Nutrition Corner: June 2015

BY JILL CASTLE MS, RDN usaswimming.org

Swimmers want to do their best. Not only that, they want to win. Many young swimmers work hard to get to the next level. They log endless hours in the pool, work on their stroke technique, and even tweak their eating to get the most out of their bodies and their performance.

Many champion swimmers know that nutrition is an essential part of their success. In other words, they understand how important food is to their performance results.

Here are a few things that all champion swimmers understand about nutrition:

Food is fuel.

Premium fuel is the food swimmers eat. The recipe for success includes healthy, wholesome foods and beverages. Fried foods, sweets, and sugary beverages, although tasty, aren’t the ideal food components of a champion.

Carbs count…a lot.

The good carbs found in whole grains, fruit, vegetables and dairy are prime sources of fuel for exercising muscles. Refined carbs, such as those found in sweets, sugary beverages, and snack foods may add too much sugar and fat to the diet and work against performance and health. Champions know to maximize the good fuel, and trim down unhealthy foods.

Protein is essential but can be abused.

Too much protein can contribute to dehydration as well as other problems for the young athlete. Eating large amounts of protein at the end of the day, or not eating enough protein at breakfast isn’t the most efficient way to fuel muscles. Ideally, wholesome protein sources like meat, eggs or beans evenly spaced throughout the day is optimal for the young athlete.

Dehydrated muscles don’t work well.

Drinking plenty of fluids is a constant effort, as thirst isn’t always easy to identify among young swimmers. If dehydration occurs, it may impair performance, contribute to muscle cramping, and slow down performance.

Recovery is a key to progress.

The harder you train the more important nutrition is to your recovery and development as an athlete. For example, eating a snack that contains protein and carbohydrate after an extended training session helps the body heal afterward. When swimmers add recovery nutrition to their training they are able to repair muscle damage, promote muscle gain, and re-load muscles with fuel for training and competition.

You can’t out-exercise a bad diet.

No matter how hard you work, the habits of overeating, skipping meals, or under-eating, as well as unhealthy food itself, work against optimal performance. Just like a racing car relies on premium fuel, your body performs its best when it’s given premium fuel (healthy food). In the same vein, when a racing car uses low octane fuel, its performance may fall off.

Eating habits are key to lifelong health.

Swimmers may not swim forever, but their eating habits can last a lifetime. Making healthy choices now means a better chance at being healthy later in life.

It's all about timing.

When swimmers eat is just as important as what and how much they eat. If a swimmer skips out on breakfast and lunch, how will her body have the stamina and strength to train hard after school? Or, if he eats large amounts of food at the end of the day, staying at an optimal weight for performance may be harder.

If swimmers want to take swimming to the next level, they need to eat like champions.

Jill Castle, MS, RDN is a childhood nutrition expert and author of Eat Like a Champion: Performance Nutrition for Your Young Athlete. She lives with her husband and four children in New Canaan, CT. For more about Jill, go to www.JillCastle.com.

CHRIS ROSENBLOOM, PHD, RDN, CSSD of usaswimming.org

“Little Miss Swimmer sat at the poolside, eating her casein and whey.
Along came a rival who sat down beside her and Miss Swimmer blew her competition away.”
(With apologies to fans of nursery rhymes).

Swimmers of all ages are asking about the proteins whey and casein. Are they the super stars of proteins? Should swimmers use whey and casein supplements for training and recovery? My answer is yes and no to these questions. No, supplements are not needed, and we all know that supplements can be unsafe and expensive. The “yes” part of the answer is that dairy foods are great sources of these proteins, so it is easy, less expensive and decidedly tastier to get these proteins from foods.

Dr. Stu Phillips, an expert in protein and exercise at McMaster University in Canada describes protein’s role in muscle building in this way: “The provision of protein is absolutely necessary for optimal adaptation to exercise training. The remodelling of proteins is how our muscles and bones adapt to the stress of exercise and efficient remodelling is part of efficient recovery. Milk proteins – whey and casein – are the highest quality proteins available and are unique in their capacity to promote muscle protein remodelling. The rapidly-digested whey protein is high in leucine, which when it rises in the blood and muscle triggers the process of protein synthesis. Protein synthesis is then sustained by the amino acids that follow, which come from the more slowly digested casein protein.”

Milk protein is often considered an ideal protein source for athletes because milk contains both whey (18% of cow’s milk is whey) and casein (82%). Milk also has the advantage of containing carbohydrate, vitamins, minerals, and contributes fluid and electrolytes lost during exercise to aid in hydration. About 2 cups (16 ounces) of milk provides about 20 grams of protein, the amount needed to stimulate muscle protein building. The whey portion of milk is rich in the amino acid leucine.

Casein, the other protein in milk is more slowly digested than whey. New research shows that consuming casein before bed allows additional benefit in improving muscle protein synthesis and overnight protein balance. A rich source of casein, in addition to milk, is cottage cheese. Try blending cottage cheese with your favorite fruit for a bedtime smoothie.

To get the benefits of whey and casein on muscle building, eat protein throughout the day. Aim for about 20 grams at each of three meals and bedtime snack of about 40 grams of protein. Here is what that might look like with the protein portion (many swimmers need more calories than found in these examples.)

Breakfast: 1 hard-boiled egg, a cup of Greek yogurt with a nutty granola mixed into the yogurt.

Lunch: 2 ounces of lean roast beef with 1 slice of cheddar cheese on whole grain bun

Dinner: 3 ounces of chicken breast with brown rice, steamed veggies and green salad

Bedtime snack: 1 cup cottage cheese with fruit and almonds

Chris Rosenbloom is a professor emerita of nutrition at Georgia State University and provides sports nutrition consulting services to athletes of all ages. She has no ties to the dairy industry aside from liking milk. She is the editor-in-chief of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics Sports Nutrition Manual, 5th edition and editor-in-chief of an online Sports Nutrition Care Manual for health care professionals. She welcomes questions from swimmers, parents and coaches. Email her at chrisrosenbloom@gmail.com.

WHAT CHAMPIONS KNOW ABOUT NUTRITION