Sports nutritionists recommend proper hydration and eating balanced diet which consists of 70% carbohydrates and 30% proteins. Most of the essential nutrients, including high-quality carbohydrates and proteins can be found in the food you consume such as: low-fat white meat, low-fat dairy products, fruits, vegetables and nuts. However, athletes whose exercising routine includes rigorous training or vegetarian/vegan athletes, are very likely to face nutrient deficiency, regardless of their dedication and effort to eat healthy. In is in such cases when sports nutritionists recommend taking sports nutrition supplements.
- a teenager athlete (because your body is still developing and growing);
- starting a new exercise program and you plan to build muscle;
- increasing the intensity of your workout;
- recovering from an injury.
Many athletes are confused about the use of sports nutrition supplements, because of all the controversies in respect of sports supplementation. Namely, in all the fuss about the sports supplements many sport nutrition “experts” have proclaimed themselves against them, claiming that most supplements are associated with concrete side effects. Anyway, none of the health side effects they've attributed to supplementation were scientifically proven. On the contrary, researches have shown that there are actual benefits of using sports nutrition supplements.
In order to help you understand the use and the proven benefits of complementing your daily eating and exercising routine with supplements, we've made a complete survey through the five most popular and most commonly used sports supplements. Read on to learn everything you should to know about nutrition supplements for athletes.
Creatine is a high-quality fitness supplement and a good source of energy for the muscles. Moreover, Creatine is proven to neutralize the acidity in the body. This supplement can be found in different forms, but sport nutrition experts highly recommend Creatine monohydradte, the form of Creatine that is best absorbed in the body (around 99%). It is the perfect supplement for you if you don't like to eat meat but your exercising routine includes high-intensity exercises.
Casein/Whey Protein
This is one more high quality protein supplement. It is in fact a form of milk protein, which is made of casein and whey in ratio of 80:20. This protein is a combination of two proteins that have completely different time of absorption (casein needs up to seven hours, while whey is absorbed in maximum one and a half hour). This supplement doesn't only provide your body the essential amino acids but detoxifies your liver as well.
Antioxidants
During your workout oxidation process occurs in your body. In general, the oxidative processes release free radicals in your blood, which means that you need antioxidants to neutralize them. Antioxidants are in fact nutrients such as vitamins, minerals and flavonoids, which are contained in the fruits and vegetables. However, if you are following certain weight loss or body-building diet plan, you won't be able to intake them trough your diet because of the restrictions. For this reason, antioxidants are considered to be some of the most important sports nutrition supplements.
Fiber Supplements
To intake enough fiber through your diet solely you need to include at least five portions of fruits and vegetables in your daily routine. For many athletes this is hardly obtainable. Moreover, most of the people with active lifestyle tend to reduce the amount of carbohydrates to minimum. But, fiber is an important nutrient you shouldn't miss in your diet, because it protects your body from inflammation, increased blood pressure and increased number of lipids in your blood. If for any reason you are not able to take in fiber through your diet, do not hesitate to compensate the daily amount of fiber you need through fiber sports nutrition supplements
Post-Workout Recovery Supplements
After workout, your muscle mass needs to recover. Post-workout recovery drinks make a perfect solution for providing the muscles the exact type and amount of proteins needed for efficient and fast recovery and rebuilding. This type of sports nutrition supplements contain proteins that are absorbed quickly, while delivering essential amino acids. For this reason the sports nutritionists highly recommend taking in such drinks shortly after exercising.