Sport? Yes! A healthy diet? Well…

Although we work in the fitness industry, we are by no means fitness experts. Nevertheless, sport unites us and we almost ;) all enjoy doing sport! Not only to relieve stress or balance out, but also to keep us in shape. Of course, this also includes the right diet – it should be healthy and balanced. Many of you are probably familiar with the problem of sporting ambitions being impaired by a less than optimal diet.

Theory and practice are so far apart…

Although many people nowadays are concerned with healthy eating, most of them do not know how to put what they have learned into practice. How can you make sense of all this information? How can healthy eating be combined with the often stressful working day? Which foods are best before and after exercise? We have tried to bring some light into the darkness.

In general, the German Nutrition Society (DGE) recommends that recreational athletes cover 55% of their energy requirements with carbohydrates, 30% with fats and 15% with protein. The total energy requirement is between 2500 and 4000 kilocalories per day.

So far so good. And how do you put this into practice in everyday life? By weighing your food every day and breaking it down into its individual components? But then the enjoyment certainly falls by the wayside…

No! It is much more important to know what carbohydrates, fats and proteins do in the body and how to support your sporting activities with the right foods. It’s not about doing without, but about choosing GOOD proteins and fats. And the good news is that even though carbohydrates are usually demonized and labeled as fattening, this is just as much about the type of carbohydrate.

Since obtaining energy exclusively from fat and protein during exercise would lead to a drop in performance, as neither can be metabolized as efficiently, carbohydrates are the best option for athletes to obtain energy. Although potatoes, soft-boiled pasta, white rice and sweets contain lots of carbohydrates, they cause blood sugar levels to spike quickly and then drop again. The energy is gone, the cravings set in. The better option is carbohydrates from wholegrain products, vegetables, brown rice, cereal flakes and dried fruit. These are digested slowly so that the blood sugar level remains at a constant level for a long time. As far as protein is concerned, recreational athletes do not need more, so around 0.8 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight is completely sufficient. The best way to meet this requirement is through dairy products, fish, meat or plant-based sources of protein such as pulses. Although fats make up a much smaller proportion of a healthy diet than carbohydrates, they are still essential. In addition to building cell membranes, they serve as a carrier of fat-soluble vitamins. It is advisable to consume fat in moderation and good fats, such as from nuts, avocado, fish, vegetable oils and seeds.

In summary, it can be said that anyone who eats a balanced diet and drinks enough is adequately supplied with the important minerals. Balanced means including fruit, vegetables, dairy and wholegrain products as well as some fish and meat in your diet every day.

Now that we know what an optimal diet generally looks like, the question for us is what is best to eat before and after training .

Carbohydrate stores should be replenished the evening before a long workout. Low-fat pasta or rice dishes with vegetables are suitable for this. The closer you get to training, the easier your food should be to digest. It is recommended that you increase your daily requirement of at least 1.5 liters of water to around 3 liters, depending on the duration and intensity of your training. You can find out what the best sports drink is here.

To improve endurance , it is advisable to eat mainly carbohydrates with a low glycemic index, i.e. good carbohydrates (whole grain products, vegetables, fresh fruit), which ensure a constant blood sugar level for a long time. After training, the body should be supplied with carbohydrates again quickly. Carbohydrates with a high glycemic index, such as bananas, white bread, jam or cornflakes, are suitable for quickly replenishing glycogen stores.

Compared to endurance athletes, athletes who primarily want to build strength and muscle need more protein. As a balanced diet already provides sufficient protein, it is more important to pay attention to when you consume the proteins. Here too, carbohydrates are needed before training and a high-quality combination of protein and carbohydrates afterwards.

Anyone who mainly wants to lose weight should focus more on protein and good fats in their diet. The good news is that if you eat too little, you won’t lose weight. With less than 1200 kilocalories, muscles are broken down and the well-known yo-yo effect sets in.

We have taken this advice to heart and will be supplementing our training plan with the nutrition tips in a self-experiment and will be happy to tell you how we fared in the coming weeks. Despite all the good intentions and the importance of a healthy diet, we should still listen to our bodies and continue to enjoy what we feel like in moderation :)

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