HCG Diet

Weight loss is typically what is on most of our minds whenever we think of  going on a diet but what about the athletes?  So, exactlyjust how much does your diet plan play in competition if you are an athlete?

As far as endurance racing is concerned, most athletes will load up on complex carbs  such as spagetti, breads and grains because of the way they break down.  To put it plainly, carbohydrates use less oxygen than fat so therefore metabolize quicker, giving the runner more energy than if they were to eat simple sugars and fatty foods.

Focusing on carbs is a good thing, at least before the race and many athletes claim that loading a diet with carbs by as much of 70% two days before the race gives them enough energy stores to be competitive at an elite level.

So, we all know that carb loading is good pre-event.  But should you change your eating habits while you are simply training?

An athletes diet should be different for training than for pre-race

A lot of endurance athletes have been trying to touch upon their primal self by incorporating the philosophy of the paleo diet into your training.  If you are unfamiliar with this diet plan, going “paleo” simply means that you are eating what our ancestors ate when we were hunters and gatherers.  This means no sugar, no breads and no pastas.  Nothing that can’t be eaten either raw.  Animal protein is okay.  The athlete’s version of the paleo diet is modified so that they can load up on carbs pre-race while eating a cleaner diet during training.

The reason for this modification is that while complex carbohydrates are good for your energy stores, there are some who believe that they could actually hamper the body’s ability to repair muscles efficiently during long and rigorous training sessions Plus, different foods are harder on our bodies to process.  The paleolithic dieters believe that the less energy your body has to spend processing what we eat, the more time our body can spend repairing itself.

Usually, the carb loading is temporary though.  Most elite athletes take special care as to what goes into their body. Usually, during non training times, an athlete will stick to the cleanest foods he or she can and avoid the foods that contain sugar and grains.  If you ask any competitor, they are going to tell you that the paleo diet is just smart eating.  And although they will load up on carbohydrates during race time, a cleaner diet during non-competition days is not only good for them from a health perspective, it is just smart.