Athletes Need Fat – Not Just Carbohydrates And Protein

EFA’s Can Help Athletes Improve Performance

Many athletes end up suffering more from ligament, joint, bone, and spinal injuries than the rest of the population due to the excessive strain that their bodies experience while they pursue athletic prowess.

Should protein be the favored nutrient?

Many athletes also believe that protein is the most important nutrient that they consume, as it builds muscle and lean body mass. They don't understand that the right kind of fats work with protein, to produce optimum health as well as athletic performance.

And carbohydrates?

They also focus on carbohydrates, ensuring adequate glucose for fueling cells to produce energy efficiently. However, optimal energy production, all cell functions, tissue healing, as well as joint injuries and bruises are all in need of the right kinds of fats.

Ignore fat and ignore optimal fitness and health

The right fats will help improve athletic performance because they help cells produce energy more efficiently, and also improve the capacity of the body to use oxygen.

Bad, damaged fats, on the other hand, lead to health deterioration as well as a decrease in athletic performance.

If you consume the right kinds of fats, your metabolic rate as well as energy production will increase. The length of the fat chain and the number of double binds it has, will determine how well it performs these tasks.

Saturated fatty acids are used to produce energy, with short chain saturated fats producing energy with ease, and longer saturated fats doing so less efficiently.

The more double bonds in the fat molecule, the more efficiently it produces energy, so the Essential Fatty Acids (EFA 's), especially Omega 3, followed by Omega 6, will help you to produce energy very efficiently.

These unique fats are called essential because your body is not capable of manufacturing them – you have to consume them in your diet.

Increase EFA consumption

By increasing the use of these EFA's, as well as short chain saturated fatty acids, which decreasing the consumption of hard, long chain saturated fatty acids, such as margarine's and foods that contain damaged trans fats, your athletic performance can improve significantly.

Unfortunately conservative coaches and personal trainers aren't yet aware of the benefits of these fats, especially the Essential Fatty Acids, so many athletes haven't had the added advantage of using them to improve their athletic performance.

Reduce damaged fat consumption

Of course, avoiding the damaged, bad fats is part of the process of improving your athletic performance, so any hard, saturated fats, as well as processed, deep fried, hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated fats, found in vegetable spreads and margarine's, as well as baked goods, are off your list of foods.

They poison your cells by supplying the wrong types of fats, hindering energy production as well as healing, and also interfere with the digestive process, leading to poor nutrient absorption and allergic reactions to foods.

They also need a lot of energy to process, leaving you with less energy to use for physical performance.

You have more oxygen available in your cells

Oxidation rate increases due to the use of these unique EFA's, explaining the higher performance levels that athletes achieve when they use these special fats. They also find it’s easier to recover from fatigue after hard work outs.

They also help you to lose excess fat and water held in tissues.

Increased efficiency of waste removal from cells, improved digestion, and therefore more efficient waste removal from the body, as well as optimum energy production and organ function, lead to optimum health for optimum athletic performance.

Other nutrients are essential too

Of course other essential nutrients, such as vitamins and minerals have to be supplied too, to ensure optimum health and performance, so athletes should ensure they have this base covered too.

An individualized program should be designed for you, if you plan to excel at your chosen sport, as each athlete has unique requirements that need to be analyzed and catered for. However, EFA supplementation should be part of the dietary regime, as these unique fats have the potential of increasing your performance significantly.

And one more thing ...

Athletes sweat more, spend more time in the sun, wind and water, and shower more often. Training in chlorinated swimming pools increase skin irritation and dryness. Restoring moisture to your skin can therefore become more of an issue than with the general population, and applying moisturizer may become a never ending attempt to restore moisture to dry, irritable skin.

Add to that, competitive, close contact sports which may also increase an athletes' exposure to outbreaks of infectious skin diseases like ringworm and athletes foot.

All these issues increase the need for healthy, resilient skin, on top of peak fitness and training ability. After all, it's no use being superbly fit but looking old and haggard, with skin that's leathery, dry and aging poorly! Fortunately the right fats look after your skin and your fitness ability!

References

Inflammatory disease processes and interactions with nutrition. Calder PC, et al. Br J Nutr. 2009 May;101 Suppl 1:S1-45.

The effects of omega-3 supplementation on pulmonary function of young wrestlers during intensive training. Tartibian B, et al. J Sci Med Sport. 2010 Mar.13(2):281-6.

Association of n-6 and n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids and tocopherols with proxies of membrane stability and subcutaneous fat sites in male elite swimmers. Ney JG, et al. Nutr Res. 2009 Sep;29(9):623-30.

Fats that heal, fats that kill. Erasmus, U. Dr. Alive Books. Burnaby BC, Canada. 1993.

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