Performance SUP food boosters – the nutritional edge

Words: Dan Reeds

Pics: New Chapter, SUP Mag UK

As SUP becomes more athletically focused, and those of a competitive edge look to maximise performance, every aspect of a paddler’s existence comes under the microscope. Nutrition is a key area, as much as efficient on water training programmes. Dan Reeds from New Chapter talks about some of the performance boosting foods currently available that may help.

Quark snack pots

For those not familiar with quark, think of Greek yoghurt, but creamier and less acidic. Made similarly from milk, but using a different strain of good bacteria, quark has a higher protein content and less fat than Greek yoghurt, making it an ideal post exercise recovery food. New brand nutrii have realised the potential of quark for those with active lifestyles and launched a range of quark snack pots. Each has less than 150 calories, is virtually fat free and has no added sugar, yet contains over 20g of high quality protein to help you recover from a tough day boarding. Each tub is also packed with gut friendly probiotics to help maintain a healthy digestive system.

nutrii are just as proud of what’s not in their pots as what is. There’s not an artificial colour, flavour or preservative in sight. The milk used is from non-intensive Dorset farms that uphold strict environmental policies. Perhaps most importantly nutrii tastes great and there’s a flavour to please everyone – Raspberry, Mango & Passionfruit and Plain. The nutrii range (Raspberry, Mango & Passionfruit and Plain) is available in Sainsbury’s stores from just £1.15 a tub. For more information visit www.eatnutrii.co.uk

High protein noodles

Another new way to increase your protein intake, without having to gulp down odd smelling shakes, comes in the form of oomi noodles. Using an innovative new recipe, which relies on white fish, rather than flour or eggs, as its main ingredient, oomi have created a noodle with a look, taste and feel identical to that of a standard fresh egg noodle. There’s a big nutritional difference however, in the form of 75% less carbohydrates than your average noodle and a serious protein punch, with nearly 13g of high quality protein per serving.

Convenient and gluten free, oomi noodles avoid the watery texture found in other low carbohydrate noodles, and offer a ‘food with purpose’ for anyone living an active and healthy lifestyle, but unwilling to sacrifice taste for health.

Use anywhere you would use regular noodles, whether that be thrown into a stir fry or eaten cold out of the pack for an on-the-go protein hit at the beach. Available now from Ocado and Tesco stores. For more details head over to www.oominoodles.com

Coconut flour

If noodles aren’t your thing, you could always try making your own high protein cakes! Coconut water and coconut oil may have shot to nutritional stardom over the last few years, but another coconut ingredient could prove to be far more beneficial for paddlers.

With a hint of coconut, but otherwise tasting and looking like ordinary plain flour, coconut flour hides a healthy secret behind its non-descript exterior; it contains a whopping 22g of protein per 100g of flour. That’s over double the amount in normal flour and means you can turn everyday dishes into high protein recovery foods, whether you fancy a breakfast muffin or cheeky high protein chocolate chip cookie. Furthermore the flour is totally gluten and wheat free, meaning less tummy trouble for those suffering with intolerances.

If you fancy giving some high protein baking a go, The Coconut Company’s coconut flour is not only organic, but is also unrefined and made from 100% GM free raw coconut meat, meaning you can be assured it is the highest quality available. Visit www.thecoconutcompany.co for further information or to buy. £3.99 for a 400g re-sealable pouch.

Chlorella

Whilst there’s been rumours of the potential of the green algae supplement ‘chlorella’ to help with athletic performance milling about for a while, recent research has helped support these claims with scientific backing. One study¹ looked at the effect in cyclists of taking chlorella tablets, a type of green algae which can be dried to create tablets or granules, for four weeks. It was seen that, compared to when they took a placebo, the cyclists’ peak oxygen uptake, a measure ofaerobic endurance capacity, was significantly increased – ultimately meaning chlorella could help when it comes to endurance exercise.

If you want to give chlorella a go, you don’t need to go wading through ponds with a fishing net. Some of the most efficient chlorella products on the market come from Sun Chlorella, whose new DYNO^®-Mill technology breaks down the cell walls of the algae (without the use of heat or chemicals which can reduce the quality of the chlorella) to ensure when you use either their granules or tablets you’re getting the most nutrients possible. The granules can easily be added to smoothies or protein shakes, whilst the tablets offer a convenient alternative. Available directly from www.sunchlorella.co.uk or health stores nationwide.

• J Clin Biochem Nutr. 55(2): 143–146.Chlorella-derived multicomponent supplementation increases aerobic endurance capacity in young individuals. Sachiro Umemoto¹and Takeshi Otsuki^1,*