Sports Nutrition

Nutrition Assessment Clinic has worked with Queen’s University Athletes, Royal Military College of Canada Athletes and St. Lawrence College Athletes with their sports nutrition, as well as local teams and sports groups. A special area is working with Industrial Athletes: those whose physical fitness is imperative for a healthy safe work environment eg Lafarge Canada, Procter and Gamble, Utilities Kingston and the Canadian Armed Forces.

Depending on the quality of your current diet and the timing and frequency of exercise, a variety of nutritional strategies can be used to improve your performance. Select your sport from the headings below and click the appropriate choice to expand and get more information.

An Assessment by a Registered Dietitian with experience in Sports Nutrition should include:

Body Composition Assessment

Body Composition Assessment for hydration (BIA), muscle mass and fat mass for your sport and position played. A test can show if athletes are anabolic or catabolic. Periodic testing shows if athletes are meeting their goals.

Will knowing how your body uses several nutrients help improve performance?

How much fluid do you lose in a practice or competition?

Weight Class athletes can maintain muscle and reduce body fat to perform at their optimal level. For effective weight loss, a dietitian can provide optimal protein recommendation and assure minerals are balanced to allow normal levels of body water.

Food intake Analysis is the best way to determine calorie needs in addition to estimates from computer models for nutrition and activity. To Download a food diary click here.

When reducing body fat for sport most people who only change their diet and not their activity will have a drop in their metabolism of up to 200 kcal/per day.

Relevant laboratory values related to your sport. Eg. hemoglobin and ferritin

Information on hydration and sweat losses in exercise. After an assessment is completed, a nutrition plan from a registered dietitian should include:

  • A hydration plan based on needs
  • A sample meal plan or some basic suggestions depending on your goals, learning style and readiness to make changes
  • An idea of what vitamins and minerals may need replacement in your diet
  • Food replacement for exercise
  • A food intake and exercise diary
  • Some targets related to your nutrition and performance goals
  • A follow-up plan

Athlete Nutrition Basics

Protein

Athletes need: 1-2 gms protein per kg body weight/day

Men

Lower muscle mass: 120-150 gms
Larger Muscle Mass: 150 – 170 gms

Food Portion Size Protein
Meat, fish, poultry, cheese or 3 eggs or 3/4 cup cottage cheese 3oz (90 gms) 21 gms
Milk (any %) or yogurt 1 litre 32 gms
Instant Breakfast 500ml or 2 cups 22 gms
Regular Bread 4 Slices 8 gms
Peanut Butter 4 Tbsp 16 gms

Fats and Oils

Need: 1 gram per kg per day. 50-80 gms per day

  1. Adjusted for weight loss if needed
  2. Use foods with less than 10 grams of fat per serving
  3. Essential Fats: linolenic acid – omega 3

Sources: salmon, tuna, herring, halibut, trout, canola oil, flax oil, shrimp, crab, walnuts

Timing of Glucose Recovery

  1. Important for energy and eye-hand coordination
  2. Completely restored in 24 hours
  3. Window: in the 2 hours after an activity
  4. Take Carb again at 2, 4 and 6 hours after exercise
  5. High Carb diets can almost double liver glycogen
  6. Training diets of greater than 60% Carb maintain glycogen stores in periods of heavy, peak training
  7. Need: at least 200 – 500 gms/day based on body composition and sport

Vitamins and Minerals

Dietary Recommended Intakes (DRI)

  • High quality accompanies large calorie intake
  • > 1800 kcal per day with 4 food groups
  • Antioxidants are required, Vit C, Vit E, Se and beta-carotene
  • Iron may be low and needs careful consideration in female athletes
  • Folic Acid needs met by including orange juice and greens in diet twice a day
  • Calcium replaced if not using dairy products
  • Unknown nutrients lycopene etc.
  • Vegetarians need a nutritional assessment by a dietitian Continuous problems with B12, Fe, Zn and protein

Registered Sports Dietitians Assess

  • Sport energy expenditure
  • Current intake with a computerized intake analysis
  • Body composition needs for sport using a clinical bioimpedance
  • Estimation of overtraining
  • Fluid loss in training and replacement
  • Lab data from your MD (Hgb, ferritin, immune system tests)
  • Training Plan
  • Competition Day Plans
  • Travel needs and food intolerances
  • Make a meal plan and recommend supplements

Carb Replacement During Training

Athletes Can Begin to Replace Carbs in training after the first half hour (if they are not upside down). This depends on your muscle mass and stage of growth. More muscle mass adds more carbs per half hour

20-30 gms carbs every 30 minutes

Drink (per 100ml) Carb gms Sodium mg Potassium
Orange Juice 10 1 200
Gingerale 8 8 1
Gatorade 6 43 11
Powerade 9 13 14
Cytomax 4 16 31
E-load* 5 70 19
*Also contains Ca: 5 mg, Mg: 5 mg, Zn: 1 mg

Recovery After Training

Within 15 minutes and again at 2, 4, 6 hours post exercise 40 to 100 grams of Carb

Example of 75 grams of Carb:

  • 375 ml (12 ounces) orange juice and 1 bagel with 2 slices of meat or cheese
  • 500 ml (16 ounces) of choc milk and 1 bagel
Recovery Products Protein (gm) Fat (gm) Carb (gm) Kcal
Sports Drink (boost) 10 4 40 240
Chocolate Milk (2 cup) 17 5 55 330
Instant Breakfast (315ml) 22 6 50 350
Power Bar 7 4 45 240
Bagel with P&B & Jam 15 17 71 500

Fluids

Losses in Exercise

  • Sweat (super sweater)
  • Respiration
  • Symptoms of Dehydration
  • Fatigue
  • Reduced work capacity
  • Loss of 1% of body weight can reduce muscular work capacity by 5% to 7%
  • Cyclists can work maximally for only 6 minutes

Fluid Needs

Weigh yourself before and after exercise

  • 2+ cups (600 ml) water = one pound
  • losses 2 pounds per hour = 1.2 litres
  • gut absorbs 1 litre per hour
  • take fluids before, during and after activity
  • may choose water or use a drink with glucose (7.5%) & electrolytes
  • Loss of 1% of body weight can reduce muscular work capacity by 5% to 7%
  • don’t wait for thirst, it’s too late

Hockey

What position do you play? Did you know that you may have a different body type and muscle mass depending on the position you play and the training you do to be your best in your position? Goalies have a large muscle mass and are more like ‘body building gymnasts’. Defensemen or women like to be strong and fast and may carry more body mass than other team members. This is important as defenders. Forwards like to be fast and train to have short bursts of energy in 30 to 40 second intervals. More recently forwards are becoming taller and still very fast. Nutrition needs are different for these positions.

Hydration is very important in all sports. Do you know how much weight (water) a goalie loses in a game? How much does a defenseman lose? Weigh yourself before and after a game. For every pound of weight (.5 kg) loss athletes need to take in more than 600 ml of water or 2+ cups.

National Sports Academy Hockey School Supported by Nutrition Assessment Clinic July 6, 2011

Hockey

What position do you play? Did you know that you may have a different body type and muscle mass depending on the position you play and the training you do to be your best in your position? Goalies have a large muscle mass and are more like ‘body building gymnasts’. Defensemen or women like to be strong and fast and may carry more body mass than other team members. This is important as defenders. Forwards like to be fast and train to have short bursts of energy in 30 to 40 second intervals. More recently forwards are becoming taller and still very fast. Nutrition needs are different for these positions.

Hydration is very important in all sports. Do you know how much weight (water) a goalie loses in a game? How much does a defenseman lose? Weigh yourself before and after a game. For every pound of weight (.5 kg) loss athletes need to take in more than 600 ml of water or 2+ cups.

National Sports Academy Hockey School Supported by Nutrition Assessment Clinic July 6, 2011

Rowing

Rowers are unique athletes who train in endurance and power and compete in sprints.   These unique demands have important needs. Athletes will lose muscle mass and drop or slow their progress without good diet and impeccable timing of food intake. Nutrition Assessment specializes in weight class sports and has a proven record with weight loss and top performance in competition with rowers. The Queen’s University light weight women’s program is second to none in Canada. Race days require careful planning for optimal timing of food intake and race times.

Erin Armitage, rower and fellow sports dietitian has written a series of article on Rowing Nutrition.  The below link has the initial article on hydration and to receive the full set of articles register and contact us.

Football

Football players are unique athletes who train in power and compete in sprints. These special demands have important needs. The blocker will have a totally different body composition and nutrient needs than a quarterback. Athletes will lose muscle mass and drop or slow their progress without a good diet and impeccable timing of food intake. Nutrition Assessment looks at optimal weight for each position. Like no other sport football requires excellent eye-hand coordination which means even blood glucose levels for both training and games right until the end of the last quarter. Nutrition Assessment can provide solutions for these challenges.

Football

Football players are unique athletes who train in power and compete in sprints. These special demands have important needs. The blocker will have a totally different body composition and nutrient needs than a quarterback. Athletes will lose muscle mass and drop or slow their progress without a good diet and impeccable timing of food intake. Nutrition Assessment looks at optimal weight for each position. Like no other sport football requires excellent eye-hand coordination which means even blood glucose levels for both training and games right until the end of the last quarter. Nutrition Assessment can provide solutions for these challenges.

Endurance Sports

Sports such as cross-country running and skiing, triathlon, cycling, mountain biking, biathlon, distance swimming and sailing require special attention to nutrition for training and competitions. For example, endurance athletes who no longer use red meat and or have chosen organic grains and cereals may be at risk of anemia and need their hemoglobin and ferritin checked every 3 months.

Extreme or Ultra Extreme Sports

Training for extreme sports requires a healthy intake and sometimes results in unwanted weight gain. A nutrition assessment helps athletes assess effective muscle mass and target ideal weight for training and for the competition. Adequate intake of all nutrients prevents injury with the many hours of periodized training all year round. An example of an Ultra event would be the training for ultramarathons, the Death Race or the Mantracker TV series. In these events, total nutrition on the go is required. Athletes must learn to eat whole foods in these events and cannot survive on power products alone.

Extreme or Ultra Extreme Sports

Training for extreme sports requires a healthy intake and sometimes results in unwanted weight gain. A nutrition assessment helps athletes assess effective muscle mass and target ideal weight for training and for the competition. Adequate intake of all nutrients prevents injury with the many hours of periodized training all year round. An example of an Ultra event would be the training for ultramarathons, the Death Race or the Mantracker TV series. In these events, total nutrition on the go is required. Athletes must learn to eat whole foods in these events and cannot survive on power products alone.