Nutrition for woman weight trainersNutrition can play a substantial role in every aspect of your life. If you want to get the most out of your weight lifting program, you will need to follow a balanced nutritional program. Good nutrition, which involves giving your body specific amounts of essential nutrients can have a profound effect on your ability to perform certain physical tasks, especially weight lifting. Nutrients can be divided into two categories, macro nutrients and micro nutrients. Macro nutrients are nutrients that basically provide calories such as carbohydrates, protein, and fat. Micro nutrients on the other hand, are nutrients that don't provide any calories such as vitamins and minerals. Macro nutrients provide calories that supply you with the energy you need to perform any physical activity. Micro nutrients on the other hand don't directly provide energy but play a critical role in the biochemical reactions responsible for the energy production. I like to think of these as a teeter totter. Both must be in balance at all times for optimal health. Proper nutrition is an important component of a sound weight lifting program. Without a proper nutritional program, your results will come slowly, if they come at all. Poor nutrition will limit your progress. Given the importance has for physical performance, what should be included in a proper weight lifting diet? Protein Protein is the nutrient responsible for growth and repair within the body. Inside your body, there is a self repair process that occurs day in and day out. The main nutrient that is responsible for building and repairing body tissues is protein. Protein is that wonderful nutrient that allows muscle to repair and grow. Actually, protein is everywhere in our bodies, bones, muscle, connective tissue, blood cells, skin, hair, and fingernails. Just how does protein build muscle? The process is quite magnificent, you see, during digestion, protein is broken down into amino acids by other proteins (enzymes). You see, the proteins in food are too large to be absorbed through your intestines, so they're broken down during digestion into smaller components called amino acids. Amino acids are then able to penetrate the intestinal wall and are absorbed into the blood stream. After digestion, the amino acids enter the cells and upon receiving instructions from DNA, are reconstructed to form new protein needed to build and repair tissue. After they're reassembled, they're used to build and maintain the body's structure. An absolutely perfect building system! All you need is the right food and presto, you have the building material for your muscle foundation. So, you see, protein is absolutely necessary for the maintenance and growth of body tissues. Once protein is absorbed, it will: -Help synthesize hormones, neurotransmitters, enzymes and other bio chemicals -Be consumed as energy during periods of intense stress, injury and caloric deficit -Assist the functioning of the immune system -Help repair existing levels of tissue Amino acids are often called the building blocks of life. Amino acids are like links in a chain, and when they join together they form protein strands. Protein strands are derived from roughly 22 amino acids and depending on how they are strung together will determine the characteristic of that protein. There are 14 amino acids that the body can produce and are called non essential amino acids. Protein requirements So how much protein should you eat for maximum performance? Each of us have very different body types and the amount of protein will differ from individual to individual. Protein intake will also depend on the amount of activity involved and how frequently you do it. I suggest that 15% to 25% of your diet be made up of protein. You will have to do a bit of experimenting at the beginning to find out your optimal protein intake. There are different views on how much protein you actually need to sustain muscle growth but I believe as active weight trainers, we need more protein than the average person or less active person. However, a set amount of protein is never set in stone. You may need less or more protein depending on your genetics and body make up. I suggest you experiment a little to find your personal combination. Here is a partial list of high quality protein sources:
Chicken breast
Carbohydrates Carbohydrates are a very important source of fuel for the muscles as well as the leading source of energy for your body. When you have a hard workout, your body draws on carbohydrates, which is stored as glycogen in the muscles. Glycogen is the product of glucose which comes from the breakdown of carbohydrates after the digestion of food. Glycogen is stored in the liver and muscle. During a long intense workout, you can easily deplete your glycogen reserves. When your muscles cannot get enough glycogen, fatigue sets in and your body begins to lose endurance and performance drastically reduces. I’m sure all of you have experienced this drastic drop in strength and endurance at one time or another during a long intense training session. However, there is a way to delay the onset of muscle fatigue. By taking enough carbohydrates each day you are ensuring that the amount of glycogen stored in the muscles is being constantly replenished. Every meal must have sufficient carbohydrates to sustain your workouts. I like to think of my muscle cells as mini fuel tanks. If you want to keep going hard, you are going to have to keep the fuel tanks filled with top notch fuel. Carbohydrate types Carbohydrates come in three categories: • Monosaccharides- simple sugars such various fruits and honey Carbohydrates that are converted quickly such as simple sugars and sucrose provide short term energy. Complex carbohydrates are converted at a much slower rate and provide long term energy. It is recommended that a healthy diet should consist of 15% simple sugars and 85% complex carbohydrates. I suggest that your diet be made up of about 50% to 60% carbohydrates. This should be sufficient to maintain your glycogen stores. All of your carbohydrates sources should be coming from complex sources, especially the fibrous kinds such as broccoli, asparagus, cauliflower, green beans, brussel sprouts, cabbage, carrots, celery, cucumbers, spinach, zucchini and mushrooms. The only time you should be consuming simple sugars is immediately after a workout. By consuming simple sugars after a workout, you replenish your glycogen stores so that you can continue with your day without having to lie down for a few hours. I suggest you stay away from most sweets and othe junk foods. Here is a partial list of quality carbohydrates: Whole wheat breads Fat Fat is a very misundertood nutrient with all the coverage by the media and how evil it is. Let me ask you a question, when you hear the word fat, what immediately comes to mind? Bad? Evil? No good? Fat is a favorite topic in the media. New information about fat comes in every other week. Unfortunately, the information is often contradictory and the volume of facts can be overwhelming. There have been volumes written about fat but the goal of this section is to shed some light on the topic of fat. Let's begin with a short introduction to fat and go onto the different types of fat you will most likely encounter. There are numerous vital roles that fats play in optimal health and growth. Fat provide the body with: -Insulation; Fat is a concentrated source of energy. After a hard intense workout, you glycogen supply can be reduced to nothing. Fat stores on the other hand are practically an unlimited source of energy. If fat stores are practically unlimited, why worry about carbohydrate intake and glycogen replenishment? And why not just increase fat intake to supply your energy source? True, there is a lot of fat on your body to supply plenty of fuel for hard training and for a long time. But fat can only be broken down and used for fuel as long as oxygen is present. If oxygen is not present, fat cannot be used for fuel. Glycogen on the other hand does not need oxygen to be present in order for it to be used as fuel. When starting exercise, oxygen is not present. It takes anywhere from 20 to 40 minutes of exercise before fat can be used as energy as oxygen becomes more abundant. Glucose and glycogen are called up first. Fatty acids from food are broken down into 3 groups: Saturated, polyunsaturated, and monounsaturated. Saturated fats harden at room temperature and usually come from animal sources such as beef and butter fat. Milk, cream, ice cream, and other products made from milk or cream all contain butter fat. If you diet is high in saturated fat, you may want to reduce your daily consumption. The body needs very little saturated fat and too much saturated fat can raise cholesteral levels, increasing your risk for heart disease and impair certain aspects to your immune system. Therefore, you may want to keep your intake of fatty animal products like egg yolks; whole milk; butter; fatty cuts of meat and poultry; and palm, coconut, and hydrgenated oils. Limit your intake of saturated fat. Polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats are usually in liquid form at room temperature and come from vegetable, nut, and seed sources. Polyunsaturated fats are essential fatty acids, meaning you must get them from your diet because your body cannot make them. Polyunsaturated fats are found in corn oil, flaxseed oil, pumpkin oil, safflower oil, soybean oil, and sunflower oil. Polyunsaturated fats are usually liquid at room temperature, and remain in liquid form even when refrigerated or frozen. Essential fats Dietary fat is essential for good health. Fats act as carriers for vitamins E, D, A and K and help in absorption. Fats also supply the body with essential fatty acids (EFA’s). Essential meaning your body can’t produce these fats and they have to come from food. EFA’s are required for normal growth, a healthy circulatory system, the maintenance of cell membranes, a healthy nervous system and strong connective tissues and cell walls. They also lubricate and protect your joints and help keep your skin smooth. Vegetable fats such as corn, soybean, safflower, and walnut oils are all high in essential fats. Fat calories tend to bodyend to be converted to body fat more easily than either protein or Carbohydrates. Why? There are roughly 9 calories per gram of fat as opposed to 4 calories per gram of protein or carbohydrates. That’s roughly 2 1/4 more calories per gram than protein or carbohydrates! Make no mistake about it, the more fat you eat, the more fat you get. Simple as that. Too much fat? Too much fat in your diet can cause rapid weight gain and gradually leads to obesity and other related health problems. Excessive saturated fat in the diet can also elevate cholesterol levels, particularly LDL (low density lipoprotein) which is bad cholesterol. Fats should comprise of 10% to 25% of your dietary needs. A low fat diet should contain more unsaturated than saturated fat as such: 5 percent saturated, 8 percent monousaturated, and 7 percent polyunsaturated. Again, you will need to do a little bit of experimenting but follow the above guidelines to start. For a disuccion on the importance and the kinds of vitamins and minerals, please see building muscle 101's vitamins and minerals page here It is also important to ingest alot of fluids, mainly water. Ingesting enough fluid is critical. Excessive water loss through perspiration can lead to a potentially dangerous situation. A loss of just 3% of your bodyweight can impair performance. A loss of 5% can lead to heat exhaustion. To avoid dehydration, you should drink alot of water before, during, and after your weight lifting sessions. For a complete discussion on hydrating your body, see building muscle 101's drinking water for health page here Sample Menus The following menus are examples typical meals meant for weight lifting that will provide you with about 1500 to
2000 calories. Click here to go to building muscle 101's weight lifting for woman sample menus.
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