This bedtime snack has not been linked with fat gain. Cottage cheese, anyone? If you have celiac disease as verified by blood tests , your gut will indeed feel better if you avoid wheat and other gluten-containing foods. However, very few gut issues for non-celiac athletes are related to gluten.

FODMAPs F ermentable O ligo-, D i-, M ono-saccharides and P olyols are often the culprit. These are types of hard-for-some-people-to-digest carbohydrates found in commonly eaten foods such as wheat, apples, onion, garlic, and milk.

For example, the di-saccharide lactose a kind of sugar found in milk creates gut turmoil in people who are lactose intolerant. The poorly digested and absorbed lactose creates gas, bloat and diarrhea. For certain athletes, a low FODMAP diet two or three days before a competition or long training session can help curb intestinal distress.

If you live in fear of undesired pit stops, a consultation with your sports dietitian to learn more about a short-term FODMAP reduction diet is worth considering. With caffeinated beverages, the diuretic effect might be 1. excess fluid lost per mg.

of caffeine. That means, if you were to drink a small mug 7 oz. of coffee that contains milligrams of caffeine, you might lose about ml. water through excess urine loss. But you'd still have 50 ml.

fluid to hydrate your body—and likely more if you drink coffee regularly. Athletes who regularly consume caffeine habituate and experience less of a diuretic effect.

In general, most caffeinated beverages contribute to a positive fluid balance; avoiding them on the basis of their caffeine content is not justified. In Illinois clinic and hospital locations masks are required in some areas and strongly recommended in others.

Learn more. Have you ever found yourself wondering if there was any truth to sports nutrition claims you hear thrown around from time to time?

For instance, can chocolate really boost physical performance? However, is the punch strong enough to improve physical performance? In all each individual completed three exercise trials. The research team found that consumption of dark chocolate led to significant improvements in distance covered over a 2 minute cycling time trial as well as improved oxygen usage compared to when the participants hadn't eaten any chocolate the baseline test and when they ate the white chocolate.

It is believed that the positive performance benefits were due to dark chocolate's high flavonol content, which may improve blood flow during exercise. Based on this study, it is the dark chocolate which is generally considered greater than 70 percent cocoa content that appears to give your physical performance a boost.

Answer: TRUE — only if dark though! One of the primary differences between grass and conventional fed cows is their fatty acid profile, with the former having slightly higher levels of omega 3 and CLA levels.

However, due to the filtration process used in production, there is very little fat present in whey protein. Thus any differences between the two have no impact on human health. However, when looking at research, there is little evidence to indicate that hormone levels differ within milk; much less the whey protein derived from milk.

Based off current research, there is little evidence indicating that whey protein from grass fed cows is any healthier or holds greater post workout recovery benefits than whey obtained from conventionally fed cows. ANSWER: FALSE. These drinks, which usually consist of sugar and electrolytes, are often marketed as a preferred source of hydration to power you through a workout or athletic event.

Think triathlons, road races - not a single game of baseball or intermittent training session! So ditch the food rules! Instead, let the principles of variety different kinds of foods each day , balance the right amounts and combinations of foods and moderation not too much added fat, sugar, sodium or alcohol guide you!

Eat what you love and love what you eat! To be successful in sport, long, hard hours of training help athletes get to the next level. While athletes may assume that more training is better for their performance, overtraining and inadequate recovery results in decreased athletic performance and increased risk for injury.

The ability to train hard is determined by how effectively one fuels, rests and recovers. Thus, a well-planned training schedule that incorporates varied intensities — and is tailored to recovery needs — is endorsed for athletes looking to enhance their performance in sport.

These recovery deficits eventually build up and put the athlete at greater risk for recurrent injuries and negative health consequences. If you, or an athlete you know, is struggling to modify training due to fears of weight gain or increased emotional distress, help is available.

If I am injured and unable to train, I need to dramatically cut back my food intake. Injuries require time off from training to recover and heal.

This can be incredibly stressful for athletes, for many reasons. They are physically hurt and in pain, may need surgery and may lose their ability to return to sport.

In the case of the collegiate athletes, scholarships may be in jeopardy and they may fall behind academically. At a time of emotional distress when athletes need support to cope, they may become isolated from their teammates due to injury and an inability to attend practice or to travel for competition.

Those who are weight conscious fear weight gain associated with curtailed training. All of these factors can prompt an injured athlete to intentionally or unintentionally cut back on their food intake. Yet injured athletes have increased nutritional needs to heal from surgery, participate in physical therapy and reintroduce low intensity physical activity as they rehab.

Cutting back on food intake when injured creates a caloric deficit that delays recovery. For this reason, fueling an injury is every bit as strategic and purposeful as fueling for sport.

Athletes develop strong relationships with their coaches, athletic trainers and strength coaches who are highly respected authorities in their daily lives, entrusted with their well-being and possessing the expertise needed to help them achieve their goals. There is plenty of opportunity for those inside the sports family to give advice to athletes about nutrition and food choices.

Be aware that the level of nutrition education and nutrition knowledge of even the most experienced coaches may be lower than you expect.

When nighttime feeding is combined with high-volume exercise training, any adverse effects are more likely to dissolve. For an endurance athlete gearing up for an early morning workout, a strategic snack at bedtime can help bolster carbohydrate stores for the next day.

Certainly, going to bed with a growling tummy is not going to be conducive to a good slumber. So if you are training hard and find yourself holding a bowl of cereal at 10 p.

For many triathletes, carb-loading before a big race is a popular plan of attack and a familiar ritual. After all, there is only so much glycogen your muscle cells can hold.

Eating a greater volume of food than you are used to can bring on stomach and digestive woes, which is no fun to deal with before an important event. Gluten is a protein found in various grains, including wheat, rye, and barley.

If you believe the critics, gluten is the enemy. Although more studies would be welcomed, this puts at least one nail in the coffin for gluten-free diets and performance. Blaming digestive troubles on gluten is easy, but there can be another explanation.

There are those who experience symptoms when eating wheat, not because of gluten but because of a group of carbohydrates known as FODMAPs — short-chain sugars in foods like legumes, apples and milk which can be poorly absorbed, leading to digestive problems including gas, bloating and pain.

This report in the journal Frontiers in Nutrition found that athletes typically consume high FODMAP foods during pre-race dinners and breakfasts and more frequent sports nutrition product use was often related to increased frequency of GI symptoms — perhaps because many of the items the participants were using during exercise were high in FODMAPs.

For certain athletes, a low FODMAP diet a few days before a competition or long training session can help curb intestinal distress. The study authors speculated that this outcome is likely explained by a reduction in intestinal water volume and gas production, caused by fewer indigestible carbohydrates available for fermentation in the gut.

Following a period of a FODMAP-free diet, foods are slowly reintroduced to see what, if anything, is problematic.

Yes, there are some athletes who genuinely feel better on a gluten-free diet, and they might have some sensitivity that has yet to be defined.

But this is the exception, not the rule. Some can help you eat healthfully, boost your performance and keep your food budget under control.

How many triathletes rely on a cup or two of morning coffee processed , a bowl of dinner pasta yep, processed , or a scoop of post-workout protein powder definitely processed?

That means items like rolled oats, frozen berries, extra-virgin olive oil, canned fish, yogurt and dried fruit are processed foods — yet they can certainly help an athlete meet their nutritional needs.

Also, processed foods can lend an assist to an athlete who is lacking in the time and energy to prepare meals from scratch, but who still desires to eat well. Mounting research has linked higher intakes of ultra-processed foods with a host of ailments, including heart conditions , diabetes and certain cancers.

You do not need to be eating and drinking your calories on every run if you are eating enough throughout the day. Where you do need to focus on fueling is on runs over 60 minutes in duration, as, on average, our bodies contain enough energy in our glycogen-stored fuel to last us 90 minutes to two hours.

The general recommendation for fueling for workouts longer than an hour is to consume 40 to 90 grams of carbs, to calories, and 16 to 20 ounces of fluids each hour.

Runners who are training consistently will need to pay attention to their protein intake. On average, endurance athletes require 1. How much protein you need depends on your body weight, but the International Society of Sports Nutrition ISSN recommends 1.

For a pound runner, this would equate to about 95 to grams per day. In general, a good goal is to consume 20 to 30 grams of protein at each meal and 10 to 15 grams per snack. While many nutrition experts still recommend the 30 to minute refueling window post-exercise, previous research has shown that there is an increased rate of carbohydrate uptake and glycogen resynthesis in the two hours post-workout.

Ingesting some sort of protein with a carbohydrate source can prove to be beneficial to muscle glycogen replacement, as both carbohydrates and protein work together to get glucose back into the muscle. While more specific recommendations can be given to runners based on body weight, the general recommendation is to consume 45 to 60 grams of carbohydrates and 15 to 20 grams of protein.

This story originally appeared in our sister publication, Trail Runner. Search Search. Photo: Alexander Spatari. Health Nutrition We Busted 5 Running Nutrition Myths Put down that hydration mix and pick up some carbs.

On average, endurance athletes require 1. How much protein you need depends on your body weight, but the International Society of Sports Nutrition ISSN recommends 1. For a pound runner, this would equate to about 95 to grams per day.

In general, a good goal is to consume 20 to 30 grams of protein at each meal and 10 to 15 grams per snack. While many nutrition experts still recommend the 30 to minute refueling window post-exercise, previous research has shown that there is an increased rate of carbohydrate uptake and glycogen resynthesis in the two hours post-workout.

Ingesting some sort of protein with a carbohydrate source can prove to be beneficial to muscle glycogen replacement, as both carbohydrates and protein work together to get glucose back into the muscle.

While more specific recommendations can be given to runners based on body weight, the general recommendation is to consume 45 to 60 grams of carbohydrates and 15 to 20 grams of protein. This story originally appeared in our sister publication, Trail Runner.

Search Search. Photo: Alexander Spatari. Health Nutrition We Busted 5 Running Nutrition Myths Put down that hydration mix and pick up some carbs. Alexander Spatari. Kylee Van Horn Published Sep 30, btn, a. Myth 2: Carbs are bad This myth might have hatched more recently from the trendy, though scientifically inconclusive, ketogenic diet, or from more old-school Atkins-era diet myths.

One of the primary differences between grass and conventional fed cows is their fatty acid profile, with the former having slightly higher levels of omega 3 and CLA levels. However, due to the filtration process used in production, there is very little fat present in whey protein.

Thus any differences between the two have no impact on human health. However, when looking at research, there is little evidence to indicate that hormone levels differ within milk; much less the whey protein derived from milk.

Based off current research, there is little evidence indicating that whey protein from grass fed cows is any healthier or holds greater post workout recovery benefits than whey obtained from conventionally fed cows.

ANSWER: FALSE. These drinks, which usually consist of sugar and electrolytes, are often marketed as a preferred source of hydration to power you through a workout or athletic event.

Think triathlons, road races - not a single game of baseball or intermittent training session! Besides providing energy, sport beverages can also speed up the rate at which your body absorbs fluid versus water alone.

simply consuming water and proper pre-event nutrition. Caffeine is one of the most widely studied ergogenic performance enhancing substances on the market. Multiple research studies have shown that when taken in doses of approximately 1.

Pro Tip — Caffeine can cause GI issues in some individuals. ANSWER: TRUE. Sports Performance. Need Workout Advice? Contact our Sports Performance program. Should Athletes Take Supplements?

What to Eat When You're a Vegetarian or Vegan Athlete. Snack Fuel: Eating for Performance. Follow UW Health Sports on Facebook.

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