Roadmap to success

Among the only two Indians to feature in the International Cricket Councilrsquos ICC Team of the Tournament at the recently concluded T20 World Cup is Suryakumar Yadav who stands alongside Virat Kohli The tournament saw Yadav shine as he emerged as the third highest runscorer in the tournament and also had a strike rate which was almost 190Yadavrsquos ability to excel as a performer was brought about partly by his dietitian Shwetha Bhatia who had a threepoint approach to upping his athletic levelsldquoOne aspect focussed on his recovery Cricketers have multiple training sessions When you are set to play for four hours you cannot keep eating between your meals because doing so will move your blood to your digestive system instead of keeping it in your muscles which is where we want it to be during the game So we attempted to minimise meals between the matches If they manage their meals well before and after the matches they are not required to eat too much between two matchesrdquo says Bhatia The dietitian also knew that the cricketer would benefit from shedding fat without losing muscle mass ldquoSo that is what we focussed on And finally we weaned him off a highcarb diet Most athletes assume that carbs give them energy to perform But sports nutrition has advanced and a lot of international athletes follow lowcarb diets Carbloading eventually leads to fat gain and doesnrsquot boost performance We rationed the proteincarbfat ratio so that he could retain muscle massrdquoDifferent view on carbloadingShunning popular notion about the benefits of carbloading for athletes Bhatia says depending on the macromolecule for your energy source is not ideal ldquoThe carb store in the body is small and if your body relies on it it will be depleted within two hours So your focus will shift from the game to your food to keep replenishing the lost carbs So we train the body to rely on fats instead There are two advantages in this The first is that when you consider fats as a source of energy there is always enough to provide as much as you require Also since you are constantly mobilising the fat you will eventually also reduce your fat mass without needing to constantly refuelrdquoAddressing those who assume that carbs offer more energy she says ldquoOne gram of carbs yields four calories while one gram of fat yields nine It is easy to see which one is betterrdquoAlso ReadREVEALED Rashami Desais fitness regimeIs it really a lsquohighproteinrsquo dietBhatia also however establishes that the focus on the consumption of protein is imperative Highlighting that a cricketerrsquos routine is fairly intense she says that adding adequate amount of protein in the diet is essential to avoid muscle depletion ldquoPeople refer to this as a highprotein diet But I find this tag inappropriate If you need 100 grams of protein and get only 60 yoursquore undernourished Consuming 100 grams does not imply that you are on a highprotein diet It implies that yoursquore getting adequate amount of proteinrdquoIf protein carbs and fats are the bricks needed to build a strong building Bhatia refers to antioxidants vitamins and minerals as the cement that will bind the bricks together ldquoIf you donrsquot have enough of it the recovery process will be incompleterdquoWhile she looked over the physical aspects of Yadavrsquos requirements Bhatia says he was favoured by his ability to surrender and believe in her knowledge ldquoWhen athletes come to you they say they just want to boost performance But as a sports nutritionist I need to look at their health and fitness levels in a holistic manner If an athlete is overweight it will affect his endurance and stamina We have to realign their requirements to help them meet their goals With Surya there was a lot of surrender That made my job easier Athletes should be convinced that their consultants can deliver the results they seek and then have a sense of openness while workingrdquoThe Cheats Kriti SanonWhatrsquos your cheat meal Pani puri other street foods and Punjabi foodsHow often do you indulge Often I donrsquot worry about how often I cheat unless Irsquom working towards achieving a look and am on a deadlineDo you compensate for it I do try and make up for it with my routines I will take to an extra bout of exercise It need not be too longWhatss in my fridgeJohn AbrahamAvocadoSugarfreeJamQuinoaFitness tip that works forSaiyami KherAs an endurance athlete I find that keeping a tab on the iron and vitamin B12 levels in my body helps me perform better Multivitamins are needed for endurance training I also consume nariyal pani