Whether you’re a professional athlete or just lead an active lifestyle, making sure you have the energy and stamina to power through your workouts and daily routine is critical. While we all know how important tracking macros is, what many of us ignore is tracking the micronutrient content of our food, which plays an equally important role in helping our body recover from sports and other rigorous activities. Without these fundamental nutrients, continuous training routines and busy lifestyles can dampen immune system defenses and increase your risk of getting sick, putting a halt to your training.
Eating to Optimize Recovery
Intense exercise routines and chaotic lifestyles generate free radicals and in excess, contribute to:
- cell damage and dysfunction
- weakening of immune defenses
- ageing
- cancer
- muscle protein damage
- lower muscular force production
- muscular fatigue
To combat free radical damage, individuals have an internal antioxidant system which works synergistically with dietary antioxidants to provide whole body protection. That’s why it’s essential to eat enough calories, protein, carbohydrate, and fat to maintain energy balance and support energy expenditure during activity. But equally important is ensuring calories come from quality food sources rich in vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and fiber to optimize recovery and immune function.
Short term inadequacies of vitamin and mineral intake are characterized by lower nutrient concentrations in various body tissues, so making nutrient dense foods a regular part of your daily nutrition is essential to keep you strong, healthy, and energized.
Decrease your recovery time and enhance your athletic performance with Honest Eats large variety of nutrient dense meal options. And remember, our primary focus is simple: use only the best quality, nutrient-dense ingredients possible.
References
Burke, L. & Deakin, V. (2015). Clinical Sports Nutrition. Australia, McGraw Hill
Fuhrman, J. (2008). Eat for Health. Flemington, NJ. Gift of Health Press