Is Paleo beneficial for athletes
If you have read the
rules of the paleo diet and you are an athlete and your thoughts were like
mine, don't worry, it is actually very beneficial. I know your thinking that
you have different nutritional needs as an athlete and that this doesn't sound
like something you could follow, but it is doable. You are actually allowed to
do some modifications to the paleo diet to cater to your specific needs.
Endurance Athletes
The most important thing
for an athlete is to eat enough food. I know that sounds weird, but you need to
make sure you are getting enough energy to fuel your sport. Also for an
endurance athletes, you are going to want to eat more fat and carbs. Paleo diet
is very high in protein, but and hour before and and up to an hour after your
workouts, add some more carbs for recovery.
Power Athletes
As mentioned above, it is very important that you are eating
enough food to fuel your sport. For Power athletes, you are going to want to
make sure to consume healthy fats, it is what muscles prefer as fuel. Also as a
power athlete, you will want to try to stay under 150g of carbs a day. It is
also recommended to consume 1g of protein per pound of body weight per day.
Remember, meat over protein powder, a few bites of meat equals a whole scoop of
protein powder.
Athletes need rapid
recovery after training and sometimes its hard to always have the appropriate
food nearby. This is the only time it is okay to break the paleo rules,
specifically for endurance athletes. If you are about to run a marathon and
need to carb load to properly fuel your body for the race and to be at very
best, it is okay to eat that pasta dinner the night before. Also during a race,
lasting longer than an hour, water is not going to replace all of the nutrients
you have lost, and eating whole foods while racing is not usually an options,
so this would be the only time it is allowed to have a sugary sports drink such
as Gatorade or reach for your gel packets half way through a marathon. Remember
to only use these modifications when absolutely necessary and don't use it as
an excuse every day you are training.
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