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Nutrition Deficiency Indicators For Sportsperson

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The anomalies of poor nutrition are highly complex in nature. All originate from the simple fact that most of the sportspersons do not get enough nutrition from their major meals.

Whenever you experience a nutritional deficiency, your body attempts to give you a signal in the form of inflammation, poor recovery, muscle soreness, poor concentration, low energy levels, fatigue, and depression.

If you get these kinds of signals, rather than ignoring, you should get in touch with your physician or a certified sports nutritionist to identify the root cause so that preventive action can be taken immediately.

For a better understanding of balanced diet and various nutrients, it is important to know the food pyramid of different food groups. Food Pyramid comprises of various food groups and demonstrates the servings per day. Food Pyramid is designed to ensure healthy eating.

When you eat a serving from each shelf in the pyramid in right amounts, it gives you a balanced diet. To understand balanced diet and varied nutrients better, it is important to know the food pyramid of different food groups. If you see the shape of the pyramid, it gives a clear picture that the food towards the bottom of the pyramid is “good”, therefore, extremely healthy to eat and the most important part of the diet.

Food at the tip of the pyramid is “bad” and should be consumed in limited amounts. Below illustration gives a fair idea about Basic food pyramid (for average person) & additional servings (if required) for sportsperson:

Food Pyramid for Sportsperson

Food Pyramid for Sportsperson
Food Servings Per Day

In case you don’t like something, you can exchange that food item with the one belonging to the same food group (e.g. cereals with cereals), though it may not be a good idea to interchange it with other food groups. It means, it is vital to include foods from each food group in your daily diet because each food group plays a crucial role in sportsperson’s health.

For each sportsperson, intensity and duration of training vary in the off-season, during competition and after the season. Fueling your workout is vital to give you 100% output of your training. Consult with your sports nutritionist to put your food pyramid into practice.

If you have any questions regarding sports nutrition or weight management, please schedule an online diet consultation with the best dietitian Silky Mahajan.

Send us an email at info@foodsandnutrition.in or call on 7829999400 between 10:00 AM IST – 7:00 PM IST (Mon – Sat).

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Special Nutritional Needs for Sportswomen

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Sportswomen

When we talk about nutrition, well-balanced meals and following healthy regime is more or less similar for male as well as female. However, it is vital to understand that sportswomen should give particular attention to three nutrients: water, calcium, and iron. Besides, meals should be rich in B12, folate, and zinc.

Water

Sports woman participating in any physical activity should understand the importance of fluid balance and pre/during/post game hydration. They should monitor their water intake closely.

Calcium

Helping the body in bone growth, bone mass, muscle contraction and nerve impulses, calcium is one of the most important components of a diet. It also helps in building strong bones to resist breaking and stress fractures. Inadequate calcium intake may cause a substantial risk of stress fractures, low bone mass, and related bone injuries.

Women are at greater risk of developing osteoporosis (a disorder characterized by making the bones weak and more likely to fracture), particularly after menopause, because oestrogen levels are reduced. Considering this fact, adequate daily calcium is essential in maintaining bone strength.

There is no doubt that calcium is good for women, however, too much calcium might cause serious side effects, which include renal damage and deposit of calcium in other areas besides the bones. In case you are at risk of developing kidney stones, you should take extra caution before taking calcium supplements. Ragi, Milk, Cheese, Leafy Vegetables and Yogurt and calcium-rich foods are a must for sportswomen.

Iron

Deficiency of iron can lead to reduced performance and fatigue. More often, females are at risk because of increased iron requirements due to menstrual blood losses matched against a smaller intake of food. If sportswomen do not get enough iron from their diet, then supplements should be considered under the supervision of a sports nutritionist or a physician.

Disordered eating and menstrual irregularities are very common symptoms of poor nutrition among sportswomen. Disordered eating includes poor nutrition habits, eating junk foods, dieting, etc. Combining disordered eating with intense training leads to multiple health problems like menstrual irregularities and much more.

Top 8 Precautions Needed to be Taken by Sportswomen

  1. Monitor your hydration levels closely
  2. Avoid excessive dieting which leads to unhealthy weight loss
  3. Eat 5-7 meals (3 major + 3-4 small) per day
  4. Choose breakfast options rich in iron e.g. cereals
  5. Distribute proper amount of carbohydrates, protein, and fat across all the meals
  6. Avoid junk foods
  7. Make sure that you are getting enough macronutrients & micronutrients from food. If not then consider supplementation under the guidance of sports nutritionist or physician.
  8. Keep monitoring your menstrual cycles. In case of irregularity take medical advice immediately.

If you have any questions related to nutrition or weight management, please schedule an online appointment with Dt. Silky Mahajan.

For inquiries, please feel free to email us at info@foodsandnutrition.in or call us at 7829999400. 10:00 AM IST – 7:00 PM IST (Mon – Sat).

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Recommended Caffeine Dosage For Athletes , Its Side Effects & its legality.

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Caffeine content for coffee, tea, soda and more

I keep on getting this query from many parents and athletes whether caffeine is prohibited for athletes. The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has released its 2018 List of Prohibited Substances.

This list shall come into effect on 1 January for the 2018 Monitoring Program, not much has changed. Caffeine is still part of the monitoring program. 

Brief history: Caffeine was considered as banned substance at the Olympics for many years. In 2004, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA**) removed caffeine from banned list considering the fact that millions of people enjoy caffeine as part of their normal lives (coffee, tea, chocolate, and soft drinks with caffeine in them) not directly as a way to boost their performance in sport.

Recommended Caffeine Dosage

1 to 3 mg caffeine per kg body weight is considered safe for adults. Such moderate dosages can be found in everyday amounts of coffee, tea, cold drinks, chocolates and some sports products (e.g., gels). For example, 60-80 mg of caffeine is supplied by a small cup of espresso coffee or 400 ml of a cola drink.

Excess intake of caffeine (e.g. 9 mg per kg body weight) can result in side effects like jitteriness, nervousness, insomnia, headache, dizziness, and gastrointestinal distress, which can obviously have a detrimental effect on performance.

9 Side Effects of Caffeine if taken more than recommended

  1. Abdominal pain
  2. Diarrhoea
  3. Dehydration
  4. Restlessness, anxiety & irritability
  5. Headaches
  6. High blood pressure
  7. Interference with recovery and sleep patterns
  8. Abnormal heartbeat
  9. Increased muscle tension

Reference: Caffeine presence in various drinks referred from Nestle India site.

If you have any questions regarding sports nutrition or weight management, please schedule an online diet consultation with the best dietitian Silky Mahajan.

Send us an email at info@foodsandnutrition.in or call on 7829999400 between 10:00 AM IST – 7:00 PM IST (Mon – Sat).

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Why is Nutrition Important for Swimmers?

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Swimmer
  • A swimmer that is training heavily (more than two hours a day) should eat four to seven meals (3 major + 4 small) a day. 
  • The amount of endurance it takes to be a good swimmer is why a swimmer’s nutrition is so crucial to their strength and speed in the water.
  • It takes a good three hours for your body to actually digest the food you’re eating, particularly all major meals, so if the swimmer has eaten an hour before he/she hits the pool, his body is trying to digest and it can’t deliver the blood flow to the muscles, so he ends up getting a stitch.
  • Overall calories requirement of swimmers is always more than normal human being and it depends on multiple factors like training hours, height, weight and gender.
  • If their nutrition needs are not getting full-filled through food and its vital for them to nourish through supplements for growth, health and good condition.

Recommended foods pre/during/post workout

Pre-workout

Make sure that you are fully hydrated and you had good carbohydrates in breakfast/lunch.

Examples 

Whole wheat bread, Pasta, Roti, Lentils, Peas, Apple, Pears, Orange, Kiwi, Beet root + Carrot juice, Sweet potato, Low fat milk/curd/yoghurt, Dried apricots/figs/prunes, raisins, roasted peanuts.

During workout

Make sure that you are carrying enough water and isotonic sports drinks.

Examples 

Sports drink, Lemon water, Glucon D, Electral

Post-workout

Make sure you are taking right amount of snack for recovery within 30 minutes post-workout.

Examples

Coconut water + egg/chicken/paneer sandwich OR Milk shake + peanut  butter sandwich OR chocolate milk shake + 1 bowl sprouts.

Note: Guidelines given above are very generic guidelines and might vary from athlete to athlete.

If you have any questions about nutrition or weight management, please consider scheduling an online diet consultation with the best dietitian, Silky Mahajan.

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Whole Milk vs. Skim Milk – Which Is Right for You?

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Whole Milk OR Skim Milk th

Most of the parents convince their kids saying that “drink your milk quickly so that you’ll grow big and strong!”. Reason is: milk provides valuable macronutrients (Protein, Fat & Carbohydrates) as well as micronutrients (Vitamin A, C, D, B Vitamins, Calcium, Iron, Magnesium, Phosphorus, Potassium & Zinc) that kids need during their development.

There are so many benefits from drinking milk other than just “strong bones”.  Let’s try to understand most common milk processing methods (pasteurisation and homogenisation) before getting into the detail of various milk variants:

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Process of Pasteurisation

Pasteurisation

The process of pasteurisation keeps the milk good for a longer period, but very high temperature harms its nutritive values. Most of the manufacturers use 3 methods for pasteurisation:

Low temperature pasteurisation: Milk is treated from 60 degree C to 150 degree C. Enzymes, and proteins remain intact up to this temperature & it is safe to consume this milk.

Medium temperature pasteurisation: Milk is treated up to 151 degree C – 170 degree C. At this temperature it kills enzymes and destroys proteins as well.

High temperature pasteurisation: Raw milk is treated up to 280 degree C. It kills many molecules and bacteria that can cause it to spoil more quickly. Unfortunately, killing harmful molecules, this process also kills the good probiotic bacteria and molecules, which help digestion and aid the immune system.

Homogenisation

Homogenised milk is whole milk in which the fat is combined with the skim milk by a mechanical process. The purpose of homogenisation is to the break-up of the fat molecules in milk to such an extent that no visible cream separation occurs in the milk even after storage. Without homogenisation, the fat molecules eventually rise to the top and create a layer of cream.

The primary goal of homogenisation is to make sure that you have consistent tasting milk. It makes your milk homogeneous with an even amount of milk fat in each sip. Homogenised milk is considered safe and has not witnessed any adverse effect on health as such.

Milk Homogenisation process

If you observe, 2 components are labeled on each milk packet:

Fat%

It is amount of fat available in the packet, which is nothing but solid portion of milk. It carries fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E & K. If 1 cup of whole milk weights 250 gm and contains 8 gram of fat then Fat% = 8/250 * 100= 3.2%

SNF%

Solid-Non-Fat (SNF) portion consists of protein (primarily casein), carbohydrates (primarily lactose), vitamins and minerals (which includes calcium and phosphorus).

Now, when we know about different processing methods and key components involved in milk, let’s try to understand which milk packet we should pick out of so many variants like full cream, single toned, double-toned, skim milk.

Looking at below six variants, it is very much clear that these variants are differentiated largely based on Fat% and processing conditions.

Before we decide which milk variant will suit kids & which one can be opted by adults, let’s compare key nutrients (per 100 ml) of different variants of milk:

Milk Types and Their Key Nutrients

If we look at this table, Fat is the main nutrient, which is removed from milk to make it single toned, double-toned & skim milk. When low-fat and fat-free variants of milk are prepared, the cream from whole milk is skimmed out.

Unfortunately, removing the fat also removes the fat-soluble vitamins (D, A, E and K). As a result, reduced-fat varieties contain lower amounts of many nutrients. However, fortification process of milk ensures that lower-fat milk is nutritionally same as whole milk.

Conclusion

As Fat% reduces, overall calorie content also gets reduces. It means that it is not recommended for children under age 5-6 to give low-fat/skimmed milk, as they need additional calories for brain development as well as overall growth.

However, it is a good choice for adults who wish to control their calorie intake for weight loss etc. As skim milk is low in saturated fat, it is recommended in diseases such as heart disease and diabetes.

As milk contains lactose, therefore, lactose intolerant people should avoid milk and dairy products. Common symptoms, which usually occur within 30 minutes to 2 hours post milk or dairy products consumption are: bloating, nausea, abdominal pain, cramps.

Note: Nandini milk majorly supplied in Karnataka has been considered for different milk variants comparison.

If you have any questions regarding nutrition or weight management, please schedule an online appointment with Dt. Silky Mahajan for expert guidance.

Please send us an email at info@foodsandnutrition.in or call on 7829999400 between 10:00 AM IST – 7:00 PM IST (Mon – Sat).

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Dos & Don’ts of Dietary Supplements

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When people think of supplements, they tend to relate them more to drugs than to food. This is partly due to the way they look, (tablets, capsules, etc.) and from their origins in clinical settings. It is important to understand that nutritional supplements are, in fact, super foods and super nutrients, not drugs.  

The major categories of supplements that have emerged are those provide energy in particular protein shakes, carbohydrates and pre & post work out supplements. They are available in the form of gels, bars, chews, shakes and snacks to provide instant energy on the move.

There is another range of supplements that deliver vitamins and minerals, which may come in various forms such as pills, capsules, tablets, potions and powders.

As the requirement of these supplements differs from person to person, it is always better to consult a doctor or sports nutritionist before you start taking one.

Dos:

  1. Prefer natural foods and drinks over supplements unless it is really necessary.
  2. Try the supplements well in advance before the event and make a nutritional plan according to your body type.
  3. Read the label carefully to know the nutritional information and added ingredients in the supplements that you want to use.
  4. Test out different flavors and brands with your sports nutritionist’s consent and find out which supplement works best for you.
  5. Make sure if your stomach can digest the proteins from the supplements.

Don’ts

  1. Don’t use the supplements if you spot any problems like stomach upset or other warning signs.
  2. Don’t take it if you are on a restricted diet or medication unless prescribed by dietitian/doctor.
  3. Don’t try any new supplement products just before any event if you have not used it during your training.
  4. Never compromise with the quality of the supplements.
  5. Don’t rely completely on the supplements, as they are not the substitutes for a balanced diet and quality training.
  6. Don’t use it just because others are using it; every individual has a different requirement.

Keep in mind that most of the supplements do not go through the same safety checks as the medicines do. Therefore, always consult your dietitian/doctor before trying them.

In case of any related query to nutrition or to book an online appointment with Dt. Silky Mahajan please send us a mail at info@foodsandnutrition.in or call on 080 6741 7780 (Dial Extension: 778).

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