Adventure Sports Nutrition
By Sharael Feist
Whether you'd like to climb Mount Everest or mountain bike in Moab, you're going to need to know how to fuel your body with the right nutrients.
Recreational adventurers and competitive athletes can enhance their performance by eating correctly. But what does that mean? Do you eat carbs or protein to recover from a workout? What foods will give you the most energy before you exercise? There are a few books that I recommend that spell it out in detail. Both books are very reader friendly and don't dive too far into the technical scientific jargon of human nutrition.
Nancy Clark's Sports Nutrition Guidebook
by Nancy Clark:
The author has a Master's in Science and is a Registered Dietician. At 454 pages, this comprehensive nutrition book is broken into four parts--The Training Table, Sports Nutrition for Success, Weight Management, and Recipes for Health and Fitness.
It has the feel of a textbook, but is easy to read. This book does a good job at de-mystifying nutrition. There are lots of tips and tables.
The training section discusses strategies, goods that will keep the doctor away, eating a healthy breakfast, snacking, salads, and eating in a rush.
The part on nutrition for success talks about carbs, protein, keeping hydrated what to eat before, during and after exercise, and supplements.
The weight management section will probably be a hit with the ladies. It goes over fat, losing weight while staying energized, eating disorders, and energy-rich foods.
Lastly, there are loads of quick, easy, healthful recipes to choose from with tips on cooking, freezing and keeping foods safe.
This book also has illustrations that make the "heavy" subject of food science light and fun. Easy to read. A must-have for athletes interested in nutrition.
Ultimate Sports Nutrition
by Ellen Coleman and Suzanne Nelson:
The authors are both Registered Dieticians, as well as having various other credentials. While not quite as in-depth, this book is an overall good guide for general sports nutrition. It is very cut-and-dry (no cartoons here), with lots of valuable tables and charts.
The book discusses the following topics: nutrients, training diets, energy, eating for your sport, carbs, protein, fat, vitamins and minerals, hydration, body composition, losing fat while gaining muscle, ergogenic acids, eating on the road, eating disorders, and nutrition for young athletes.
At 205 pages long, this is a great reference book, with short chapters and lots of facts and figures.
It covers things like food sources for vitamins and minerals, the Food Guide Pyramid, serving sizes, dietary guidelines, how to read food labels (very important), meal plans, food content, vegetarian diet, cholesterol, alcohol and caffeine, sugar, and fast food. This book does not provide a recipe section.
If you're scratching your head and are not sure what to believe with all the varying points of view on nutrition these days, pick up one of the books to at least get a basic sense of what you need to eat to be healthy. All in all, nutrition is vital to our well being, so take the time to read about how to best fuel you're body. You'll look better, feel better and perform better.
About the Author:
I began my journalism career as a staff writer for the University of Hawaii newspaper, Ka Leo O Hawaii, then became a correspondent for Hawaii Paddler magazine. Soon after graduating from college, I moved to San Francisco to pursue a career in the high tech industry. I continued my education, focusing on multimedia, and became a Web producer. I try to combine my journalism experience and Web production skills to create Web sites related to outdoor/adventure sports.
I have written about sports and recreation for Working Woman magazine, Outside Magazine Online, Marin Independent Journal, AmericaTrue.org, BayInsider.com, CitySearch7.com, About.com, the San Francisco Independent, Latitude 38, and the Marina Times.
Sharael may be contacted by email at sharael@aol.com.
