With typical dieting advice, we are often left in a cloud of confusion. How are you supposed to eat healthy when you're not even sure what is healthy anymore?
If you're an athlete, it can seem even more confusing. Do I need more carbohydrates or less? I am not a bodybuilder; do I still need to worry about protein? If so, how much do I need? Will eating fat make me fat?
If you want to improve your nutrition habits, to eat better, feel better, and perform better, here are three nutritional changes you can make that can help you improve your running performance right away.
IMPROVE THE QUALITY OF YOUR FOOD
At first, forget about diets, macronutrient percentages, and even calories. It's not that they don't matter, but the first step is to improve the quality of the foods you choose to eat. To simplify your nutrition strategy, choose mostly minimally processed foods from nature. By focusing on the quality of your food, you'll quickly correct many diet issues.
This healthy habit will take you a long way. When you consume nutrient-dense foods, it gives you the fuel you need for performance and recovery. As much confusion as there is in the nutrition world, most experts will agree that minimizing highly processed foods in your diet is the best choice for health, performance, and recovery.
You can always fine-tune your diet by manipulating calories or macronutrients as you progress, but improving the quality of the foods you eat can have a substantial impact on your results.
EAT ADEQUATE PROTEIN
An athlete's protein needs are higher than a sedentary person's, which varies depending on your weight, body composition, and types of workouts that you do. But even if you are not a bodybuilder, you still need protein to aid in muscle retention, repair, and recovery.
The National Academy of Sports Medicine recommends 0.5 to 0.6 grams of protein per pound of bodyweight. A 150 lb runner would aim for about 90 grams of protein per day—more if they want to build muscle.
If you are trying to lose weight, it's even more critical that you eat adequate protein. Not only can it help you feel more satisfied between meals, which can control hunger, but adequate protein consumption (along with resistance training) also enables you to preserve your current muscle tissue as you lose weight. A top priority for those with weight loss goals should be to lose fat and maintain muscle.
Muscle loss can be a negative side effect of weight loss that can make keeping the weight off harder and hurt your running performance. Focus on including a serving of a minimally processed protein source with every meal. When I want a snack, I reach for a protein snack first, such as plain Greek yogurt, nuts, or cottage cheese.
Even if you are not aiming to lose weight, it's important that you at least maintain the muscle you already have. You can maintain muscle by adding resistance training exercises to your routine and eating adequate protein, both of which can improve your running performance.
DRINK WATER
Drink water! So simple, right? But even slight dehydration can negatively impact your performance. The amount of water you need, again, varies from athlete to athlete, but a starting point is half your body weight in ounces, then adjust up or down based on how you feel.
If you weigh 150 pounds, start with 75 ounces of plain water a day, and adjust as needed.
You don't have to count every calorie or macronutrient, weigh and measure every morsel that goes in your mouth or overhaul your whole diet to see the performance benefits from these nutritional changes.
If you start with a few habits you can see the benefits, and then continue to make changes and fine-tune your nutrition as you develop new habits to reap the performance benefits.
They seem simple, but if you are not already prioritizing these habits, you can see progress in your running performance with a few changes.
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