If you fail to prepare, prepare to fail.

-Steve Prefontaine

Its Not What You Eat But How You Eat It

Many people are weary of anything billed as a “diet”.  Either they don’t like the idea of the fanaticism of the diets members, or its strictness, or even the idea of having to eat something different than they do now.

Many of us know we need to do something to be healthier, but we just cant bring ourselves to adopt a “diet”.  This is a post for for those people. (more…)

Ultra Nutrition

We have looked at what the nutritional guidelines of the beginning and average athlete are in the previous post, Nutritional Needs of the Neoathlete.  While these are excellent guidelines for most athletes to follow throughout the day, there are some more specific guidelines to follow if you participate in an ultra-endurance sport.

How does the daily macro nutrient intake differ?

Is it necessary to take in specific types of food before during and after exercise?

What types of foods should these be?

When and how much of should I eat during an ultra event?

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Nutritional Needs of the Neoathlete

Seeing as how I have just finished a run, and that I am now waiting for my food to finish coking, I think this would be an appropriate time to discuss post exercise nutrition. There are several different schools of thought on this, at least from my own personal experience.

First we must separate the exercising reader into 2 groups:

* The strength and anaerobic exerciser
* The aerobic exerciser

It seems almost like a stereotypical scene, the body builder loading up with protein shakes. It seems to be common knowledge that the weight-bearing stress plus calories (especially protein) equals increased muscle mass. However, among the more cardio-focused public, nutrition is less of an exact issue. Or at least, that is what we’ve been toldJust to clarify, I am referring to endurance athletes, be they runners, cyclists, cross-country skiers, swimmers, or anything else. Many new to these sports may be starting them as part of a weight-loss program. They figure that the point of the exercise is to burn calories, and if they replace them after a workout, its not helping their weight-loss. This can be true, but only to a point.

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How Much Protein is Too Much Protein?

So you want to bulk up, what do you do? The first thing that probably comes to mind is to eat more protein. Whether it’s natural or supplemental through steaks or shakes, it’s true, you will want more protein. But can you “overdose” on your protein intake? Is it possible to eat too much protein?
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