Powerful Phytonutrients

Anyone performing demanding, physical training on a regular basis needs to ensure they are consuming a diet rich in food sources of antioxidants to repair muscle damage, help prevent injury and promote enhanced immune response.  Intense exercise increases the production of free-radicals, by-products of normal biochemical reactions and energy production, sometimes believed to be partly responsible for post-exercise muscle pain; antioxidants have the ability to disarm free-radicals thus making them harmless.

Phytochemicals are a diverse range of naturally occurring plant compounds, many with antioxidant potential and a spectrum of health-promoting effects including modification of inflammation, thereby not only promoting repair & recovery but also helping reduce the risk of cancer & heart disease. 
 

Bursting with antioxidants!

Phytochemicals or phytonutrients as they are sometimes known include the carotenoids beta-carotene, found in red, orange & yellow coloured fruits & vegetables and lycopene found in tomatoes, tomato products, pink grapefruit & watermelon and the flavonoids including anthocyanins found in red & purple foods such as berries & black grapes and quercetin found in apples, sweet potatoes, kale, watercress, broccoli & onions. 

 

Hence a diet rich in fruits & vegetables is vital to the health of all individuals, but particularly pivotal to those who train on a regular basis and value the transformational effects that exercise has upon both their physical & psychological health. 



Tomatoes & tomato products - rich sources of lycopene



 

15 Protein-Packed Facts

1. Proteins contain the elements carbon, hydrogen, oxygen & nitrogen

2. Protein is found in every cell

3. Protein is a key component in the structure of the body; some have functional roles, ie enzymes and others regulatory roles, ie hormones

4. Proteins play an important role in the function of the immune system

5. Body proteins are continually being broken down and replaced

6. Proteins are composed of linear chains of amino acids; their sequence is encoded in our DNA

DNA double helix

7. Different proteins contain different proportions of amino acids

8. Twenty-one amino acids are involved in the synthesis of proteins

9. These can be separated into two separate groups – indispensable (essential) and dispensable (non-essential)

10. Indispensable amino acids cannot be synthesised by the body and must be provided in the diet

11. Dietary sources of protein can come from both animals & plants

12. Animal sources of protein include meat, fish, eggs & dairy products; as they contain substantial amounts of indispensable amino acids they are termed “complete protein foods”

13. Plant sources of protein include cereals, legumes, nuts & seeds; they lack or don’t contain sufficient quantities of at least one amino acid and are therefore termed as “incomplete protein foods”

14. Plant sources can be combined to overcome the “limiting” amino acid, ie rice & lentils, beans on toast

15. The protein requirements of athletes depends upon the type, intensity and duration of training.

Eat wisely
Cathy x