Mapping Out a Healthy Lifestyle Journey for Athletes
Exploring the essential elements of an athlete’s journey towards a healthier lifestyle…
A while back, sports only used to be considered as a leisure activity that did not provide any real benefit for people as a career. This has drastically changed to professionalism as well as the rise in the number of people who consider this a career.
The life of an athlete
The pressure to perform and win medals has turned to a win-at-all-cost type of situation in the athletics field. Due to the undeniable pressure that comes with the competitive nature of the professions, athletes option for whichever measure to give themselves an edge and at times putting their life and health at risk.
The performance of an athlete many depends on the lifestyle one adopts. This includes a healthy diet, regular exercise, ability to manage and perform under pressure. Most of the athletes also use diet supplements to boost their performance.
Supplements
Supplement are forms of ergogenic aid that are consumed for the purpose of improving performance. Supplements are used mainly to boost promoting energy supply, burn fats and improve physical strength and power.
Athletes are required to have appropriate mass muscle strength and size. On the other hand, diet supplements can cause more harm than good. And Protein is a critical part of an athlete diet especially those that engage in hard training and exercise. It is possible to include more portions of protein in the diet through consuming of protein products such as dairy products, fish, and poultry.
The reason why an athlete may consider using protein supplements is that of the fat contained in the dietary proteins. It is important, therefore, to know the protein foods that are low in protein. Proteins supplements help the athlete to get rid of excess fats in the protein foods. If you are reading this and wants to go for this option, be sure you only take advice from reliable protein powder reviews since there’s a lot of choices out there in the open market.
Reasons for using supplements
Increase muscle strength
Muscle growth is gained through persistent training and exercise. Regular physical workouts help to build body muscles. The use of protein supplements is aimed at boosting the muscle strength. On the other hand, this gives an unfair advantage to athletes.
The use of protein supplements is considered a punishable offense in the athletics community. The body can build up muscle through regular workouts, and a healthy diet.
Fat burning
Branch chained amino acids are contained in the diet supplement that athlete use. This amino acid produced by the human body is capable of facilitating the process of building-up of proteins and muscles in the body.
On the other hand, the supplements have the ability to increase fat burning or the process of fat oxidation, especially during workout sessions.
However, amino acids in the supplements also cause metabolic imbalance. Besides the benefits that supplements may have on our bodies, they can be dangerous to the human body.
Nutrition experts warn against the use of supplements especially due to the dangers they can cause to the human body.
Some of the risks of using diet supplements
Health risk
The use of supplements over a long period can increase the risk of developing kidney problems and cardiovascular problems such as kidney stones of the ultimate failure of the kidneys and heart problems respectively.
Reduced appetite
Supplements reduce appetite. Therefore, the athlete is not getting the much need nutrients from foods. The individual will also experience fatigue.
Stomach irritations
Many dietary supplements may cause gastrointestinal problems such as stomach upset and diarrhea. Individuals who are lactose intolerant will tend to experience nausea, stomach cramps and even bloating especially due to the use of dairy-based proteins.
How to adopt a healthy athletic lifestyle
Regardless of the detriments that supplement may have on the body, they do have a place in the life of athletes and body builders. It is important to seek medical consultation before using supplements.
Find an organization that has had success in guiding athletes on the best supplements that they can embrace to improve their capabilities. Some supplements like colostrum improve the immunity while L-carnitine improves heart function while increasing weight loss.
Others like Creatine, Garcinia Cambogia, and Vitamin B-12 offer muscle growth, weight loss, and general nutritional health. A lot of companies offer free trials and can guide athletes on the best way of consuming these products.
