Book of the Week: The Special Operations Nutrition Guide

25 Apr 2016

I’m about half way through with my navy special warfare training program and started hitting some of the minimum requirements. Hopefully by the end of the program I’ll hit all the minimum requirements across the navy seal physical screen test. I’m starting to feel that my body is not keeping up with training. This keeps me from getting better every day. I was advised to read The Special Operations Nutrition Guide by someone else doing the program. The guide is well-written and starts with an executive summary highlighting all the important points. You probably want to read the executive summary and the 1st half of the guide. The 2nd half of guide is specific to special operation forces. Carbohydrates One of the keys to nutrition is balancing energy intake with energy expenditures. You need to take your age, weight and activity level into account when determining your energy requirements. Running a marathon can easily double my energy requirements for the day. Carbohydrates (CHO) are not bad. Eating more CHO than you need is bad. There are also some CHO than are worst than others like trans fat. The usual CPF (CHO: Protein: Fat) breakdown should approximate: 55% CHO, 20% Protein and Fat 25% in terms of calories.

Glycogen, stored in liver and skeletal muscle, is limited to about 500 grams and is depleted by three to four hours of heavy exercise; a 24-hour fast will use up liver glycogen stores.

[caption id=”attachment_4840” align=”aligncenter” width=”640”]muscle_glycogen Source: Nutrition Guide[/caption] If you try to exercise without eating enough carbs, eventually you’ll deplete your muscle glycogen and feel tired and weak. If you want to get stronger, you need to get good quality workouts in. I tried to get fit by exercising more and decreasing my calories intake. This was the wrong approach. I need to balance energy intake with energy expenditures. Cutting out Protein Protein can provide energy, but its main use is for building and repairing muscle. You need between 0.6 - 0.8 grams of protein per pound of weight. Too much protein makes you fat and strains your liver and kidneys. Nutrient Timing [caption id=”attachment_4842” align=”aligncenter” width=”660”]Nutrient Timing Source: Nutrition Guide[/caption] The is a 45 minute refueling interval (RFI) after a workout where your body needs to be triggered to rebuild.** You want to eat something that has a high glycemic index during the RFI and things with a low glycemic index during your recovery periods. Hitting the RFI window and replenishing your glycogen stores before your next is important.