What are macronutrients and why do they matter for sports performance.
What are macronutrients or macros?
Macros refer to the group of molecules that make up the foods that we eat that are divided into 3 subgroups:
Protein
Carbohydrate
Fat
While most foods contain ancillary (crossover macros), they tend to be predominently one macro over another.
Take avocados for example, a black skin avocado is made up of 77.4% fats, 18.7% carbs and 4% protein.
Watermelon is made up of 76.5% carbs, 6.6% protein and 4.3 fats.
Skinless chicken breast is made up fo 76.5% protein, 23.5% fats, and 0.0% carbs.
Why are macros important?
Back when I was a hippie...... and would only eat organic, gluten free, dairy free, sugar free, and happiness free.....
Ok I'm being totally dramatic, but yes I admit, there was a time when there were more foods I wouldn't eat than foods I let myself eat.
Years ago when I was a real hippie raising a couple of cave kids (I mean, I like to think I'm still a bit of a hippie but a more mature one now that believes in science rather than reading stars), I truly believed that food was either good for you, or bad for you. There was no in between. You either ate well, or you didn't.
I was a paleolithic snob. I couldn't be more embarrassed about my shortsightedness right now.
It's amazing how much misleading information about nutrition you can find online, and this can be so damaging, both emotionally and physically.
During my time as a cave lady, I didn't see a problem with fueling up with kale, nuts and avocados for sports. Sounds pretty harmless right?
After all, weren't things like pasta, rice and various other grains the culprit to IBS, obesity, and other problems?
Or so I thought.
So I gave it all up - pasta, bread, rice, sugar, the whole lot - hoping that it would both help me to become leaner, faster and stronger at the gym.
I couldn't be more wrong.
It would take me 5 years of being a paleo dieter before I realised it wasn't giving me the fuel I needed. Finding out the hard way sucked.
I remember being on the floor at the gym after a nasty session which included sprints, box jumps and 210 burpees. I'm still convinced Crossfit coaches do things like that to satisfy their sadistic needs.
After the workout, I started trembling uncontrollably. My lips were quivering and I couldn't stop them. I felt light headed and a little sick, but this is normal right? This is how you're supposed to feel after Crossfit right? At least that is what I convinced myself.
Turns out I was wrong.
Training shouldn't leave you feeling totally sapped out.
What I was experiencing was a sudden drop in glycogen in my body. There was nothing left in the tank.
While its true I had plenty of fuel from dietary fats in my body, it wasn't the kind of fuel needed for high intensity sessions.
Here's why.... and its proper geeky stuff so if you love science read on.
There are 3 energy pathways, meaning this is how energy is used in our bodies when we move:
ATP-PCr
Glycolytic pathway
Oxidative phosphorylative pathway.
Knowing which macronutrient does the bulk of the work for each pathway can change your performance and your physique.
Let's say you're at a throwdown and the first event is a run, the clocks countdown, you hear the last 3 seconds counting you in, and the long BEEEEEP..... Go!
The ATP-PCr System
The moment you take off, you go into a full sprint, this is your body tapping into the ATP-PCr system. This is when creatine is produced by breaking and recreating the ATP (Adenosine triphosphate) and ADP (adenosine diphosphate) bonds. If you want to learn more about ATP visit this blog I wrote about Creatine and how it can improve your performance. The first system only lasts about 10 seconds, this is why we can't "go ham" for longer than 10 - 12 seconds. Unless you are Matt Fraser of course.
Glycolytic pathway
After the initial sprint, your body will start to slow down, not much though, because remember we are at a competition and we want to get the best possible score. As your body slows down slightly, you start to tap into the glycolytic pathway.
At this point your body will start looking for more glycogen in the liver and muscles to keep it going. This is when having enough carbs in your diet is important for athletes because without that fuel left in the tank, the body is forced to start mining for it elsewhere.
This process of creating glucose from a non carbohydrate source is called gluconeogenesis, we'll return to this in just a bit.
Oxidative phosphorylative pathway
Let's just pretend the run was really long, and you got to the final section of the event and you felt you had used up every ounce of energy in your body and you could just about shuffle your feet at slow jogging pace just to get you through the race. This is your oxidative phosphorylative pathway kicking in.
Remember what I said about mining for glucose elsewhere? Without glycogen in your body, your body then turns to either gluconeogensis or ketosis. Recognise the prefix 'keto'? This is when the body is low on glycogen and defaults to a 'backup system' by creating ketones.
Notice how I chose to use the phrase 'backup'? This is because its not the body's preferred way of doing things.
Fat oxidation is efficient, in fact so efficient that it is virtually what keeps you alive, however it's also very slow. So if your exercises are primarily made up of walking, sitting around, and surviving day to day, then great, a keto diet is fine.
Takeaways
I'm willing to bet that if you are reading this, you are an athlete, or at least an individual that takes pride in their sport and performance, and if this is the case, your source of fuel should come from carbs. And I don't mean scientific carbs like carrots and kale, I mean actual 'street talk' carbs like pasta and rice.
So this is a long winded way of saying, if you're fueling on fats and avoiding carbs because you think it will stop you from reaching your body goals, perhaps try adding a bit more carbs slowly over time to see how it benefits you.
Everything in moderation is really the best option, but for specific sports performance goals, knowing how and when to eat which macronutrient can be the knowledge that makes or breaks your performance.
