Eating to Win

In medium to strong winds, sailing is like any other sport, the harder you work, the faster you go. Regattas usually last several days, or as long as a week, and the fuel you give your body during this time is crucial. If you don't pay attention to your nutritional requirements you may not get the result at the end of the regatta that you desire, due to premature fatigue.

There are two factors to consider both on and off the water, and these are hydration and energy levels. I will deal with hydration first as it is the probably the most important and certainly the most commonly overlooked. If the body doesn't get adequate fluid it becomes dehydrated and this has a negative effect on athletic performance and can take several days to recover from.

Ideally you should remain well hydrated before, during and after a championship, so you can train, race and recover at an optimum rate. The easiest way to monitor hydration is to check the frequency, quantity and colour of your urine. This should be pale and plentiful at all times, and it is usual to need to pee between races each day.

Two litres of fluid should be consumed per day, plus one litre for every hour of vigorous exercise. This may sound a lot, but it is absolutely necessary. It is also important to consume when it is cold, even if you may not appear to be actively sweating. Indeed if the climate is particularly hot, humid or demanding, liquid requirement will exceed the levels recommended above.

What to drink is of course a matter of personal taste, but I stress this needs to be a drink to hydrate you enough. It is obviously easier to drink something you enjoy, as opposed to something you dislike. Especially as if you dislike a drink, you may well end up having not enough to drink.

Drinks should, if possible, have a small amount of electrolytes in them, and there are many high quality brands available. I will not recommend any of them especially, as most are equally as good. Electrolytes increase the water retention by reducing urination and thereby hydrate you more efficiently.

However the carbohydrate content of these drinks is crucial. Isotonic drinks contain approximately 6.4g of carbohydrate per 100ml of fluid, as this is optimum for fluid and fuel. A slightly lower level of 5.0g will provide better hydration and would be suitable for a hot and humid venue with 7.8g at the top end of the scale for energy intake, as beyond this the concentration will slow gastric emptying.

A simple home made drink at a fraction of the cost of those sold in the shops consists of 50% orange juice, 50% water and a pinch of salt. Obviously this may not be to everyone's taste but it provides a cheap and easily alternative. Please note that with all these drinks sterilizing the bottles is very important, as they are a perfect breeding ground for bacteria.

This brings us neatly on to food intake. Firstly, please note that light air days or even weeks are not the time to reduce intake of food or drink. In these conditions, limiting your intake will affect your ability to concentrate, whether you are aware of this or not, and will damage your results. Especially if it is windy the next day!

The most important thing is when to eat. Straight after exercise, the aim is to eat a minimum of 1g of carbohydrate for every kg of bodyweight. For most people this can be easily achieved with two large pieces of fruit, a couple of energy bars or a sandwich made with thick sliced bread and a carbohydrate filling such as jam. At this stage avoid fatty food, especially between races.

Likewise before the race, a similar meal would be ideal. Perhaps a small bowl of cereal with milk, a bowl of pasta or a medium potato with filling. Ideally, to keep energy levels constant, a sailor will have three or four small meals a day, plus a larger dinner post racing. The exact calories are of course dependant upon the size of the sailor and the conditions sailed in. However, even if there is no racing a 2000-calorie minimum is mandatory.

Complex carbohydrates should be consumed first thing in the morning to provide a long lasting source of energy. An example would be a whole-wheat cereal, porridge. Post exercise, simple carbohydrates are more easily absorbed, and this is the time to have the sweeter foods like fruit, jam and jaffa cakes. The last meal of the day should also be mainly complex carbohydrates (brown rice, potatoes).

Protein consumptions are also important, as this is used during rest to repair and strengthen muscular tissue. If you ask a ten-horse power engine to do the job of a twelve-horse power engine, it will break. However the human body adapts, and if you ask it to do a twelve- horse power job for long enough, it will become a twelve- horse power engine, but only if it has the building blocks to do so. Minimum daily consumption should be 1g per kg of bodyweight.

The best sources of protein are those, which are 'clean', by this I mean unprocessed. If you look at the packet and it has thirty ingredients, that is not good! Good choices are poultry (chicken and turkey), fish (tuna and white fish) and egg whites. For those who don't eat meat I suggest using a high quality whey protein powder, although it is possible to gain your daily requirement without it.

Lastly fat should not be considered a four-letter word! You must consume a small amount of fat to produce hormones and regulate body function. Having said this, there are several types of fat. Some may be considered 'bad' (saturated) and others may be considered 'good. (poly & mono unsaturated)'

Everybody needs a minimum of 30g of fat per day, and eliminating fat from your diet will likely result in vitamin deficiencies. A maximum consumption of 1g per kg of bodyweight would be recommended. The crucial thing is the type of fat.

Keeping things simple: fats, which are liquid at room temperature, tend to be good for you. Examples are olive oil, sunflower oil etc. Fat which are naturally solid, such as, lard and butter, and those made solid, such as margarine (hydrogenated vegetable oil, usually sunflower) are not so good.

The important thing is balance, and everything has a place in diet even alcohol and chocolate! It is just a matter of eating things in the correct portion (1 portion is usually about the size of your fist). Lots of potatoes (2 portions), some vegetables (1 portion) and some meat (1 portion) with a small pudding (1/2 portion) would be an example of a suitable dinner.

You need to eat the foods you enjoy. As you will never persist eating things you dislike for any length of time, however, small sacrifices can make big differences to your performance, especially if you are trying to gain or lose weight, but that is a topic of another article…