3 Simple Tips To Reset Your Diet Today – And Improve Your Performance
Written by: Sabrina Ridaura, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
I recently coached a client who is a business owner, athlete, and parent. During the week, she puts 100 to 150 km. on her bike and practices other sports depending on the season. Her body composition was what we call in the industry an ectomorph: lean, long extremities. When we spoke about her eating habits, she told me she was eating mostly healthy foods, except for weekly social outings with her other half and friends. Overall, she seemed quite healthy. However, she revealed that she had been living with pain, tightness, and weakness, especially in her extremities.
I began a three-step process to understand how her diet might be contributing to her pain and how to create a plan that would get her feeling better and performing at an optimal level.
First, I identified if there were any nutritional deficiencies.
There is often a misconception between what being healthy and eating nutritiously really means. A lot of amateur athletes have big careers and families, so sometimes they make choices they deem to be more healthy. My client stopped eating a lot of nutrient-dense foods and most proteins. So we realised a major cause of her pain was in her nutrition.
Second, we adjusted the food amount and food type.
It’s really hard to get all the essential vitamins and minerals we need from food alone. In fact, there is a lack of nutrients in general among athletes, especially iodine, vitamin B7, vitamin D, calcium, protein, magnesium, and fibre. We started by adjusting my client’s food quantities and adding some other foods that would provide nutrients she was missing. By doing this, we were tackling the main issues: soreness and tiredness.
Then I recommended some omegas-3 and multivitamins to start, as well as different protein sources to add to every meal. She doesn’t have time to count calories all day, so I gave her the best calorie count tool there is: her hand. By using her hand as a measuring tool, she had all she needed to know she was eating enough. I also took into account her body type: ectomorph. I recommended more healthy carbs and less fat with a moderate amount of protein. It looked something like this:
1 palm-sized portion of protein-dense foods at each meal;
1 fist-sized portion of vegetables at each meal;
2 cupped handfuls of carb-dense foods at each meal;
1 thumb of fat-dense foods at each meal.
An important factor to consider for her diet was her energy expenditure, to make sure she was eating enough for the sports she was doing. So, we set some guidelines for what to eat before, during, and after long rides or during races.
Third, we tweaked and improved our plan.
A few weeks after she began the plan we created, she mentioned that it was like seeing the light—her constant soreness disappeared, her legs were feeling normal, and she was able to finish a race. In her own words, it was like life came back, and she was enjoying doing the things she loved while feeling 100 times better.
We adjusted a few bits to maintain her caloric intake, and on the harder days of training, we added a few extra carbs to maintain her energy needs without her body resorting to using muscle or energies that are needed for the brain (to keep her sharp-minded and in a good mood).
If you’re an amateur athlete, then you’re also going to be looking at extra energy expenditure, like my client. No matter if your goal is to lose weight, improve performance, or just train for fun, your body will be:
Using your energy from anywhere it can find it. So, make sure to eat enough of the right nutrients to keep up with your requirements.
Needing nutrients to function properly to avoid deficiencies that will affect your energy levels, mood, performance, and wellbeing.
By adding more nutrient-dense food and including some sport nutrition strategies on long training days, my client saw a positive shift in energy and performance in general.
A reminder for all athletes, a healthy lifestyle is about how all the components come together: exercising regularly and in a way appropriate for your body, eating well, and stretching and resting the body so it can recharge for your next training.
Sabrina is a health coach and sports nutrition specialist. She helps busy parents improve their energy and performance. If you’re interested in having a session to talk about how you can improve your energy levels, performance depending on your unique needs and body type, reach out to Sabrina.
Sabrina Ridaura, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Sabrina Ridaura is a recognized L1 Precision Nutrition Coach, a NASM certified personal trainer, a soccer nutrition specialist from Barcelona’s famed Barça Hub, and she holds a postgraduate degree in Sports Nutrition from the Universidad de Barcelona. Her focus is on helping the so-called household superheroes—parents that are busy juggling work and family life, maintaining the demanding schedule of the young athletes of the house, and figuring out where to carve out some time for themselves—achieve balance in their life while hitting all of their fitness and nutrition goals.
