I'm a renowned nutritionist – these are my top five tips to stay in peak condition

A renowned nutritionist has cited a healthy diet, staying hydrated and energised as the best ways to keep your body in peak physical condition.

Mark Ellison is a nutritionist for Manchester United and has been a expert to some of the top footballing stars for over a decade. He also advises heavyweight boxer Anthony Joshua, rugby team Sales Sharks and many other people in the sports industry, helping them through gameday, recovery and so on.

The nutrition expert has come out with some general health and fitness tips to help people get into the best shape they can - and it's all to do with how you fuel your body.

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1 - Always remember to refuel after physical activity

When working out, playing five-a-side or any form of physical activity, your body will become depleted of energy and this can lead to soreness and potentially injury. Ellison advises people to consume energy gels when preparing for the next bout of physical activity, in order to keep your body in tip-top condition.

He said: "Under-fuelling has two different effects. In the short term, it’s going to impact directly on that game or training session. If you are under-fuelled, your muscle glycogen stores are going to deplete quicker, leading to fatigue and, ultimately, it will reduce the intensity of that performance.

"When you’re tired, you make mistakes, bad decisions and your reactions are poorer. Fatigue can also lead to muscle tightness and soreness and, heaven forbid, you can sustain an injury. So, ultimately, it reduces the amount of distance you can cover and the intensity that you can do in that work-out. In the long term, if you chronically under-fuel every day, you are going to lose weight, become weaker and lose muscle mass.

"If you’re not getting the fuelling right on a daily basis, that is the long-term risk but the short-term risk is you’re not going to perform at your best and not going to get the intensity from that work-out because you’re not going to be able to go for as long."

2 - Manage your appetite

Ellison also advised that something key to staying healthy is managing your appetite by consuming things like energy gels in order not to overeat.

He continued: "Managing appetite and managing your normal routines is key and being able to stick to a consistent diet and nice routines, supplementing that with a simple drink means that, when we take that away a day after a game, let’s say, you’re back to your normal routine without thinking you’ve missed a meal or you’ve missed something. It makes it quite easy."

3 - Stay hydrated

The nutritionist also noted that keeping your body hydrated is very important, as you lose water through sweat while exercising.

He said: "It doesn’t matter if you’re an elite athlete or a Sunday League player, hydration is going to affect you in the same way. It’s driving that thirst and making sure you turn up to training session and games well hydrated, especially if you’re playing in the peak of summer. It’s quite funny as we talk about the heat and sweating more in the summer but, in Sunday League, everyone is wrapped up in long leg-ins, hats and thick tops.

"People don’t realise how much you sweat when you wear increased layers of clothing. So your sweat losses are just as great in the winter as the summer, if you’re wearing lots of extra layers. The effects of that are just the same.

"When you get dehydrated, even two per cent can be a very small amount of water, we’ve talked about how much people can lose in one session, and it can affect concentration and decision making and you can make mistakes and let the team down. You don’t want to be letting your Sunday League team-mates down by getting tired."

Ellison claims that every person needs at least four litres of water a day - not necessarily from drinking, but also from what you eat as well.

He added: "There is a lot of literature that would say people want to aim for four litres a day, two of which come in drinks and two of which come in food. Most of the foods we encourage people to eat like fresh fruits, vegetables and even meats, and obviously dairy products have huge water content, but people are often surprised when they realise how much water and hydration they are getting from foods.

"Half comes from there and, if you’re having that good diet, and the other half is from actual drinks every day."

4 - Don't get tied down to a strict diet that doesn't work for you

The nutritionist also pointed out that some of the strictest diets can't always be stuck to by the average person, as it is not "practical" for most. Instead, he claims that you need to make the right decision for yourself in the moment, and eat what you want within reason.

Ellison continued: "I don’t know if anyone has tried, certainly I did as a student, I remember doing the weighed food programmes and measuring out things. It’s hard. It’s not practical. So we tend to deal in real-world terms. Some portions are the size of your fist or actually that meal is going to be a high-carb meal or that one is going to be a high-carb, high-protein meal that we’re waiting for you take.

"Someone will put it in your hand to take. The same on the pitch, someone is nudging you to take the right things and it’s presented there for them and is all geared up in the right way for them. Whether you’re individual and want something prescriptive or whether you want something more broad and generic and want to go to a restaurant, off the cuff, and need to make the right decision, that’s what we aspire towards."

5 - Eat a typically healthy diet instead

Ellison has suggested that anyone taking part in physical activity should be preparing their body in a similar but different way that a professional footballer does before a matchday.

He said: "We promote people eating real food, supplemented by great quality products we know are tried and tested and more importantly trusted from a testing point of view for anti-doping. So we don’t really say no to much. It’s about balance. It’s about having a little treat at weekends and being able to sustain what we see as a good diet all season, not just in the season but the whole year and during the off season as well."

The United staff member also named some of the foods that the footballers eat in the build-up to matchdays, training and post-games, which include:

• Eggs and wholegrain toast for breakfast

• Lots of fresh fish, poultry and dairy foods

• Fruit and vegetables

• Smoothies

• Snack on things like Greek yoghurts, nuts and fruit