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THE IMPORTANCE OF NUTRITION FOR ATHLETES

PROFESSIONAL AND RECREATIONAL MOUNTAIN athletes may train or practice for more extended hours than some other athletes, such as those who play basketball or soccer. Mountain athletes take entire weekends for their sport, compared with playing basketball in a league for a few hours once or twice a week. Outdoor sports require a big time commitment, and on top of that, some activities involve considerable risk and social commitment. Some climbers get only one chance to summit or to cross a vast portion of the earth to reach a long-dreamed-of climbing destination. And since the experience is fleeting, many alpinists train like freaks so that they are ready for that one chance. For my friends who boulder, if there is a trip coming up, they are in the gym grinding it out, working on squeezing out that last bit of strength in their fingers.

If you master the basics of peak nutrition, you’ll incur less stress and inflammation from the demands that training for mountain sports usually puts on your body. The right blend of macronutrients and micronutrients, as well as supportive recovery strategies, will help you perform at your best. Higher volumes of exertion and activity stress the body, leading to compromised immune systems, hormonal imbalances, and inflammation. Recovery is key. Eating and hydrating well can help you adapt to aerobic and anaerobic training. Peak nutrition supports higher exercise volumes, promotes healthy immune function, can help you be insulin resistant, and can ultimately increase longevity.

WHAT IS NUTRITION?

From Merriam-Webster’s:

Nutrition: the act or process of nourishing or being nourished, specifically the sum of the processes by which an animal or plant takes in and utilizes food substances

Nourish: 1: NURTURE, REAR; 2: to promote the growth of; 3a: to furnish or sustain with nutriment: FEED

Nutrient: a substance or ingredient that promotes growth, provides energy, and maintains life

FUELING ACTIVITY AND STRENGTHENING IMMUNITY

Mountain athletes need plenty of calories to fuel their activities, whether climbing, backcountry skiing, or mountain biking—somewhere around 2500 to 5000 calories a day on high-activity days. A negative calorie intake (meaning the exercise expenditure exceeds the number of calories consumed) can drastically affect your performance because of a decrease in energy supply as well as an imbalance of minerals and vitamins. A constant negative calorie intake increases the risk of injury, overtraining, depression, fatigue, and decreased muscle mass. That’s why we suggest not combining heavy training with negative calories for fat loss. Rather, aim for fat loss during an off season so you can fuel your training appropriately. Negative calorie intake can also cause the immune system to become compromised and lead to illness. Just one session of long-duration or high-intensity exercise done on insufficient calories, for example, can compromise your immune system. (But note that not getting enough exercise will also lead to a weak immune system.) On the other hand, eating more calories than the body needs leads to fatigue, insulin resistance, weight gain, depression, lower feelings of self-worth, and a decrease in performance. You need to be somewhere in the middle.

Nutrition can affect immune integrity. Carbs and proteins during and after big bouts of exercise (when you’re in a heavy training cycle) can help the immune system recover. If the body lacks any essential vitamins and minerals, it will shut down, resulting in illness. If you know people who are always sick, they may be lacking in vitamins A, B1, B6, C, D, and E, as well as iron, zinc, copper, selenium, or magnesium. Want to know if you are lacking in any of these critical substances? Ask your doctor for a blood test; more on athletic testing can be found in the Resources section at the end of the book.

THE IMPORTANCE OF TEACHING KIDS ABOUT GOOD NUTRITION

The future of food, health, and pushing the limits of mountain sports begins with kids. It’s important that parents and coaches teach kids the value of good nutrition. If they understand from a young age that good food equals good fuel, they will have these values forever. A few tips when educating the small ones: Kids will eat what you give them if there are no other options. This can be a painful process if they suddenly can no longer eat the things they were accustomed to because their diet has to change for health reasons. But they will learn to eat what you give them. Make eating vegetables a game.

Other tips: Do not use food as a reward. Avoid commenting on people’s bodies, including your own, whether it’s good or bad, because this could evolve into body image issues later in life. Talk to kids about hydration and poop. They should learn to feel comfortable with their body and what their body does. Kids can learn fast, much faster than adults. They may surprise you if you frame good nutrition in a way that brings them into the process.

Adequate protein intake also helps in recovery. Constant exercise breaks down proteins and enzymes; after workouts, this process is reversed, making you stronger and regenerating ATP (adenosine triphosphate), the body’s energy currency. You will recover faster if you consume enough calories with adequate proteins, carbs, fats, and micronutrient proportions. Hydration and supplementation are also key.

NUTRITION, BODY COMPOSITION, AND RECOVERY

Many athletes want to change their body composition, and to accomplish this, they often think they should do more cardio. This could be the wrong approach, however. Doing more cardio takes away resources that actually help the body recover, requiring it to work harder when it is already fairly taxed. There are some ways to change your body composition without the extra work, such as by manipulating what you eat, when you eat, and how much you eat—known as food timing (or periodization). You can try nutrition partitioning, spacing meals out, eating for your body type, timing your nutrition plan, and tinkering with water consumption. As athletes age, the role of nutrition in recovery becomes even more important (see chapter 4, Longevity and the Aging Athlete). Mountain athletes need to pay close attention to nutrition, making sure they hydrate well and get adequate vitamins and minerals for optimal performance and a long, healthy life in the mountains.