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Balancing Your Nutritional Intake
Taken from Variables for Weight Lifting and Exercise © 2001 Anthony Sell - All Rights Reserved
When you are developing your physical potential through regular exercise, it is important to be sure that you are getting not only the right amounts of food, but the right balance of nutrients and food content as well. Your body will need specific amounts of protein, carbohydrates, essential fats, vitamins and minerals, amino acids, and water.
Another important concern is the balance of calories between protein sources, carbohydrate sources, and fat sources. Each source of calories has a different value to the body in terms of nutrition.
Protein is important to the body as it essentially contains the building blocks from which muscle and other forms of tissue are formed. Certain sources of protein are more complete than others in terms of the number of amino acids that they contain.
Protein is essentially made up of amino acids. When ingested, it is broken down to these amino acids, which are then used to create new proteins within the body. Animal sources of protein tend to contain more amino acids than plant sources, and thereby are more valuable as sources.
Carbohydrates are important sources of muscle fuel, and come in various qualities, including simple, complex, and fibrous carbohydrates. Effectively carbohydrates are sugars and starches, which are broken down into simpler sugars within the bloodstream.
These simple sugars (glucose) combine with oxygen and is broken down further on cellular level, and causes the release of ATP (adenosine triphosphate), and lactic acid, both of which are important for muscular action and development.
Remember, also that carbohydrates that have been removed from their organic sources (known as refined sugars) are considered to have very little nutritional value. Sources of these are considered to give "empty calories."
Fats are another excellent source for energy and fuel for muscles, though if your intake is greater than your caloric need, you may store these as adipose tissue. Though fat intake should be regulated, some fats are essential, as they are the only way we can receive certain vitamins.
Fats also have a greater ratio of caloric potential, as each gram of fat has 9 calories, whereas carbohydrates and protein each have only 4 calories per gram.
Vitamins, minerals, and essential fatty acids are nutrients that do not occur naturally in the body, but are necessary for optimal performance.
Essential fats are fats that the body does not produce, and are used in hormone production, many of which hormones are necessary for muscle production.
Vitamins and minerals are needed in small amounts. Vitamins are organic in nature and often act as catalysts for enzymes, allowing for the breakdown and usage of other nutrients.
Minerals are inorganic in nature, and are important to the metabolic process. Though there are many minerals to consider, six are very important to bodily functions:
Calcium is important for forming bones and teeth, clotting of blood, muscle and nerve function.
Phosphorus is used by the body for energy production, nerve and muscle function and bone and teeth structure.
Magnesium is also a bone constituent, and is a catalyst for chemical reactions in the body, including the building of protein.
Potassium is an electrolyte, responsible for energy production, hair, skin and nails.
Sodium is another electrolyte, used in muscles and nerves.
Chloride is another electrolyte, important for proper muscle and nerve functioning.
These are the major minerals, contrasting with Trace minerals, which are metals that your body needs in much smaller amounts. Trace minerals, which are best found in daily multivitamins include:
- Nickel
- Copper
- Iron
- Selenium
- Chromium
- Tin
- Silicon
- Manganese
- Iodine
In addition to getting the right amounts of these minerals, it is also important to be sure that you have a balanced intake of them, such as the ratio of sodium to potassium, as this ratio will affect your electrolyte balance. Electrolytes are minerals that are important resources for the proper functioning of the nervous system.