Carbs are the main nutrient and preferred nutrient to provide your body energy.
The body will digest carbs from your consumed foods and break them into a simple sugar called glucose. Glucose is then used by the cells of our body to create energy for us to use.
As athletes, you are using a lot more energy than the regular person, therefore your requirements or the amount of carbs eaten day to day will be a lot more.
Carbs are important before and during to provide energy for exercise and after to support recovery.
It’s important to understand that not all carbs are created equally. Why is this important? Because that type and timing of carb consumed can impact your athletic performance.
Ther are two types of carbs you as an athlete have to focus on. Fast absorbing (simple) carbs and slower (complexed) absorbing carbs. What does this mean?
It's the rate at which your body can digest the carbohydrates consumed.
As an athlete you will need to consume both types. But it when you consume these that can impact your performance.
Simple carbs are foods that do not require a lot of digesting before being absorbed across the gut into your blood. These are great 60-30 min before exercising. These provide ready to use energy for your muscle and brain and normally leave you feeling light in the tummy.
Examples:
Dried fruit
Fresh fruit
Fruit juice
Apple sauce/ fruit Jams
Muesli bars
Fruit smoothie
Muffin
White bread/ fruit bread
Crumpets
English muffins
Honey, maple syrup
White rice
Lollies
Sports drinks
Complexed carbs are food that take longer to digest, this is due to the fiber (carbohydrates that do not get digested) these foods contain. These are great 3-4 hour before exercise or in your everyday diet. The amount of complexed carbs you eat day to day will be determined by the amount of carbohydrates you need to consume. Complexed carbs have a large volume or density to their total weight (grams). Therefore, it can be hard to consume a large volume of these. Get to know what you need and adjust your diet where necessary.
Examples:
Rolled oats
Brown rice/ quinoa
Sweet potato
Wholegrain bread
Legumes
For individual advice book a consult with Zoe to discuss your goal and performance requirements.
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