Stay fit like an athlete

Read an interesing artice about staying fit. You are what you eat. And if you want to be fit like an athlete, then you need to follow certain dietary tips daily. The problem, though, is that in a sport there are times when you are off competitive tours or training for weeks or months, but you’d still need to follow a strict diet to stay in shape and form. Here are some tips to follow: • Never skip a meal. Whether you are playing a match or not, your body requires certain basic nutrients every day. One or two big meals cannot make up for this. You have to eat three well-balanced meals daily. Even if you have a day off from your hectic training schedules and wake up late, you need to eat breakfast latest by 11 am, lunch by 3 pm and dinner by 9 pm. Remember, you must eat three meals. • Ensure that all your meals have the right balance of carbohydrates and protein. Having only fruits for breakfast or only a salad and soup or boiled vegetables for lunch or dinner is wrong. • Athletes require a basic amount of complex carbohydrate like wholewheat bread, cereals like cornflakes or oats, wholewheat (atta) rotis or rice with every meal to meet the basic energy requirements and keep the basal metabolic rate (BMR) high. When you skip a meal or eat a meal without rotis/bread/rice, (i.e. skip carbohydrates) then your BMR goes down and you become more likely to put on weight. Also, players require more protein than normal, so every meal must contain protein foods along with the carbohydrates. Some of the best sources for protein include skimmed milk or yogurt, egg white, dhal or channa, rajma, moong, chicken and fish. Reduce fatty food intake to a minimum or avoid completely A - All fried food and all nuts B - Butter, cream, ghee, etc C - Chocolates, ice creams, cookies, cakes, desserts and all sweets It is fine to try and loose weight as long as it is not achieved by skipping meals or substituting meals with just soup, salad or fruits. If you want to remove excess fat from your body then you have to completely give up fatty foods. If you eat balanced meals and cut out these fatty foods completely for a month, you can lose at least three kilograms in a month. Regular cardiovascular exercise like a 20-30 minute jog or treadmill walk through the week does wonders for reducing fat in the body. So, even when you are not doing your routine training or gym workout you need to make sure you have a 20-30 minutes cardio-session through the week.