Athletes Diet Plan

There's more to an athlete's diet plan than energy bars and sport's drinks. Following a sensible diet is an important part of everybody's life, but for fitness professionals, it's a necessity, and sports nutrition, a serious business. Considering the physical condition of an athlete in training, nutritional needs may be considerably different from the lay person, if peak condition is to be attained and maintained. Apart from the strength and energy that is needed to achieve optimum results, an athlete has to contend with grueling sessions of training where he pushes his body to endure more every day. A proper diet can accentuate your performance, by giving your body the foods it needs to derive nutrition, and draw on reserves when you need them most.

Becoming a professional athlete needs dedication, hard work, and good genes, no doubt, but a good nutrition plan is essential to reach peak physical condition and perform accordingly. Inadequate or improper nutrition can harm more than one may realize, and unhealthy eating habits can translate into poor results on the playing field. An athletes daily diet requires special planning and care to ensure nutritional needs are met. The following are the components that should constitute the diet plan.

Carbohydrates
Carbohydrates form an essential part of an athlete's diet. Gram for gram, they provide more energy than most other forms of food. In the initial stages of light to moderate exercise, close to half of the total energy requirement is met by carbohydrates. During the process of digestion, the body converts carbohydrates into glucose and stores it in the form of glycogen. When exercising, glycogen stored in the muscles is changed back into glucose and used for energy. For endurance training and athletes who must exercise for long durations at a stretch, such as long distance runners, cyclists and marathon participants, a high carbohydrate meal eaten two or three days prior to an event can provide the energy stores that are needed for extended periods of high intensity exercise. Complex carbohydrates are foods like spaghetti, potatoes, cereals and other whole grains, simple carbohydrates come from honey, fresh fruits and milk.

Fats
Fats also provide energy to the body. For long duration events, the body may also use energy derived from fats, though trained professionals use fat for energy, quicker than untrained athletes. During prolonged sessions of heavy duty aerobic exercise, more than three quarters of the energy can be derived from fats.

Proteins
Once carbohydrate and fat stores are depleted, the body turns to protein for energy; high intensity exercise may cause an athlete's needs for dietary protein to increase. However an athlete's diet plan would require lower amounts of protein, than say, the average person - only about 10-12% of total calorie intake needs to come from protein. In addition, in experienced athletes, muscle is built by extensive training, as opposed to protein intake. Also, high protein diets may lead to dehydration, or increased metabolic rates, leading to increased oxygen consumption - which could have otherwise been used for exercise.

Vitamins and Minerals
Most diet plans of athletes are varied enough to be able to meet needs for vitamins and minerals, hence supplementation is rarely advisable or required. However, heavy exercising causes sweating, which may lead to loss of potassium, sodium, iron and magnesium. Some athletes may benefit from salts added to water during endurance training.

The meal taken before an event, also known as a pre-game meal is an important one. It must be consumed at least two to three hours before the commencement of exercise, and should be high in starch, in the form of complex carbohydrates which can be easily broken down - bread, cereal, pasta and fruits are all good options. Total calorific counts should equal between 600 and 1000. An athlete's diet plan needs to be consistent, along with good eating habits that can sustain heavy exercise patterns. Eating well is essential to perform well, so ensure you pay attention to your meals, and follow what constitutes a healthy diet for athletes to get the most out of your body.