High Performance Nutrition - Part 1

The Big Picture: Food as Fuel

-- By Dean Anderson, Fitness & Behavior Expert

Good nutrition provides the foundation for your goals, whether you want to lose weight the healthy way or fuel high-level physical activities. Unless you eat “the right stuff” at the right times, you aren’t going to get very far in either direction.

Unfortunately, what counts as the right stuff often depends on the situation. Your body can’t do everything at once. Restricting your calorie intake to promote weight and fat loss can make it very difficult to build muscle mass or train for endurance events. If you’re trying to combine any or all of these goals, things can get pretty complicated.

This article will help you understand the role that carbohydrates play in fueling exercise and recovery and how both the timing and nutritional makeup of your meals and snacks can help you achieve your performance goals.

Fact #1: The more you exercise the more carbohydrates you will need for fuel.
With all the emphasis placed on exercising to lose weight, many people are surprised to hear that exercise itself doesn’t actually burn much fat as fuel. Exercise uses up the calories you've eaten, but most "fat burning" occurs when your body then has to turn to fat stores to fuel basic bodily functions.

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• GIANT-STEPS "One comment I'd add is that certain long endurance activities do require no..."
• MISSOKELLY "THIS IS AN AMAZING ARTICLE!~
  
  from an avid runner struggling with weight ..."
• PIGLET1979 "This is a well written article. I heart Coach Dean (and carbs) !"

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