Janette Lepistö, one of the baseball stars, guides athletes in nutrition matters at the Kuortanene sports college. He hopes that eating would be accompanied by a more relaxed atmosphere.
At the turn of the week, the Lapua Virkiä nesting team’s bus will once again travel hundreds of kilometers to the game. Janette Lepistö equip yourself for a sweaty trip with experience. Refueling must be started no later than the previous days, especially during hot weather. In addition to games, the backpack includes versatile snacks.
Lepistö’s morning starts with a good breakfast. The next meal is either lunch or a small snack, which depends on the time of the morning workout.
– Sometimes I make a smoothie to go. Snacks include bread, muesli, yogurt and fruit. The kind that goes well with you on the bus and is easy to eat on the road, says Lepistö.
The menu is simple even on game days. On vigorous trips, Lepistö’s energy intake is guaranteed by the pasta, which is also known to many other athletes, including crumble.
The refueling schedule is dictated by the body. Kropa’s food clock alerts Lepistö to eat something practically every couple of hours. However, for a licensed nutritionist, it’s like a cobbler whose children ran out of shoes.
Drinking is a basic thing, but even so batting joker notices that he misses filling up with fluids, especially on trips to games, when he should get enough fluid every day.
– That’s a challenge for yourself. The drink bottle somehow gets forgotten in it or is not available, Lepistö admits.
Information about food is enough
In his civilian job at the sports college in Kuortanen, Lepistö guides athletes and those who intend to become athletes across sport boundaries in matters of nutrition. In elite sports, nutrition and rest are just as essential as proper training.
Although there is already a huge amount of knowledge and know-how about nutrition, Lepistö reveals in the interview how nutrition is talked about in his own sport.
– Surprisingly little nutrition actually. It could and should be more, because nutrition has such an essential effect on performance. In baseball, the load and consumption is quite heavy.
In his own career, he remembers that nutrition thinking brightened at the same time when the promise of Superpesis was taking shape from the young baseball player.
The teenager began to understand the importance of nutrition and to study more about it. At the same time, a more thoughtful diet and larger amounts of meals began to taste good.
Since then, he also found his own field in food and nutritional considerations. Lepistö, who graduated with a master’s degree in health sciences, has been working in Kuortane as a nutritionist since last fall.
Body image
Female athletes are criticized for their performances, but unfortunately also often because of their bodies. From the players, Lepistö calls for gentleness and permissiveness in the attitude towards food and the body.
According to Lepistö, chocolate is not a sin after all and you don’t have to blame yourself for snacking.
– I try to influence by my own example that eating would be accompanied by a relaxed atmosphere. Our society is really focused on losing weight. Food is associated with moralizing and it is really harmful and even harmful.
Are you having a treat?
– Of course! There is nothing forbidden and I try to remind others of that as well. When the basic pillars of nutrition are in order, it is sufficient and versatile, and treats can also be included in reasonable amounts, says Lepistö.
Lepistö also emphasizes that it is not necessary to limit what an athlete eats, because often the challenge is rather insufficient energy intake. Eating is restricted in the hopes of shaping the body, leading to reduced performance and increased risk of injury.
– In my opinion, baseball is a good example of a sport where different bodies can be successful. In different roles, different characteristics are useful.