You reap what you sow.
That’s what my late dad taught me, especially when it came to gardening.
As an avid gardener now myself, I know it’s the quality of the soil that creates the roots, shoots and blooms every year.
My dad used to add lots of homegrown, nutrient-rich compost to his garden each winter, and the results in the spring were consistently stunning.
It’s the same with nutrition and performance: you get out what you put in.
Creating nutritional resilience
As we come to the end of the racing season, it's the prime time to build some nutritional resilience over the winter period that will help you perform in season 2024.
In the same way as interest accumulates in your savings account, nutrition builds over time to create health and resilience. This is the secret to creating consistent performance, season after season (note the use of the word secret and not the phrase magic wand!).
No matter what your eating schedule is, there are plenty of opportunities throughout the day to reach for positive nutritional options that your wise and adaptive body can use to create performance capability and resilience.
From a macronutrient point of view, complex carbohydrates fuel your day or training, while proteins and healthy fats build and repair all aspects of your performance infrastructure.
It’s the micronutrients that we often forget about.
The importance of micronutrients
Micro amounts of things like manganese, molybdenum, copper, selenium, silica/silicon – to name just a few – have a significant and essential impact on your physiological ability to create performance and recovery. They do this by functioning as co-factors in key metabolic actions, reactions and adaptations.
By taking in these nutrients every day, you’ll be well on your way to optimum performance nutrition. If you miss them, your performance will eventually show it, no matter how many grams of carbohydrates you feed yourself.
Fear not, though. It’s as simple as choosing whole, unprocessed foods grown in rich soil.
Just like my dad’s garden, you grow performance capability and physiological wellbeing from the ground up. And like a gardener, you need a little patience before the season’s results appear.
Here’s a simple, tasty, and nutrient-rich lunch or snack option that’s rich in micronutrients.
Chickpeas are one of nature's best sources of molybdenum, selenium, magnesium, B-vitamins and soluble fibre. When it comes to depositing micronutrients in your resilience account, they deliver!
They’re also a great source of complex carbohydrate and protein. Meanwhile, celery and red peppers are super-high in antioxidants, vitamin C, K, A, copper, etc.
Give it a try.
Chickpea Salad Sandwich (From Angela Liddon's, Oh She Glows cookbook)
Ingredients:
1-15oz can chickpeas
2 stalks celery
3 spring onions, finely chopped
¼ cup (60ml) dill pickle, finely chopped
¼ cup (60ml) red pepper, finely chopped
2-3 tablespoons of mayonnaise
1 clove garlic, chopped
1.5-tsp yellow mustard
2-tsp minced fresh dill, 1tsp dried dill (optional)
1.5-tsp lemon juice
Coarse black pepper and salt to taste
Method:
1. Add all the ingredients to a large bowl and mix. It's as simple as that!
2. Serve with toasted wheaten bread or a wholewheat wrap.
3. Enjoy!
If you would like a Season 2024 nutrition consult, followed by a personalised nutrition plan plus a month of unlimited contact while you make changes, then my STARTER package may be for you. Email me at jill@teamjoebarr.com