Accordian Album For Scrapbooking

Give it up to an Accordion Album for Scrapbooking

by EdySutio

 
Each one of you has a set of good and bad memories. Usually those good memories paint smiles on your faces while the bad ones sadden your hearts. Whichever kind of memory it is, these things occur in your life when you least expect them.

Keeping pictures of whatever event in your life with whoever the persona is with you is one way of keeping those memories alive. Most people love to take pictures during field trips, holidays, vacations, birthdays, graduations, weddings, and many other occasions. With these photos, the memory is kept to be lingering in the minds of those who get to take a glimpse of those. But would you rather let your photos lie still in plain and traditionally-looking photo albums? Don’t you want to spice them up? Why not work on scrapbooks?

You need not be an expert photographer or an experienced artist to create scrapbooks. All you need is the concept of the design and layout for the scrapbook plus of course the photos which you want to include.

Have you ever heard of the term accordion albums? You may have encountered these things or you likely keep one in your bedroom. An accordion album is not that standard photo album size. It is smaller. Accordion albums are also best for keeping alive those memories of your loved ones. Love relationship accordion albums are the most common of all. As lovers, you have certainly spent several good times together and you would want such memory to live on forever. In this way, creating an accordion album for scrapbooking will work out just perfect!

The number of photos to be included in the scrapbook determines the size and layout to be employed in your accordion album for scrapbooking. To keep the memories more alive, you can make use of poems, quotes, love songs, or simple statements expressing your love to the person as captions for the photos. In this way, the intimate feeling will be manifested in your work of art.

When writing down the journal, you can recall some funny or memorable incidents about the photo in order to make the caption more expressive and alive. The colors will also have to play a great role in the journal. Softer colors such as cream and blue or silver and gold are mostly used. These colors make the pages of the scrapbook more attractive and lively.

Worthy Topics for the Accordion Album
Among the topics which you can employ for your accordion album include the “Ten Things I Love about You” or “The History of Our Relationship”. Whichever more personal topic you would want to employ can be as long as it will make an intimate impression on your scrapbook.

More so, the accordion album for scrapbooking may also serve as a memorabilia of the items such as cards, love letters, restaurant menu dined at, concerts attended, dried flowers, and many other things which both of you have given for each other. You may likewise have a question and answer portion that both of you will answer. The questions may revolve around your favorite food, pet peeves, traditions, future goals, favorite pastimes, and the things which you mostly agree and disagree on.

The Importance of the Accordion Album for Scrapbooking
The accordion album for scrapbooking is one quick and easy way of recording special memories that you and your lover share. Doing it entails a lot of fun too. You can even laugh by yourself as you remember particular incidents associated with the pictures. As you show it to your partner, rest assured that he or she would also be very happy with your output.

Some Valuable Steps to Follow

Before finally starting with the scrapbooking, first get all the pictures that you will include in the craft. Sort them out according to events and according to chronology. Before pasting the photos, make sure that you’ve already conceptualized the sequence of those as they will appear in the pages. Once in a while, put in artistic embellishments to the pages. Never fail to include the captions too. Do this all throughout the pages of the scrapbook. By carefully following the ins and outs of the steps, you are on your way to a desirable accordion album for scrapbooking!

Sports Nutrition Article

Want that great physique? Read a sports nutrition article

by EdySutio

Lots of people dream of becoming world-class athletes. They know that becoming one takes lots of patience and training that can test one's physical and emotional limits to the outmost. Since the business of sports has become more and more lucrative, the concept of sports nutrition has grown into Herculean proportions.

It is a good thing then that those resources such as sports nutrition articles have proliferated in cyberspace. It gives people endless amount of information on how to make their bodies fit for competition.

Here are the summaries of some several of the sports nutrition articles that can give Internet researchers gems of information on athletic fitness.

From one of the most authoritative web sites on anything under the sun, About.com, columnist Elizabeth Quinn talks about the importance of when people should take their meals.

Citing a press release from the IDEA Health & Fitness Association, the article states that the timing and duration of one's eating is as important as the content of the food itself. This holds true especially for athletes. A recent research indicates that the kind of food athletes consume prior, after and during the course of the training matters a lot when it comes to recovery and general athletic performance.

The experts from IDEA shared some key information regarding the subject, such as:

-To enhance performance, nutrients should be ingested in ideal combinations in the most optimal frequencies. This also aids in improving the integrity of one's muscles.

-The right timing in mixing protein and carbohydrates will result in the improvement of workouts and training.

-Obesity can be fought off by taking increased amounts of dietary calcium everyday.

-One should know the difference between good and bad carbohydrates on order to survive the latest low-carbohydrate diet trends.

Another sports nutrition article coming from the web site Rob's Home of Sports, Diet and Nutrition, puts emphasis on the kind of foods necessary in order for the body to bulk up. According to dietician Clare Wood, there are three essential requirements for gaining muscles.

-Potential of one's genes, which can be usually seen from the body structure of one's parents.

-An exercise program that focuses mainly on building strength.

-A diet that provides the body a high amount of energy.

Bulking up can be achieved by adding the amount of one's total energy intake. This will help in providing the body extra carbs needed to energize training.

Increasing the amount of food that one eats can be a difficult task, but here are some tips to go about it:

-Come up with an organized eating plan and make sure to stick with it. The plan should include the kind of foods that should be eaten and the time they should be consumed.

-The frequency of meals per day should be increased, as opposed to increasing the size of the meals. Ideally, one should take 5-6 meals daily, which includes snacks.

Athletes should be immensely responsible regarding the amount of food that they eat and how to properly maintain their physique. For those striving to achieve a fit body and emulate their strict fitness regimen, sports nutrition articles, such as these, can be easily found on the web.

100 Free Online Dating Services

100% Free: Best Rated Online Dating Sites and Services

by EdySutio

Online dating sites and services are gaining more and more popularity; therefore, the demand is also growing along with its benefits. You have a limitless choice of online dating sites and services, which might give you a ‘head spin’ just looking for the best online dating site/service.

Here is a guaranteed 100% free information on the best-rated online dating sites and services.

PC magazine editors have reviewed and rated 4 online dating services and recommended that ‘you-try-before-you-buy’. This includes Lavalife.com (high rating) featuring three areas of interest that you can choose from and you can even have a separate profile for each. High ratings are also given to eHarmony.com and Match.com while Yahoo Personals got the lowest rating.

The article ‘top 5 online dating sites’ described five dating sites which includes Match.com (claimed that 250,000 members/year are able to find a relationship), eHarmony.com (personality profile is extensive), Yahoo Personals, True.com (has a thorough criminal-background check and marital checks for people concerned about security), and America’s Online Dating.

Many site reviews and ratings are found at the General Reviews of July 2005. The only site to receive a perfect score is Match.com; Lavalife.com, Date.com and Nerve Personals got the second rating.

The website Online Dating Reviews offers user-reviews which includes online dating. Lavalife.com got the highest rating and eHarmony.com came second, followed by American Singles.com and Match.com.

The article ‘Great body, but does he have testimony?’ discussed Soulmatch.com that is associated with Beliefnet.com. Soulmatch.com looks for people’s differences but who shares the same faith.

Epinions.com has many reviews of Match.com (got the middle-score), eHarmony.com (got the lowest rating) and Yahoo Personals (has the highest rating). The complaints however were all about their communication process.

Several dating sites which include Book of Matches.com, Plenty of Fish.com, Friend Finder.com, Connecting Singles.com and Dating Hall.com are featured by Jeff Cohen in the ‘top five free online dating sites’. He provided overviews of the different sites, their unique features and search capabilities.

Online dating service reviews provides a detailed review of six sites, their pros and cons, the best and annoying features. eHarmony.com has the highest rating followed by Match.com..These sites can find compatible matches but you can’t communicate with the other person unless that person is also a paid member.

‘Dating site reviews’ rated highly Jdate.com (the only complaint is about the price), American Singles.com (very easy to understand and use), My Country Match.com (country values is emphasized and is dedicated to down to earth singles) and Silver Singles.com. (for seniors).

The article ‘How to choose online dating sites’ has a list of seven tips in choosing a dating service online. The tips included:  deciding on the budget-amount, asking family and friends for the best sites, taking advantage of free trials, etc.

Premier Personals.com covers a lot of online dating services. Sites are rated in certain areas like ease of use, site speed, personal ad, quality of picture, site features and member size. Available features are also provided in chart listings. The best-rated site is Date.com; eHarmony.com, American Singles.com and Match.com also got high ratings.

Consumers rated nine dating sites in the ‘top rated dating sites’. The top pick of the customers is the Lavalife.com followed by eHarmony.com; JDate.com 108 reviews, and Match.com got 376 reviews. Complaints on Lavalife.com were all about the quality of people.

The article ‘finding love on the web’ is a great resource for people new in the online dating world. The sites included are Match.com, Yahoo Personals, eHarmony.com and Matchmaker.com. People are also taught on how to make good personal ads.

The website Editors of Dating Reviews Online.com offers numerous ratings of online dating sites. The top three picks are Friend Finder.com, Match.com and Dreammates.com. These sites were rated on listing quality, number of listing, communication and site navigation. These sites are recommended for their sense of community and ease of use.

‘A dud in cupid’s online quiver?’ features Friendster.com; this site is designed for people to meet new friends for online dating. Members are to create an online profile and invite their friends to join. The service is free of charge.

‘Wooing Cheaters’ is a review of a for- adulterer’s website looking for online dates. This site is visited mostly by married people who want to ‘cheat’ or is just planning to…

These ratings are all results of different reviews. This will serve only as a guide for people who are into online dating. It is still best if you look into these sites yourself.

100% Free Online Dating

The Pros and Cons of 100% Free Online Dating Websites

by EdySutio

You may have heard of online dating and how it can benefit you if you’re single, widowed or just someone looking for friends, a relationship or romance. As you may know, online dating websites is one of the fastest growing services offered in the Internet today.

Many people who are not so lucky in dating or finding romance can now experience having a meaningful relationship with someone. By joining online dating, you can now find that special someone you have been looking for all these years.

Also, online dating can offer many advantages than regular dating. It is a fact that most people would prefer traditional personal dating than online dating. However, because of technology, more and more people are now joining this new fad to find their special someone, soul mate or whatever it is other people call it.

Online dating is like an online match making service that brings people closer even if they are halfway around the world. Today, there are hundreds or even thousands of online dating websites in the Internet. Most of these websites have free registration but will require you to pay a fee if you want to use a specific kind of service in their website. They’ll probably charge you a subscription fee if you want to send a message to someone or if you want to join a chat room.

However, there are also online dating websites available that are 100% for free. These websites are very popular because it won’t obligate you to pay for anything in using their services. All services are free and because people like free things, they will want to join 100% free online dating websites.

One main advantage of 100% free online dating website is that a lot of people are likely to join. This will mean that you will have a broader choice of people to date. There would probably be thousands or even millions of people who’ll likely join this kind of website.

However, the main disadvantage of 100% free online dating website is that there may be a lot of spammers. Spammers are people who register in a certain website to advertise or to send junk messages. This is because the website offers their services for free, like sending messages, or joining chat rooms.

Also, there may be people who will register twice with different username and make fun of the services provided in online dating websites that are completely 100% free.

Spammers will less likely join websites that requires you to pay a specific amount before you can use a certain kind of service.

Online dating websites are also more secure than free online dating websites. This is because these websites have a good reputation and really spends a lot of money on web security. It will never give out any personal information about you except those you specified to be seen by the public.

Like other kinds of online dating website, 100% free online dating website works very much like online dating websites that requires you to pay a specific amount for a specific service. They also have registration forms that you will fill out like profiles, and some also has chat rooms where you can socialize and make friends with people from all over the world.

100% free online dating websites can benefit those who don’t want to pay a fee to use a specific type of service as some online dating website offers. All you have to do is register for free, create your online dating website profile, post some of your pictures, and communicate with other people.

With 100% free online dating websites, you won’t have any obligation to pay for anything. You can instantly join and start socializing with people from all over the world.

Always remember that when going online dating on whatever kind of website, do not agree to meet personally or go out on a traditional date if you don’t know the person well enough yet. Take your time to talk online in the online dating website chat room. It is also wise to exchange pictures so you can have an idea what to expect. Also, try to ask your online date to try voice chat. This is a great way to determine how well he or she handles conversation.

Remember these things and you will definitely enjoy online dating in 100% free online dating websites.

Worldwide Sports Nutrition Pure Protein Drink Fruit Punch

Worldwide Sports Nutrition Pure Protein Drink Fruit Punch

By Eddy Sutio

Pure protein drink fruit punch is one of the most popular sports nutrition worldwide next to pure protein drink in vanilla and chocolate. This protein drink fruit punch helps athletes improve their physical endurance, game performance, increate energy and mental alertness.

This sports nutrition known worldwide contains a large dose of protein, which an athlete needs to build more muscles. It is also packed with vitamins, minerals and other necessary elements to boost energy and strength for your body. 

These great tasting, pure protein drink fruit punch are convenient meal replacements for those who are in a high protein, less fat diet or as a meal addition for those who are in high protein and carbohydrates diet. For busy people this sports nutrition is a great alternative meal whenever you are on the go. You can buy a canister of pure protein drink fruit punch in any health stores, worldwide.

Pure protein drink fruit punch is available in a variety of fruity flavors such as strawberry, orange, grape and apple. Athletes and bodybuilders love this sports nutrition because they lactose free, therefore well-suited for their adult digestive systems. This pure protein drink fruit punch is low in sugar, calories and carbohydrates. 

The protein in pure protein drink fruit punch may come from whey, egg protein, soy protein, milk protein, or calcium caseinate protein, or a combination of all. Choose which protein will be good for your digestive system. If you are lactose intolerant, avoid pure protein drink fruit punch made from milk protein. It may cause you irritable bowel or even diarrhea. 

To get the necessary or sufficient daily intake of protein in your body, you can add pure protein drink fruit punch to your baking dishes. You can add it to your low-fat, low-sugar cake, oatmeal cookie or carrot cake. 

You will get all of the essential vitamins, minerals, and amino acids that your body needs while drinking or eating (through your pastries) your pure protein drink fruit punch. It is a delicious way to help keep your immune system at its best.

- Worldwide Sports Nutrition: Adding Up Pure Protein Drink Fruit Punch To Your Daily Diet

Contrary to the belief of many, including a glassful of pure protein drink fruit punch in your daily diet will make an athlete fat. It is wrong. Protein helps in adding more muscles to physically active people. Foods that turn into fat when not consumed are those that are rich in carbohydrates.

So if you have an active lifestyle (even if you are not an athlete) your body will greatly benefit with a glassful of pure protein drink fruit punch in the morning or during lunch. This is a practice in worldwide sports nutrition which you can integrate into your own personal diet and nutrition.

In the morning, your pure protein drink fruit punch may be added to two freshly squeezed orange juices and half a glass of water. To mix the powdered protein drink fruit punch with these ingredients, it is best to use a blender for that perfect fruit shake effect. You can add some crushed eyes while blending for a more refreshing morning drink. 

Others mix it with other fresh fruits as a smoothie drink. Bananas, blueberries, peaches or mangoes are mixed with three tablespoons of pure protein, water or milk.

Worldwide, this sports nutrition is gaining popularity because of its simple preparation for athletes and people on the go. In less than five minutes, with the help of a blender, they can produce a nutritious fruit punch or smoothies that are rich in vitamins, minerals and enzymes that are good for the body

This pure protein drink fruit punch is available in liquid or powder form. Worldwide, however, the most popular form is in powder because a sports nutrition drink in powder is fast and easy to prepare and do not turn sour fast unlike the liquid form. Powdered pure protein drink fruit punch is pack in gallon-like containers.

Join 100% Free Online Dating Websites

Join 100% Free Online Dating Websites

by EdySutio

Whenever you enter an online dating website you will notice that almost all of them provide free registration and allows you to create profiles for free. Almost all of the services provided by these websites can be used for free by their subscribers. However, most of these websites only offer their services in a limited time only. They will usually require people who have subscribed to pay a one time or a monthly fee to be able to use the services.

However, there are websites available that requires no payment to use their online dating services. These websites relies on sponsors advertising in their webpage to pay for the fees to run a website.

100% free online dating websites are relatively much more popular than subscription based websites. Besides, who would want to pay for something when they can get it for free? Another benefit of free online dating websites is that because of their popularity, you can meet more people from all walks of life and broaden your choices of dates and friends.

Today, many popular free online dating websites are opening. You can subscribe to a few of them if you want to and you can meet more people. There are a lot of free online dating websites and each of them has its own characteristics. However, almost all of them have two things in common. Here are the two things you will usually find in almost all free online dating websites:

•    Profiles – A profile is what you will usually see once you have entered a person’s page. This is where you actually start basing your interest in a person. You too will be required to complete a profile once you have joined a free online dating website service.

A profile will usually display your first name, age, gender, sexual orientation, language, body type, height and other vital things about you. Some profiles in online dating websites allow you to make a short paragraph to describe yourself.

•    Chat Rooms – Chat rooms are where you will start talking to other people. This is where you will socialize and talk about a specific topic you want or other people want. You will see that there are a number of people chatting in a specific chat room. You can send messages privately to someone that interests you inside the chat room and if you’re lucky, you may start a new friendship.

As some may know, online dating can give you lots of benefits. Unlike meeting someone or dating someone traditionally, online dating is faster and much more convenient. These websites are like match making services that tries to match your profile with other people who are potential matches for you.

The website will automatically launch a search for a match up.

In online dating websites, you don’t have to dress up and spend a lot of money on a date with a person you barely even know. All you have to do is log in on the website and start searching for the person who is likely a match for you.

Once you are a member of a particular online dating website, you can now browse their member’s database and here you will see other people’s profile. It is certainly a much more convenient way to meet someone. Another thing about free online dating websites is that you can meet someone as close as your neighbor or as far as half way around the world.

Because of the broad choices for dating, more and more people are joining free online dating websites. So, if you can’t seem to find the right partner, you can always join free online dating websites and start looking for that special someone. Who knows? Maybe that someone is only one click away.

However, you should always remember one rule in online dating. You should never meet personally with a person unless you already know each other well. As you may know, there are a lot of con artists in the website. So, you should always be sure that the person you are talking to is real. Some may ask money from you and some may not be so serious in meeting up with someone and start a relationship.

Remember all these things and you will surely find that person you are looking for.

What is Sports Nutrition?

What is Sports Nutrition?

 By Edysutio

Almost all of the people, occupying this world, dream of being a sports superstar. You long for that feeling when thousands of fans scream your name when you are about to win a game. But unfortunately, only those with extreme discipline, hardwork and talent get to experience that.

Talent is not the only secret of being a sports icon, it is also the way they get their nutrition. You see, sports nutrition is different from normal nutrition because with sports nutrition, the athletes require more nutrients to keep their energy up during their various activities. Athletes perform strenuous activities, that is why more nutrients are needed to keep them running.

Athletes lose a lot of fluids during their game. And like everyone knows, dehydration is one of the biggest problems in the athletic world. Getting tired and thirsty will affect an athlete’s performance, just as it affects anyone else’s, except that it makes the life of an athlete a lot more difficult to live.

Everyone knows that an athlete’s performance is the reason why they get paid, seriously. So basically, if you are an athlete and you want to have that winning edge, then you better get that right nutrition. When you drink enough water and eat a balanced diet and also get the right sports nutrition, your body can utilize energy efficiently and also fuel top performance.

You can make the most of your athletic talents and have more strength, power and endurance when you get the right sports nutrition. These are not just for boasting purposes, however, athletes do have their own way of boasting the above mentioned attributes.

Your diet should be based on different factors and this should involve your age, size, physical condition and the type of sports you are engaging yourself in.

You should first consult your doctor about your diet and not just decide one for yourself. They have the license and they are extremely professional at it, which is why they can give you the right advice on your proper diet and nutrition that you should have.

You lose a lot of fluids everytime you exercise. Just imagine the gallons of sweat you lose when you are pumping that body of yours. That is why water is the most important factor in sports nutrition. It is not the only factor, but in truth, it is the most important.

It makes up about sixty percent of your body weight and is involved in almost all of your bodily processes.

As you probably already know, your body cannot produce and store water, this serves as the main reason why you should replace all fluids that you eliminate while doing your exercise, or else you will have to suffer being dehydrated. With athletes, they require more water than the normal eight glasses a day.

Drink plenty of fluids before, during, and after any kind of sports activity to prevent over-heating and dehydration. At least try to drink the same amount of water you lose due to sweat. There are also various sports drinks that are good for longer events. Getting hydrated will definitely help boost your energy.

Eating a balanced diet is another key to sports nutrition. The right combination of calories from carbohydrates, proteins and fats gives you more energy for top performance. These nutrients perform certain actions that will help your body as you perform strenuous kinds of sports.

Carbohydrates are the most important fuel source. It provides a minimum of sixty to a maximum of seventy percent of our calories. Carbohydrates are found on almost all of the food you consume. Food rich in carbohydrates are fruits, vegetables, pastas, breads, cereals, rice and many more that are too many to mention.

Your body converts sugar and starches from carbohydrates to glucose, which is the main source of energy of the body. Your body also stores the glucose into your liver and muscles giving your body a reservoir of energy. The more carbohydrates you have, the more energy you can give out. If you run out of carbohydrates, you can also get energy form proteins and fats.

You can get your proteins from meat, fish, poultry, eggs, beans, nuts, dairy products and other foods. Proteins provide a minimun of fifteen to a maximum of twenty percent of your daily calories. They are used in tissue and muscle build up.

Want that great physique?

Read a sports nutrition article

By EdySutio

Lots of people dream of becoming world-class athletes. They know that becoming one takes lots of patience and training that can test one's physical and emotional limits to the outmost. Since the business of sports has become more and more lucrative, the concept of sports nutrition has grown into Herculean proportions.

It is a good thing then that those resources such as sports nutrition articles have proliferated in cyberspace. It gives people endless amount of information on how to make their bodies fit for competition.

Here are the summaries of some several of the sports nutrition articles that can give Internet researchers gems of information on athletic fitness.

From one of the most authoritative web sites on anything under the sun, About.com, columnist Elizabeth Quinn talks about the importance of when people should take their meals.

Citing a press release from the IDEA Health & Fitness Association, the article states that the timing and duration of one's eating is as important as the content of the food itself. This holds true especially for athletes. A recent research indicates that the kind of food athletes consume prior, after and during the course of the training matters a lot when it comes to recovery and general athletic performance.

The experts from IDEA shared some key information regarding the subject, such as:

-To enhance performance, nutrients should be ingested in ideal combinations in the most optimal frequencies. This also aids in improving the integrity of one's muscles.

-The right timing in mixing protein and carbohydrates will result in the improvement of workouts and training.

-Obesity can be fought off by taking increased amounts of dietary calcium everyday.

-One should know the difference between good and bad carbohydrates on order to survive the latest low-carbohydrate diet trends.

Another sports nutrition article coming from the web site Rob's Home of Sports, Diet and Nutrition, puts emphasis on the kind of foods necessary in order for the body to bulk up. According to dietician Clare Wood, there are three essential requirements for gaining muscles.

-Potential of one's genes, which can be usually seen from the body structure of one's parents.

-An exercise program that focuses mainly on building strength.

-A diet that provides the body a high amount of energy.

Bulking up can be achieved by adding the amount of one's total energy intake. This will help in providing the body extra carbs needed to energize training.

Increasing the amount of food that one eats can be a difficult task, but here are some tips to go about it:

-Come up with an organized eating plan and make sure to stick with it. The plan should include the kind of foods that should be eaten and the time they should be consumed.

-The frequency of meals per day should be increased, as opposed to increasing the size of the meals. Ideally, one should take 5-6 meals daily, which includes snacks.

Athletes should be immensely responsible regarding the amount of food that they eat and how to properly maintain their physique. For those striving to achieve a fit body and emulate their strict fitness regimen, sports nutrition articles, such as these, can be easily found on the web.

The World of Sports Nutrition

The World of Sports Nutrition

 By Eddy Sutio

Advancements in medicine and an increase in capitalism in the world as well as other factors all contributed to the development of the field of sports nutrition.

As scientists learned more and more about our bodies and the optimum level of strength and physical fitness they can harbor, businessmen jumped the gun and manufactured products and services that actually help athletes meet these optimum levels. The media joined in the ruckus and published materials leading to the promotion of both the scientific and the commercial side of the field.

Sports nutrition has been changing through the years around the world. It’s not just that the topics are different – the emphasis and approach have also changed.

Peak Performance, a sports magazine carried an article on dehydration in runners on October 1990, its maiden issue. This article compared the benefits of plain water with those of dilute glucose solutions, which are more isotonic and therefore absorbed more rapidly.

Today, go into almost any supermarket, convenience stores and even school cafeterias and you’ll find a ready supply of sports drinks aimed at maintaining hydration just like glucose solutions. 

The difference is that by using soluble long-chain glucose polymers instead of simple glucose, it’s now possible to create an isotonic hydrating drink which also supplies significant amounts of carbohydrate to working muscles. And, the good thing is, sports drinks also taste better.

More than 10 years ago, it was made public that muscle damage brought about by free-radicals may be reduced by having supplements of antioxidant vitamins A, C and E. Years after, antioxidant supplementation became a norm in the world of sports nutrition.

Now, researchers are also beginning to understand that muscle damage is a more complex subject.  It is difficult to assess free radical damage in athletes and it has been found out that large amounts of antioxidant nutrients may actually cause cellular damage and impair performance.

The “Carbo loading” technique has been widely used over the years by athletes all over the world. A carbohydrate-rich diet is important in maintaining muscle glycogen stores thus ensuring high endurance levels.

However, in the 1990’s it became clear that the ‘glycaemic index’ and release rate of different carbohydrates had important influence on when they should best be consumed in relation to physical activity.

The relationship of carbohydrates and proteins were also discovered namely that carbohydrates promote protein-sparing in the body. It was also discovered recently that consuming carbohydrates before and during prolonged bouts of strenuous exercise can help protect the immune system.

One of the most exciting recent developments in sports nutrition has been the rise of creatine supplementation. The use of creatine is now very common. Creatine renews the muscles essential energy source, ATP or adenosine triphosphate. Increased levels in muscles optimizes energy turnover meaning you’ll more energy for high power exercise and faster recovery during and after workouts. Creatine also increases the athlete’s maximum effort, delays fatigue and therefore prolongs endurance.

New wisdom and therefore new products have definitely enabled athletes to fuel themselves better, work harder, train longer and recover more rapidly. However, as in any kind of innovation there will always be downsides.

Nutritional supplements available to most athletes in the 80’s were very straightforward. Some athletes took drugs but the boundaries between nutritional supplements and drugs clear. Today, the race to find new formulas to boost performance has resulted to the availability of sports nutrition supplements which do not really occur naturally. The result is that the distinction between a nutrient and a performance-enhancing substance has become increasingly blurred.

Some of these supplements contain ingredients that can cause athletes to violate the rules and regulations governing their sport because of unintentional contamination by other, ‘exotic’, substances present in the supplement manufacturing environment.

More developments will be created in the world of sports nutrition and these will definitely spawn ethical questions. “Nutrigenomics”—the relationship between genetics and nutrition—will be more researched upon.

As scientists become more skilled at discovering the processes of our genes, it will be possible that rather than adopting a general approach for sports nutrition, athletes around the world will be genetically tested to help them determine precise individual requirements for optimum health.

The next years will predictably be more exciting for the world of sports nutrition.