“Carbohydrates are the ‘fuel’ that every athlete uses the most. Whether you practice physical and sporting activity at an amateur or competitive level, it doesn’t matter: before a workout, a race, an exercise or a competition, you must take them because the physical commitment requires to be supported by an adequate energy intake. However, there may be different dietary approaches between one sport and another and also in different age groups depending on whether you are a child, adolescent, young, adult or elderly person. Furthermore, in sports that require strength and particular attention must also be paid to the protein intake ” Attilio Parisi, national councilor of the Italian Sports Medical Federation (Fmsi) and rector of the University of Rome Foro Italico.
“The power supply – Parisi explains – has two main purposes: to satisfy energy needs and to support cell renewal and growth. This already makes us understand how the energy requirement increases in relation to the sporting activity we practice and how it changes in the different periods of life. The elderly, for example, must prefer a diet in which the protein intake is slightly higher than normal to counteract ‘sarcopenia’, a process linked to physiological aging which involves a gradual loss of muscle mass and which affects the ability to movement and therefore on the normal performance of the activities of daily life “.
Even those who practice sports and physical activity, whether young or old, easily make mistakes from a dietary point of view. “Surely one of the most recurrent – Parisi affirms – is that of exceeding. Compared to energy expenditure, which has now drastically decreased in the Italian population, a quantity of food is often consumed which is higher than what is actually needed.”.
According to the national councilor of the Fmsi, there are no particular qualitative differences in the diet of those engaged in sports at an amateur level compared to those who practice it as a professional; rather the differences exist from an energy intake point of view as a direct consequence of the amount of training. “Therefore, I would like to emphasize more on the frequency with which we train – underlines Parisi -. Paradoxically an amateur athlete who trains every day more than once a day, and this happens frequently, has the same energy requirements as a professional athlete. It is clear that in this case all three phases of nutrition must be taken care of: before, during and after a workout “.
An athlete, therefore, must absolutely nourish himself adequately before a physical or sporting exercise. “But a timing is needed – underlines Parisi – which we can summarize in the so-called ‘3 hour rule‘. The athlete is advised to eat mostly carbohydrates and fiber, and in some cases protein, at least three hours before starting a workout or competition. Unfortunately, when you play sports at an amateur level, this rule is almost never respected because you stop working and maybe shortly after you decide to take a run rather than a soccer match or a workout in the pool. For this reason, it is important to use especially those foods that are essential to support sports and easily digestible, therefore, essentially carbohydrates. Those who decide to jog early in the morning should have the forethought, the night before, to eat a good plate of pasta combined with foods rich in fiber and, in the morning, before running, remember to take a carbohydrate-based bar ” .
If the activity lasts more than an hour “it is important – Parisi again- support nutrition even during physical exercise. It is clear that before training, nutrition is aimed above all at providing energy and therefore the carbohydrate intake must be particularly taken care of. As regards the ‘after training / competition’, however, a lot of attention must also be paid to the protein intake to improve recovery and promote muscle regeneration. (during physical exercise, in fact, the muscle undergoes microtraumas). After a workout 25-30 grams of protein is essential as much as the replenishment of the carbohydrates used. If you train every day or more than once a day, it will be important to take 25-30 grams of protein, the equivalent of 150 grams of meat or fish or 110-120 grams of lean raw ham accompanied by a plate of pasta. . Again, timing is everything: to optimize recovery, in fact, it will be necessary to take these quantities in the first 30 minutes from the end of the exercise”, Concludes Parisi.