Chronic physical and mental fatigue after training, a lack routine such as unplanned changes in training venue, limited access to food and drink can all affect your nutrition status. In turn this can affect your training, which can lead to further fatigue and a spiralling down of performance and health.

Planning

Planning what to eat and drink, getting yourself into a routine wherever possible, self-monitoring of food and drink with mood/hunger, weighing yourself on a weekly basis and using ‘an expert’ e.g. sports dietitian, to check if things are going to plan are all ways in which a successful nutrition and weight management strategy can be confidently achieved in sport. Simply weighing yourself weekly or even daily (not recommended except to monitor hydration status) without a plan may adversely affect confidence if trying to manage weight.

Every Meal

Base each meal around starchy carbohydrate (i.e. the base of the pyramid, using foods such as breakfast cereal, potatoes, bread, bread rolls, rice, pasta, noodles, and couscous).

Get into a routine

Get into a routine at breakfast – even if it’s pretty much identical every day (you could always vary the breakfast cereal, type of jam, brand of bread, flavour of juice etc)

Include good amounts of protein-rich foods

Include good amounts of protein-rich foods at two main meals e.g. lunch and evening. This will not only provide essential nutrients (amino acids, iron, zinc etc) but will also have a satiation effect i.e. help you feel full (which is different from feeling bloated or ‘stuffed’!). Protein-rich foods for main meals would include beef, lamb, liver, pork, bacon, ham, chicken, turkey, fish, prawns, eggs, pulses, tofu, quorn, beans and nuts. Although cheese and milk are good sources of protein, only one meal of the day should be based around them e.g. cauliflower cheese, pasta with cheese sauce.

Plan what to eat immediately after training

Plan what to eat immediately after training – this could be a main meal e.g. a second breakfast, lunch or evening meal depending on the time of training. If it is a snack to tide you over until your next main meal, then it should be ‘nutrient rich’ to at least provide carbohydrate and some protein for repair and recovery.
A snack that includes some milk (great source of protein, B Vitamins, Magnesium and Potassium) would be an excellent choice e.g. cereal and milk, a milkshake or yoghurt with a banana etc. If trying to manage your weight, then make sure that your snack choices are low in fat (3g fat per 100g of snack is low; 20g fat per 100g is high)

Sports Drinks

Including a carbohydrate containing sports drink into your plan is essential for the volume and intensity of training you do. Aim for 30-60g of carbohydrate to be consumed each hour of training. 500ml Lucozade Sport or Powerade provides 30-33g of carbohydrate (120-132kcal per 500ml)

A carbohydrate-containing sports drink will also provide fluid to help match your sweat losses during training. If you calculate that you are sweating 1 litre an hour, you will need to drink 1000ml Lucozade Sport or equivalent. This will provide 1 litre of fluid plus 60g carbohydrate. If you are concerned about your weight, you may dilute 500ml Lucozade Sport or Powerade with 500ml of water plus a small pinch of salt. By doing this, you will get 30g carbohydrate (needed for offsetting stress hormones and to provide the muscle will additional carbohydrate) rather than 60g carbohydrate per hour, but you will still get essential fluid and electrolytes.

Keep it simple

If you are providing your own lunch, keep it simple and fairly routine. This could be based on thick bread sandwiches, bagels, pitta bread or filled rolls or it could be leftovers reheated from the night before. Large jacket potatoes filled with beans, chilli, scrambled egg, cheese and pickle, make an easy alternative if you have a microwave.

Carbohydrate Drinks

Carbohydrate-containing drinks such as fruit juice, fruit juice drinks, Ribena, C-Vit, High Juice can be included to provide essential carbohydrate in an easy form – 100ml of Ribena concentrate (regular) for example will provide 60g of carbohydrate.

Your evening meal

Your evening meal could be based on a recipe (adapted to make the fat lower e.g. reduced fat coconut evaporated milks to make sauces; using less oil in a recipe etc). You may wish to cook in bulk and save 1-2 portions for the next day and reheated for lunch to save time and effort. Alternatively it could be a simple grilled chicken breast or steak, brushed with a low fat sauce (look in supermarkets for dressings and marinades) with a jacket potato and a brightly coloured salad. If you like cooking or have more time, the evening meal could be the time to experiment with variety.

Self-monitoring

Self-monitoring is very important as it will provide evidence of when the strategy is working and when it is not working. Often guidance is needed if things are not working, but if records have been kept, the answer is usually there to be found. An example of a self-check record could be as follows:

* = where you consumed something that you consider inappropriate. If you see string of **** appear, look back and see what may have caused this to happen

Editorial by Jacqueline Boorman

---