Diet planning suggestions for athletes (Part 2)

Diet planning suggestions for athletes (Part 2)

Professional advice/ Chang Pei-rong, Sentosa

Endurance athletes: high calorie requirement

The muscles of endurance athletes such as marathon runners, cyclists and triathletes, need to consume glycogen for long periods and thus have high calorie requirements, meaning that they need to eat more saccharide food than other athletes. In particular, in the week before intensive training or an official competition, they can increase the proportion of saccharide foods in their diet.

After engaging in sport for 30-60 minutes or after training, 2-3 portions of saccharide food can be eaten (two for sprinters);if the exercise time exceeds one hour, 3-5 portions can be eaten. One portion is around 15 grams of carbohydrate rich food such a half a slice of toast, a piece of fruit or half a glass of milk.



Endurance athletes Nimble and quick type atheltes Resistance athletes

Resistance athletes: Eat a lot of protein

The training focus of resistance athletes is mainly formation of muscle, therefore, they should eat more protein than endurance athletes to promote muscle growth while also maintaining muscle endurance.

So they just need to eat protein foods? Of course not, resistance athletes also need to take in a sufficient amount of saccharide foods to give them the energy they need for intensive training and also ensure that their weight remains within a certain range, thus allowing the best training results to be achieved. If energy intake is not enough, then muscle loss can occur and fatigue feeling can increase, and the chance of sports injury is also increased.


What should vegetarian athletes eat?

Muscle repair after sport needs protein. Generally speaking, vegetarian athletes do not consume enough protein. Chang Pei-rong suggest that vegetarians who eat eggs and dairy products can eat eggs, cheese, yoghurt and milk, or some protein supplements, like whey protein or milk protein, to supplement their protein intake. Vegans can use soy milk, tofu, dried tofu and other bean products to get the protein they need.

Also, root vegetables like potato, sweet potato and pumpkin, beans like red green and green soy beans, and nuts also contain protein so increasing the proportion of this kind of food you consume daily is also a way of supplementing protein your protein intake.




(The above content represents the author’s views alone and not those of this company)
(Edit by VICTOR Badminton )





Queena, Chang


* School of Nutrition Chung Shan Medical University - Bachelor
* Certified Specialist in Renal Nutrition
* Certified Hospital Diabetes Educators
* Expert Advice Website 「JUST WOMAN」- Dietician on site
* Cathay HealthCare Management - Dietician
* Sentosa Inc. - Dietician