Question:
I'm looking for a good book on sports
nutrition. Convinced that I wasn't
getting enough protein and just
coming out of a fog of pretty accute
anxiety I decided recently to start
eating meat again. Just fish and
egg whites. I feel a lot better,
especially physically. I'd like
to figure out, though, having basically
winged while I lost the weight and
then got stuck in my anxiety rut
for a year or so, how much protein
I need generally as an athlete.
Does anyone know of a good book
that addresses this? I know some
books about cycling or running address
it in chapters, but I'm talking
about a book dedicated to nutrition
for the active person.
Answer:
it varies from person to person.
You'll probably have to experiment
a bit. But keep in mind the gov't
recommends is what a couch potato
needs. If you're burning up more
energy, you need more calories.
Keep in mind that there are
9 calories in 1 gram of fat
4 calories in 1 gram of protein
4 calories in 1 gram of carbohydrate.
And that's all there is . . . fat,
protein, and carbs.
Personally, I feel best and have
no migranes when I eat 50% of my
total caloric intake as protein,
and roughly 25% fat and 25% carbs.
I've tried what I've seen officially
recommended, and 30% protein, 50%
carbs, and 20% fat just doesn't
cut it with my system.
Of course,
there are fats, and there are fats.
There are carbs, and there are carbs.
There are proteins, and there are
proteins. This is what ya gotta
look for:
Fats--you
want to avoid hydrogenated fats
(like what they put in most peanut
butter, margerine, and fast food/processed
crap). You want the good fats, like
what's in fish, and some other stuff
that's on the tip of my typing fingers
nyway, there's lots of info on the
good and bad fats, shouldn't be
difficult to find a list, learn
the general gist of what to avoid.
Protein--made
of amino acids, there are what's
called Complete proteins and Incomplete
proteins. Complete proteins are
made with all of the 9 amino acids
the human body cannot synthesize.
Incomplete proteins are missing
one or more, most often methionine.
You can combine different incomplete
proteins and come out ok, but it's
easiest just to eat eggs, milk,
fish, and meat along with the incomplete
proteins. There's a book available
on Amazon.com called (I think it's)
the Nutrition Almanac. It lists
the various essential amino acids
in several hundred food items (and
vitamins, too). If you don't mind
some heavy duty number crunching,
that's
a pretty good resource.
Carbs -- There
are some carbs, like sugar, that
get burned in your system pretty
quick, give you a rush sometimes.
You don't want these. What you want
are the slow-burning carbs, like
what's in oatmeal, brown rice. Read
up on the glycemic index of carbohydrates,
get a list of what foods are good
and what's not, and you'll know
what to put in your supermarket
shopping cart.
