For athletes at the top level, the slightest margins can be the difference between a podium finish and being an also-ran. This leaves coaches looking for the slightest moderations to try and give their clients the edge that could make them a world-beater. Increasingly, they’re getting their athletes to take a food intolerance test. This enables them to see how they can manipulate nutrition to give them a competitive edge that can lead them to greatness.
Food is the fuel your body needs to perform, so choosing the foods that your body can digest and process without problems can not just be a marginal improvement, it can be a game-changer. Here we look at why every athlete should take a food intolerance test.
Energy
Calories. We all know them as something you should limit to keep weight off, right? The thing is, calories are so much more than that. A calorie is better understood as a measure of energy when you put calories in, you’re essentially putting energy into your body. When consuming calories, it is essential to consume calories that your body can utilize to improve body composition, which better enables you to burn the energy you’re putting into your body. If you’re piling high-calorie foods with low nutritional value into your body, you’re likely providing a level of energy your body isn’t equipped to utilize. If you’re putting foods into your body that you have an unidentified intolerance to, you’re compromising your bodies ability to use calories to perform. This will lead to your body storing this food as fat. Taking a food intolerance test helps you identify foods that may be negatively impacting your body’s ability to use the calories you’re putting into it.
Digestive Discomfort
For athletes to be able to perform optimally, all bodily processes have to work in harmony to produce maximal output. If any part of the machine isn’t working at its best, it will have a significant impact on performance. This is especially the case when it comes to the digestive process. GI distress is particularly common in athletes when compared to the general population. With symptoms including bloating, nausea, stomach pain, and diarrhea, addressing the underlying cause of digestive problems are essential to maximizing performance. All of the symptoms listed are common side effects of food intolerance. Food intolerance can result from overconsumption of a food and, with athletes following nutritional plans which are carefully constructed to meet macronutrient requirements, some foods can be heavily relied upon, leading to intolerance. The best way to ascertain whether you have fallen victim to this is a food intolerance test. Following receipt of your results, you can eliminate the foods causing you digestive discomfort and reach the next stage of your athletic development.
Cognitive Performance
With so much emphasis on physical optimization and performance, it is easy for the cognitive side of athletic endeavor to get overlooked. In truth, your ability to perform cognitively is absolutely essential at the top level of sport. Matches, races, meets can all be won or lost on a wrong or slow decision. Your ability to make a split-second decision is vital, and anything that impairs that ability is a cause for concern. As with your body, your brain is fuelled by the food you put into your mouth. Brain fog is an increasingly common condition that affects your ability to make decisions quickly and effectively, and there are growing links between food intolerance and brain fog. Dairy intolerance, in particular, has been shown to contribute to brain fog. A food intolerance test can show you the foods that may be stopping you from reacting quickly enough to become a champion.
Sleep
Any reputable coach will tell you that sleep is one of the most critical factors in performance. Sleep is a restorative process. During sleep, your heart pumps blood around the body, delivering oxygen to the brain and the muscles. This process of recovery is vital as it restores your body to a state which it needs to be in to be able to perform at its best in the next day’s training session. When your body doesn’t have the oxygen it needs to perform, it converts the existing glucose in the muscles into lactic acid, which leads to fatigue and a decrease in power output. When you have a food intolerance, one of the side effects can be inflammation of the nasal passages. When nasal passages become inflamed, they swell and narrow, meaning you take on less oxygen during sleep. This is why athletes need to be aware of any food intolerances they may be living with.
Give yourself or your client the competitive edge they’re looking for with a food intolerance test.
