Athlete Nutrition

The Importance of getting athlete nutrition right.

To function at peak performance you need the best high quality nutrition and the ultimate nutrition strategy to reach your best.

Before The Event

Your pre-event athlete nutrition primes your body in two ways.

• First, eating means you will not be distracted by hunger during your event.
• Secondly, your blood glucose level will remain at the best levels for the burn your muscles need to perform.

When you wake up on the day of your event, your night-long fast has most likely dropped the level of glycogen (main source of energy) stored by the liver. In order to boost it back up choose a meal that's low in fat, rich in carbohydrates and plant-based protein, full of fiber.

When you're within one to four hours of your event, you are aiming to consume 0.5 to 2 grams of carbs per pound of body weight (1-4 gm/kg). The closer you are to starting time, the lighter and lower your carbohydrates should be:

• 2 gram per pound of body weight before 4 hours of the event and
• 0,5 gram per pound less than 1 hour before event.

Too many carbohydrates just before you begin can cause a gastric or intestinal upset.

For example, if your event is just 2 hours away, you should choose a protein drink such as a Herbalife Formula 1 nutritional shake or Herbalife24 Formula 1 Sport.

It gives you 13 grams of carbs and 9 grams of high quality protein. If you add 1 cup of your favorite berries and a potassium-rich banana you will get about 75 gram of carbs.

This balanced athlete nutrition will provide maximum fuel for muscles and help replenish glycogen and amino acids stores to prevent excess breakdown of muscles.

So, if you are within an hour of competition, choose a fully liquid meal as part of your athlete nutrition program.

It’s good to power up your athlete nutrition with additional sources of amino acids like L-Arginine for maintaining Nitric Oxide (NO) level. Nitric Oxide help increase and improve blood flow to muscles.

Herbalife24 Prepare Formula for athletic performance and Herbalife Niteworks for general heart health developed by Nobel Laureate Dr.Lou Ignarro helps your NO (nitric oxide) production.

During Your Competition

Throughout your event, your body needs a continual replenishment of nutrition and water. For each hour of competition, you must consume 30 to 60 grams of carbohydrates along with protein.

If you want well-balanced athlete nutrition, your intake should average somewhere between 120 to 240 calories per hour specifically from carbs. Your carbs and hydration you can get from sports drinks.

But the use of sports drinks merits a word of caution here. Avoid substituting commercial fruit juices and soft drinks. They contain far too much glucose and carbohydrates, colorings, preservatives and chemicals. Your stomach will not empty efficiently. You risk experiencing nausea and vomiting that will upset the nutrient balance you have worked to achieve.

It's best to stick purely with sports drinks that are lightly sweetened only with sucrose, glucose or maltodextrin.

A good choice is Herbalife 24 Prolong Formula with Electrolytes and Dual-Source of Carbohydrates or H3O Fitness drink and Herbalife24 Hydrate for anytime hydration.

This sport drink will give you immediate and sustained energy, replace lost fluids and help with antioxidant protection.

An alternative beverage is Herbalife's Herbal Tea Concentrate. It will assist your body in breaking down fat cells to boost energy as you perform and fits perfectly in a well-balanced athlete nutrition plan. Use this product as directed on the label so that you get only the recommended amount of caffeine.

Balanced athlete nutrition during a long event should be limited to appropriate sports drinks, energy bars and carbohydrate gels. You can include bananas, gingersnaps, and bagels. You need to know, that for prolonged training or event combination of carbs and protein especially important.

By choosing Herbalife protein bar you will get 15 gram of carbs and 10 grams of protein in 140 calories. Carbohydrates in combination with protein and vitamins provides energy and additional support for the muscles.

Athlete Nutrition Immediately Following Your Event.

If you were an average person, you could recover by drinking a pint of water and a protein drink, like Herbalife shakes or Herbalife Muscles Strength and Recovery shake. But athletes must keep their bodies synthesizing and metabolizing by replacing what they've lost. What is the best way to help the body rebuild muscle tissue that was exerted during the performance?

Studies showed that right nutrition responsible for recovery-especially protein and carbohydrates. Protein, rather amino acids and glycogen from carbs help muscles return to normal structure.

The synthesis of glycogen in the muscles occurs two times more rapidly, if your body obtains carbohydrates immediately after training, as opposed to putting off for several hours. And a rapid rate of synthesis of glycogen can be maintained if carbs consumed during the day.

• For this reason your food intake immediately post-performance should include
  • 50-100 gm of carbohydrates, rapidly absorbed
  • and 10-20 gm protein. (If you're in the average weight range of 130-160 pounds (59-72 kg).

The best way to do this is to consume Herbalife24 Rebuild Endurance Formula immediately after intense aerobic activity and choose a fruit.

• Until you have your next complete meal, you should consume another 50-100 gm carbohydrates along with 10-20 gm protein at two-hour intervals.

  Alternatively you can take Herbalife 24 Rebuild Strength.

  This formula perfect for athletes after resistance, weight lift or low-aerobic training.

• Vitamins and minerals are also necessary. They are not your body's fuel, but they help your cells and muscle tissue to perform various functions. Athletes require 1.5 to 2 times as many vitamins and minerals as the average person.

Herbalife Nutrition and Advisory Boards recommends:

• Formula 2 Multivitamins complex, Shizandra Plus and RoseGuard - antioxidant support,
• Herbalifeline -healthy Omega-3 oil.

The Day After Your Event

1. Your carbohydrate intake should be intense over the 24-hour period following your event (brown rice, sweet potato). Be sure to consume in the range of 400-800 gm carbs, depending on how intense your event was and your training program.
2. You also need 0,7-0,9 gram of the protein for every lbs of your body weight (1,5-2 gram for every kg) to rebuild muscle tissue. It can be fish, meat, eggs, Herbalife shakes.

3. It is advised (depending on sport) to have 20% of total calories from healthy fat: avocado, nuts, olive oil.
4. Herbalife tea, like Herbalife herbal concentrate or guarana energy tea, herbal aloe Herbalife drink, H3O Fitness drink are recommended as a part of hydration. It's your job as an athlete to fine-tune a balance of nutrition and hydration.

Will you rest for less than eight hours before your next training or performance? With shorter intervals between sessions, your carbs and protein must be consumed pretty quickly after your event.

If you have recovery period more than 24 hours you need to develop a time table that's right for you. So that you segue from post-training nutrition back into a pre-event program.

Herbalife Athletic Sponsorship

• Their sponsorship of amateur and professional athletes like Chris Klein Soccer, Attila Vaida Flatwater Canoeing, E.J.Viso IndyCar Driver, Deniz Dimaski Triathlon,
• teams like LA Galaxy Soccer, AYSO Soccer, Inter Milan Soccer, Mens Sana Basket, Basketball and
• sporting events, like Nautica Malibu Triathlon, Triathlon World Cup, East West Bank Classic Tennis Tournament and many many others is a visible way to demonstrate and celebrate the kind of excellence that we can all aim to achieve with HERBALIFE athletic nutrition, in our own ways and at our own times.

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