Antioxidants for Athletic Performance

Antioxidants for athletes work brilliantly. In my opinion, athletes should move their focus from supplements to identify foods rich in antioxidants.

Vitamin A, C , E and selenium are classified as antioxidants. The issue we face today is that everyone prefers to take them in a pill form.

Genetically for thousands of years, the body has received the nutrients through food, so it is habitual of absorbing nutrients in such a manner. When you consume anything in pill form, it will confuse the body’s system, and it won’t be fully absorbed.

In my practice, I have seen when we give antioxidants to athletes, their existing deficiency levels improve.

As per a study, masoor dal, which provides the lowest protein content, actually has the highest antioxidants potential.

So if I have to suggest my athlete, I will go with masoor dal.

Now you will be wondering, but what about protein intake? Masoor dal does not offer enough protein.

Any food you eat will give you some amount of carbs, protein, and fat.

Let me give you an example. Say a boxer’s calorie requirement is 5000 calories. A large part of this requirement will come from carbs.

When an athlete eats carbs in such a large quantity, they will automatically meet their protein requirements.

Protein requirements for athletes range from 1gm-2gm/kg body weight. So if an athlete weighs 75 kgs, at maximum, their daily protein requirement will be 150gm which can easily be fulfilled.

Eating more protein than your daily requirement can be detrimental. When you take an excess of protein, your blood ammonia increases. Guess what happens to your reflexes? It slows down.

That’s why, with all due respect to the bodybuilders in the community, you will notice that bodybuilders want to sleep 2-3 times in the day and have slow reflexes.

Since there is too much protein and ammonia in the body, the sharpness levels drop. As an athlete, you can’t afford to be slow, irrespective of the sport you play.

So it’s the carbs with antioxidants and protein that come along with it.

There are ready-made antioxidants products available in the market, but nothing like getting them through foods.

If you wish to reach out to my team for a customized sports nutrition plan, call us at +91-9743430000.

Ryan Fernando is an Award-winning celebrity Sports Nutritionist with 2GUINNESS world record and 2 Olympic medals under his belt. His client list include Olympic wrestler Sushil Kumar, cricketer Shikhar Dhawan & bollywood superstars Aamir Khan & Abhishek Bachchan. He is Chief Nutritionist at QUA Nutrition Signature Clinics.