Physical Activity & Nutrition

Dietitian Betul Kisioglu

Physical Activity and Fitness

• Physical activity is bodily movement produced by muscle contractions that substantially increase energy expenditure.

• Fitness is the characteristics that enable the body to perform physical activity.

• Are you physically fit or are you leading a sedentary(physically inactive) life. That's the question.

Benefits of Fitness

• Extensive evidence confirms that regular physical activity promotes health and reduces the risk of developing a number of diseases.

• Physical inactivity is linked to the major degenerative diseases:-heart disease-cancer-stroke-diabetes-hypertension

As a person becomes physically fit, the health of the entire body improves. In general physically fit people enjoy:• Restful sleep• Nutritional health• Improved body composition• Improved bone density• Resistance to colds and other infectious diseases• Low risks of some cancers• Strong circulation and lung function• Low risk of cardiovascular disease• Low risk of type 2 diabetes• Reduce risk of gallbladder disease• Low incidence and severity of anxiety and depression• Strong self-image• Long life and high quality of life in the later years

Don't forget!!!

Healthy body, healthy mind.

Levels of Physical Activity

• The energy you spend, the body adaptations and the nutrition you need depends on the levels, amount and time of physical activity.

Developing Fitness

• To be physically fit, a person must develop enough flexibility, muscle strength and endurance, and cardiorespiratory endurance to meet the everyday demands of life with some to spare and to achieve a reasonable body weight and composition.

Conditioning

• Conditioning is the physical effect of training; improved flexibility, strength and endurance.

• Training is practicing an activity regularly which leads to conditioning.

• The principals of conditioning apply to each component of fitness - flexibility strength and endurance.

• The way to achieve conditioning is by training, primarily by applying the progressive overload principal- that is, by asking a little more of the body in each training session.

ACSM Guideline for Physical Fitness

• When training to gain conditioning you can apply the progressive overload principle in several different ways. Those are increasing the frequency, intensity or duration.

• The rate of progression depends on individual characteristics such as fitness level, health status, age and preference.

• It is better to progress slowly than to risk injury by overexertion.

• Before starting a fitness program, make sure it is safe for you to do.

• People of these risk factors may need medical advice:-Age(men≥45, women≥55)-Family history of heart disease-Cigarette smoking-Hypertension-Serum cholesterol≥200mg/dL, LDL≥130mg/dL or

HDL<40mg/dL or taking lipid-lowering medication-Prediabetes (fasting plasma glucose ≥ 100mg/dL)-Sedentary lifestyle-Obesity (BMI ≥ 30)

The key to regular physical activity is finding an activity you enjoy.

Cardiorespiratory Endurance

• The length of time a person can remain active with an elevated heart rate- that is, the ability of the heart, lungs and blood to sustain a given demand- defines a persons cardiorespiratory endurance.

• Cardiorespiratory endurance reflects the health of the heart and circulatory system.

• To improve your cardiorespiratory endurance, activities must be sustained for 20 minutes or longer and use most of the large-muscle groups of the body (legs, buttocks and abdomen). The level of training must be intense enough to elevate your heart rate.

• Cardiorespiratory conditioning:-increases cardiac output and oxygen delivery-increases blood volume per heart beat(stroke

volume)-slows resting pulse-increases breathing efficiency-improves circulation-reduces blood pressure

• One of the benefits of cardiorespiratory training is that fit muscles use oxygen efficiently, reducing the heart’s workload. An added bonus is that muscles that use oxygen efficiently can burn fat longer- a plus for body composition and weight control.

Resistance (Weight) Training

• Resistance training is the use of free weights or weight machines to provide resistance for developing muscle strength, power and endurance. Also called weight training.

• Progressive resistance training helps prevent and manage several chronic diseases.

• It can also help to maximize and maintain bone mass.

• To emphasize:-muscle strength, combine high resistance (heavy weight) with a low number of repetitions (8 to 12)-muscle power, combine moderate resistance (low to medium weight) with high velocity (as fast as safely possible)-muscle endurance, combine less resistance (lighter weight) with more repetitions (15 to 20)

A Balanced Fitness Program

• In a balanced fitness program, aerobic activity improves cardiorespiratory fitness, stretching enhances flexibility and resistance training develops muscle strength, muscle power and muscle endurance.

Energy Systems and Fuels

• Nutrition and physical activity go hand in hand.

• Activity demands carbohydrate and fat as fuel, protein to build and maintain less tissues, vitamins and minerals to support both energy metabolism and tissue building, and water to help distribute the fuels and to dissipate the resulting heat and wastes.

• Muscles always use a mixture of fuels- never just one.

• Fuel mixture during activity depends on:-Diet-Intensity and duration of activity-Training

• High-intensity, short duration activities depend mostly on glucose as the chief energy fuel.

• Endurance activities of low to moderate intensity and long duration depend more on fat to provide energy aerobically.

• The relationships among fuels and physical activity bear heavily on what foods best support your chosen activity.

Carbonhydrate, Protein and Fat Use

• High carbohydrate diets enhance endurance by ensuring ample glycogen stores.

• Evidence so far suggests that when carbohydrate intake is optimal, protein provides no additional performance benefit.

• The consume of fat should be 20 to 35 percent of daily energy to meet nutrient and energy needs. Diets high in saturated fat carry the risk of heart disease.

• Protein is not a major fuel for physical activity. Therefore all athletes in training should attend to protein needs but they should first meet their energy needs with adequate carbohydrate intakes.

• The need of water far surpasses the need for any other nutrient.

• To prevent dehydration and the fatigue that accompanies it, drink liquids before, during and after physical activity.

• The most important think to do is drink even if you are not thirsty.

• To meet your nutrient needs of your fitness program consult to a registered dietitian for your personal diet.

Recent Studies

Evaluation of Nutritional Intake in Canadian High-Performance Athletes

• To determine the nutritional intake of Canadian high-performance athletes.

• Three hundred twenty-four high-performance athletes (114 males and 201 females; mean age 21.3 ± 13 years) from 8 Canadian sport centers participated in the study.

• Subjects prospectively completed 3-day dietary records, reporting all food, fluid, and supplement consumption.

• Dietary records were analyzed for total calories, macronutrients, and micronutrients for food alone and food plus supplements for all subjects collectively and according to gender and competitive event.

• Results: • Average daily energy intake was 2533 ± 843 Kcal/day with

males consuming more calories than females (2918 ± 927 and 2304 ± 713 Kcal/day, respectively; P < 0.05). Both genders consumed below recommended levels.

• Carbohydrate, protein, and fat accounted for 53%, 19%, and 28% of daily calorie intake, respectively. Average daily carbohydrate and protein intake was 5.1 ± 1.8 and 1.8 ± 0.6 g/kg body weight, respectively. Protein intake, but not carbohydrate intake, met recommendations.

• Supplementation significantly increased athletes' energy, total carbohydrate, protein, and fat intake. Of 17 micronutrients assessed, intake ranged between 120% and 366% of recommended daily intake with food alone and between 134% to 680% of recommended daily intake with supplements.

• Conclusions: • Canadian high-performance athletes do not

consume adequate energy or carbohydrates. However, their intake of micronutrients exceed current recommended daily intakes, even when supplements are not considered, indicating that athletes make high-quality food choices. Supplementation significantly increased energy, macronutrient, and micronutrient intake.

Increased protein intake reduces lean body mass loss during weight loss in

athletes

• To examine the influence of dietary protein on lean body mass loss and performance during short-term hypoenergetic weight loss in athletes.

• In a parallel design, 20 young healthy resistance-trained athletes were examined for energy expenditure for 1 wk and fed a mixed diet (15% protein, 100% energy) in the second week followed by a hypoenergetic diet (60% of the habitual energy intake), containing either 15% (approximately 1.0 g x kg(-1)) protein (control group, n = 10; CP) or 35% (approximately 2.3 g x kg(-1)) protein (high-protein group, n = 10; HP) for 2 wk. Subjects continued their habitual training throughout the study. Total, lean body, and fat mass, performance (squat jump, maximal isometric leg extension, one-repetition maximum (1RM) bench press, muscle endurance bench press, and 30-s Wingate test) and fasting blood samples (glucose, nonesterified fatty acids (NEFA), glycerol, urea,cortisol, free testosterone, free Insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1), and growth hormone), and psychologic measures were examined at the end of each of the 4 wk.

• RESULTS: Total (-3.0 +/- 0.4 and -1.5 +/- 0.3 kg for the CP and HP, respectively, P = 0.036) and lean body mass loss (-1.6 +/- 0.3 and -0.3 +/- 0.3 kg, P = 0.006) were significantly larger in the CP compared with those in the HP. Fat loss, performance, and most blood parameters were not influenced by the diet. Urea was higher in HP, and NEFA and urea showed a group x time interaction. Fatigue ratings and "worse than normal" scores on the Daily Analysis of Life Demands for Athletes were higher in HP.

• CONCLUSIONS: These results indicate that approximately 2.3 g x kg(-1) or approximately 35% protein was significantly superior to approximately 1.0 g x kg(-1) or approximately 15% energy protein for maintenance of lean body mass in young healthy athletes during short-term hypoenergetic weight loss.

References

• Whitney &Rolfes, Understanding Nutrition, 2012• Increased protein intake reduces lean body mass loss

during weight loss in athletes. Mettler S, Mitchell N, Tipton KD, School of Sport and Exercise Sciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, United Kingdom, Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise [2010, 42(2):326-337]

• Evaluation of Nutritional Intake in Canadian High-Performance Athletes, Lun, Victor MD*; Erdman, Kelly Anne MSc, RD*; Reimer, Raylene A PhD, RD*†, Clinical Journal of Sport Medicine: September 2009 - Volume 19 - Issue 5 - pp 405-411