Proper nutrition is important for individuals who seek to maximise performance and speed up the recovery process. This section will focus on the proportion and time of feeding.
Carbohydrates, proteins and fats are essential nutrients required for energy production and muscle recovery. The daily intake of macronutrients for an endurance athlete is as follows:
Carbohydrate intake should be 8-10g/kg body weight on days when training is more than 90 minutes. This is about 560-700g of carbohydrates for a 70kg individual. On days whereby training is below 90 minutes, carbohydrate intake should be lowered to 6-8g/kg body weight.
Protein intake should be at 1-1.2g/kg body weight. This is about 70-84g of protein for a 75kg individual.
Fat intake should be kept at 20-30% of total daily calorie intake. Each gram of fat provides 9kcal of energy. Therefore, if daily energy intake is 3000kcal, individual should consume 66-100g of fats.
Individual should aim to consume food at every 3-4 hours interval. Frequent feeding with small meals provides a number of benefits, these include:
During each feeding, individuals should aim to include all macronutrients in the food consumed. Additionally, it is recommended to even out the portion of protein intake in each meal instead of having one meal with a much larger portion of protein than the other meals. This is to maximise the potential for muscle growth and repair.
Individuals should aim to consume food within 30 minutes of waking up. If time is a limiting factor, individuals should at least drink a cup of beverage (e.g. milk or milo) within the 30 minutes.
It is generally recommended to consume food 2-4 hours before exercising. This is dependent on individual as each has different level of gastric tolerance. Pre-exercise meal intake should include only small proportion of protein and fats as these macronutrients slows down the digestion process.
Individuals who exercises early in the morning should aim to consume a diluted cup of beverage (e.g. milo) 30-60 minutes before exercising. This is to prevent low blood sugar during exercising.
Individuals should aim to consume food within 40 minutes after exercising. This is because consuming food within this period of time can increase the rate of muscle glycogen storage and reduce the amount of muscle being broken down for fuel.
It is generally recommended to consume fluid fill with carbohydrates and protein in the portion of 3:1 (e.g. 45g of carbohydrates and 15g of protein) after exercising as this will allow greater rate of absorption. A highly recommended food source by recent research is chocolate milk. It has been shown that chocolate milk has the recommended proportion of carbohydrates and proteins, and also contain other essential nutrients that is beneficial to post-exercise recovery.
Vitamins and minerals should be adequate if one is consuming a balance diet with the right proportion of whole grains, meat, vegetables etc. However, if individuals choose to consume multi vitamin supplements, it is recommended not to consume the supplement before exercising. Recent studies have suggested that exercise itself is an antioxidant and extra intake of vitamin supplement pre-exercise can prevent health promoting effects of physical exercise in humans.