Nutrition helps you Break Records!

Nutrition for optimal athletic performance

To eat is a necessity, but to eat intelligently is an art! Over the past 20 years, research has clearly documented the beneficial effects of nutrition on exercise performance. There is no doubt that what an athlete eats and drinks can affect health, body weight and composition, substrate availability during exercise, recovery time after exercise, and, ultimately, exercise performance.

For peak performance, every athlete needs:

• ·         Adequate energy from food
• ·         Enough fluids to keep the body hydrated
• ·         The right balance of nutrients
• ·         Replenished glycogen stores
• ·         Protein to build and repair tissue
• ·         Essential fatty acids

In my practice as a sports nutritionist, I’ve noticed that most athletes focus mainly on proteins and carbohydrates in their diet. 

Very little attention is given to vitamins and minerals found in fruits and vegetables which are responsible for carrying out countless enzymatic/chemical reactions occurring in the body. B vitamins help in breaking down food to give you energy to fuel your body - Are you getting enough? Magnesium is required to enable your muscles to contract and relax efficiently – are you cramping?

A sports nutritionist works with you to help YOU achieve peak performance by teaching you:

·         What to eat and drink before, during, and after exercise

·         How to use nutrition to help with performance and improve recovery time

·         When to use sports drinks instead of water

·         How to prevent dehydration

·         If certain vitamin or mineral supplements are needed

At Qua Nutrition, we coach you to eat like an athlete and empower you with performance foods.

Visit www.quanutrition.com to get the best out of your performance by signing up for a sports nutrition plan.  You deserve the best!

Article Posted by Shona Prabhu

Sports Nutritionist

How Endurance can be boosted ?

ENDURANCE in Sports

ENDURANCE is your ability to sustain a physical activity, a repetitive action or exert a force for a long period.

Many sports need some degree of BOTH muscular and cardiovascular endurance to sustain an activity. From bouts of high intensity exercise in short time frames (football) to continuous changes of intensities from low to high over 3+ minutes (basketball, soccer) -- having excellent endurance means your muscles can perform more work in less time and you will be able to perform better and last longer in the game. Training for your game is one way to improve your endurance.

BUT ever wondered why most athletes, despite training so hard, get injuries and lose their ranks as they cross their teens? This is because athletes tend to focus much of their time and effort on practicing and perfecting their skills to enhance performance, but forget about the support they need from the RIGHT NUTRITION to sustain in the sport.

FOODS that will help END-UR-RACE!

Do you know that the low energy levels you feel, the loss of muscle strength and feeling tired just an hour into your training are all symptoms of dehydration. It is important to always STAY HYDRATED during your endurance training to avoid fatigue and dizziness. Depending on the duration of your training – you should be hydrating with either water or combine that with a Sports Drink.

As a dietician, my personal favourite for athletes is COCONUT WATER, with the correct balance of electrolytes and sweetness, I highly recommend athletes to reach out for coconut water when possible.

90 min into training, our muscles are demanding for something more than just the fluids- reaching out for POTASSIUM RICH FOODS during training will help you stay longer as they regulate body water and aid in muscle contractions – nuts, bananas and peaches are great options.

Dedicated training while drinking plenty of fluids and still finding it difficult to go that extra mile???? Try a glass of BEETROOT JUICE a couple of hours before your training and see the difference yourself! Recent research in the Journal of Applied Physiology, 2009 has shown that eating beets or drinking the juice of beets in preparation for an endurance event may significantly improve your performance – athletes were able to sustain low-intensity activities with less effort and were able to achieve a 16% improvement in high-intensity performance – making this the latest addition to the superfoods for endurance athletes.  

REMEMBER THAT it is not just the nutrition during your training – but also – what you eat during the day in your diet that matters. You need to be having the right percentage of carbs-proteins and fats to BUILD YOUR RESERVES OF GLYCOGEN that will sustain you longer.

WITHOUT the RIGHT NUTRITION, you will not perform as well or as long, and will only INCREASE YOUR RISK FOR INJURIES AND ILLNESS. Your training might be sufficient but if your body gives in, the efforts you have put during training will not pay.

Visit www.quanutrition.com to improve your game NOW.

Article posted by  Suhasini Viswanathan

Dietician and Certified Diabetes Educator.

A secret to reducing weight is in Portion control

AS MEALS SWELL TO SUPER –SIZE, SO DO OUR WAISTLINES!

Eating smaller portions of food is one of the easiest ways to cut back on calories – but it can also be one of the most challenging. Controlling portions is one of the most important skills you can have when it comes to losing weight and keeping it off. Research has shown that people often underestimate how many calories they are consuming each day by as much as 25%. Huge portions, all-you-can-eat-buffets, and extra-large “single servings” of chips, candy bars, and other snack foods can all lead to overeating.

Portion Vs Serving Size

Portion and serving are not always the same. A portion is any amount of a certain food you choose to put on your plate, while a serving is a recommended amount of food based on health and nutrition guides as follows:

·         Vegetables or fruit is about the size of your fist.

·         Pasta is about the size of one scoop of ice cream.

·         Meat, fish, or poultry is the size of a deck of cards or the size of your palm

·         Snacks like popcorn and chips are a cupped handful.

·         Apple is the size of a baseball.

·         Potato is the size of a computer mouse.

·         Pancake is the size of a compact disc.

·         Steamed rice is the size of a cupcake wrapper.

·         Cheese is the size of a pair of dice

In my practice as a Nutritionist, I feel this is an area that needs to be stressed on time and again as portion size plays a very important part in determining overall calories. Once our clients understand portion sizes, they are able to make more informed decisions on the meal they choose to eat and are successful in keeping off the extra weight.

When eating out

·         Choose a regular single hamburger at your favourite fast food stop instead of the larger burger or the double burger.

·         Have the small french fries instead of the super-sized.

·         Order a small cold drink, better a juice or, even better, drink water.

·         Share a starter and dessert with a friend when you go to a restaurant.

·         Ask for half your meal to be packed for you and eat it for lunch the next day.

At home

·         Don’t eat from the bag directly. When snacking, place a few chips, crackers, or cookies in a bowl to help keep from overeating.

·         Buy single portions of snack foods so you’re not tempted by the whole bag or box.

Practice the following

·         Write down what you eat, think before you eat, and eat slowly.  

·         Measure food portions and then empty it onto a plate. This will help you learn what these serving sizes look like and will help you in future, even if you only do it once.

                   

To know more how our dietitians can change the way you eat CLICK HERE  or email us at ryan@quanutrition.com or call +91 9743430000. 

A secret to reducing weight is in Portion control

AS MEALS SWELL TO SUPER –SIZE, SO DO OUR WAISTLINES!

Eating smaller portions of food is one of the easiest ways to cut back on calories – but it can also be one of the most challenging. Controlling portions is one of the most important skills you can have when it comes to losing weight and keeping it off. Research has shown that people often underestimate how many calories they are consuming each day by as much as 25%. Huge portions, all-you-can-eat-buffets, and extra-large “single servings” of chips, candy bars, and other snack foods can all lead to overeating.

Portion Vs Serving Size

Portion and serving are not always the same. A portion is any amount of a certain food you choose to put on your plate, while a serving is a recommended amount of food based on health and nutrition guides as follows:

·         Vegetables or fruit is about the size of your fist.

·         Pasta is about the size of one scoop of ice cream.

·         Meat, fish, or poultry is the size of a deck of cards or the size of your palm

·         Snacks like popcorn and chips are a cupped handful.

·         Apple is the size of a baseball.

·         Potato is the size of a computer mouse.

·         Pancake is the size of a compact disc.

·         Steamed rice is the size of a cupcake wrapper.

·         Cheese is the size of a pair of dice

In my practice as a Nutritionist, I feel this is an area that needs to be stressed on time and again as portion size plays a very important part in determining overall calories. Once our clients understand portion sizes, they are able to make more informed decisions on the meal they choose to eat and are successful in keeping off the extra weight.

When eating out

·         Choose a regular single hamburger at your favourite fast food stop instead of the larger burger or the double burger.

·         Have the small french fries instead of the super-sized.

·         Order a small cold drink, better a juice or, even better, drink water.

·         Share a starter and dessert with a friend when you go to a restaurant.

·         Ask for half your meal to be packed for you and eat it for lunch the next day.

At home

·         Don’t eat from the bag directly. When snacking, place a few chips, crackers, or cookies in a bowl to help keep from overeating.

·         Buy single portions of snack foods so you’re not tempted by the whole bag or box.

Practice the following

·         Write down what you eat, think before you eat, and eat slowly.  

·         Measure food portions and then empty it onto a plate. This will help you learn what these serving sizes look like and will help you in future, even if you only do it once.

                   

To know more how our dietitians can change the way you eat CLICK HERE  or email us at ryan@quanutrition.com or call +91 9743430000. 

100 Blogs - A Century Milestone Dedicated to the Quatian's and our Qua Customers

The Best Dietitians in the World Practice at the QUA NUTRITION clinic. My 100 Blogpost is therefore dedicated to the Nutrition Counselors and our successful and hardworking Clients.  The QUA NUTRITION way is a new mantra in our quest to Change the way people eat. Our dietitians are the new QUATIANS, dietitian's who help you discover your QUA  (Qua In Latin means 'In CAPACITY OF').  A very interesting phenomena this month is that over the last six months using the QUA program, 100's of clients have shown drops in Cholesterol and Diabetic levels. All with changes in the the Lifestyle via Exercise and Eating. 

NOTE: THE ONLY WAY TO DO IT IS THE HARD WAY - VIA DIET AND EXERCISE to live longer.  

Here is a chart of a Sixty plus Diabetic( been a diabetic for over 3 decades). His statement this morning when I called him was " RYAN for the first time in Decades I have double digit fasting sugar levels.....wow below 100 is great for a Diabetic!". 

• Notice the Drop in Diabetic levels over 6 months.
• Notice the Triglcerides drop by a whopping 228%
• Notice the increase of the Good Cholesterol HDL by over 50%...

I cannot stress enough the efforts people go through to loose weight or hold a condition like hypertension or diabetes. However, there are many quick fix methods being promoted by slimming clinics, products that claim to do the needful.....THEY ARE ALL BAND AIDs that are a temporary fix.

When your getting repeated cuts.....Would you not want to know the key cause rather than just applying band aids all the time?

 The only way is the Diet and Nutrition alterations that accompany a permanency in lifestyle adaptation. In fact a Study at Stanford confirms that it takes over 67 days to frame  new habit....so most of our DIET PROGRAMS are 100 days to start of with. To know more on our counselings visit our youtube page to discover these programs by clicking this link:- Learn the Value of Investing in your Life via Nutrition Coaching

For your Pregnancy and New Life Planing click this link Nutrition for New Life!

For Kids Nutrition click this link  Kids Nutrition - Go from Fussy to Happy Eating!

To know more on how our QUATIANS can help you call +919743430000 International or sms us. Email : ryan@quanutrition.com or visit www.quanutrition.com