Sport Tea

Nutrition pour le ski de fond

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For a new personal best in your next cross-country skiing event

Whether skating or classic style, leisure sportsman or top athlete: cross-country skiing is one of the most popular and attractive endurance sports in winter. However, anyone who wants to perform at their best on the cross-country ski slopes needs more than just perfect conditions, serious training, top equipment and excellent technique: the more ambitious a cross-country skier is, the more central the specific sports nutrition becomes! A correctly chosen, carefully coordinated nutritional strategy determines whether a cross-country skier can maintain his or her top performance right up to the finish line - or whether lactate in the legs or an energy hole in the middle of a competition forces the athlete to slow down or even give up. For maximum performance in the cross-country ski run, the following points should be observed:

In advance: Filling up glycogen stores
Long cross-country training sessions in the cold as well as challenging competitions lasting more than 90 minutes wear out the body. Filled glycogen stores therefore form the crucial basis for reaching one's goal. Carboloading with a highly concentrated carbohydrate drink the day before a competition or a long training session is of great benefit. Ideally suited: CARBO LOADER, a sports drink specially developed for replenishing glycogen stores. Also important: a balanced breakfast based on slowly available carbohydrates such as oatmeal, porridge or graham bread. POWER PORRIDGE provides a tasty, quickly prepared and long-lasting meal before hard training or running.

Liquid supply during exercise
Anyone who is exercising over a longer period of time would do well to compensate for the loss of fluids and electrolytes with sports drinks. High-quality sports drinks provide the body with electrolytes and energy in addition to liquid.

• Generally speaking, COMPETITION is the drink of choice for endurance activities, as it is acid-free and only mildly flavoured. It is extremely well tolerated even at high dosages.
• In contrast, LONG ENERGY 10% scores with a protein addition of 10%, making the drink ideal for intensive strength-focused endurance training or very long activities.
• For those disliking cold drinks in winter: sports drinks such as COMPETITION or SPORT TEA are also suitable for hot water preparation and consumption.
• Cross-country skiers who want to train with reduced calories may do without energy-containing sports drinks and prefer our low-calorie electrolyte drinks such as ELECTROLYTES or LOW CARB BURNER instead. These are very suitable for fat metabolism training.

Energy supply during competition: observe blood sugar curve
Carbohydrate products based on glucose and sucrose, so-called fast sugars, quickly enter the bloodstream and cause a rapid insulin response during their metabolisation. Even though rapid availability is desirable, a regular supply is necessary to avoid blood sugar fluctuations. The following tips will help you to maintain constant blood glucose levels:

• Drink regularly from your sports drink is particularly important in the cold! The body also loses a lot of fluid through breathing in cold conditions. In order to cover the increased energy requirement caused by the cold, the COMPETITION sports drink can also be prepared in higher concentrations. This will provide sufficient energy, even if the drinking volume is slightly less than in hot weather conditions.
• During competition it is recommended to use LIQUID ENERGY GELS, as these gels do not require chewing and therefore do not hinder breathing as much. Furthermore, due to the high sugar concentration the gels practically cannot freeze, unlike bars.
• OAT PACK or CEREAL ENERGY BARS are recommended for amateur athletes who don't fight for seconds and like to eat solid food on the cross-country ski slope. These tasty bars provide long-lasting energy. Although they remain easier to chew than most bars, even at sub-zero temperatures, they should still be worn close to the body.
• An alternative to bars or gels is offered by the POWER GUMS fruit gums, which are relatively cold-resistant and therefore easy to chew, convenient and can be taken in portions. Besides 58 g carbohydrates they also contain 150 mg caffeine (approx. 1 ½ cups of coffee) per 10 pieces.

Tips for ambitious competitors
With increasing exercise duration, fatigue increases and the ability to coordinate and concentrate decreases. However, in a technically demanding sport such as cross-country skiing, clean and economical technology is of great importance, especially at high intensity and increasing competition duration. Therefore, it is recommended to take the ACTIVATOR 200 Caffeine Shot shortly before the start or, depending on the duration of the race, at the latest towards the last hour of competition: The drinking ampoule contains 200 mg caffeine in free form as well as from guarana, mate and green tea.

Fast regeneration
Immediately after the competition it is important to think about the next training session! A high-quality regeneration supplement supplies the body with fluid and electrolytes, fills the glycogen stores and helps to regenerate the muscle damage caused by exertion. Ideally suitable: PRO RECOVERY. The highly professional regeneration product with protein and carbohydrates is lactose-free and contains no artificial sweeteners. To be prepared with water.

Author: Remo Jutzeler
Head R&D SPONSER SPORT FOOD
Ing. Applied Food Sciences UAS
MAS Nutrition & Health ETHZ

Related articles
Nutrition in winter sports

Nutrition pour le ski de fond

Lisez l'article en anglais:

For a new personal best in your next cross-country skiing event

Whether skating or classic style, leisure sportsman or top athlete: cross-country skiing is one of the most popular and attractive endurance sports in winter. However, anyone who wants to perform at their best on the cross-country ski slopes needs more than just perfect conditions, serious training, top equipment and excellent technique: the more ambitious a cross-country skier is, the more central the specific sports nutrition becomes! A correctly chosen, carefully coordinated nutritional strategy determines whether a cross-country skier can maintain his or her top performance right up to the finish line - or whether lactate in the legs or an energy hole in the middle of a competition forces the athlete to slow down or even give up. For maximum performance in the cross-country ski run, the following points should be observed:

In advance: Filling up glycogen stores
Long cross-country training sessions in the cold as well as challenging competitions lasting more than 90 minutes wear out the body. Filled glycogen stores therefore form the crucial basis for reaching one's goal. Carboloading with a highly concentrated carbohydrate drink the day before a competition or a long training session is of great benefit. Ideally suited: CARBO LOADER, a sports drink specially developed for replenishing glycogen stores. Also important: a balanced breakfast based on slowly available carbohydrates such as oatmeal, porridge or graham bread. POWER PORRIDGE provides a tasty, quickly prepared and long-lasting meal before hard training or running.

Liquid supply during exercise
Anyone who is exercising over a longer period of time would do well to compensate for the loss of fluids and electrolytes with sports drinks. High-quality sports drinks provide the body with electrolytes and energy in addition to liquid.

• Generally speaking, COMPETITION is the drink of choice for endurance activities, as it is acid-free and only mildly flavoured. It is extremely well tolerated even at high dosages.
• In contrast, LONG ENERGY 10% scores with a protein addition of 10%, making the drink ideal for intensive strength-focused endurance training or very long activities.
• For those disliking cold drinks in winter: sports drinks such as COMPETITION or SPORT TEA are also suitable for hot water preparation and consumption.
• Cross-country skiers who want to train with reduced calories may do without energy-containing sports drinks and prefer our low-calorie electrolyte drinks such as ELECTROLYTES or LOW CARB BURNER instead. These are very suitable for fat metabolism training.

Energy supply during competition: observe blood sugar curve
Carbohydrate products based on glucose and sucrose, so-called fast sugars, quickly enter the bloodstream and cause a rapid insulin response during their metabolisation. Even though rapid availability is desirable, a regular supply is necessary to avoid blood sugar fluctuations. The following tips will help you to maintain constant blood glucose levels:

• Drink regularly from your sports drink is particularly important in the cold! The body also loses a lot of fluid through breathing in cold conditions. In order to cover the increased energy requirement caused by the cold, the COMPETITION sports drink can also be prepared in higher concentrations. This will provide sufficient energy, even if the drinking volume is slightly less than in hot weather conditions.
• During competition it is recommended to use LIQUID ENERGY GELS, as these gels do not require chewing and therefore do not hinder breathing as much. Furthermore, due to the high sugar concentration the gels practically cannot freeze, unlike bars.
• OAT PACK or CEREAL ENERGY BARS are recommended for amateur athletes who don't fight for seconds and like to eat solid food on the cross-country ski slope. These tasty bars provide long-lasting energy. Although they remain easier to chew than most bars, even at sub-zero temperatures, they should still be worn close to the body.
• An alternative to bars or gels is offered by the POWER GUMS fruit gums, which are relatively cold-resistant and therefore easy to chew, convenient and can be taken in portions. Besides 58 g carbohydrates they also contain 150 mg caffeine (approx. 1 ½ cups of coffee) per 10 pieces.

Tips for ambitious competitors
With increasing exercise duration, fatigue increases and the ability to coordinate and concentrate decreases. However, in a technically demanding sport such as cross-country skiing, clean and economical technology is of great importance, especially at high intensity and increasing competition duration. Therefore, it is recommended to take the ACTIVATOR 200 Caffeine Shot shortly before the start or, depending on the duration of the race, at the latest towards the last hour of competition: The drinking ampoule contains 200 mg caffeine in free form as well as from guarana, mate and green tea.

Fast regeneration
Immediately after the competition it is important to think about the next training session! A high-quality regeneration supplement supplies the body with fluid and electrolytes, fills the glycogen stores and helps to regenerate the muscle damage caused by exertion. Ideally suitable: PRO RECOVERY. The highly professional regeneration product with protein and carbohydrates is lactose-free and contains no artificial sweeteners. To be prepared with water.

Author: Remo Jutzeler
Head R&D SPONSER SPORT FOOD
Ing. Applied Food Sciences UAS
MAS Nutrition & Health ETHZ

Related articles
Nutrition in winter sports

Nutrition sports d'hiver

Lisez l'article entier en anglais:

Nutrition in winter sports - training and competition

In fact, sports nutrition in winter does not differ from sports nutrition in summer. But if you take a closer look, there are some major differences.
On the one hand, the training goals of summer athletes in winter differ significantly from the goals in summer. If in summer the competition is in the foreground, in winter it is about laying the foundations for the next competition year. The months of November and December are very often also marked by recreation, and accordingly nutrition has a completely different significance. In January and February, the work is very often in the strength/endurance area. Accordingly the protein supply has a larger meaning.

Competitive sport in winter
Basically, it is important to know that at cold temperatures the demand for energy and, at higher altitudes, also for liquids increases. The dry air at high altitudes causes a lot of fluid to be breathed out. These circumstances are scientifically documented. In the case of sporting activities above 2000 metres above sea level (e.g. ski tours) this can have a major impact on performance. It is therefore important to pay attention to energy intake and regular drinking. Despite comparable fluid requirements, the feeling of thirst is generally lower in winter and the energy requirement is higher to compensate for body heat losses caused by the cold.
The highly energetic sports drinks LONG ENERGY and COMPETITION are recommended for ambitious ski tourers, as they guarantee both a sufficient supply of fluids and energy. By the way, you can enjoy the sports drinks warm, prepared in a thermos flask. The SPORT TEA is also ideal for this.
LIQUID ENERGY GELS can practically always be taken. Bars, on the other hand, often become hard and glassy in the cold. Here it is recommended to wear bars without chocolate coating directly on the body, so they remain in a pleasant consistency until consumption. The demands on the immune system should also not be ignored. As a result of the fact that cold air is constantly inhaled, the immune system and the respiratory tract are very strongly challenged. Nucleotides such as those contained in IMMUNOGUARD can have a supporting effect here.

Regeneration
Regeneration is just as important in winter sports as it is in summer temperatures. The focus is on rehydration and the replenishment of energy and protein stores for muscular regeneration. Other aspects should not be considered from a nutritional point of view in winter. It is naturally appropriate, individually and situatively, to start with warm drinks and/or meals as the first regeneration measure in order to warm up the body and not have to spend additional energy on heat production. The RECOVERY SHAKE Choco, for example, is a good milk preparation. However, only warm milk should be used, not boiling milk.

Author: Remo Jutzeler
Head R&D SPONSER SPORT FOOD
Ing. Applied Food Sciences UAS
MAS Nutrition & Health ETHZ

Alimentation sportive pour enfants

Lisez le texte intégral en anglais, traduit par DeepL.com/Translator:

Sports nutrition for young athletes

According to most people, sports foods are a no-go for children. Probably this attitude is based on the general impression of parents and non-athletes that they have of dietary supplements. These products are mostly perceived as unnatural, chemical and possibly doping substances or other - legal or illegal - pharmacologically active substances. And thus, at best, they are considered useless, but potentially even harmful to children. Sports nutrition is primarily about concentrated food and isolated nutrients as well as convenience and tolerance. It is a concept of (partial, supplementary) nutritional intake in a practical, convenient and well-tolerated form as part of a full daily routine with everyday constraints, in order to be able to carry out one's sporting activities as optimally as possible. In the first place, sports nutrition is not yet about performance-enhancing supplements or even pharmacologically active substances.

Growing children have increased energy and protein requirements
Considering the generally increased energy and protein requirements of growing children, it is obvious that children who engage in sports have an even higher (relative) requirement than adults. In addition, children are also more likely to be affected by nutritional deficiencies for obvious and known reasons: unhealthy food preferences, distraction and disinterest in a suitable diet in general and/or depending on the time of activity, and last but not least, rebellion against parental guidelines. For these reasons it is certainly appropriate to consider a possible supplementation of the diet with sports foods, but primarily in the area of energy and protein supply, not specific performance promotion. In addition, depending on the individual nutritional situation and specific needs (after clarification), micronutrients (e.g. vitamin D or calcium) may make sense.

In principle, basic nutritional recommendations for adult athletes can therefore apply equally to children and adolescents. This means, for example, the use of carbohydrate-electrolyte sports drinks during sporting activity for more than an hour, the intake of carbohydrate-protein shakes shortly after performance, or energy bars and other easily digestible, carbohydrate-containing snacks during the day, especially before energetically demanding workloads. Children are usually less consistently active in their sports, more easily distracted and therefore less focused on general nutritional requirements.

Watch out: Dental Health!
In the case of children and nutrition, however, one should certainly not ignore the topic of dental health. Sugars and acids are known to be bad for the teeth, but are also usually contained in carbohydrate-containing drinks and snacks. The most harmful is constant sipping and all too frequent sipping of carbohydrate- and acidic drinks, especially those containing fruit juice. Countermeasures can be the use of acid-free sports drinks or rinsing the mouth with water and the use of sugar-free chewing gum.

However, the unconditional use of other specific performance-enhancing supplements such as caffeine, creatine, beta-alanine or special nutritional strategies such as soda-loading must clearly be considered inappropriate for children, even though there may be no health risk at the usual recommended dosages. In principle, such supplements and measures are to be regarded as "top-of-the-pyramid", i.e. not suitable for adolescents and even less for children. As long as the technical abilities and physical performance factors are still in development and far from being exhausted, progress in performance will be achieved much more efficiently by promoting them. An uncritical use of supplements, or their potential effect, would be irrelevant.

General sports nutrition recommendations for children and adolescents

1. Drinks
Thirst should always be the driver for drinking. However, you should keep an eye on children and help them to think about drinking. Because they tend to forget drinking in their sporting zeal or simply because of distraction and generally less self-control than adults. The best recommendation is acid-free sports drinks, wherever energy is needed. Otherwise, water or sugar-free effervescent powder/tablets are sufficient, depending on taste acceptance. Pure maltodextrin can also be added to self-brewed tea water as an energy supplement, preferably with a pinch of salt per liter. Our recommendations are: COMPETITION, ELECTROLYTES, MALTODEXTRIN 100.

2. Energy
In addition to sports drinks, many bars also serve as an easily digestible source of energy. They can be easily and conveniently taken anywhere, and consumed before, during and even after performance. Carbohydrate gels can also be used in this way to a certain extent. These should be reserved for intensive competition situations or acute energy shortages. SPONSER® offers various suitable bars: HIGH ENERGY BAR, CEREAL ENERGY PLUS and the sustainably satiating oat bar OAT PACK.

3. Protein
Healthy growth and bone health are central for children and adolescents and require sufficient protein in the diet. Rapid recovery after exercise also depends on protein and energy supply in order to optimally support protein synthesis. As a consequence, special attention should also be paid to the daily protein supply of children. One can follow the rule of thumb of 1.5-2.0 g protein per kg body weight daily. Preferably, one portion should contain 20-30 g of protein and be taken together with approx. 30-50 g of carbohydrates within one hour after demanding sporting activity. A rough guideline is to take 20-30 g protein every 3-5 hours. The content from normal meals can be comfortably supplemented either with pure protein drinks from SPONSER® such as WHEY ISOLATE 94 or combined with carbohydrates such as RECOVERY DRINK, RECOVERY SHAKE, PRO RECOVERY. Ready-to-drink products such as PROTEIN SMOOTHIES or bars like PROTEIN 34/36 are also suitable.

4. Carboloading
Targeted carboloading can be considered before competition situations with a pronounced long-term endurance character, or as a temporary measure in case of acute energy bottlenecks or increased energy requirements (training camps). This can also make sense in phases of growth spurts and with delayed weight development. The use of the CARBOLOADER 2-4 times a day during a defined period can help to cover an increased energy demand more easily than with a normal diet alone.

Hands off caffeine or creatine
Although recent findings have not in themselves raised safety concerns about caffeine in children per se, it seems inappropriate to use caffeine in children for the reasons outlined above. It is also clearly not recommended to use creatine in growing children. The increased strength could lead to muscular imbalances or even injuries if trained intensively, due to non-linear/parallel development of strength, muscles and supporting structures (bones, ligaments, cartilage).

As a final remark, it should be remembered that any nutritional measure is only as good as the actual implementation! It is more important to find and use measures and products that the person concerned is willing to use voluntarily and willingly than to stubbornly stick to fixed nutrient calculations and recommendations. If something is done only reluctantly, the implementation will fail sooner or later. It is important to find foods and sports nutrition that the person concerned likes and enjoys taking, so that they become part of the daily routine and are followed voluntarily. This also includes the selection of alternatives as a change of taste.

Author: Remo Jutzeler
Head R&D SPONSER SPORT FOOD
Ing. Applied Food Sciences UAS
MAS Nutrition & Health ETHZ