If you’ve been around here, you know my long time friend, and fave nutritionist, Lauren Antonucci. Lauren is the owner of Nutrition Energy in NYC and is a consultant for the New York Road Runners Club. She’s a Clinical Nutritionist, Certified Diabetes Educator, Certified Sports Dietitian, an athlete and a mom. Lauren just published a great new book called High-Performance Nutrition for Master’s Athletes.
The book explains the changing physiology of masters athletes, smart fueling and nutrient timing. Woven in with the content are profiles of amazing professional athletes (and a few recreational ones – including me!) The content is straightforward and impactful and the profiles provide a glimpse into how some athletes have such long and healthy careers.
I asked Lauren to share her top 5 tips from the book. She shared a post with some key points. I encourage you to read the book for more (and we’re giving a copy away to a lucky reader, so read on!)
Lauren’s Top Tips from High Performance Nutrition
Most Masters athletes are interested in continuing to pursue our sport(s) and maintain optimal health as we age. To that end, we train hard, play hard and need to ensure we are meeting our nutrition needs.
Many physiological processes change as we age including:
- Cardiac output decreases
- Protein synthesis declines
- Lean body mass decreases (by ~3%/decade)
- Bone mineral density declines
- Sleep often becomes disrupted
- Blood pressure often increases
- Total energy needs/metabolic rate declines
But all is not lost. There is a lot we can do to reduce the impact of, or prevent, many of these systemic declines with training and nutrition changes. Even 70-85 year old athletes can increase lean body mass (LBM), muscle strength and power with resistance training and adequate fueling.
- Athletes need carbs! Carbs enhance physical performance, stamina or recovery. Eat carbs, enjoy them and their benefits. Pre-workout carbs and adequate total daily carbs increase our ability to train at high intensity, lower rate of perceived exertion (RPE) during training and maintain optimal immune function (which is often depressed on a low-carb diet and as we age). Also, carbs improve mood – acutely and overall.
- Our absolute protein needs increase with age and are double what the recommended daily allowance (RDA) states we need for protein. Studies among endurance athletes show that older athletes tend to eat less protein than younger counterparts post workouts despite the fact that our needs DOUBLE post-workout. We need to eat protein more times per day (not just at dinner!) as we don’t absorb it as well as we age. [EF: And, no more fasted workouts! That one is tough for me for early morning running.]
- Healthy fats are essential for athletes. They’re necessary for hormone production, heart health and decreasing inflammation-which increases with age and heavy training. They should be 25% – 30% of your total calories. Focus on anti-inflammatory fats, or monounsaturated fatty acid, which increase HDL (good cholesterol) and lower risk of heart disease. Eat flaxseeds (ground), walnuts, olives, avocados, nut butters daily and use healthy oils like olive oil, peanut, canola, safflower and sesame oils
- Nutritional changes and interventions to improve sleep are key as we age. Many factors including hormone fluctuations tend to disrupt sleep as we age and sleep is KEY for recovery and to reduce stress. The book highlights key foods, nutrients and supplements for better sleep including tart cherry juice, high glycemic index carbs, l-theanine and more.
- Under fueling plagues many Masters athletes. After many years of low energy availability we see many long term consequences of under fueling. Studies show decreased power output (cyclists) and depressed hormone levels when athletes under-eat in attempt to improve “power to weight ratio”. Overall performance suffers. Masters athletes need to eat to fuel their training. This means eating before and after training. No skipping pre-run fuel anymore. No “trying to be good” all day, then eating a huge dinner or snacking all night long.
These are just a few of the pearls in the book! I encourage everyone to read it. To that end, I’m going to share my press copy with a lucky reader (because I bought one, too!) Please use the Rafflecopter below to enter. Winner must be 18 years of age or older, have a US postal address and the offer is void where prohibited. The giveaway runs through May 1. A winner will be selected and notified on May 2.
a Rafflecopter giveawayYou can get the book on Amazon. Keep up with Lauren on Instagram and Facebook.
I’m linking up with Darlene, Michelle, Renee, Jenn and Zenaida, for Fit Five Friday. Join us!
Have a great weekend!
PS. Don’t forget my great giveaways!
Please note: I received a copy of this book exchange for editorial consideration. This post contains an Amazon affiliate link. All opinions are my own.