Adenosine triphosphate, also referred to as ATP, is nature’s energy store. Every living organism needs ATP energy in order to carry out the processes that maintain life within that organism, including us humans for whom a continuous energy source is essential for our biochemistry, movement of fluids and the involuntary muscular movements exemplified by our heartbeat, respiration and digestion.

Diets high in carbohydrates are essential for athletes, but as discussed in Carbohydrates: The Body’s Core Fuel For Energy, finding the right balance of fuel for your body is about much more than what you eat. Properly preparing your body for work-outs is a balancing act of what sorts of carbohydrates you eat and when you eat them.

Okay, but what type of carbs should the athlete be eating? The reason carbs have a bad reputation is because there are lots of low-quality sources out there, in the form of junk foods and other convenience foods that don’t offer any real nutrition – people fill up on them and pack on the pounds, but are still starving for nutrients. Over consumption of simple sugars (mono and disaccharides), like those found in candy and soda, has also been linked to the onset of type 2 diabetes and obesity. These types of carbs have a high glycemic index, which means they cause your blood sugar to rise rapidly and then eventually crash. The exception to the rule is the simple sugar found in fruits. Because fruits contain fiber, vitamins, minerals, anti-oxidants and other goodies, they generally prevent the sugars from being absorbed so rapidly in your system, so you don’t get that crash.

Contrary to what some fad diets would have us believe, carbohydrates are not the enemy. In fact, they are pretty much the athlete’s best friend. Carbs provide the foundation for any serious athlete’s diet. Why? Because anytime you engage in moderate to intense exercise, your body is using glycogen (stored carbohydrates) as its primary fuel source.

The Life Health Secrets team is pleased to welcome Tara DiLuca aboard as the newest contributor to the blog. She’ll be blogging under the name ‘fit law girl.’ Tara is one of those high-energy, high-achiever people, to put it mildly – while working as a litigation lawyer, she’s won 1st place in the women’s 55 meter hurdles at the Colgate Women’s Games, Madison Square Gardens, every year since 2007 and just recently placed 1st in the 100 meter hurdle event at the 2009 USATF East Regional Track & Field Outdoor Championships, amongst other achievements.

Do you feel constantly tired and run down? Do you need caffeine and sugar to get you through the day? Are you under frequent mental or physical stress? Do you have trouble coping with stress? Do you have a decreased sex drive? Are you frequently depressed or angry? Do you engage in frequent extreme exercise? Do you often have an upset stomach? Do you overeat and/or have experienced significant weight gain? If you answered yes to any of those questions, you may be overburdening your adrenals and producing an excess amount of cortisol.

Nourishing the adrenals alone is not enough, however – stimulating the adrenals without opening the surrounding pathways of the nervous system (or, from the viewpoint of Chinese Medicine, the meridians) is like increasing the output of an electricity generator in a home with faulty wiring. Sooner or later, the whole thing will short circuit, and you may end up burning out your generator (adrenals). This is how an aggressive adrenal stimulant such as caffeine or sugar can eventually drain your entire system.

Energy level is pretty high. Normally yesterday would have been the end of the 2nd week in a 3 week cycle (2 weeks of build/1 recovery…”normal” protocol for an athlete my age), but I actually feel well enough to see what it would be like to try a 4 week cycle of 3 weeks of build/1 recovery, just like the good old days. I’ll know more after my tempo run tomorrow, but so far, I’m really impressed with my recovery.

Your body’s energy is produced through a process known as cellular respiration: this is where your cells use the nutrients you’ve ingested through food, along with the air you breathe, and transform them into adenosine triphosphate (ATP) – the fuel for cellular energy.