edu and .gov are usually reliable.

Remember, fueling the body for recreational activities begins with the basics—is the athlete eating a healthy diet? Once you've established energy needs and servings from various food groups, planning meals is easy. Using the exchange system, clients can select foods they enjoy, which helps stick to a plan.

Also, be leery of Web sites that offer quick weight loss or the latest supplements that guarantee better performance. Sound nutrition and time-honored knowledge never goes out of style.

For a list of references, go to www.advanceweb.com/rehab and click on the references toolbar.

In the Game was created this month in conjunction with the National Athletic Trainers' Association (NATA). For information about the NATA, a specialty organization of approximately 30,000 members, go to www.nata.org or call (214) 637-6282.

Kathleen Laquale, PhD, ATC, LAT, LDN, is professor in the movement arts, health promotion and leisure studies department at Bridgewater State College in Bridgewater, Mass.