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 Sports Nutrition for Athletes .

 People who are training and exercising regularly need to pay special attention to their nutrition. A good sports diet will make you faster, stronger, and will help you recover from your physical exertion more quickly. So how do you know what to eat when you’re training? The first thing to understand is that when you exercise, your body needs more fuel than when you’re at rest — especially if the exercise is of an intense nature and lasts longer than an hour or so.

What Is Nutrition?

Simply put, nutrition is what you consume and how it affects your body. It's an extremely broad term that encompasses a lot of information related to food, drinks, supplements and their effects on your body. Sports nutrition is a subset of nutrition that specializes in optimizing your intake to improve physical performance and recovery. In other words, it's all about making sure you have exactly what you need when you need it—especially if you're doing something as physically demanding as playing sports or working out. By fueling your body correctly, you'll maximize its ability to perform in workouts and contests and recover quickly so that can get back to training hard or playing another day.

Types of Nutrients

The main types of nutrients that support exercise and sport are carbohydrates, protein, fat, and water. They're necessary to deliver fuel to working muscles, help recover from hard training sessions and ensure peak performance. Protein is important for building and repairing muscle tissue in addition to providing energy for metabolism. Carbs and fat are necessary components of a well-balanced diet. Nutrition in sports is not just about fueling workouts; it's also about maintaining good health. Water is important because being even slightly dehydrated can negatively affect athletic performance; sweating during vigorous exercise causes you to lose both water weight and electrolytes such as sodium, potassium and calcium. To ensure that your body has everything it needs, you should include every one of these macronutrients in your nutrition plan each day.

Vitamins, Minerals, and Water

Water isn’t exactly a vitamin or mineral, but it is essential to health. Drink enough water every day and you’ll help avoid dehydration that can lead to loss of muscle mass and unnecessary weight gain. You’ll also boost your energy level and get rid of your frequent headaches. If you exercise regularly, aim for around 10 cups (2.4 liters) per day—more if you are in a hot climate or exercising hard. Add lemon slices or cucumber slices to your water pitcher for flavor, if desired. While there is no magic number when it comes to protein requirements, a diet rich in lean meats will ensure you don’t fall short on protein while maintaining an active lifestyle.

Calcium, Magnesium, Zinc, Iodine, Iron, Selenium

For example, those with a calcium deficiency may develop osteoporosis, or brittle bones. Low levels of iron could lead to anemia. Zinc and selenium deficiencies are associated with skin disorders like acne, according to MedlinePlus. Maintaining a diet rich in vitamins, minerals and other nutrients keeps our cells working properly. However, it's important not to take more than is necessary as overdoing it can result in toxicity, which causes its own problems. Always talk to your doctor about any vitamin or mineral supplements you take. He or she will be able to help determine what level of supplementation is safe for you and can ensure that you get proper nutrition from food sources alone if need be.

Macronutrients & Micronutrients to Help Meet Your Athletic Goals

As any athlete knows, a solid nutrition plan can go a long way toward helping your body perform at its best. Whether you're playing football, competing in basketball or just running around with your kids on weekends, it's important to make sure that you are providing your body with all of the macronutrients and micronutrients it needs to help meet your athletic goals. Macronutrients include carbohydrates, protein and fat; micronutrients include vitamins and minerals. These nutrients can be helpful to athletes because they provide energy to muscles while also supporting overall health and well-being.