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Cross-country feeding - cross-country diet

Feeding - the skier's diet is a diet that, in broad terms, affects all sports practitioners with long or very long performance times; the cross-country skier is therefore the one who practices: running or running, walking, cycling (road or mountain-bike), cross-country skiing, swimming - long races, rowing - long races, canoeing - long races, triathlon, spearfishing, etc.

Feeding - the cross-country skier's diet - both in professionalism and in amateurism - often requires more extensive work than simple food advice or advice; every sports nutrition professional is well aware that, in order to be sure of covering ALL the necessary needs, the only method that is truly effective and safe includes a traditional grammar dietary approach. From here, the subject has the possibility (and assumes responsibility for it) to use the tool provided "literally" or as a generic "guideline".

Nutrition - cross-country diet aims to:

  1. To cover the subject's energy and nutritional needs based on: sex, age (growth or seniority), special conditions (para-physiological conditions or conditions) etc.
  2. To cover the energy and nutritional needs of the subject IN TRAINING or IN THE COMPETITION
  3. Guarantee an optimal psycho-physical recovery
  4. Optimize the super-compensation of the training stimulus
  5. Minimize muscle catabolism

To set the feeding - the cross-countryist's diet is necessary:

  1. Understanding the basic nutritional needs of the subject
  2. Obtain the sports energy expenditure and the daily or weekly requirements (depending on the dietary method used) of the same
  3. Understand the availability (temporal - logistical - organizational and economic) of the athlete
  4. Evaluate the relevance of food supplements

.... and finally...

  1. CORRECT THE NUTRITIONAL SCHEME ON THE BASIS OF THE RESULTS OF ATLETIAN VISITORS AND PERCECTIVES.

Estimate the subject's energy needs: customary energy expenditure and training expenditure

There are 2 methods to calculate the energy requirement for feeding the cross-country skier:

  1. Calculate the basic requirement (basal metabolic rate + level of physical activity) of the 7 days, taking into consideration also variables such as: hours of sleep, tendency to hyper-kinetic etc. To it, it is then necessary to add the energy expenditure of the weekly microcycle; then carry out the indiscriminate average for all 7 days. In this way a simple diet will be obtained, with FIXED caloric intake and with REPLACEABLE ISOCALORIC meals in the various days. It is not very precise BUT represents the simplest and most TOLERABLE solution for athletes. Ex. Of a beginner cross-country skier:
    1. Daily customary requirement of the athlete: estimated at 2, 200kcal / day
    2. Athlete's customary weekly requirement: 2, 200 * 7 = 15.400kcal
    3. Energy expenditure of the 6 weekly training sessions:

      400 + 550 + 700 + 550 + 550 + 400kcal = 2.750kcal

    4. Athlete's weekly TOT requirement: 15, 400 + 2, 750 = 18.150kcal
    5. Athlete's daily TOT requirement: 18.150 / 7 = 2.593kcal
  2. Calculate the basic requirement (basal metabolic rate + level of physical activity) of 1 day taking into consideration also variables such as: hours of sleep, tendency to hyper-kinetics, etc; add to it the energy expenditure of the specific training and create 7 different days. In this way you will get a complex diet, with VARIABLE caloric intake and with NOT ALWAYS isocaloric meals, therefore NOT ALWAYS replaceable in the various days. It is very precise BUT represents the most inconvenient and LESS solution tolerable by athletes. Ex. Of a beginner cross-country skier:
    1. Daily customary requirement of the athlete: estimated at 2, 200 kcal / day
    2. Athlete's customary weekly requirement: 2200 * 7 = 15, 400 kcal
    3. Energy expenditure of 6 weekly training sessions: 400, 550, 700, 550, 550, 400 kcal
    4. Athlete's daily TOT requirement:
      1. 2, 200 + 400 = 2.600kcal
      2. 2, 200 + 550 = 2.750kcal
      3. 2, 200 + 700 = 2.900kcal
      4. 2, 200 + 550 = 2.750kcal
      5. 2, 200 + 550 = 2.750kcal
      6. 2, 200 + 400 = 2.600kcal
      7. 2, 200 + 0 = 2.200kcal

Estimate the specific nutritional needs of the subject: breakdown into energy macronutrients - vitamins and mineral salts

The cross-country feeding is NOT the same in all disciplines; remember that, in addition to the subjective ability to digest and / or tolerate the sense of gastric "fullness", the mechanics of movement and the position of the body during exercise significantly affect the choice of foods and the respective portions to be consumed before performance; on the contrary, with regards to the meals placed VERY sooner and after the exercise, the criteria to be used in the choice of food and portions are the same as for a healthy and balanced diet (always taking into consideration the needs of the specific case).

Distribution in energy macronutrients: the feeding of the cross-country skier provides a nutritional distribution quite similar to the traditional one. To correctly choose the fractions of caloric nutrients it is indispensable to reason about the energetic and metabolic demands of the subject during the performance; to make it short, the limiting substrate of the cross-country skier is that of carbohydrates and, in particular, of the glycogen reserves present within the muscles. To tell the truth, the sources of sugar for the athlete who practices the fund are: blood glucose (supported by the meal before the performance), muscle glycogen (destined to the energy production of the specific district) and hepatic glycogen which, in case of IPOglycaemia during the performance, it is split and released to support the central nervous system (CNS - obviously, following the hepatic release of hepatic glucose, nothing prevents the muscles from using it for contraction). The intake of carbohydrates in the cross-country skier's diet should cover at least 55-60% of the total energy, but not more than 65%; as far as simple sugars are concerned, we know that in a balanced diet they should NOT make up more than 10-12% of the total energy, on the other hand, given the importance of the overall caloric expenditure of the cross-country skier, similar to the needs of the child, percentages that reach 15-16% could be considered acceptable.

On the contrary, proteins and their amino acids constitute a very bad energy substrate (both in terms of the slowness of their digestion and absorption, and in terms of the slowness of their metabolic use - see neoglucogenesis), "with reserve" for the branched amino acids (BCAAs) ). In sports, the proteins ESPECIALLY have a plastic and anti-catabolic function, therefore, the choice of their quantity must take into consideration above all the importance of the subject's PRESSAGE-free mass, rather than the overall energy expenditure. The calculation of the requirement will therefore be performed using a coefficient of P = 1.5 or 1.6 or 1.7g / kg of desirable physiological weight (if there is an overabundance of adipose tissue); this coefficient will have to increase proportionally to the actual weight if the percentage of fat mass is equal to or less than 14-15% in men or 24-25% in women.

NB . BCAAs are a faster substrate than normal AAs, but not fast enough to replace glucose.

As far as dietary lipids are concerned, in the skier's diet (and not only), they should be understood above all as a vehicle of essential fatty acids (2.5% of the total kcal) and of fat-soluble vitamins (vit. A, D, E and K). It is true that fats are used effectively by the cross-country skier but, considering that 1000g of fat provide about 7000kcal, their availability is NEVER ALWAYS a limiting factor, since adipose tissue normally constitutes several kilograms of body weight. In the feeding of the ADULT cross-country skier, dietary lipids should constitute about 25% of the total energy, while for the growing subject the percentage reaches 30%.

Essential vitamins and fats requirements: the fondist's vitamin requirements are greater than those of a sedentary person; in particular, it is necessary to introduce greater quantities of vit. water-soluble and especially of group B, which are necessary to support the greater muscular energy production. On the other hand, by translating numerous dietary regimes for athletes, one can see how the contribution of these elements INCREASES almost in proportion to the overall energy of the diet. Ultimately, respecting the nutritional balance described above, through a NORMO-caloric energy intake and not abusing maltodextrin food supplements (which occupy a good slice of energy without giving the right amount of vitamins), the contributions of Thiamine, Riboflavin, Niacin, acid Pantothenic, Pyridoxine, Biotin, Folic acid and Cobalamin (... as well as Ascorbic acid), are almost never inferior to the real needs of the organism.

The same goes for the vit. fat-soluble and omega-3 and omega-6 essential fatty acids; a contribution of 25-30% of lipids in the diet largely guarantees the achievement of the recommended rations for the sportsman but, among the various sources of fat, it is advisable to prefer those containing essential fatty acids compared to junk foods rich in hydrogenated or saturated fats.

CONTINUE: Mineral Salt Requirements »

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