The Mistake, Problem and Repair

THE MISTAKE:
Since I'm a triathlete I can eat whatever I want.

PROBLEM:
You are what you eat. If your diet is made up of processed foods and junk snacks, you are forfeiting top health and top performance.

THE REPAIR:
Shift the bulk of your diet away from processed foods and instead eat whole grains, beans, vegetables and fruit. If you eat mostly processed food, you're going to feel like garbage for a reason: You're stressing out your body.

The old school thinking is that endurance athletes will burn off anything and everything they throw in the tank. Guess what? You can run all your life and still flood your arteries with cholesterol. And if your diet is a parade of processed foods, from white rice and white pasta to frozen pizzas and Captain Crunch, you're paying for it with your health and how good you feel. And if you're not so worried about your health, just your performance, think of it in terms of your PR. A junky diet impairs energy levels, undercuts recovery and ultimately reduces the training effect you work so hard to achieve.

"You get very little return from processed foods," says Brendan Brazier, former professional triathlete and author of Thrive Fitness. "I call processed foods 'low net gain' foods. Your digestive system has to spend energy for little gain in terms of nutrients, putting you in a negative energy state. When you eat foods with high nutrient density, you're making a return on your investment."

THE MISTAKE:
I eat and drink the bare minimum during my training to teach my body how to burn fat.

PROBLEM:
You have it backwards. You're actually enabling increased fat storage.

THE REPAIR:
Not fueling your body with enough calories leads to a negative State of energy, says Matt Dixon, coach to top pros such as Chris Lieto and Linsey Corbin. "It puts the body in a starvation state, adding to the physiological stress or metabolic stress to your body, and it provides urges or desires for you to eat lots of carbs later in the day." Dixon adds that these carbs are more likely to be stored as fat. One of the worst mistakes you can make is skipping breakfast.

According to Dr. Neal Barnard, president of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, blowing past breakfast will trash your day. "Even though some people skip breakfast in hopes of cutting down calories, missing the first meal of the day propels them into overeating later on," he says. Barnard also notes that research shows remarkable reductions in stress hormone production when you eat breakfast. Choose a breakfast that is high in fiber and complex carbohydrates like oatmeal and low in saturated fat unlike bacon and eggs.

source: Triathlete_Magazine_Nov2010