Sport Nutrition: the Secrets to Build Muscle & Burn Fat easily in order to achieve peak Sport Performance in 7 Simple Steps

By Fabian Morton

Would you like to maximize the results of your workouts with an effective, balanced diet that can support your goal?

 

If "yes," then this book is for you, so...read on...

 

"You wasted precious years of training in the gym" - This is what I thought to myself for not following a proper diet regimen...

 

Let's be clear, I always got results, but never the results I expected to get because of the type, quantity, and quality of exercises I was doing.

 

Throughout my life, I have heard so many false myths revolving around exercise and diet that have deflected me from achieving my goal. I bet you have heard the following statements before:

 

• Carbohydrates should not be eaten in the evening;
• Without creatine and protein powder, you will not be able to achieve large volumes;
• Abdominal fat is lost by doing endless sets of crunches;
• Working out more than three times a week will make you overtrain.

Well, you should know that these are all WRONG INFORMATION.

 

By nourishing yourself with high-quality, body-friendly foods, without excluding the infamous FATS and CARBOHYDRATES, you will be able to achieve IMPORTANT RESULTS!

 

Muscle repair allows your physique to increase muscle volume and quality, making you dry and muscular. Now, I can't teach you how to get the best rest?

But I can certainly provide you with all the information you need to fuel yourself like a pro. In this book you will discover:

 

The principles that until now have kept you in the dark about how your body works and how to harness the key nutrients it needs to grow rapidly;

 

• How and when to take and maximize the effects of vitamins C, D, and E;
• All the secrets you didn't know about sweeteners and their effects on your body;
• Do the phantom ZERO CARBO diets really work? Find out in this book!
• All the benefits of simple and branched amino acids and why you should know about them (this advice alone will maximize your results in just a few weeks);
• The 6 most effective dietary strategies to maximize hypertrophy and definition;
• The most common and harmful mistakes every neophyte makes in the gym that if avoided will save you time and effort;

...and much more...

 

What are you waiting for? - Get started on proper nutrition now and treat yourself to this specific handbook on sports nutrition.

 

Don't waste any more time - Click "Buy Now" access this valuable information and get the body of your dreams!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Fabian Morton
• Release date: Dec 15, 2022
• ISBN: 9798215120347

Book preview

Introduction

Eating is that activity by which we take in from the outside world all the substances we need to nourish ourselves; they are those contained in the foods that make up our diet.

To eat properly, it is essential to know the composition of foods so that you can choose the most appropriate ones, achieve good health and ensure optimal growth and development.

Nutrition education in compulsory schooling is rather poor.

In addition, today's society is pervaded with false myths and beliefs that cause confusion.

Hence the frequent lack of basic knowledge that would instead enable both adults and children to follow proper nutrition.

This book describes the characteristics of different foods and explains what are the reasons for certain dietary recommendations.

Eating is a fundamental activity in our lives: on the one hand, it plays a very important role in socializing with other human beings and in our relationship with the environment; on the other hand, it is the means by which we obtain the nutrients our bodies need to live.

Nutrients are those chemicals in food that the body breaks down, transforms and uses to obtain energy and nourishment so that cells perform their functions properly.

There are different types of nutrients, each with different functions:

- Macronutrients are those we need in large quantities; they include protein, carbohydrates and fat.

- Micronutrients are those we need in very small amounts; vitamins and minerals are part of this group.

- Other nutrients include water and fiber (although the latter is not a nutrient in and of itself), which should be taken in adequate amounts.

Some of the nutrients we need to live can be produced from others we obtain through food.

Still others, however, we cannot produce and must therefore ingest through food; these are the so-called essential nutrients.

In each food, one or more nutrients predominate, which allows us to classify them into six different groups:

1. Cereals, potatoes, and sugar.

2. Fats and oils.

3. Meat, eggs, fish, legumes and nuts.

4. Milk and dairy products.

5. Vegetables.

6. Fruits and derivatives.

Since no one food provides us with all the nutrients in the quantities we need (except breast or formula milk for infants in the first six months of life), it is necessary to follow a balanced diet, that is, a diet that includes foods from all groups in the right proportions to cover the body's needs properly.

Each stage of life has its own peculiarities and therefore needs different nutrition.

Childhood, for example, is the period of greatest growth and development in which nutrition should be adapted to both the pace of growth and the maturation of the various processes involved in nutrition (ingestion, digestion, absorption, and metabolism) in order to achieve adequate health.

Nutrients must meet three types of needs:

1. energetic

2. structural

3. functional and regulatory.

Below we will describe the different nutrients, what their main functions are, and in which foods we mainly find them.

Energy

ENERGY IS NOT A NUTRIENT; it is what is obtained after the cells use macronutrients.

All foods, depending on their nutrients, provide a certain amount of energy (i.e., calories).

Our body spends calories on:

- maintain temperature and vital functions at rest (circulation, respiration, digestion): these activities are known as basal metabolism.

- growing up: childhood, especially the first year of life, and adolescence are the periods when we grow the fastest and expend the most energy, so we need a higher caloric intake than other periods.

- move: depending on the degree of physical activity, our body will need more or less energy intake.

The calories we take in must compensate for this energy expenditure in order for our bodies to function properly.

Too much or too little energy intake will cause health problems.

An individual's caloric needs are estimated by formulas or theoretical calculations based on data obtained by complex techniques that measure energy expenditure (e.g., indirect calorimetry) and body composition, and on the estimated degree of physical activity.

Energy requirements vary according to a person's weight, height, age, sex, and level of physical activity.

However, the most important factor of all is age.

Protein

PROTEINS ARE LARGE molecules composed of hundreds or thousands of units called amino acids.

Depending on the order and spatial configuration of amino acids, we talk about different proteins with different functions.

The main function of proteins is structural.

They represent the building blocks that make up and maintain our bodies: we find them in muscles, bones, skin, organs, blood, etc.

Proteins also have other important functions:

- are involved in metabolism, as they are part of enzymes (which are responsible for metabolic reactions) and some hormones;

- participate in the body's defense as part of antibodies;

- Are essential for coagulation;

- They transport substances through the blood;

- in case of need (i.e., when other sources are lacking), they are also a source of energy.

For every gram of protein that is burned, you get 4 kilocalories (kcal).

When we eat foods containing protein, these are digested and absorbed in the form of simpler molecules.

At the end of the process, we get the amino acids that reach the cells; here they are reorganized and go to form the different proteins we need.

There are 20 different amino acids.

Some can be manufactured from others, but 9 of them (valine, leucine, isoleucine, threonine, lysine, methionine, histidine, phenylalanine, tryptophan) are considered essential because they cannot be synthesized by our body.

This means that we must necessarily ingest them through food.

The amount of essential amino acids contained in a protein determines its quality.

High quality proteins (also called high biological value proteins or complete proteins) are those that contain all the essential amino acids.

They are mainly found in foods of animal origin: meat, fish, eggs and milk.

Grains and legumes are also considered high-quality protein foods because, in addition to providing a large amount of protein, they contain almost all the essential amino acids, complementing each other when taken together (grains are deficient in lysine, legumes in methionine).

The word protein (from the Greek proteios, meaning occupying the first position) was suggested by Berzelius to name what the Dutch chemist Mulder in 1838 defined as a complex substance in the composition of which nitrogen (N) was involved and which was undoubtedly the most important of all known substances in the organic realm, since without it life on our planet would not have been possible.

Although it does not provide most of the energy nutritionally, protein is one of the most important nutrients for living things.

Proteins can be classified in different ways according to their structure, function, solubility, form, etc.

In general, however, we can divide them into globular proteins and fibrous proteins.

The former are spherical in shape with helical or filamentous secondary structures, as well as circular nonrepetitive structures, which provide compactness and thus enable the performance of particular functions; these proteins are water-soluble.

Globular proteins include insulin, albumin, plasma globulins, and numerous enzymes.

Fibrous proteins have an elongated shape; their structure consists of repeating elements of secondary structures (helices and filaments).

This is why they are in the form of cylindrical fibers observable under a microscope.

Fibrous proteins (including keratin, myosin, collagen and fibrin) are poorly soluble in water.

Proteins are the macromolecules that perform the most functions in the cells of living things.

They are part of the basic structure of tissues (muscles, tendons, skin, nails, etc.).

Throughout the processes of growth and development, proteins create, repair and maintain body tissues; they also perform metabolic (acting as enzymes, hormones, antibodies) and regulatory functions, i.e., nutrient assimilation, transport of oxygen and fats in the blood, elimination of toxic substances, regulation of fat-soluble vitamins and minerals, etc.

Proteins are composed of a long linear chain made up of smaller elements, the amino acids (AA).

These in turn consist of an amine group (NH2) and a carboxyl group (COOH) linked to the same carbon.

Amino acids are linked together by peptide bonding (bonding of an amino group with a carboxyl group belonging to another amino acid).

There are 20 different amino acids encoded in the genetic material of organisms; they can be combined in any order and repeated to give rise to these macromolecules called proteins.

Each protein is composed of 100/200 AAs, resulting in many different combinations.

In addition, depending on the spatial configuration of a given amino acid sequence, the properties of the protein may be different and result in different functions.

Both carbohydrates and lipids have a relatively simpler and more homogeneous structure than proteins.

Molecules with less than 50 amino acids and therefore low molecular weight are called peptides.

Those weighing between several thousand and several million daltons (Da) are called polypeptides.

The terms protein and polypeptide, however, are often used interchangeably to refer to the same type of molecule.

Essential Amino Acids

HUMAN BEINGS NEED A total of 20 amino acids, of which 11 are synthesized by our bodies; this means that we do not need to acquire them through food.

Such amino acids are called nonessential.

The remaining 9 we are unable to synthesize, so we have to ingest them through food.

These are the so-called essential amino acids, also called indispensable amino acids: histidine, isoleucine, leucine, lysine, methionine (and cysteine), phenylalanine (and tyrosine), threonine, tryptophan and valine.

Because methionine is a precursor to cysteine and phenylalanine to tyrosine, these amino acids are normally considered in pairs.

If either one is missing, it will not be possible to synthesize any protein in which this amino acid is required; this can lead to different types of malnutrition, depending on which is the limiting amino acid.

Histidine, for example, is an essential amino acid only for infants because deprivation of this AA in the first 3 months of life or less leads to the appearance of eczema, a form of dermatitis that disappears when histidine is supplemented through diet.

In some children, there is a genetic disorder of histidine metabolism that does not allow histidine to be metabolized properly and thus causes it to accumulate