Philip Howard Fitness and Nutrition

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Philip Howard Fitness and Nutrition

Performance nutrition for sport, fitness, health and life. Nutrition, health and lifestyle for GAA players.

09/10/2022

Consuming at least 20g protein in your breakfast is a good idea 💡

Many athletes have been shown to consume insufficient protein in breakfast and this may hamper recovery and muscle growth.

For optimal protein synthesis over the course of the day, aim to eat meals with 20-40g protein every 3 to 4 hours per day.

These 4 meals can provide some options for quick, tasty and convenient meals in the morning and provide that protein hit that the body needs.

22/08/2022

GAA Recovery

The club championship season is well and truly on us with games coming thick and fast. With limited time to recover, it is very important that players pay attention to their recovery strategies in the 24 to 36 hours after the match. This is a crucial time period to restore the body to a state of optimal physical and physiological functioning.

There are many recovery modalities that may help players to help them restore function but nutrition is one that can definitely help.

The nutrition strategies for recover will generally revolve around a few basic principles
1. Carbohydrate intake to replenish lost energy stores. This quantity of carbohydrates that needs to be consumed is dependent the energy expelled in the match and the proximity of the next match or event. Mo Salah playing 3 matches in 7 days will need a more aggressive carbohydrate regime than a GAA player with a two week break.

2. Protein intake will help restore muscle function after a match. Consuming protein post match is a good idea and will help start the recovery process. Depending on the time the match is completed, consuming a protein rich meal at 2 to 3 hour intervals will further support muscle recovery.

3. Hydration. Players can easily lose 2 to 3% of body weight during a match during a warm day. For an 80 kg player, a 2% loss would equate to 1.6kg loss in weight. In general players should aim to drink 1.5 times the weight lost in litres. For example, a 1.6kg loss in weight x by 1.5 = 2.4 litres. To consume this volume of fluid for an evening match may not be practical so drink 500ml to 1000ml (or whatever practical) pre bed and consume the rest in the morning. Drinks containing electrolytes may help retain fluid in the body.

4. Support the diet by consuming a large quantity of colourful foods and omega 3 rich foods such as salmon and mackeral. These may reduce muscle soreness.

03/04/2022

You want to become more conscious of what you are eating?

Write it down for a few days.

This may seem a bit simplistic to some people but the basic process of writing down everything you put in your mouth can make you so much more aware of your eating habits.

Anecdotally I have found this process very eye opening for many people and they suddenly see their weekly food intake from a totally different point of view.

What you might notice
- more snacks than you realised with your few cups of tea
- 2 slices of toast waiting for dinner
- eating chicken every day for a week and not rotating protein source
- skipping a meal when busy
- missing protein regularly
- not eating anything in the hours before training
- eating no fruit/veg in a day
- eating half a pack of figrolls watching the tv 📺😋🤭

Give it a go, consciously write down what you eat for a few days and see if anything jumps out. It is important to be mindful and be aware especially if you have a particular goal in mind.

01/04/2022

Just because your weight is staying constant doesn't mean that you are eating enough food to support your training and recovery.

There is a lot of research emerging that many athletes are at risk of low energy availability which is not only compromising their ability of perform at their best and recover properly but also potentially putting their health at risk.

The initial research on this topic surrounded female athletes and those in weight making sports such as combat sports, rowing, gymnastics but this type of research has expanded into other sports over the years.

There is emerging evidence that male GAA inter county players are also quite succeptible to lower energy intakes.

Research from has shown that GAA players are not eating sufficient carbohydrates especially during pre season.

'At two stages during a season (2019-2020), repeated measures of EI, exercise energy expenditure (EEE), EA and body composition were performed.

Sixty-five percent reported with LEA [

29/03/2022

My only regret is not making a double batch 😕😅

Chocolate Protein Brownies
- 75g Dark Choc 70%
- 50g peanut butter
- 1 tbsp coconut oil
- 1 & 1/2 tbsp of honey
- 2 eggs
- 1 & 1/2 scoop whey protein

* Melt the dark choc, honey, peanut butter & coconut oil together, mixing well.
* Beat the 2 eggs in a large bowl before mixing in the whey.
* Then, add the melted mix to this bowl and mix thoroughly.
* Line a tin with baking paper and bake for approx 8-10 minutes at 180C (if they are a bit gooey when
you take them out of the oven then even better, once they’ve set they’ll be great!).
* Take out and leave to cool before serving. Or eat them hot and gooey if you can't resist!

Recipe from .live

20/03/2022

26 of the quickest smoothies that were ever made 🍹🥤

19/03/2022

We all desire positive results.
Whether that is fat loss, muscle gain or health improvement.

Modern day humans are quite impatient and want these results quickly. This can lead us to being quite succeptible to quick schemes that sell a solution but don't equip the person with any long term management strategies.

- Detox diets
- Skinny tea
- No 'insert food' diet
- Meal replacement diet
- Pyramid supplement scheme

After the period of time the programme has run for, the person may or may not have achieved any results but their bank balance is definitely slimmer.
The unfortunate problem is that they haven't learned any new habits that could have moved them in a positive direction. They are back where they started ready to be duped again.

Stop focusing on the hacks and concentrate on building sustainable habits that work.
These will be totally different for each individual and will be based on their current lifestyle and goals.

- Reduce take aways to 1 a week
- Include a vegetable in dinner every evening
- Bring prepared lunch to work every day rather than buying in the deli
- Stop eating after 8pm

Don't fall for the hacks and focus on building long term sustainable habits.

21/02/2022

Smoothies are a great way to support recovery after a tough training or a match.

- Easy to make
- Nutritious ingredients
- Easy to consume post exercise when appetite may be low
- Tasty
- Supports the 3Rs of Recovery ( , , )

Carbs - banana, oats, honey, fruit
Protein - milk, protein powder, nuts
Fluid - fruit juice, milk, water
Fruit/veg - dark coloured berries, spinach etc
Extra - nuts/seeds and spices

13/02/2022

High carbohydrate diets support high intensity sports performance.

Whilst I will sometimes recommend some of my GAA players to periodise their carbohydrate and energy intake (to support body comp goals) based on daily activity levels, this is totally different to cutting out carbohydrates altogether.

Very low carbohydrate diets can be hazardous for athletes participating in high intensity intermittent sports such as GAA, soccer, rugby and basketball.

Here are 3 reasons

1. Carbohydrates are vital to fuel high intensity activity and performance. When you eat a low carb diet, your body will not have enough energy to repeatedly sprint and perform high intensity activity.

2. Your recovery will suck. Eating foods high in carbohydrate after a training or match will help the body refill the fuel tank and enable you to perform again the following day.

3. Chronic low carb consumption downregulates the enzyme (PDH) which facilitate carbohydrate metabolism. Therefore if you eat a low carb diet for a long time and then eat carbs before the event, you won't be able to use them efficiently enough during the exercise.

Intermittent athletes should vary their carb intake based on their goals, activity levels and performance targets.
Some days be be high carbohydrate days and other may be lower.
But never should it be a chronically low carb diet.

29/01/2022

A productive morning.
I completed the 50 mile challenge for and made up a batch of flapjacks as a post match snack for the lads tomorrow.
Thanks to everyone who donated to the challenge 👏
Looking forward to the first day out in the National League in Carrick tomorrow.

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