The Bridge Between Nutrition and Fitness: Reaching Your Fitness Goals

You’ve started exercising. Congratulations! You’re on the road to better health.
For many people the beginning of this road is fairly bumpy when thinking about nutrition and fitness. You experience muscle soreness or cramps, disrupted sleep, or changes in your gut associated with this new level of activity. Fear not. You won’t feel this way for very long, and quitting exercise is not the way to improve your situation.
Whether you consider yourself an athlete or not, if you engage in moderate to vigorous physical activity on a regular basis, you may be placing extra demands on your body like an athlete – especially on your muscular, skeletal, respiratory, and circulatory systems.
The key is to find the gap between your nutrition and fitness, assessing your current routines and understanding what you’re missing.
How does proper nutrition help athletes?
Fitness and nutrition, sports and nutrition – they go hand in hand. Ideally, your diet provides all the nutrients your body needs. If your nutrition and exercise aren’t matched, though, if there aren’t enough of the necessary nutrients coming from your diet to support all your body’s systems, the limited resources still must be shared.
That can result in shortfalls not only for the systems we associate with physical activity, but also those not directly involved, like the digestive, immune, and reproductive systems. When these systems have adequate nutrition, they can function optimally, supporting wellness and performance.
So, the first step to optimizing your athletic performance and your health as an athlete is to ensure that you are providing your body with all the nutrients it needs to meet the higher demands you are creating. Nutritional support for endurance athletes and everyday athletes alike is crucial during performance and recovery.
When you start a new exercise routine, evaluating your diet is a smart preparatory step. A solid nutritional foundation is critical for supporting your body during exercise and the recovery process that follows. It is also a good idea to revisit this evaluation periodically, especially when you make a big change to your routine, if you notice your performance flagging, or if you have more difficulty with recovery.
For younger athletes who are still growing, it is even more critical to maintain healthy, balanced, and adequate nutrition!
What is needed in the diet for athletes? A healthy diet (for almost everyone) includes a balanced amount of carbohydrates, proteins, and fats, the key being getting healthful forms from healthful sources. Eating a wide variety of colorful, whole foods with a heavy emphasis on vegetables, fruits, and whole grains is an excellent start.
Adequate amounts of lean protein, such as from chicken or fish, nuts, and legumes, are important for nutrition, especially after exercise. And don’t leave out the healthy fats – olive and avocado oils and the oils found in nuts, fish, and seeds. Fats are essential for many functions in your body including healthy brain function, balanced hormones, and facilitating the absorption of some vitamins from food.
On the flip side, avoiding heavily processed foods, as well as foods with large quantities of added salt or sugar is also a wise move. You may have heard to “shop the perimeter” of the grocery store – this is where the fresh produce and less processed foods tend to be located.
How much you need of all these types of nutrients is really an individual question that goes well beyond the scope of this article. For personalized guidance about your diet, it is best to consult a nutrition professional like a Registered Dietitian or Nutritionist. If you aren’t sure who to talk to, Thorne’s Find a Professional tool may be able to guide you to a resource in your area.
Even the best diet and planning can fall short of providing all the essential nutrients needed, especially when you’re trying to keep calories under control and can’t spend hours on meal planning. Nutritional supplements can fill in the gaps and provide your body with needed building blocks to not just survive exercise, but to maximize its benefits. Here are several tips for augmenting your diet to support healthy exercise and recovery.
Essential vitamins, minerals, and nutrition for athletes
What do athletes need more of in their diet? After considering appropriate macros, micronutrients like vitamins and minerals should be top of mind. A quality multi-vitamin/mineral complex will go a long way toward filling foundational gaps in your nutrition.
Multi-Vitamin Elite is specifically designed for athletes’ nutrition needs and is NSF Certified for Sport®. It includes two formulations, an A.M. formula for the morning and a P.M. formula for the evening, that support energy during the day and restful sleep and recovery at night.*
When choosing a daily multi, keep in mind that some nutrients, like calcium and magnesium, are required by the body in larger quantities. That means they will take up a lot of space in the capsule.
If you choose a multi-vitamin/mineral product with a smaller serving size, like Thorne’s Basic Nutrients 2/Day, then there will typically be less of those bulky ingredients than in a product with a larger serving size, like Advanced Nutrients, Men’s Multi 50+, or Women’s Multi 50+.
That’s fine, especially if it helps you to consistently use the product because you don’t have to swallow as many capsules, but it’s important to be aware of this limitation so you can be sure you get those nutrients from other sources (like dairy, seeds, nuts, and leafy greens). If you choose a lower-capsule-count option, consider adding a calcium-magnesium product, like Calcium-Magnesium Malate, along with it.
Essential fatty acids
Omega-3 fatty acids, especially EPA and DHA, support a wide range of body systems, including muscles, joints, and healthy inflammatory processes, but most American adults don’t get enough omega-3’s in their diet (most commonly from fatty fish).1 Thorne’s Super EPA is an excellent choice for supporting an athlete’s nutrition, or, if you prefer a liquid form, check out Omega Superb.*
Essential amino acids and exercise
High-quality protein promotes lean muscle growth and exercise recovery, especially when consumed just after exercise. Whey Protein Isolate is an easily digested, complete protein that is now also available in convenient single-serve travel packs to make it easier to use on-the-go! If you are a vegan or avoiding dairy, Amino Complex contains all nine essential amino acids in a lemon- or berry-flavored form that is easy to absorb. Amino Complex is also now available in convenient single-serve travel packs to use at home, at the gym, or the road.
Special needs: Supplements for sore muscles
Having sore muscles is a common complaint associated with exercise, especially when just starting out, changing routines, or increasing intensity. Thorne’s Curcumin Phytosome, an enhanced-absorption form of curcumin, offers antioxidant benefits, supports a healthy inflammatory response in joints and muscles, and reduces the aches and pains associated with exercise.*
For more on how to address muscle soreness, check out some other Take 5 Daily articles like "Muscles Sore After a Workout? You're Not Doomed. It's DOMS." or "Thorne’s Best Supplements for Muscle Recovery".
Magnesium is an important mineral related to dozens of cellular functions, including muscle relaxation.* If your new exercise plan is disturbing your sleep or resulting in fatigue or muscle cramps, then consider supplementing with Thorne’s Magnesium Bisglycinate, a lightly sweetened powder that mixes easily into hot or cold water for a bedtime drink. The same magnesium-with-glycine form is available now in capsules, as Magnesium Glycinate. Check out Thorne’s complete lineup of magnesium supplements here. If the stress of a new exercise plan is challenging you with gut disruptions, then explore the benefits of FloraSport 20B®, a probiotic blend specifically designed to support digestive and immune function.*
Although it’s nice to customize your supplement strategy, sometimes you just want one or two options that cover a lot of bases in one product.
RecoveryPro® is designed to optimize muscle recovery, support restful sleep, and moderate stress,* with a synergistic blend of whey protein, tryptophan, magnesium bisglycinate, and PharmaGABA®. (And, if you like chocolate, it tastes fantastic hot or cold!)
Nutrition after exercise: Hydration
Last, but definitely not least, is hydration.
It’s easy to forget about water, but everything your body does requires water. You constantly lose water just because you’re alive. Water loss increases with exercise, hot weather, and any type of illness. Very small shortages of body water (just 1-2%) can result in negative effects on body functions,2 but you might not feel thirsty until you’re already mildly dehydrated.
What are two methods of hydrating the body after exercise?
It may sound obvious, but to keep adequately hydrated, drink water all day long, and drink a little extra before, during, and after exercise, especially when you sweat. Being adequately hydrated reduces fatigue, cramping, and headaches associated with exercise and recovery.
If drinking plain water is unappealing, try changing the temperature of the water or adding natural essences for flavor (drop in fresh citrus, berries, mint, basil, cucumber, or your favorite produce) without adding calories.
Some of your water needs can also be met with food and other beverages, especially melons and fruit, but it’s important to be aware of added calories or caffeine that can be counterproductive or unwanted.
For athletes, especially those who engage in sports or activities that result in a lot of sweating, hydration is often thought of as synonymous with electrolytes.
Electrolytes after exercise
Electrolytes – calcium, chloride, magnesium, potassium, and sodium – are critical to many body systems, especially for proper nervous system and muscle function. Many electrolytes, like sodium and potassium, are easy to acquire in the typical diet, but others, like magnesium, are not as plentiful in the average diet. Exercise, especially when you sweat, can increase your body’s need for electrolytes beyond what your diet can provide.
Should you take electrolytes before or after workouts?
Yes, to both! But it also depends on the conditions. Replacing electrolytes after a sweaty workout is important for restoring what you lost through sweat. This can aid muscle recovery and help to avoid unpleasant effects like cramping. But if you anticipate your exercise routine will leave you hot and sweaty or last a long time, fueling up with some electrolytes beforehand can help to keep your electrolytes balanced longer into the workout. Keeping electrolytes balanced helps your body’s systems continue functioning optimally.
Thorne’s Catalyte® is a balanced mix of electrolytes and water-soluble vitamins (also lost in sweat) that support cellular rehydration and recovery,* with flavors and colors derived from natural sources and containing far less than the big-name sports drinks on the market.
For everyday hydration support, Thorne offers Daily Electrolytes, an on-the-go electrolyte formula available in three refreshing flavors – Watermelon, Mango Limeade, and Blood Orange. Try all three in the Variety Pack!
Not sure which electrolyte formula is best for your needs? Check out this article on Catalyte® vs. Daily Electrolytes for more information.
With your nutritional needs shored up, check out our Simple Answers to Beginner Exercise Questions for help designing your exercise plan or Making Exercise a Reality – 10 Tips for Success for help developing a new exercise routine. Most importantly – stick with it and it won’t be too long before you’re feeling better than ever!
References
- Papanikolaou Y, Brooks J, Reider C, Fulgoni VL. U.S. adults are not meeting recommended levels for fish and omega-3 fatty acid intake: results of an analysis using observational data from NHANES 2003–2008. Nutr J. 2014;13:31.
- Riebl SK, Davy BM. The hydration equation: update on water balance and cognitive performance. ACSMs Health Fit J. 2013;17(6):21-28.