Shari Rodgers and Sue Allen
Preparing your body for martial arts or a workout isn’t just about the physical training. It’s also about how you fuel it!
Proper nutrition should be a priority for everyone! Diet plays a vital role in the lives of athletes, martial artists, and older folks. The food we consume becomes the vital life force required to fuel performance, energy levels, and overall well-being. What should you be doing to avoid the consumer traps while optimizing health? Keep it simple by focusing on your nutrition.
Researchers know that exercise increases protein breakdown as well as protein synthesis. The type, intensity, frequency, and duration of exercise affects both. As our bodies adapt to training, we are more efficient at using proteins. Insufficient protein consumption will affect our exercise performance, along with all bodily functions. Eating after you exercise can help muscles recover, so think about having an after-exercise snack like yogurt or fruit. As we age, our bodies are less efficient at using protein to build or maintain muscle mass and are less efficient at synthesizing protein. Seniors experience a natural decline in muscle mass, strength, and functionality. Inadequate protein consumption causes a weakened immune system and increased recovery time from exercise, illness, and injury. Sufficient protein consumption supports bone density and is associated with lower stroke risk.
Nutrients are classified as micronutrients or macronutrients. Micronutrients are things like vitamins and minerals. We obtain micronutrients from food, since our bodies cannot produce vitamins and minerals for the most part. The micronutrient content of each food is different, so it’s best to eat a variety of foods to get enough vitamins and minerals. Of the macronutrients, only two are essential: proteins and fats.
Essential fatty acids cannot be produced by our bodies. Two main types are omega-3 and omega-6. While most American diets are abundant in omega-6, they are found deficient in omega-3. Particularly mentioned are EPA and DHA, which support our hearts and brains and are anti-inflammatory. Dietary sources are fish.
A third macronutrient is carbohydrates, which are not essential, as our bodies produce glucose without consuming any carbohydrates. Carbohydrates are classified as simple (fruit, sugar, flour) or complex (beans, legumes, potatoes). Experts recommend getting complex carbohydrates from whole foods and limiting simple carbohydrates.
Experiment to see what works best for meeting your goals. Remember to prioritize whole food and keep it simple with your nutrition! The journey to becoming healthy, feeling good, and being successful at karate or your workout extends beyond the gym. It includes the kitchen, too. You’re not just fueling your body for your workout or karate, you’re fueling it for life. Don’t forget that hydration is important, too, since we live in the Southwest, so make sure you are drinking water.
If you want to stop by and check out Karate class, please do so! We are at the Anza gym on Mondays and Tuesdays from 4 to 6 p.m. and Fridays from 2 to 4 p.m. We would love to have you watch or, even better, give karate a try.