Issue 074

April 2011

Match your diet with your busy lifestyle

For many budding MMA warriors, time is a precious commodity. You’ve got things to do, places to go and people to see. If you’re trying to follow a structured eating plan, life’s demands can make that difficult. With healthy food provision a rarity when you’re out and about, nourishment on the move can prove a huge challenge. Fear not, here we present some essential tips on how to live a fast-paced lifestyle without the worry of slowing down your nutritional intake.

Planning and preparation 

While planning and preparation are terms often used in clichéd training courses, in phrases such as ‘prior planning prevents poor performance’, they definitely have real-world applications when trying to provide nutrition on the move. For example, when you get up on the morning of a full day’s traveling, the odds are it’s too late to prepare healthy food choices and you’re forced to resort to the grim offerings of service stations. However, plan ahead and you’ll have a cooked dinner from the day before that you put in a Tupperware box ready to take with you. It’s also essential to plan and prepare when you’re shopping. If possible, buy an adequate amount of food for the week ahead. While the practice of not having unhealthy foods in the house means you can’t eat them, the same extends to healthy food – if you’re out for the day and have no healthy food choices to take out, chances are you’ll binge on snacks. Although this may sound obvious, many of us will fail to prepare fully for the week ahead. 

Nutrition on the move 

Cooking extra dinner gives you a convenient option for healthy food choices without having to spend any extra time preparing food. For example: a chicken, pasta and vegetable-based dinner can easily be doubled in size, with the extra going into a Tupperware container for the following day’s lunch. 

If you’re a person on the go, food transportation becomes an issue. It may be that you can’t get access to a hotel fridge until late in the evening, in which case a cool-bag is a short-term option. It also provides a central place to store all your food, so you can easily see what you’ve packed. 

Should you be away so much that cooking one extra meal doesn’t help, try cooking in bulk. For example, cook six chicken breasts to last three to four days. As long as they can be stored hygienically, this shouldn’t be a problem. 

As for sports nutrition, getting adequate carbohydrates on board shouldn’t be too challenging. Adequate protein can be more of a mission. Utilizing sports nutrition can make this much easier. A protein drink can provide around 25g protein per serving. If carrying it is an issue, add the requisite powder into a clean dry shaker and add water as and when it’s required. Alternatively, take a couple of sachets for the day. For increased convenience, try protein bars, such as Protein Plus from MET-Rx, which supply high protein. They are also low in the GI index meaning they will steadily release energy to keep you going throughout the day.

For serious MMA contenders, why not put it all together? A combination of the below, combined with a robust exercise habit, will help you carve a body like GSP. An example of a menu for a day on the move could be: 

MID-MORNING

Protein bar and apple

LUNCH

The previous day’s dinner, such as chicken, pasta and vegetables (stored in a cool bag)

Mid Afternoon

Protein shake, banana, handful of mixed nuts 

Extra meal

Bagel with chicken and salad