We have presented the point of view of a nutritionist and sports food store owner. We now met with a sports nutritionist and listened to her point of view.

Meet Natalia Shulga. This slim and charming girl is also a multifunctional athlete. On the list of her activities: swimming, triathlon, Athletics, crossfit and even obstacle racing. We met at the Lybed stadium, where Natalia trains.

So, again sports nutrition ... Some people confuse dietary supplements with doping. According to the nutritionist, doping is an artificial stimulation of the body to what it is not capable of without taking special stimulants. But dietary supplements are the adjustment of the mechanism of the body's cells.

As you know, in order for training to be more effective, you need nutrients... Unfortunately, we cannot always get them from food. Then sports nutrition comes to the rescue.

- When we come to cardio training, the heart learns to pump more blood volume, - says Natalia. - Cells and capillaries learn to accept this volume and return decay products back. If the capillary network is weak, this process starts poorly. When the heart valves do not have time to take and donate blood, high or low blood pressure appears.

Sport aligns arterial pressure. Power training- raise, and cardio load - lower. We are getting healthier and feeling good. Supplements, of course, work for this energy system. Then we consume oxygen faster and remove waste products faster.

And now for some essential information. We have already written earlier that essential amino acids - BCAA - are an important part of sports nutrition. They certainly help build muscle. However, if you look not only at aesthetics, but at the functionality of the body as a whole, all amino acids are important.

- If you do not feel well in the morning, do not get up well with the alarm, you need to include taurine in the diet, look at other amino acids. L-carnitine, which is marketed as a fat burner, is actually a nonessential amino acid found in our bodies. It is generated as soon as you start moving.

Let's go outside with a brisk pace - look, the pulse has risen to 120. So L-carnitine is definitely in the blood. If you drink it additionally before cardio workout, the intake of energy from fat will go faster.

However, you need to know when you are definitely going on fats, and not on glycogen accumulated from food. To approach sports nutrition, you need to know exactly what you are missing.

There are supplements that Natalia advises not only to take professional athletes but children and even pregnant women.

- The first one is "Omega-complexes 3, 6, 9". Saturated fatty acid that cleanse the vessels from the inside. Cholesterol is excreted from the body with good fats. For example, visceral fat can only be improved with proper nutrition with a lot of use of "omega".

There is a Q10 complex. It is impossible to keep a good pulse without clean blood vessels. A clean vessel is connective tissue without cholesterol plaques, a fiber that allows serious blood flow to pass through. An elite athlete pumps 40 liters per minute on a treadmill. A good drinking volume and clean blood vessels are 30% of the success of sports achievements.

Let's start with food additives, amino acids and talk about healthy eating generally. Natalya says that every athlete can eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

- In the morning - undiluted porridge - buckwheat, oatmeal. Be sure to eat easily digestible protein. You can use natural yogurt, light scrambled eggs. Serving size - two palms. From the table you should leave a little hungry, knowing that in half an hour you will definitely be eating.

The next meal is a snack. Eat an apple, a handful of almonds. If you go to a workout, you can add protein to this meal.

Lunch should not start with soup, but with a portion of green salad, not with mayonnaise, but with olive oil. Carbohydrate side dish - corn, again buckwheat porridge, heat-treated vegetables, baked potatoes, beets, carrots.

As protein you can use: fish, beef, chicken without antibiotics. After three hours a second snack. You can repeat the morning one or focus on protein - eat cottage cheese. For dinner, a serving of salad and protein food again. Carbohydrates are no longer needed because we have to sleep and rest at night.

There are athletes who use hormones to build muscle. There are many ways. For example, you can give a shot after training. Hormones are well absorbed in a heated body. But we remember from a previous interview with a dietitian that playing with hormones can be dangerous.

And then, an artificially "grown" bodybuilder is just an aesthetic look. Such a guy is definitely not ready for serious sports tests. Let's not forget the main objective any workout - improving your health and only then - external data.

Morning jogging is what you need to wake up and energize. Everyone knows this, but 80% always skillfully find excuses so as not to crawl out from under the blanket: the rain is gathering, it's cold, I don't want to, and, finally, "that I will run like a fool alone." Running is much more popular than you think - go to social media by tags#Run after me and#zatotopka and you will see more than 20 thousand bright and positive photos: jogging, festivals and competitions, culinary master classes and healthy meals, lectures and seminars - all on a voluntary basis and absolutely free. More than 70 thousand like-minded people in 78 cities of Russia organize weekly races, learn how to train and eat properly as part of the All-Russian youth project "Run after me". Thanks to the author's project of Natalia Shulga - nutritionist, practice-consultant on balanced nutrition and weight correction - fashion for healthy image life is gaining momentum. Natalia told us when and how to run in order to lose weight, explained why snacks are needed, and why functional nutrition will prevail over regular food.

– Natalya, how did the idea of ​​the Run After Me project come about?

When my son was born, I realized that I didn't want to do anything else except my health and family. I realized that I was tired of working for my boss, tired of the glass ceiling. From that moment I decided that I needed to put my thoughts, feelings, body in order, and went on a run.

– Why running, and not swimming, for example, or fitness?

Running is easy. I got up an hour earlier than the child and her husband, put on sneakers, and ran. Everything went from the desire to somehow switch and just rearrange the legs: when you jog, the body enters a kind of trance, the problems become solvable, and you negotiate with the world and with yourself. Running is such a first step towards yourself. During this beautiful morning ritual, everything falls into place, I understand where I am, who I am, what I want and what I don’t want ... For me, running is life in the present. I started with 20 minutes of jogging for pleasure, and six months later I reached 10 kilometers of quiet daily jogging.

– But such sports indicators cannot appear out of nowhere: as a child, you were probably an athlete?

At school, I missed all physical education lessons, received exemptions with a certificate ...

– You?!

I mowed bless you! Terribly disliked running. At the age of 14, a teenage search for myself began, I decided to do athletics, and in the very first lesson I was forced to run 100 meters. I almost died while I was running, and the coach looked sadly: "This is no good." In general, all the memories from school and institute about sports - cause only horror :)

– How, then, did those around you perceive your sudden passion for running: friends, acquaintances?

Seeing that my life was changing, friends began to ask: "What are you doing?" Upon learning about running, they, of course, were surprised at first: no one perceived me as a runner six or seven years ago at all. But it so happened that in the past these guys were also disappointed in glass ceilings, in the system of working for the boss, they wanted to find themselves ... And they also decided to try. At some point, there were 30 of us: every Saturday at 9 am we met near the Taganskaya metro station and ran to Vorobyovy Gory and back. An investor noticed our group, wanted to invest in us, offered to launch a full-fledged project, I came up with the name "Run after me". Running, we gathered a large audience - the largest group that ran with me on Saturdays on initial stage, - 350 people. It turned out that running is interesting not only to me :)

– Natalya, when is the best time to go jogging?

If you consider running as an activity for yourself, for the soul, for communication with nature and the universe, you can run whenever you want. If the task is to put your body in order, you need to approach your studies wisely. At first, the body runs on glycogen: muscles burn the "sugar" that you received all day with carbohydrate foods. You probably noticed such a moment of "slipping", when at first you do not want to run for a minute or two, you move your legs through "I can not", and then it becomes easy, energy appears, the second wind opens - just at this moment fats begin to be burned. So: to start lipid metabolism in the morning, it is enough to run for 20-30 minutes before breakfast. And in the evening, when you have already eaten a lot, you will have to run for 1.5-2 hours for the "fat melting plant" - and not just jogging, but with acceleration or uphill. Running in an even rhythm during the day or in the evening is practically useless: it will start the metabolism 2-3 hours ahead, but it will not help to get in shape quickly.

– Usually, after 5 minutes of running, an unprepared person begins to prick in the side. And it is hardly possible for everyone to run for an hour and a half without stopping ... What to do when it seems that you can no longer?

Running for an hour and a half is, of course, already a semi-professional sport. You do not need to bring yourself to exhaustion. You need to run only at a pace that is comfortable. When you drive yourself up, you unnecessarily load the heart muscle, although it does not need to be specially trained: the heart always works to its maximum, but vascular system, valves - wear out. So choose only an easy pace. Or go for brisk strides at 120–130 bpm — it's as effective as jogging, while reducing shock to your joints. Sport should bring joy, no need to accumulate fatigue from class to class and go to training, thinking: "Oooh, I'm going to die!"

– Natalya, can you suggest an option for a universal run that is suitable for both a beginner and a professional, will be effective and enjoyable?

Get out in the morning, jog at first - wake up, let your body enter the system: your heart beats, your muscles start to work, you feel your body. Now do 2-3 speed ups to kickstart your metabolism. The accelerations are very short: 3-5 seconds, no longer. After acceleration, take a quick step to restore the body, walk for 2-3 minutes, or gradually switch to jogging, and then accelerate again. To reduce stress on your joints and increase efficiency, accelerate uphill and back down at a brisk pace. Only twenty minutes is enough for such a workout, from the tenth minute running will cease to seem like a torment to you, you will not notice either rain or snow - endorphins will enter your bloodstream, and you will feel like a happy person :) Plus, when you come from a run, thanks to interval approaches, the press will be outlined, and the legs will be tightened.

– Is it better to run outdoors or in the gym?

On the fresh air the body receives more oxygen, oxygen heats up the blood faster, and the blood activates cellular metabolism, including the process of fat burning, will start faster. You will feel good and get quick results.

– That is, just running is enough to get in shape? Or do you need to do something else?

Running is a shock load on all joints, on the feet, on the knees, ligaments are hard tissues. They are formed for six months longer than muscle ones. For example, if you start training a month before a serious race, you will have time to grow muscles, they will become strong, strong, elastic, but you will damage all hard tissues during the race. I myself went through the stage of running without correct technique, this led to overtraining of the body, and I realized that the body needs to be supported from the inside. Therefore, we began to teach the children to run correctly, to instill a running culture, and most importantly, we added functional training: they strengthen the articular tissue, key muscles of the back and core, which hold all our internal organs... Such complexes of exercises prevent many health problems 20-30 years before their possible appearance, help to achieve full physical form and be ready to surrender any standards.

– Natalya, the topic of standards is very interesting. Since September, the All-Russian physical culture complex "Ready for Labor and Defense" (TRP) has been approved for physical education population from 6 to 70 years and older. As far as we know, you have acted as an expert in the development of new regulations. But you’re saying that you yourself didn’t like all these 100-meters in childhood. Why are you supporting now?

I would like the standards to stop being perceived as nightmare and an opportunity to get a sufficient portion of humiliation - as it was at school and at the university, probably not only for me. I would like it to be exciting and prestigious: I calmly passed and received my badge. I believe that the TRP can become an additional filter of a person's success. For example, according to the standards, a woman of thirty should run a 100-meter in a maximum of 15 seconds, and 1 kilometer in no more than 4 minutes and 40 seconds. These are not superpowers, they are just confirmation that she is strong, flexible and in good shape. And in just a month, functional training will help any person to prepare for passing all the standards of the All-Russian Physical Culture Complex of the TRP.

– Let's return to the conversation about how to run correctly: before breakfast, with acceleration, at a comfortable pace, further strengthening the body with functional training. What else is important?

Of course, in order to run quickly and without injuries, you need to feed yourself well from the inside. At the very beginning of the project, I was faced with the fact that not everyone understands how and what to eat. Just imagine: 300 people come running to the office after a run - hungry, what to do with them? We began to come up with culinary master classes, organize lectures with nutritionists, and educate people about the culture of food.

– Natalia, what is the essence of proper nutrition, in your opinion?

The formula is simple: you need to eat often, fractionally, 4-5 times a day: start your metabolism with food, but do not feed yourself, portions should be strictly limited. You need to consume a sufficient amount of fluid, because water is the source of all metabolic processes in the body. You should drink water whenever you want, plus I advise you to drink half a glass of water before each meal, so as not to confuse hunger with thirst. It is also important to maintain a balance of proteins, fats and carbohydrates - nutrients.

– After all, you need to constantly monitor what you eat, keep counting ...

The main thing is to understand the basic principles. If you do not eat carbohydrates in the morning (the best option is not boiled porridge), then after four o'clock in the afternoon you will have symptoms of hypoglycemia: drowsiness, dizziness, cravings for sweets. Many girls say that they cannot live without chocolate, so if you eat enough complex carbohydrates in the morning, the dependence on sweets will disappear. And if you have dinner with carbohydrates - for example, pasta - the body will not digest it overnight, and in the morning, before breakfast, you will have to "run back" this pasta - otherwise it will be deposited in the fat "depot". All human physiology is aimed at the accumulation of fats, proteins and carbohydrates for future use: what if there is a war ?! And in no case should you go hungry! Many people think that if you want to lose weight, then you need not to eat - this is wrong. This slows down the metabolism, so be sure to have snacks.

– What is the best snack?

Of course, the easiest snack is an apple or nuts, half a banana, a handful of almonds, 30 grams of coconut, or meal replacements. I, in general, a supporter of functional nutrition, take it calmly: it is convenient, the composition is balanced, and there is a clear portion - the snack should be just no more than 200 grams in order to slightly muffle hunger, and then return to regular food. By the way, you need to be careful with fruits: they provoke hunger. If you do not immerse the fruit with protein, there is a danger of overeating during the main meal. Even a snack must be approached wisely.

– Energy Diet - is it a good snack?

In my opinion, this is the perfect pre-dinner or evening workout snack.

Interviewed by: Maria Vasilchenko

Material preparation: Tatiana Vozhakova

Natalia is a nutritionist, nutritional and weight management consultant (and vegan at the same time) and one of the founders of the Academy of Health Industry Professionals.

Traditionally - tell us about your body in your usual measurements

Height - 165, weight - 55, chest - 86, waist - 65, butt - 90.

Where did you study, what do you work as?

She studied at the Vladimir Pedagogical University (psychology, teacher in English- two diplomas. I work in sulfur healthy lifestyle.

How did it happen that you started to study?

I used to work as an ideologist and organizer of mass actions in youth politics. All federal actions of the Nashi movement, project work in the year of youth, the creation of project activities for Rosmolodezh. After all these actions and projects, I decided to restore my psycho-emotional state, began to play sports and monitor nutrition. I realized that the experience is interesting to many - I began to keep an author's blog.

What pushed you towards healthy lifestyle?

Pushed by the first subscribers - the area of ​​functional training and TRX became immediately interesting.

What did you do in the gym for the first months?

Functional training only, weight own body... Such a start gives a very fast growth.

I immediately became friends with the trainer Anna Mukhina (we found ourselves in the gym of a well-known fitness network and did not part for 3 years), and I began to do the first one with her. sports project"Run after me".

Are you currently working out with a coach or on your own?

I was trained in Miami and Russian practitioners, she herself became the author of hundreds training programs, brought dozens of clients to the result (still together). The training system has grown into a training system functional loads and development in all directions - I became one of the founders of the Academy of Health Industry Specialists, organized with the support of the I.M. Sechenov. There we teach the Health Coach profession online - the health and wellness consultant.

Now I train myself, including within the framework of the F.Community project (#functionalists), the leader of which is my partner Vladimir Kobylenko. There we prepare for various competitions and organize fitness tours.

Natalia's partner - Vladimir Kobylenko

What do you usually eat?

I've been a vegan for a little over six months now. Customer experiment turned into personal experience and personal goals. I really like the energy and new forces inside. Cereals, root vegetables, vegetables, fruits and dried fruits, nuts and tofu - this is what I eat.

Do you use any sports supplements to nutrition?

Previously, I tried and drank everything, now only pure, non-freeze-dried products.

What brands of sportswear and footwear do you prefer?

Salming is for the street, Reebok is for crossfit, New Balance is for the city and street running on the road.

Your current training program is by exercise / by day.

Here's a screenshot of my workout plan:

Your fitness goals

Triathlon / races / swimming and marathons - all run and swim (race to win!)

What inspires you?

Music and best practice books. Last year, the book Transcend. Nine Steps Towards Eternal Life "from futurist Ray Kurzweil and leading American physician Terry Grossman.

What are your landmarks / idols?

Crossfit athletes.

What kind of music do you train to?

Metallica's latest album.

Your advice to those who want to start

Start by walking 20 minutes outside. Then get stuck running. Then go to functional training. Then try the complexes for a while. Then put sports goals and go to the mass starts, you will like it!