Sports Nutrition: Optimizing Your Energy Supply

A couple of years ago, I had the great opportunity to attend SPORTS NUTRITION CLASSES as part of a rehab program in the rehabilitation center I spent a dozen weeks in, after a knee injury.
The CERS is a promised land for injured high level athletes who come from all around Europe to be brought back to the top in the hands of very professional medical teams, being provided with rehabilitation, workout, weight lifting, cardio, proprioception, reathletisation sessions and programs at a sustained pace with a heavy schedule of 5 1/2 days a week, and 8 hours a day...
All of this in a breathtaking setting: the center was built on the ocean side (the rehabilitation hall has a bay window - or rather a glass wall, onto the Atlantic ocean).

I did three stays of 4 weeks each in 2012 and learnt a great deal of things on various levels there, practically, physically, psychologically and socially speaking... (a little overview here)

We also had classes on sports nutrition, on which I had written an article during my first stay but I had mistaken a few notions so that the reasoning is simplistic and ERRONEOUS. However, THE MEAL SUGGESTIONS listed in there are correct, but not always for the stated reasons.

Here is a correction as well as a further look into NUTRITION ADAPTED TO THE NEEDS OF SPORTSPEOPLE, based on the powerpoint presentation I made during the Team France Training of last Fall.

Focus: Optimizing your effort conditions with good energy supply before, during and after effort. How? In understanding the absorption processes according to the types of food.

You can also refer to my notes on SPORTS HYDRATION with several useful tips and recaps related to sports nutrition!

Daily Food Intake .1

Carbs Absorption .2

Fat Absorption .3

Proteins Absorption .4

Pre-Effort Food Intake .6

Energy Supply During Effort .7

Sport and Nutrition

WARNING: THE FOLLOWING LINES CONTAIN ERRONEOUS NOTIONS ON LOW & FAST CARBS AND DIGESTION (crossed off in grey). SEE NEW ARTICLE FOR CORRECTIONS.

I finally find the time to write about the second part of my conclusions on my meeting with a sports nutritionist! In a previous post, I described the phases of hydration before-during-after effort. Now I will focus on what (is recommended) to eat, how and when, and how to optimize both your digestion and the energy supply for good effort conditions.  I know that this is quite a long post but you will probably find a useful tip or two!

THREE HOURS

are needed in order to complete your DIGESTION. 

This leads to a couple of comments:

• It is not recommended to do physical activity immediately after eating, the best choice being 3 hours after food intake.
• Every 3 hours, you need to refuel.