Part skill training and part discipline are key to your sporting success. You need to be disciplined in many areas, including sleeping, thinking, eating, and attitude. Your food habits are crucial to your success. A good food habit should be about eating well and being able to digest quickly. Once food is cut, heated, or mixed with other ingredients such as water it becomes unhealthy. Nutrients can be absorbed or transformed into less useful, and sometimes even harmful, compounds. The less time it takes to digest food, the more toxic substances can be generated. The more nutrients that are absorbed, the better.
What’s the best way to think about your sports nutrition? On track, top-notch, or better than normal? Every athlete should strive to maintain top-notch sports nutrition habits if they are serious about their performance. Our bodies are like machines, able to deal with daily stress, long and difficult workouts, as well as sleep deprivation. Your body needs to be able to deal with stress and nourish it to perform at its best.
To understand the essence of the golden tips in sports nutrition, we must first identify its ultimate goals. Sometimes, when we are working with clients to build their nutrition programs, we will say things like “This may make no sense right now, but it will over time”. We may also suggest things that seem counter-intuitive, such as increasing their calories in order to lose weight. (See, I don’t think so, do you? This is why it’s important. We need to understand that sport, regardless of whether it’s endurance or strength, requires our bodies to do extraordinary feats. Therefore, we must nourish it in extraordinary ways.
The goals of sports nutrition can be divided into four buckets: Understanding the stress response to exercise, controlling blood sugar before/during/after training sessions, improving recovery with different nutrients, and minimizing the effects of cortisol.
Here are 5 healthy diet tips that focus on accelerating digestion.
1.The Fruit Is Meant To Be Bachelors
Do not eat fruits together with any other food. Take them out of the fridge at least 30 minutes before you eat. Fruits are rich in nutrients, vitamins, minerals and roughage. While nutrients are important for organ function and energy release, roughage is essential for proper bowel movements. While fruits take 30 minutes to digest, complex foods can take up to two hours. Consuming fruits after eating a meal can delay their digestion and reduce their nutritional value.
This simple rule will help you reduce toxicities and increase energy release.
2. Drink Your Liquids And Eat Your Solids
It is important to consume food and drinks slowly and with a relaxed attitude and chew your food thoroughly. The digestion process begins in your mouth. Smaller bites and the longer you chew less time is required by your intestines in order to break down the food. This helps in digestion. Additionally, studies confirm that you consume less calories if you eat your meals at a natural, slow pace. Mindful eating, paying attentively to the food you eat is a fantastic stress-buster, too.
Take your time eating to prevent stress, overeating and aid in digestion.
3. Eat Often
More meals and fewer portions can affect your blood sugar levels and insulin levels. Large food portions cause glucose levels to rise quickly. The pancreas releases insulin to transfer glucose to your cells to be used. However, the more quickly the levels of glucose rise the greater chance that your pancreas produces excessive amounts of insulin, leading to lower blood sugar levels (hypoglycemia). The brain gets misled into thinking that you require more glucose and you begin to feel hungry, usually with a desire for sugar. You can prevent this from happening by having smaller, frequent food portions. Long gaps between meals are the main cause of acidity, too. Acidity is the most prevalent condition as it is a slow-acting poison that affects all bodily functions. Solve acidity issues to ease discomfort in joints, the gas production and a myriad of other issues.
4. Breakfast of a King, Lunch of an Emperor and Dinner of a Pauper
The digestive system functions best from sunrise to sunset. Also, it requires sleep also, so eat earlier and make sure you don’t eat too much during the night. The digestive acids that are released by your stomach can reach your esophagus while you are lying in bed, causing stomach acidity, nausea and heartburn. Avoid eating prior to going to sleep. Aiming to eat dinner at least 3 hours prior to going to bed will help you take in the food properly at the right time, so that sleep and digestion don’t interfere. Better digestion of food helps you feel hydrated and reduces the feeling of bloating. In addition, more restful sleep increases reaction time as well as energy release and mental alertness.
5. Your Body Dislikes Extreme Temperatures
Avoid hot or cold foods. Cold foods (especially liquids) result in a sudden drop in stomach temperature. This causes your blood to become slightly thicker and can affect circulation. Additionally, it affects your digestion because the body is forced to heat. The delay in digestion can cause food decay and also the production of toxic compounds. Lukewarm water can be found in your bloodstream without interference and must be taken advantage of. Be sure to drink water prior to your meals as it weakens the digestive juices and can cause delays in digestion.
