How to perform well in your sport, how to train well and enjoy surpassing yourself without getting injured? Euro football, Paris Olympics are all showcases for high-level sport, with its athletes followed day by day, sometimes by armies of doctors, physiotherapists, psychologists, etc. For the Sunday athlete to the hardened amateur, it is impossible to be as well supported. The wealthiest turn to personal coaches, while most glean recommendations from fellow athletes, connected tools, or even YouTube, Instagram or TikTok… where good and often not so good advice abounds. However, many scientific studies provide serious answers as to proven methods for improving. L’Express reviews four essential themes: mental preparation, diet, recovery methods and how to deal with injuries. In this second episode, nutrition, between benefits and marketing excesses.
Specific diets, cereal bars, sweet gels, electrolyte tablets and powders. In recent years, products and fashions around sports nutrition have exploded. It’s impossible not to find nutrition sections in major sports brands, not to mention the omnipresence of advertisements on social networks. You only need to take part in a jogging, trail running or triathlon event to realize that the supply of foods that supposedly help you perform is gargantuan. It’s difficult to navigate with all this advice and requests. But is nutrition really important for performance? And how best to eat to avoid inconvenience during a sporting event? An obvious rule first applies: it is necessary, whether you practice sport or not, to have a varied diet, integrating all food families.
But as far as athletes are concerned, the diet varies depending on the date of the event. Before a race, you should eat healthily, but also stock up on sugar. The body being well made, it stores it in the liver and muscles in the form of glycogen. “During sport, the main fuel is sugar, it’s the equivalent of gasoline for a car: if you run out, it’s a breakdown,” illustrates Laura Albaladejo, nutritionist and researcher at the Timc laboratory. from the University of Grenoble. However, there is no need to change your entire diet one or two weeks before the event, such as eating pasta dishes every day, contrary to what some coaches or sports influencers on social networks claim. “This can disrupt transit,” warns the researcher. On the other hand, it is interesting to pay attention to carbohydrate intake two to three days before, with meals incorporating starchy foods, dried vegetables and fruits.
The Food Supplement Scam
The day before, it is advisable to eat starchy foods, a source of protein – which helps to strengthen and maintain muscle mass, but also to repair lesions, which can also be beneficial after the race – and a little lipids, especially for their role in reducing gastric emptying. A typical meal would take the form of a pasta dish with a little cheese and a slice of ham, water and salt. “Eating a few vegetables the day before can be interesting, but you should avoid a Dahl type dish of lentils and wholemeal bread,” adds the researcher. In the same way, a knob of butter is acceptable, but you should obviously avoid raclette. It’s about dosage and balance!”
On the other hand, the multitude of “food supplements” for athletes is, in the vast majority of cases, completely useless. “If a person has a deficiency, then why not, but it will always be after nutritional rebalancing with the advice of a doctor. If there is no deficiency, they can even prove dangerous because we risk to exceed recommended doses, warns Laura Albaladejo. We must also be wary of naturopaths who often prescribe very expensive supplements even though they provide no benefit.
A few hours before the start, however, it is not recommended to have too much fiber and fat intake, because this can disrupt transit and delay digestion time, which can cause digestive problems. It is also recommended to stay hydrated throughout the event and not to start a long distance before two or even three hours after a large meal. Otherwise, long-distance sports enthusiasts may be faced with “runner’s diarrhea” during or just after the race. Scientific studies show that up to 62% of marathon runners have experienced this discomfort. The mechanism is not well understood, but one hypothesis is that during the race, the body activates the sympathetic nervous system which diverts blood flow from the intestines to the muscles, which may make them more vulnerable to the toxins that cause diarrhea. It is also possible that the mechanical impact on the organs during the race contributes to these discomforts.
Gels, bars, energy drinks, marketing
During the event, especially races or training sessions that exceed an hour and a half, it is advisable to have a regular sugar intake. This is where bars and other gels come in, which sometimes contain some protein and, more rarely, salt. “However, sodium intake is very important during a long event and if it is hot, because we lose a lot through sweating,” indicates Laura Albaladejo. But we should not be under any illusions regarding the claims of these products. “There is a lot of marketing: recovery drinks and other “energy” gels can possibly promote the bioavailability of certain nutrients useful for performance, but is it really necessary to buy all that? It’s much less safe” , indicates Professor Nicolas Babault, researcher at the G. Cometti Performance Center of Expertise (Inserm, University of Burgundy). The National Food Safety Agency itself issued a press release in January 2023, to warn consumers. Drinks, powders and lozenges rich in electrolytes also do not seem to be of much help to performance.
As for gels supposed to be full of vitamins, the American and Canadian learned nutrition societies recently published press releases reminding that there is no benefit in consuming them during exercise, especially since they sometimes contain numerous additives which are in no way beneficial, on the contrary. They can, on the other hand, provide a certain comfort thanks to their shape which facilitates transport and ingestion. “But all these products are often expensive, while it is easy to make drinks based on sugar and salt at home, or even fresh fruit juices to which we add a spoonful of salt,” illustrates the researcher.
More generally, nutritionists advise testing foods throughout the year before training, in order to know what suits each person. And in case of doubt, reliable sources based on scientific literature are easily available, such as the website of the Nutritional Resource and Information Center (Cerin) or that of the French Sports Nutrition Society.
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