Fuel Like a Champion: Former NFL Dietitian Shares Supplement Strategies

What are my foundational needs? 

You can’t improve without analyzing what you’re doing. An athlete needs an assessment of their current dietary intake to determine total calorie needs, carbohydrates, proteins, and healthy fats, as well as vitamins and minerals. At the professional level, this often includes blood work to assess biomarkers to get a more in-depth picture of nutrient status. 

A high-quality multivitamin/mineral can help fill dietary gaps and is often the first supplement I recommend. 

Other foundational nutrients I often recommend in athletes, based on their bloodwork and dietary intake include:

• Vitamin D: As one of the most commonly observed nutrient deficiencies in athletes and non-athletes alike, vitamin D promotes lean muscle mass and bone health, healthy brain function, cardiovascular health, and immune function.
• Magnesium: Although magnesium doesn’t receive as much attention, athletes are often lacking in this nutrient. Magnesium plays a crucial role in muscle and nerve function, energy production, protein synthesis, and blood pressure/blood sugar regulation. Magnesium is especially important for athletes because an adequate level is necessary for muscle function. It also helps to regulate electrolyte balance, which is critical for proper hydration.
• Omega-3 fatty acids: These healthy fats support many vital body systems, for athletes in particular. Omega-3 fatty acids support healthy joints and muscles by balancing the post-workout inflammatory response and promoting circulation and blood flow to muscles. Other benefits include nutritional support for the maintenance of healthy brain function, memory, and mood. For athletes, an EPA and DHA is recommended. 

What are your performance needs?

Understanding which nutrients are needed during training and competition can have immediate and noticeable impacts on performance. My recommendations for most athletes start with the below trio for support through training and competition at any level.

1. Beta-Alanine: Your body needs this amino acid to produce carnosine, which buffers the hydrogen ions produced during muscle energy production. Carnosine also aids in the maintenance of normal acidity levels in the muscles (high levels are in the form of lactic acid), which is a significant contributor to muscle fatigue. Beta-alanine supplementation improves muscle health, muscle work capacity, and perceived time-to-exhaustion in both anaerobic exercises lasting 1-4 minutes and aerobic exercises lasting more than 4 minutes. Beta-alanine has also been shown to improve strength in college football athletes.
2. Creatine: This organic compound is important for athletes because it helps increase muscle energy production. It does this by increasing the availability of a molecule called adenosine triphosphate (ATP), the primary energy source for muscle contractions. Supplementation with creatine has been shown to improve muscle strength, power, and endurance, which can, in turn, lead to performance gains. In addition, creatine has also been reported to have supportive effects on muscle mass, hydration, cognition, and recovery.
3. An Amino Complex: Essential amino acids – including the branched-chain amino acids leucine, isoleucine, and valine – have been clinically shown to increase lean muscle mass and muscle strength. Branched-chain amino acids promote mitochondrial biogenesis, which provides cells with energy. Amino acid supplementation has also been shown to reduce fat synthesis while increasing energy production.
4. Electrolytes: Electrolyte balance is important before, during, and after any high-intensity activity. Maintaining proper electrolyte balance allows you to push your body to its limits, allowing you to train harder and for a more extended period. Electrolyte and hydration blends are intended to replace micronutrients lost through sweat during exercise and athletic performance. Balanced electrolytes resist fatigue, control calories, and fuel the muscles and brain. Potassium promotes rapid recovery and aids in cramp relief.

What are my recovery needs?

The next piece of the nutrition checklist is recovery. An NFL athlete demands a lot from his body day in and day out. The pros must prioritize recovery to put themselves in the best position possible for training and improving their performance. Failure to focus on recovery can lead to injuries, illness, and a drop in performance, instead of peaking at the optimal time to support a championship run. These nutrients support recovery so you can continue to be your best:

1. Protein: As one of the three essential macronutrients, protein gets the most attention when it comes to recovery.  Protein is essential for muscle repair and maintenance. Every practice, training session, and game causes muscle damage. After competing, the body is in a state of muscle breakdown that continues until it’s provided a signal to start the recovery process. Leucine, a branched-chain amino acid found in complete proteins such as whey isolate is the trigger that switches muscles into recovery and repair mode. Approximately 20 grams of protein is adequate to initiate recovery; the sooner recovery mode begins, the more opportunity there is to maximize muscle recovery and health. Because some pro football players don’t tolerate a protein shake or a meal immediately after training, essential amino acids for these individuals can be a solution to provide the leucine needed to start the process.
2. Curcumin: As the most active component of turmeric, curcumin has a wide range of health benefits, including providing support for joint function and mobility, liver and gut health, and cardiovascular function. In the body, curcumin decreases joint stiffness, promotes flexibility, provides temporary relief from muscle pain, and aids in the reduction of delayed onset muscle soreness. Maintaining healthy inflammatory balance is critical for maintaining healthy joints, muscles, brain, eyes, and blood lipid levels.
3. Melatonin: Did you know that more than 40 percent of U.S. adults don’t get the recommended amount of sleep each night? Athletes are no exception. In fact, athletes are more stressed than the average person, which negatively impacts their sleep. Two-thirds of athletes report getting less sleep than usual the night before a competition. Melatonin supports the maintenance of the normal sleep-wake cycle, or circadian rhythm. Supporting melatonin levels helps with the resynchronization of this cycle, which can help pro football players who have difficulty sleeping or have altered circadian rhythms. This can occur due to jet lag or playing a night game.
4. Magnesium: Choosing a well-absorbed magnesium bisglycinate to relax smooth and skeletal muscles will support a restful sleep and nighttime muscle recovery.
5. Multi–Vitamin: A multivitamin supplement will help to meet adequate micronutrient requirements, thus supporting optimal health and recovery. 

What are the sport-specific needs?

Rounding out a comprehensive nutrition plan for athletes requires a sports dietitian to analyze the specific demands of each sport. 

In football, and other contact sports, brain health is at the forefront of the conversation; the brain is a highly metabolic organ, and in the average person, the brain uses roughly 20 percent of the body’s energy on a daily basis.

Diet and supplementation are critical both before and after participating in a contact sport, as well as for anyone who wants brain-supporting nutrients.

The key brain-supporting nutrients and their benefits include: 

1. Ketones, such as beta-hydroxybutyric acid (BHB), provide an alternate fuel source for an injured brain.
2. Branch-chain amino acids, which are important precursors to the neurotransmitters dopamine, serotonin, and norepinephrine.
3. CoQ10 for supporting mitochondrial and brain function.
4. DHA is an essential fatty acid found in high concentrations in membranes of the brain’s nerve cells, which supports a healthy balance of inflammatory cytokines in the brain.
5. Nicotinamide riboside (NR), promotes NAD+ production, a key substance that protects brain cells.

After considering your foundational, performance, recovery, and sport-specific demands, you should be able to adapt this high-performance model and nutrition strategies. Apply them to your own training and competition needs to reach your goals and win your own personal championship.