Sports Nutrition

Sports nutrition plays a key role in optimising the beneficial effects of physical activity, whether you’re a bodybuilder, an athlete in training or exercising to improve your mental and physical health.

Making informed decisions with your nutrition and hydration can result in improved performance, injury prevention and quicker recovery but it's difficult to know where to start with so much conflicting information readily available. That's where the help of a professional nutritionist can aid your decisions, and ultimately improve your performance.

Nutrition offers a variety of services to support your health and sporting goals. This can range from a daily food diary to tips for eating after workouts or a comprehensive nutrition plan for training and competitions.

Fuelling your body with the right foods is essential for sports performance, importantly fats, protein and carbohydrates which maintain the body's energy.

Carbohydrates are the primary fuel used by working muscles, so adequate intake is essential for preventing muscle fatigue.
While it's important to monitor your fat intake, you shouldn't remove it from your diet completely. Fats provide fatty acids that can be used as a source of energy - especially if your exercise sessions last longer than one hour. Fats also provide the building blocks for hormones and the formation of cell walls.
Protein can be used as a source of energy and is critical for building new muscle tissue. If you're taking part in resistance training, your body will require additional protein.

Consuming the right balance of food and drink is important for everyone and those actively participating in sport need to be aware that it can also affect performance. For example, athletes may need more calories than the average person or individuals training for bodybuilding competitions may need to increase their protein intake.