Diet for the athlete-the macronutrients

To compete at the highest level that your body is capable requires that you provide it with the proper building blocks of nutrients.  Your diet is more than just fuel for energy output during exercise or competition, but, also must provide the necessary chemicals for repair, maintenance and ongoing metabolic activities.  A nutritional diet is divided between the macronutrients and the micronutrients.  Macronutrients include proteins, carbohydrates, and Fats.  Micronutrients are the vitamins and minerals.

Their is much confusion about how much protein one should consume, how much fat, and what percent of your diet should be carbohydrates.  In general, those attempting to gain lean muscle mass, particularly in the early phase, when most gains in strength are made and the intent is to add muscle mass, protein is consumed at 1.2 to 1.7 g/kg of body weight each day [see calculator].  This can be difficult to achieve in some diets and must often be achieved by using a protein shake supplement.  Whey protein powder is one of the most popular forms of protein as it is easily digested and rapidly absorbed into the blood stream from the gut.  Thus, it is ideal to consume directly after an intense work out session.  Obviously, high protein intake without vigorous exercise can result in this protein being simple converted into fat, which the body readily does when there is no better use for it.  The amount of protein as a percentage of total  energy intake is recommended to be between 10% and 35%.  For the athlete, especially the athlete looking for gains in strength, the higher end of 35% of consumed calories should be the target.

Fatty acids are critical to a successful diet and for maintenance of the body.  The real issue is the quality or type of fatty acids consumed by the typical american.   Fat consumption should comprise 20 to 35% of caloric intake each day.  However, 10% should be saturated, 10% polyunsaturated, and 10% monounsaturated and include sources of essential fatty acids.  The ideal source of fat comes from sources such as fish which are rich in Omega-3 fatty acids, as well as nuts such as almonds and peanuts.

So how in the world do you keep track of the percentage of macronutrients you are getting in your diet?  The obvious way would be to read labels and weigh food.  Of course, for practical use this is less than ideal. My rule of thumb is to understand that I get carbohydrates without trouble.  So, I make a conscious effort to introduce proteins into my diet.  I try to eat plenty of eggs, of fantastic source of both protein (white portion) and fat (yellow portion).  Eggs are also a good source of many other micronutrients.

So the quick breakdown of the Egg.  The Egg white contains 6 gm of protein per egg.  The yolk contains about 5.6 gm of fat, but only 1.6 gms are saturated fat, or the "bad" fat associated with heart disease.  Egg yolks also contain a good amount of cholesterol.  However, dietary cholesterol is not directly related to blood cholesterol levels.  It appears that blood  cholesterol levels are more closely linked with your genetic makeup.  Lastly, the yolk contains dense quantities of Vitamin A, B12, D, E, K, zinc, calcium, DHA, and more.  Consequenlty, most mornings, I try to get a large amount of eggs into my breakfast, while avoid carbohydrates.