I'm at the gym from 5:30 to 7:00 pm and feel exhausted by the end of my workout. What can I do to prevent fatigue?"

"I'm training for a marathon ... I dread the long runs. I'm dragging after 12 miles. Any suggestions for how to boost my energy?"

"I'm whipped by the end of my after-school soccer practices ..."

Sound familiar? Preventing fatigue is the No. 1 concern of active people who exercise for more than an hour.

This article can help you enjoy high energy and enhanced stamina during long, hard exercise sessions. (For shorter exercise sessions, a pre-exercise snack and some water should fuel you well.)

To prevent fatigue during extensive exercise that lasts for more than 60 to 90 minutes, you have two nutrition goals:

1. To prevent dehydration

2. To prevent your blood sugar from dropping

The following tips can help you reach those goals.

Sweat and dehydration

When you exercise hard, you sweat. Sweating is the body's way of dissipating heat and maintaining a constant internal temperature (98.6°F).During hard exercise, your muscles can generate 20 times more heat than when you are at rest.

You dissipate this heat by sweating. As the sweat evaporates, it cools the skin. This in turn cools the blood, which cools the inner body. If you did not sweat, you could cook yourself to death.

A body temperature higher than 106°F damages the cells. At 107.6°F, cell protein coagulates (like egg whites do when they cook), and the cell dies. This is one serious reason why you shouldn't push yourself beyond your limits in very hot weather.

When you sweat for more than an hour, you lose significant amounts of water from your blood. The remaining blood becomes more concentrated and has, for example, an abnormally high sodium level. This triggers the thirst mechanism and increases your desire to drink.

To quench your thirst, you have to replace the water losses and bring the blood back to its normal concentration.

Unfortunately for athletes, this thirst mechanism can be an unreliable signal to drink. Hence, you should plan to drink before you are thirsty. By the time your brain signals thirst, you may have lost 1 percent of your body weight, the equivalent of 1.5 pounds (24 ounces) of sweat for a 150-pound person.

This 1 percent loss corresponds with the need for your heart to beat an additional three to five times per minute. This contributes to early fatigue.

Thirst sensations change with age and older people, even athletes, become less sensitive to thirst. For example, 56-year-old hikers became progressively dehydrated during 10 days of strenuous hill walking. The younger, 24-year-old hikers remained adequately hydrated. This means older people, in particular, should carefully monitor their fluid intake.

Light-colored urine, in significant volume, is a sign of adequate hydration.

Most athletes voluntarily replace less than half of sweat losses; thirst can be blunted by exercise or overridden by the mind. To be safe, always drink enough to quench your thirst, plus a little more.

If you know how much you sweat, you can then replace those losses according to a plan. To learn your sweat rate (and fluid targets), weigh yourself naked before and after a workout. For every pound (16 ounces) you lose, you should strive to replace 13 to 16 ounces (80 to 100 percent of that loss) while exercising.

This requires training your gut to handle this volume. Do not drink more water if your stomach is already sloshing; enough is enough!

You might find it helpful to figure out how many gulps of water equate to 16 ounces, and even set an alarm wristwatch to remind you to drink on schedule. You'll also need to plan on having the right quantity of enjoyable fluids readily available. Do not be in such a rush to start your workout that you fail to bring with you the sports drinks and fluids that will enhance your efforts.

Carbohydrates and blood sugar

As I?ve mentioned above, you can significantly increase your stamina by consuming a pre-exercise snack that provides fuel for the first hour of the workout and by drinking adequate fluids during exercise.

The third trick to enhancing endurance is to consume carbs after an hour of exercise. Depending on your body size and ability to tolerate fuel while you work out, you'll want to target 100 to 250 calories of carbohydrates per hour of endurance exercise.

The larger you are, the more calories you need. For example, if you weigh 180 pounds, you should target about 250 calories per hour, such as 8 ounces of a sports drink every 15 minutes, or a 250-calorie energy bar plus water.

During a moderate to hard endurance workout, carbohydrates supply about 50 percent of the energy. As you deplete carbohydrates from muscle glycogen stores, you increasingly rely on the carbs (sugar) in your blood for energy. By consuming carbohydrates such as sports drinks, bananas, or energy bars during exercise, you can both fuel your muscles as well as maintain a normal blood sugar level.

Because your brain relies on the sugar in your blood for energy, keeping your brain fed helps you think clearly, concentrate well, and remain focused. So much of performance depends on mental stamina; maintaining a normal blood sugar level is essential to optimize your workouts and boost your stamina.

Your body doesn't care if you ingest solid or liquid carbohydrates, both are equally effective forms of fuel. You just have to learn which sports snacks settle best for your body: gels, gummy bears, dried figs, animal crackers, defizzed cola, whatever.

Despite popular belief, sugar can be a positive snack during exercise and is unlikely to cause you to "crash" (experience hypoglycemia). That's because sugar feedings during exercise result in only small increases in both insulin and blood glucose. Yet, too much sugar or food taken at once can slow the rate at which fluids leave the stomach. Hence, "more" is not always better.

Because consuming 100 to 250 calories per hour of exercise (after the first hour) may be far more than you are used to taking in during exercise, you need to practice fueling while exercising to figure out what foods and fluids settle best.

You'll learn through trial and error which snacks help prevent fatigue, boost performance and contribute to enjoyment of your long, hard workouts

Want energy? Time your eating and exercise

By Deborah Shulman, Ph.D.

For Active.com 10/3/2003

"To give me energy." This is the usual response when I ask why someone has eaten an energy bar or other food in the hour or so before starting exercise.

In fact, the opposite is true. Eating an hour or even half an hour before exercise is likely to make you feel tired and sluggish.

Twenty-five years ago, if a food or drink label proclaimed "high energy," it would have sounded a death knell for that product. In contemporary times though, people interpret that to mean that it will give them high energy.

Red Bull drinks proudly display that they are high-energy drinks. Sports bars are high-energy foods. Consequently, people eat or drink them so they have high energy during exercise.

In the nutrition world, "high energy" is synonymous with "high calorie." The way that the body deals with high calorie, particularly high sugar, is by releasing insulin. Insulin is a storage hormone. When you eat a high-calorie, high-sugar food an hour before exercise, you will start exercise with high insulin levels.

This has two important results. First, it will change how you perceive exercise. You feel sluggish and it feels hard. This is called the rating of perceived exertion, or RPE. Your RPE is higher when you start exercise with high insulin levels.

Second, you will burn a lower amount of fat for fuel. Insulin lowers fat removal from the fat deposits and reduces fat metabolism inside the muscle. Consequently, you rely more on carbohydrate for energy.

Obviously, if you are trying to increase fat metabolism, it is counterproductive to eat an hour or half an hour before exercise.

In general, during the day, it is better to time your last meal or snack to be two hours before the start of exercise. If you wait too long, however -- say, three or four hours after eating -- you'll spend the whole exercise session hungry and fantasizing about food.

In fact, the best time to exercise is after an overnight fast. At his time, blood levels of fat, growth hormone and testosterone are all high. Under these conditions, fat metabolism will be at its highest. Even better if you've had some coffee beforehand.

Those who have low fasting blood sugar in the morning may want to eat a banana, a sports gel or some juice within five minutes of starting exercise. You know who you are: you feel dizzy and shaky in the morning until you've had something to eat. If you eat a small amount a few minutes before starting, you won't get a substantive insulin response.

Instead of eating before exercise, eat within 30 minutes of finishing your exercise session. It is common for people to make the mistake of not eating after exercise, either because they think the increased metabolic rate will help them lose weight or just because they're not hungry. In reality, during exercise you are breaking down protein from the muscles, liver and kidney. This catabolic state persists after exercise.

The more intense the exercise -- such as a heavy strength training session at the gym or an interval workout at the track -- or the longer the exercise lasted, the more muscle breakdown will occur.

This when insulin is your friend. Insulin is a growth hormone and stops muscle breakdown. This is the best time to get larger doses of carbohydrate. Your glycogen storage tanks will be low and the combination of insulin and carbohydrate will refill them to be ready for the next exercise session and will help your muscles grow.

Soccer: 7 nutrition myths

By Dr. Don Kirkendall

For Active.com, 10/24/2003

Think nutrition is an easy topic? See if you have the answers to these myths common in soccer.

1. Your performance in a game is not affected by what you eat

You would think this is true, from reading the scientific literature on just what soccer players eat. Nutritional recalls from the 1970s to the present show that soccer players choose a diet that is around 40% carbohydrates, 40% fat and 20% protein.

Virtually every study on athletic performance, be it a team sport or an individual endurance sport, shows that a diet rich in carbohydrates improves running performance. The more carbohydrates you eat, the more and faster you run, especially late in the game.

What is discouraging is that in the very early '70s, the Swedes showed that soccer players with low muscle fuel (glycogen) walk about 50% of the game. And that was 30 years ago. What might be even more discouraging is that over half of a national team in the 1994 World Cup thought food had nothing to do with their game. Players eat what is put in front of them.

2. Sports drinks are just a product of marketing; they are no better than water

No question that water is well understood by the active public. The days of fluid restriction during sports are long gone. But researchers have been looking at improving on water ever since the advent of Gatorade. The timing, volume, temperature and components of sports drink have been under continual study.

For example, a drink does no good if it stays in the stomach, so the concentration of sugars is limited. A drink does no good if it doesn't get from the small intestine into the blood, so there is an optimal concentration of salt in the drink. And a drink isn't all that effective if it doesn't stay in the body -- meaning that the volume of drink and salt concentration, again, are critical.

Plain water doesn't have these advantages. A well-formulated drink has the proper concentrations of sugars, salts, and micronutrients, making it more effective than water alone.

3. All sports drinks are alike, so just buy any of them

A lot of people think this, and the marketing of different drinks can lead to this perception. But a close look at labels will show vastly different drinks.

To start with, there are basically three completely different types of drinks: fluid replenishment drinks, carbohydrate replenishment drinks and energy drinks.

Fluid replenishment drinks are formulated to provide optimal concentrations of sugars and salts, leading to rapid absorption and retention of fluids in order to prevent dehydration and improve performance.

Carbohydrate replenishment drinks are designed to provide a fast source of carbohydrates that are rapidly absorbed by the intestines. These can be used during a game for extra fuel as well as right after play to start storing energy for the next day or game. The best drinks have a little protein in them that speeds the uptake and deposit of fuel into the muscle.

Energy drinks are highly caffeinated drinks that deliver a small bump in energy due to caffeine's effect on the central nervous system, not by adding any more fuel to the muscles. Plus, caffeine is a diuretic, so it can increase urine volume, and any urine loss of water during exercise is not good.

4. It doesn't matter what players eat after games

I go to games and tournaments and see some of the worst post-game feedings possible: soda, sweet drinks in soft packaging, potato chips, other salty snacks, chocolate, fries. You've seen it.

The smart team supplies food that will start refilling the muscles with carbohydrates at just the time that the muscles are most ready to receive a fresh supply of fuel; the first hour to two after exercise. And that food probably doesn't come in a bag.

A good supply of carbohydrates is needed, and it can come from a carbohydrate replenishment drink or other high-glycemic foods like bagels with jam/jelly, the ingredients for "chex mix" (not the premixed boxes from the store, but the ingredients minus the oil and toasting), pretzels, raisins (or other dried fruit). This is even more critical between tournament games when time is even shorter.

5. All athletes get enough protein from what they eat, so there's no need to look for other sources

While most every survey of the athletic diet shows that they get all the protein they need from food, there is a problem. The vast majority of protein is consumed in conjunction with fat. Marbled meat, ground beef, fried chicken in the skin all are examples of protein that is combined with lots of fat.

Red meat should be trimmed of fat, ground beef should be very lean, chicken should have the skin removed. But one place protein is often lacking is the immediate post-exercise meal. A little protein helps in storing new fuel in the muscles faster than when there is no protein. You can try to figure out a protein source (NOT from a fast food chain) or simply buy one of the carbohydrate replenishment drinks that contain protein.

6. I just coach; what the players eat is their problem

While I have already stated that most all studies show that players are not eating properly, there is an implicit question. Who tells the athlete what to eat?

There have been plenty of surveys asking where athletes get their information and the top two sources are the coach and teammates. Now, from what we know, teammates are probably pretty unreliable. That leaves the coach as the primary source of information. But should the coach tell the player or the parents?

As the player eats what is put in front of them, that means the parents are now the assistant coach in charge of fuel. They need to know what to serve and when to serve it. Your new assistant may think the various versions of the Atkins diet are good for themselves, but those high-protein diets do the athlete no good when it comes to providing fuel. Make sure your parents know the facts.

7. Your body is the best indicator of when to drink

Now, that is true ... if you are a donkey, or a dog. The thirst mechanism of humans isn't as good.

In fact, the human thirst mechanism doesn't even kick in until you have lost about 2% of your body weight from sweating; a level where performance decrement begins to become evident.

Drink early (before play), every 15 - 20 minutes during play, and at halftime. Put water bottles along the sidelines, in both goals, supply during stoppages. Remember that playing in the cold is also dehydrating, so don't forget to push fluids even in cold weather.

There are likely more myths coaches, players and parents may be following, but by following some of the guidelines mentioned here will put your team at a significant advantage over the opposition.

Soccer recovery: Bounce back faster after games

By Dr. Don Kirkendall

For Active.com, 10/24/2003

A soccer game can take a lot out of you. When the final whistle blows, you are tired and sore, as expected. But there are things you can do to bounce back quickly from games.

If you do them, you will have plenty of energy and less leftover muscle soreness by the time you practice again. If you don't do them, you might stay sluggish and tender a lot longer.

Nutrition tips

Nutrition is an important part of recovery. Nutritional recovery has three components:

1. Rehydrate

During games, you sweat, and when you sweat, you lose two important substances that your body needs: water and selected minerals called electrolytes (the stuff that makes sweat taste salty).

After games, you need to put these substances back into your body, in a little greater amounts than what you lost, sooner rather than later. Until you rehydrate, your body will have a hard time keeping cool and you may be prone to cramps and other problems.

Drinking water is just a start because it does not contain electrolytes. You're better off drinking a sports drink that has both water and electrolytes. Try to drink at least 12 ounces of sports drink in the first half-hour after the game ends. If it's a hot day, you may need to drink even more.

The goal is to drink 1.5 pints for every pound of weight lost over the next 24 hours, before the next workout. Your urine should be no darker than diluted lemonade.

2. Re-energize

You also burn a lot of energy fuel during games. The main energy fuel used in high-intensity sports like soccer is carbohydrate, which is stored in your muscles, liver, and blood. The human body cannot story very much carbohydrate. In a hard game, you can easily burn most of the carbohydrate fuels in your body.

It's important to quickly replace this carbohydrate. Until you do, you will not have much energy. Most sports drinks contain carbohydrates, so a convenient way to put energy back into your body is to get it from the same place you get your water and electrolytes.

You can also get carbohydrate from foods like fruits, breads, starches and certain vegetables. Muscles refill with carbohydrate the fastest immediately after exercise. Don't wait even as little as two hours after exercise to start, as the rate of refilling becomes slower.

3. Rebuild

Your muscles are mostly made of proteins. During games, some muscle protein can be damaged; this is a main reason your legs feel sore and weak after games. The good news is that your body is able to build new muscle proteins at two to three times the normal rate after hard exercise. All you need to do is supply the building blocks -- protein -- to do the job in the first couple hours after the game is over.

Most sports drinks do not contain protein, but some of the new ones are adding it. Using a sport drink with protein is a good way to go because of the convenience. You can get the water, electrolytes, carbohydrate, and protein you need for recovery all from one source.

You can also get protein from foods like meat and cheese, but these foods also tend to be high in fat. When you eat a lot of fat after hard exercise, or even too much protein, it takes longer for the nutrients to get through your system to your muscles. This slows down the whole recovery process.

So a sport drink that contains protein is a better choice for post-game nutrition. It contains everything your body needs to bounce back fast, and without anything unneeded to get in the way.

Get a head start on recovery

Using a sport drink with protein during games is also a good idea for two reasons. First, it will delay fatigue so you can play harder, longer. In one experiment, athletes who drank a sports drink with protein were able to exercise 24% longer than athletes who drank a regular sports drink with no protein.

Second, the protein in the drink will reduce the amount of muscle protein breakdown that happens during the game, so there is less rebuilding to be done afterward.

Other tips

While your muscles are still warm after a game, stretch your muscles. This will keep your blood flowing, helping to deliver nutrients to your muscles and to clear away built-up wastes. You can start drinking your sports drink while you stretch. Later in the day, you can massage your legs using your thumbs, and this will also help with blood flow.

After you play a game, try not to do anything too strenuous for the rest of the day. Your body requires rest in order to rehydrate, re-energize, and rebuild the muscles. At the very least, be sure to get plenty of sleep that night. During sleep, your body releases hormones that help your muscles rebuild.

The recovery checklist

After every game:

Stretch while your muscles are still warm

Drink at least 12 oz. of a sports drink containing protein

Monitor your urine color

Take it easy

Get a good night's sleep

Recovery Nutrition for High School Athletes
Jacqueline Berning, Ph.D., R.D.
for Gatorade Sports Performance News 10/20/04
It's 8:45 p.m. on a school night and you and 35 athletes are loading on a bus and heading back to school after an away game. Like many high school athletes, your team didn't eat much before the game, and now they are complaining that they're hungry and thirsty. As a coach, what do you do? If you stop to eat on the way home, it will take another hour to get there. Some of the athletes have homework to do, while others need the extra sleep. If they don't eat, you know that they're performance will suffer. Research shows that the decision you make will have an impact on their ability to play and compete at their peak.

Recovering from Exercise
Not eating and drinking after competition and training can have negative consequences on future athletic performance. For instance, many coaches don't realize that it can take up to 36 hours to reload the muscles of athletes who delay refueling their bodies. Such a delay means that the athletes will not have the energy to meet the demands of their sport. This is especially true for sports that have repeated competitions such as tournament play in volleyball, basketball, soccer, swimming or tennis. Parents and coaches need to recognize that an intense game or a hard interval-training session can be just as exhausting as running a marathon. Athletes who fail to refuel and/or rehydrate during these activities will not have the optimal level of energy the next day.

What to Eat
Carbohydrates
Muscle glycogen is the predominant fuel for energy during exercise. As carbohydrate (glucose) is the primary source of muscle glycogen, it is the most efficient source of energy for the body and should make up approximately 60 percent of an athlete's diet. Depending on the size of the athlete, that could amount to anywhere between 300 to more than 600 grams of carbohydrate each day. Carbohydrate-rich foods include whole-grain breads, rice, pasta, fruits, vegetables and sports drinks.

A carbohydrate snack consumed within 30 minutes after the competition or practice will allow the body to start the recovery process faster. In addition, players need to consume a carbohydrate-rich meal within two hours after the recovery snack. This ensures that the muscles continue to load with carbohydrate energy. For most high school athletes, that means eating a meal soon after they get home from competition or practice.

Protein
Protein also plays an important role in recovering from exercise. Although carbohydrates are the primary source of energy for muscles, consuming a small amount of protein shortly before or after exercise may help the body recover from exercise in a different way, by stimulating muscle repair and growth. This is backed by research that found that adding protein to the recovery snack does not enhance the muscle's ability to store energy, but instead, this extra protein is used by the muscles to rebuild after exercise.

Note that it does not take large amounts of protein to get these results. In fact, when athletes eat a combination of carbohydrates and protein post-exercise, the carbohydrates are used to refill the muscles with fuel, while the protein is used to help build and repair muscle tissue.

What to Drink
Athletes need to replace the fluids they lose through sweat to fully recover from exercise. The easiest way to do this is to consume a sports drink, as sports drinks have flavor to encourage drinking and contain electrolytes, such as sodium and potassium to maintain fluid balance in the body. For instance, if an athlete drinks plain water and does not eat any salty foods for the two hours after exercise, a significant portion (25 to 50 percent) of what they drink will be excreted as urine. However when an athlete rehydrates with a drink that contains both sodium and potassium at the proper levels, then 65 to 80 percent of the fluid is retained by the body, helping to better rehydrate the player.

A Coach's Story
Like many high school coaches, Chad Allen, who coaches the men's soccer team at Douglas County High School in Castle Rock, Colorado, was frustrated with the amount of time it took to feed his players after an away game. While the Huskies' road trips are generally not over an hour, stopping and feeding both the JV and Varsity teams added another hour to the trip. A late afternoon game with travel and eating would mean the bus did not arrive back at school until nearly 8:00 p.m.

To solve this problem, Chad implemented a strategy where parents provide snacks for his players to consume on the way home, thus eliminating the late trips and the problem of finding someplace to eat after the game. The strategy is working, as he has noticed an improvement in their performance. Their attitudes and moods are also better. “It used to be that the kids were so hungry and thirsty that they were quite irritable,” states Chad. “Now, we have the chance to relax on the bus ride home, knowing we will have something healthy and satisfying waiting for us to eat.”

Recovery Foods
Here's a sample of healthy foods to help athletes recover from exercise:

Sports drinks, like Gatorade Thirst Quencher
Granola, energy or breakfast bars
Bagels with peanut butter
Sub sandwiches
Crackers and cheese
Burritos
Fresh fruit like apples, bananas, oranges, grapes
Vegetables such as carrots and celery
Fruit smoothies (prepackaged)
Rice cakes or trail mix
Chocolate milk
Animal crackers

Jacqueline Berning, Ph.D., R.D., is a nutrition consultant for the Denver Broncos and Cleveland Indians as well as an associate professor at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs.

Quick Tips

Athletes who fail to refuel and/or rehydrate during and after activities will not have the optimal level of energy to play at the same intensity the next day.
To help in the recovery process, athletes should eat a high-carbohydrate snack within 30 minutes after practice or competition and a healthy meal two hours later.
Carbohydrates are the most efficient source of energy for muscles and they should make up approximately 60% of an athlete's diet.
Sports drinks are an ideal way for athletes to rehydrate during and after exercise.
Having parents provide snacks and sports drinks for the bus trip home after an away game is an excellent way to help athletes recover from exercise.

Food variety: The spice of life

By Nancy Clark, M.S., R.D.

For Active.com

May 30, 2006

"My diet is so boring ... I eat the same foods every day."
"The waitress at the cafe no longer asks me what I want for breakfast -- she knows I'll have black coffee, orange juice and a toasted bagel without cream cheese."

"Is it bad to eat the same foods day after day?"

Many athletes eat the same foods every day, day after day, for years. Their typical menu is based on bagels, turkey breast, pasta, chicken breast, frozen yogurt and pretzels.

This repetition keeps life simple, eliminates decisions, and feels safe -- safe from "getting fat" by eating foods with unknown calories, as well as safe from eating the "wrong food" that might contribute to digestive upset while exercising.

The benefits of eating a variety of foods

Some athletes are content with their self-described "boring diet." But if you eat a repetitive diet and wonder about the healthfulness of this pattern, you might want to think about the benefits of eating a variety of foods. Here's why:

You'll consume a wider variety of nutrients. For example, if your only fruit is apples, you'll fail to get the folic acid that's found in oranges. If your primary protein source is chicken breast, you'll miss out on the iron and zinc that's better found in beef.

You'll reduce the chances of getting excessive amounts of a food that might be harmful. For example, if the grapes you eat every day have a bad pesticide on them, you'll consume a higher dose than if you were to alternate grapes with bananas, oranges and kiwi. Or, if you eat several nutrient-fortified energy bars every day, you might get too much of one mineral, which could create an imbalance with other another mineral eaten in smaller amounts.

You'll reduce the need for supplements. Eating many types of foods makes it easier to consume more of the 600-plus known compounds that food offers -- including the 13 known vitamins and 22 essential minerals, and numerous other minerals, phytochemicals, fibers and health protectors found in whole foods. Whole foods offer more nutrients, and better absorbed nutrients, than pills. For example:

The iron in meat is absorbed better than that in pills.
The fiber in bran cereal is preferable to taking a fiber supplement or laxatives.
Getting calcium from milk replaces the need for calcium supplements. Calcium aside, milk drinkers have a diet that's more nutrient dense overall than the diet of milk abstainers. Forget the story, "I don't drink milk, I take a calcium supplement instead." You fool only yourself by thinking a pill (or two or 20) can replace a variety of whole foods.

You'll enhance your overall health. Studies suggest that people who eat a wide variety of food groups tend to be healthier and have a reduced risk of disease, including heart disease and diabetes. At each meal, you should plan to eat from at least three of these five foods groups:

Grain
Fruit
Vegetable
Meat, fish, poultry, nuts, beans and other protein-rich foods
Low-fat milk, yogurt, dairy and other calcium-rich foods

You should also eat different types of foods within each group. For example, by eating a variety of colorful fruits and vegetables (tomatoes, carrots, spinach, oranges, watermelon, blueberries), you'll consume a variety of the antioxidants that protect against the formation of cataracts in your eyes.

A tale of two diets

Because eating a variety of foods is so important, the nutrition professionals in Australia launched a food campaign to encourage Australians to eat 20 to 30 different foods a week. Currently, most Australians eat only 15 to 18 different foods. I'd dare say the same holds true in this country (if not fewer different foods)!

Let's count the number of foods typically eaten by two types of active people:

Diet profile #1: The weight-conscious exerciser
1. Oatmeal
2. Turkey breast
3. Pita bread
4. Lettuce
5. Tomato
6. Rice cakes
7. Apple
8. Energy bar
9. Yogurt
10. Grilled chicken
11. Sweet potato
12. Broccoli

Oops! That's only 12!

Diet profile #2: Junk-food junkie
1. Coffee
2. Big Mac
3. Coke
4. Chocolate-chip cookies
5. M&Ms
6. Pizza
7. Chinese fried rice
8. Ice cream
9. Potato chips
10. Beer

How many of these items even count towards "real" food?

What's your number?

Now, it's your turn to do your math. For the fun of it (and education as well), write down what you eat for a week and count the number of different foods you consume. How did you do? If the number looks grim, here are some tips for enhancing food variety:

Bread: Select from a variety -- pumpernickel, rye, whole wheat, multi-grain, sunflower seed. Top with jam, peanut butter, almond butter, low-fat cottage cheese, light cream cheese.

Sandwich fillings: There's life beyond turkey breast! Lean roast beef (the kind you can get in a deli) is a fine alternative -- and offers far more vitamins and minerals. Peanut butter provides positive fats that lower the risk of heart disease. Tuna with light mayo is OK, as is hummus.

Snacks: Be creative and bypass yet-another rice cake, pretzel or energy bar. How about almonds and dried fruit, yogurt with granola, an apple with low-fat cheese, vegetable soup with rye crackers or graham crackers with peanut butter? Target two foods per snack (and three-plus foods per meal).

Consider cutting back on energy bars that are little more than sugar-coated vitamin pills with a little added protein. They commonly lack fiber and phytochemicals -- the important components of the fruits they tend to displace from the athlete's snack menu.

Pasta: Plain pasta isn't a vitamin-packed food. Pasta meals get their nutritional power from the tomato sauce on top, the veggies on the side, and the accompanying protein in the lean beef, turkey, tofu or beans added to the sauce. Round out the pasta meal with low-fat milk, salad (lettuce, carrot, pepper, tomato), crusty whole grain bread, and berries for dessert. You'll enjoy a 10-food sports meal that invests in both performance and health!

Sports nutritionist Nancy Clark, M.S., R.D., counsels both casual and competitive athletes in her private practice at Healthworks (617-383-6100), the premier fitness center in Chestnut Hill, MA. Her best-selling Sports Nutrition Guidebook, Food Guide for Marathoners and The Cyclist's Food Guide are available at www.nancyclarkrd.com or www.sportsnutritionworkshop.com.

Choose a variety of fruits and vegetables of different colors for a wide range of phytonutrients.

The real value of protein

By Ilana Katz, M.S., R.D., L.D.

For Active.com

May 24, 2006

A typical problem for athletes is that they lack the stored energy required for quality training. A contributor to this problem is the common misconception that protein is a good primary fuel source for strength training, muscle building and intense exercise.

It's difficult to find a body builder who doesn't rely on some form of protein or amino-acid supplement, and attributes their success to these products. These athletes in particular consume much more protein than they need.

Because this higher-than-necessary consumption of protein can offset the intake of other essential energy nutrients (carbohydrates), it's not surprising that many athletes struggle with low energy during a workout.

All nutrients (carbs, protein, fat) get converted to energy in the form of adenosine triphosphate (ATP), but each nutrient has unique properties that determine how it gets converted to energy.

It's important to clear up the misconception that protein is a ready source of energy, and uncover the real value of protein: recovery.

Carbohydrates: Efficient energy

Carbohydrate is the main nutrient that fuels moderate to high-intensity exercise. Fat fuels low-intensity exercise for long durations. Once stored carbohydrate is used up, glycogen depletion occurs -- more commonly known as "hitting the wall" or "bonking."

During exercise, this can be avoided by simply replenishing carbohydrate stores (eating easily-digestible carbohydrates during exercise that lasts more than 90 minutes). But glycogen depletion can also occur after several days of limited carbohydrate intake -- it's like going into your workout on an empty tank of fuel.

Limiting carbohydrate intake forces the body to rely on fat metabolism for energy production, which is far less efficient and will limit performance. The main function of protein is to maintain and repair body tissues and isn't normally used to power muscle activity. But if carbs and fat aren't available, then the body will rely on protein as a last resort in order to satisfy energy requirements.

Protein balance and overload

Dietary protein is comprised of building blocks called amino acids. Once dietary protein is broken down into amino acids, they join together to synthesize the particular protein the body needs such as hair, nails, hormones, enzymes and muscles. The liver is the central processing unit of protein, monitoring the needs of the body and synthesizing the particular proteins from the amino acids.

The by-product of protein synthesis is nitrogen in the form of ammonia (NH₃), which is converted to urea by the liver and extracted from the body by the kidneys in urine.

The consumption of too much protein has a negative impact. As ammonia builds up it's removed as urea, which offsets the pH balance of blood causing an acidic environment. The kidneys have to work overtime, using fluids to flush the nitrogenous ammonia from the blood in order to stabilize pH. This process increases the risk of dehydration. Excess dietary protein has also been shown to cause an excretion of calcium in the urine. Both dehydration and loss of calcium are detrimental to athletic performance.

Furthermore, too much protein upsets macro-nutrient balance, displacing the intake of carbohydrates and fat and causing the body to rely protein as a fuel. While protein can supply energy, it wastes valuable resources and results in a number of undesirable effects.

Nitrogen balance is reflective of the dietary intake of protein being balanced by the excretion of urea wastes. If nitrogen excretion is greater than the nitrogen content (protein) of the diet, one is said to be in negative nitrogen balance. This usually is indicated by the breakdown of muscle tissue.

If the nitrogen excretion is less than the content of the diet, a positive nitrogen balance is achieved and is indicated by the formation of protein. The resulting tissue formation, as such, allows repair and recovery from exercise.

Pre-workout protein recommendations

In general, a low-fiber, low-fat combination is recommended as a pre-workout fuel source because it's digested more quickly and thus reduces the risk of gastrointestinal distress. A small amount of protein combined with carbohydrate is fine before a workout, but too much protein isn't recommended.

Protein digestion is much slower than carbohydrate, so a protein-only meal may not be fully digested, causing water to be rapidly absorbed into the intestinal track. This increases the risk of gastrointestinal distress during exercise, so it's important to avoid a large protein meal several hours pre-exercise.

Protein for recovery

Research has shown that some protein consumed with carbohydrates shortly before and after exercise does help the body recover faster by initiating muscle repair and growth. Adding protein to a recovery meal doesn't enhance the muscle's ability to store energy, but it does stimulate the muscles to rebuild. Relatively small amounts of protein are required for muscle repair. Therefore, athletes should consume a combination of carbohydrates and protein post-exercise.

Carbohydrates are used to refill the muscles with fuel, while protein is used to help build and repair muscle tissue. Within the scientific community, the optimal ratio of carbohydrates to protein in the recovery process is still debated.

Based on experience and experimentation, most endurance athletes find a ratio of 3:1 carbohydrate to protein works best. This is a general recommendation, so athletes should be aware of their individual differences; a little more or a little less might work optimally for each individual.

Nutrient recovery guidelines

A generalized equation can be used to determine recovery requirements. Most athletes need to consume .5 grams of carbohydrate per pound of body weight every two hours for six to eight hours after a workout. Therefore, if you're consuming 240 calories (60g) of carbohydrate after a workout, with the generalized ratio of 3:1 (carbs to protein), 80 calories (20g) of protein should also be consumed.

Here's an example of the calculation for a 150-pound athlete:

Multiply .5 grams of carbohydrate x 150 lbs. = 75 grams of carbohydrate needed for recovery.
Multiply 75 grams x 4 (the number of calories in a gram of carbohydrate) = 300 calories of carbohydrate.
If the recovery ratio of carbohydrate/protein is 3:1, then you need 100 calories of protein per 300 calories of carbohydrate. (100 calories divided by 4 (4 calories per gram) = 25 grams of protein).

Athletes often rely on liquid mixes for recovery. Carbohydrate-to-protein ratios are often formulated in the pre-made mixes for optimal recovery. Creating individualized recovery drinks requires experimentation with different types of carbohydrate and protein to determine which combination works best for you.

If you prefer to refuel with solid food, here are some healthy options:

Half of a whole wheat bagel with 1/4 cup cottage cheese or a tablespoon of peanut butter
Yogurt smoothie, berries and a tablespoon of protein powder
Medium sweet potato and two egg whites
Small turkey sandwich on whole wheat bread
Bran cereal with skim milk and a few nuts
Protein bars (many specially formulated with optimal carbs and protein)

Ilana Katz has a master's degree in dietetics with an emphasis in sports nutrition. She enjoys working with athletes of all levels, and specializes in body composition and weight management specific to individual needs. She participates in many endurance and team events in order to relate personally to her clientele. Ilana is The Sport Factory's head nutritionist, has worked with many local celebrities, and is the founder of the nutrition program IndiFITualize. Listen to Ilana on the Bert radio show (Q100) as well as Dave FM in Atlanta.

A turkey sandwich on whole wheat bread is an excellent post-exercise snack.

Stay on top of your fluid game

By Kim Mueller, M.S., R.D.

For Active.com

June 05, 2006

Determining fluid and electrolyte needs is perhaps the most important step in helping optimize performance, as dehydration's effects are widespread and serious. To really understand the importance of hydration, let's explore water's role in human performance.

1. Water is the medium for metabolic activity.
In order to properly metabolize the calories ingested during activity, an athlete needs to be hydrated. Even a slight level of dehydration, just one percent (1.5 lbs for a 150-pound athlete), can contribute to a five-percent decline in metabolic efficiency.

What does this mean for the athlete? First off, the calories being ingested, especially solid calories, will be left in the stomach rather than being distributed to the working muscles, leading to premature muscle fatigue.

Any fluids ingested will collect in the belly until there's a proper concentration for digestion. This leads to a shortage of fluid being directed to working muscles, and results in muscle cramping. During a high-impact activity, all the food and fluids left in the belly will be jiggling around, leading to uncomfortable side stitches, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea.

2. Water is a lubricant for our muscles and joints.
Noticeable muscle aches/pains/cramps can occur at the slightest bit of dehydration and become debilitating as dehydration becomes more severe. Headaches are also a common complaint.

3. Water helps cool the body
Water can be compared to the coolant we use in our cars. When the coolant runs low, our cars overheat. Our bodies perspire in order to lower our internal temperature; as blood flow to the skin increases the internal heat generated evaporates through sweat. An athlete may have a flushed or blotchy appearance.

As dehydration becomes more severe, this process becomes compromised causing core body temperature to elevate. The athlete may get the chills or goose bumps when the heat being generated isn't released from the body efficiently. If left untreated, dehydration can lead to heat exhaustion or heat stroke and potentially death.

For every percent drop in hydration, expect a three- to five-percent decline in performance. This is huge when you think about it -- it would be like adding an additional one to two minutes onto a 40-minute 10k runner's time. Thirst isn't a good indication of when an athlete needs to start drinking, as our thirst mechanism is initiated upon a three-percent level of dehydration which equates to a 10- to 15-percent drop in metabolic efficiency, cooling efficiency, muscle function and overall performance.

Determining sweat rate

Any athlete preparing themselves for peak performance should be on top of their fluid game -- they need to know their individual sweat rate and consequent fluid and electrolyte replacement needs. To determine sweat rate, weigh yourself both immediately pre- and post-exercise on several different occasions making note of environmental conditions and the intensity of the workout.

Every pound of body weight lost during exercise is equivalent to approximately 16 ounces of fluid. For example, if you consistently lose one pound on a 30-minute run in which no fluids are consumed, hourly fluid needs equal 32 ounces per hour, which is actually the upper end of norm for most athletes.

Since 1988, Gatorade Sports Science Institute (GSSI) Laboratories in Barrington, Illinois, have been helping athletes determine sweat rate, providing valuable scientific research and education in the areas of exercise, sports science and nutrition.

In August 2004, I had the opportunity to visit the GSSI lab to undergo a sweat test, which entailed measuring fluid loss and sweat electrolyte content during one hour of moderate-intensity exercise in warm conditions in their labs. Prior to starting the test, my weight was taken and recorded. I was asked to set the speed at an intensity that I was able to maintain easily for an hour. I was able to freely consume Propel Fitness Water during the run.

During the test, sweat patches were strategically placed on several areas of my body to help measure the electrolyte composition in my sweat. After an hour of running, I toweled off the sweat and once again took my weight.

Results of my sweat test at GSSI are shown on the table below and compared to pro triathlete Chris Leigh, who also was recently measured at GSSI Labs. With a fluid intake of only eight ounces and a total weight loss of just under two pounds, my calculated sweat rate was measured at 39 ounces per hour, as compared to the 74 ounces per hour lost by Chris.

The sweat patches were taken off and run through a series of lab tests which helped determine the salt concentration in my sweat, which was 172 milligrams per eight ounces, a concentration far below the Chris Leigh, who has a salt concentration of 350 milligrams per eight ounces.

	Kim Mueller	Chris Leigh

Athlete Description	28-year-old competitive female age-group triathlete and runner with no history of muscle cramping.	31-year-old Australian pro triathlete, who is a two-time Ironman Triathlon champion, winning the 2000 Ironman California and the 2004 Ironman Coeur d'Alene. In 1997 during the Hawaiian Ironman, Chris experienced the extremes of dehydration, including vomiting, diarrhea and severe stomach cramps that led him to collapse just 50 meters from the finish. Shortly after, he had surgery to remove one third of his large bowel, as it had died as a result of dehydration (his body stopped supplying oxygen and nutrients to his large bowel so that blood could continue flowing to his heart, lungs and muscles).

Exercise Protocol	1 hr treadmill running at 9.1 mph in a chamber with a constant 76 F temperature and 70% humidity.	4 hrs of stationary cycling and treadmill running in 88 F and 71% humidity.

Total Fluid Loss	1.15 liters	8.8 liters

Hourly Fluid Needs	39 fluid ounces	74 fluid ounces

Total Salt Loss	840 mg	12,953 mg

Hourly Salt Needs	840 mg	3,238 mg

Take-home message

To ensure optimal absorption of calories, peak muscle function and efficient cooling of the body, it's essential that athletes stay on top of their fluid game. Determination of sweat rate, which can be calculated by evaluating total fluid intake and weight loss during activity, should be a high priority for athletes looking to maximize performance and protect against serious injury and/or health consequences such as heat stroke.

Electrolytes need to be added to fluids when training in heat and/or training duration extends beyond an hour. Most athletes require .5 to 1 liter of fluid per hour along with .5 to 1 gram of sodium during prolonged training to prevent the detriments associated with fluid and/or electrolyte imbalances.

Kimberly J. Mueller, M.S., R.D., is a registered sports dietitian and competitive endurance athlete who provides nutritional counseling and meal planning to athletes worldwide. For more information about Kim, visit www.kbnutrition.com or contact her at kim@kbnutrition.com.

Even a slight level of dehydration, just one percent (1.5 lbs for a 150-pound athlete), can contribute to a five-percent decline in metabolic efficiency.

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