Hard and smart training makes one half of an athletic body. The other half is reached through a healthy and goal-oriented nutrition. Whether you want to be faster, stronger or more persistent, if you want to lose fat or to build muscles – your diet plays a key role.
Don’t separate training from nutrition!
Many exercise without dealing with their nutrition. Some do not understand the importance, others do not want to know. The fact is, however, that one without the another can hardly produce the desired results. Training and nutrition must be in harmony, so that results can be seen. Exercise alone does not lead to what is sought – this applies for muscle building, fat loss and performance in equal measure.
But if the body is not subjected to sporting stimuli, even a goal-oriented high-quality diet won’t lead to the desired results. It is a complex interaction: The athletic challenge initiates the right processes in the body and the diet provides the necessary nutrients.
In this series we will teach you the most important fundamental concepts about food and nutrition. It is essential for all athletes to thave basic knowledge about this topic. First, we focus on nutrients. Nutrients provide energy, serve as building material and regulate important processes in our metabolism.
All nutrients are important!
On the first level of distinction, a rough differentiation is made between macro and micro nutrients. The former include carbohydrates, proteins and fats. They provide energy to the human body, which is measured in the unit calorie or kilocalorie (kcal).
The second group includes vitamins, minerals (and trace elements) and phytochemicals. Although they do not provide energy to the body in the sense macronutrients do, we would not be able to live without them. They fulfill many different functions in the whole body: transport, recovery and conversion of energy is not possible without micronutrients.
Often certain nutrients are said to have only bad or only good properties, many are generally demonized. But the fact is that all macro- and micronutrients play important roles in the body and are essential for the human organism – and can work effectively only together.
That is, why your diet should generally include all substances. For example, while trace elements are only needed in a few micrograms, you need the so-called macronutrients in several grams, which is the millionfold amount! Just because a substance can harm or lead to adverse effects at a certain amount (e.g. fat deposition), it does not mean that this nutrient is “bad” in general.
It's not just about training!
Concerning the quality, quantity and interaction of nutrients, huge margins open up. If these scopes are exploited, nutrition goes beyond satisfaction of physical needs and becomes an instrument through which so much can be controlled. The more precise quality and quantity of each nutrient are tailored to the needs of the body, the better your body can adapt to external influences and recall performance. This affects not only athletic performance and outer appearance, even thinking and concentrating ability, well-being and health are influenced by what we consume everyday – in short, medium and long term!
