Sport has a positive effect on health and body weight, creates a change from everyday life, can reduce stress and increases self-confidence.
At the same time, healthy nutrition is an important basis for being successful in sports. For this, the body should be sufficiently supplied with vitamins and important nutrients. A balanced diet with plenty of fruits and vegetables, long-chain carbohydrates from whole grains and protein is best suited for this.
Adequate fluid intake is quite essential. Because during physical activities we lose a lot of water through sweating. You should already drink 2 liters a day without physical exercise. Anyone who exercises for longer than an hour should also drink fluids in between. However, when sweating, the body loses not only water, but also important electrolytes. Therefore, one should either resort to water with a high magnesium or sodium content or simply mix in some fruit juice, but not too much, at most in a ratio of 1:3.
In addition to sufficient liquid, carbohydrates in particular are indispensable for athletes. They are enormously important for the function of the muscles and are metabolized more strongly than fats and protein during sport. Whole-grain products such as dark bread or pasta made from whole grains are well suited. They are among the long-chain carbohydrates that provide sustained energy. These are digested slowly and the blood sugar level rises only slowly. White flour products, sweets or white rice are not suitable. They cause blood glucose levels to rise rapidly and also to fall again.
After training, however, you should also consume protein to support muscle growth and regeneration. However, it does not have to be meat, especially since this often contains quite a lot of fat. A good alternative is, for example, a fried egg with some vegetables or simply a baked potato with some sour cream, whereby the former is especially recommended to people who also want to lose weight.
Sources:
1)https://www.gesundheit.gv.at/leben/bewegung/sport-ernaehrung/inhalt
2)https://www.gesundheit.de/ernaehrung/gesund-essen/ernaehrung-und-lebensstil/ernaehrung-und-sport
