Why does Nutrition Matter for Athletes? Explain

Why does Nutrition Matter for Athletes? Explain

Healthy Eating & Sports Essay Paper

Billions of people around the world enjoy playing or watching sports as a great recreational activity. The object of almost any sport is to be the best at something. To be the best, an athlete must practice and train and consistently perform at the highest level possible. An athlete must push the body to the limit. If an athlete is to gain the best possible results from training and practice, the value of food and well balanced diet is of the utmost importance.Healthy Eating & Sports Essay Paper

 

Food becomes the main component of the human body. Even as food is being savored, it is meeting nutritional needs. Every humans life relies on food to provide daily energy. Food is the tissue in bodies, and is the regulator of…show more content…
At least twenty-one different minerals are necessary for a healthy person. Examples include sodium and fluorine. Sodium is found in very large amounts in areas such as extracellular fluid and perspiration. Fluorine is used by the body in dental and bone formations. Many times minerals are not kept in proper balance, and this causes the body to not perform at peak levels. Eventually lack of minerals can cause severe harm against a person. Vitamins are organic substances that function as chemical regulators. Vitamins are necessary in life for growth and maintenance. Since vitamins are needed in such small quantity, even a poor diet usually provides all the required vitamins needed by a person. The important aspect of vitamins for an athlete is that an athlete needs the same amount of vitamins as an average person. Many people, including non-athletes, take vitamins everyday. Vitamins; however, do not contribute to body structure. Vitamins are also not an energy source. In fact excess vitamins can cause damage. Vitamins that are soluble are simply excreted, but insoluble vitamins are eventually stored liver.Healthy Eating & Sports Essay Paper

In order to perform at peak potential an athlete must fuel their body with nutritious foods. Proteins, carbohydrates, fruits and vegetables; these three-core food groups fuel a winning athlete. Proteins help build, teeth, bones and muscles, and create enzymes, red blood cells, long-term energy, as well, boost the immune system. Its functions are the most diverse of any food group. Protein consists of combinations of structures called amino acids that combine in various ways to make muscles, bone and tissues. They serve other functions as well including nutrient transportation and enzyme production for overall health beneficence. Adequate, regular protein intake is essential because the body does not easily store it. Various foods supply protein in different amounts with the highest quantaty coming mostly from animal products such as meat, fish, and eggs.
I) Athletes need protein, primarily to repair tissues and rebuild muscle that is broken down during exercise and to help optimizes carbohydrate storage. This effect will help athletes gain immediate energy for competition or a workout.Healthy Eating & Sports Essay Paper
II) Proteins are extremely important in the growth of muscles, combined with weight training; protein can enhance muscle mass gain. Dependent on the athlete, the balance between weight lifting and protein intake will vary; a professional or trainer will measure the needed amount. Thought, all athletes will need a high protein diet, short track sprinters will not intake as much as much as a football player, for the sprinter would have a high carbohydrate diet. Resulting in instant energy opposed to the football players need for muscle mass and stored energy for long exercise periods.

Certain foods can make a difference in sports competition. Conditioning, strength, and speed have been the focal points of athletic training for years; however, the research on nutritional elements indicates their importance to an athlete’s optimal performance. Knowing the proper food to eat before, during, and after a physical activity can help an athlete in achieving their desired performance.

The most important nutrient categories are starches, minerals, sugars, and electrolytes. Starches and minerals fit into the area of complex carbohydrates. Complex carbohydrates are polysaccharides (many sugars bonded together). Because of the multiple bonds, polysaccharides are able to store energy for later use. Simple sugars make up the other group of carbohydrates. The bonding structures of simple sugars are much less advanced that than those of complex carbohydrates. This allows for the burning of simple sugars in an athlete’s body. Electrolytes are a category of their own because they are helpful to an athlete all of the time, whether energy storage or energy burning is needed.Healthy Eating & Sports Essay Paper

Minerals are a group of compounds that allow for endurance in an athletic competition. Potassium is a common mineral associated with muscle cramping. A lack of potassium is the cause of muscle cramping during a sporting event. Minerals must be taken in at least six hours before the time of activity. Due to the complexity of minerals, they are not easily transported to the muscle cites most in need of replenishment.

Complexity of compounds is the reason they must be absorbed long before the physical activity. Starch a main area of complex carbohydrates. It has several bonds. Starches are tightly bound carbon molecules and have several attaching elements. This bonding complexity is the reason starches are capable of retaining large amounts of energy. These compounds should be taken into an athlete’s body prior to intense physical activity because an energy storage supply is necessary when simple compounds are completely oxidized.

The athlete’s body is able to burn simple carbohydrates quickly. This leaves him/her drained minutes into the sporting event. Examples of simple carbohydrates are sugars and electrolytes. Their bonding patterns are opposite that of starches. Loosely bonded elements are stripped of electrons through oxidation.Healthy Eating & Sports Essay Paper

Today increasingly more people think of the necessity to engage in sport activity to be able to lead a healthy way of life.

Sport prevents many health problems and renders enormous influence on our health. Sport and health are closely interrelated. It has emerged that health is the base for a human being in his ability to decide serious vital tasks and surmount various obstacles. It is a necessary condition for a man to live long and happy life.

What does happen in our body when we are engaged in the regular sport activity? During exercising we make work our muscles, bones, joints, ligaments in a stress mode, which results in their adaptation to such an intensive work. It makes our muscles grow stronger, adjusts our nerve system to more effective functioning and help us perform more difficult tasks, then we done before.

There are also positive changes in our joints, but those who are thinking the more, the better, are deeply mistaken.

The
regular, moderate physical activity positively influences our cardiovascular system. The correct, sparing exercise stress help preventing phlebeurysm and thrombosis in lower limbs. Due to properly proportioned physical activity, the amount of red corpuscles increases in blood, which results in the improvement of oxygen assimilation. Our respiratory system is also one of the main beneficiary from engagement in sport. Better ventilation of lungs to a great extent lead to reduction of such diseases as bronchitis and inflammation of the lungs. There is also an improvement of metabolism, due to the acceleration of metabolism of fats…Healthy Eating & Sports Essay Paper

As it was already mentioned above, sparing physical activity on the regular basis prevents diseases of blood vessels, such as atherosclerosis. It is also important to say that acceleration of metabolism of carbohydrates leads to better energy consumption.

Naturally, the healthy and active way of life implies total abandonment of fat products and tobacco smoking. Facts talk for itself: moderate physical activity, daily sport exercises, healthy diet effectively prevent such diseases, as diabetes, high blood pressure, atherosclerosis, obesity and hypercholesterolemia. The decrease of blood cholesterol level beneficially affects not only on the health of the people, suffering cardiac diseases, but also those who suffers diabetes of the second group, increasing the sensitiveness to insulin.

From above-described it is possible to do the following conclusion: it is necessary to be regularly engaged in physical exercises, at least during 30 minutes a day, controlling your heart-rate (simpler speaking – you have to watch after your pulse), to avoid arrhythmia and remember that excessive physical exertion only harms your heart. Doctors meet in opinion that the most healthy sports for the heart are walking, swimming, wheeling and running in an unhurried rate.

When one is thinking about what they are going to eat, most do not think about the essential nutrients that are in the food they are craving. Eating healthy is the farthest things from the mind. Many of us do not know how to eat healthy, do not have the money to eat healthy or simply do not have the time. How important is it to eat healthy? This subject will be examined throughout this paper along with examining my eating habits. Eating healthy helps to provide nutrients to your body. Nutrients help to keep you active, your muscles moving and your heart to beat correctly. There are three essential nutrients that are needed to help one’s body function properly; protein, fats and carbohydrates.Healthy Eating & Sports Essay Paper  Each one of these nutrients has a different role in keeping our body working. Protein is essential for energy. It also helps to build and repair body cells. It is also part of various enzymes, hormones, antibodies. Various meats, poultry and fish are good sources of protein. Carbohydrates are excellent for brain function and red blood cells. Good sources of carbohydrates are bread, rice, pasta, veggies and fruit. Lastly, fats provide energy. Sources for fats are meat, poultry, fish, milk and milk products, nuts and seeds. In addition to providing nutrients to your body, healthy eating also helps to prevent disease. According to Web MD( 2005-2009), “Healthy foods can help you prevent and treat disease. Eating more fruits and vegetables as part of a heart-healthy diet can help lower blood pressure. Eating more fruits and vegetables may also lower your risk of lung, oral, esophageal, stomach, and colon cancer. And eating less saturated fat may also lower your risk for cancer and heart disease” (para 6). My current eating plan is to eat whatever is wanted at that time. Whether it hamburgers from Mcdonald’s or Wendy’s, or chicken from any fast food restaurant. My menu on a daily basis includes the following:
Breakfast
Small 8oz coffee
Sausage biscuit sandwich
Hash browns
Lunch
Big mac meal (burger, fries and coke)
Dinner

There are many factors that influence health status and greatly impact everyday life. One
of the most modifiable and controllable areas is diet and nutrition. Diet is simply what you
consume and the quantities of how much you consume, therefore fueling the body and
profoundly impacting how an individual functions physically, mentally and even socially.Healthy Eating & Sports Essay Paper
Nutritional choices determine and greatly effect health status. Maintaining a healthy and wellbalanced diet is essential for the overall health and wellness of all populations and
individualizing those nutritional needs based on behaviors is critical.
Nutrition currently sits at the forefront of major public health concerns with many
nutritional choices trending toward poor decisions, developing unhealthy habits and the
associated effects. Obesity is one of the largest health concerns of Americans, accounting for
increased risk of disease, mortality, morbidity and billions of health care dollars spent each year.
While obesity is the most common indicator of poor nutrition, other main stream diseases
including diabetes, cardiovascular disease and stroke are all linked to nutritional factors as well.

In fact, 117 million individuals or close to one half of Americans have one or more chronic
diseases related to poor diet (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and U.S.
Department of Agriculture, 2015, p.xi) therefore emphasizing the importance of intervention.
As these numbers are alarming, the general population are not the only population at risk
from poor nutritional habits. Athletes are a sub-population that are particularly affected by poor
nutrition which can have a substantial impact on both their health and physical performance. In
the case of athletes across all levels, a quality well-balanced diet is essential for proper health
and achieving performance goals (Nutrition and Athletic Performance, 2016). The athlete
NUTRITIONAL IMPACT ON PERFORMANCE IN STUDENT-ATHLETES: REALITY AND
PERCEPTION 4
population spans a large range of nutritional needs. Performance goals vary immensely between
different types of athletes, therefore emphasizing the importance of individualism. Furthermore,
proper nutritional supplementation and emphasis on balance is important for all athletes. Current
evidence supports the idea that nutrients such as protein, calcium, and iron can have significant
positive impacts on performance (Moran, McClung, Kohen, & Lieberman, 2013). However,
education and awareness around sports nutrition is largely lagging behind. This is especially true
and concerning in the case of student-athletes (Torres-McGehee et al., 2012 & Webber et
al.,2015). This literature review will examine the perceptions of nutrition on performance,
student-athletes nutritional knowledge and the factors that influence these decisions.
Why does Nutrition Matter for Athletes?Healthy Eating & Sports Essay Paper
Athletes at all levels from recreational to the international competitive scale place
incredible demands on their bodies. Through the combination of physical work, energy
expenditure, time and recovery periods, by nature they are pushing their bodies to further limits.
In doing so, athletes therefore require additional energy and fuel through nutrients and ultimately
their diet. According to renowned Sports Nutritionist, Nancy Clark and her Sports Nutrition
Guidebook (2013), eating for every day active people must be different than those who are more
sedentary. In this case, athletes are assumed to be much more active individuals. Furthermore,
just as a medication plan or physical training regimen, these eating patterns, needs and
requirements are unique to every individual athlete or “active person.”
This concept of individualism is one that is essential when considering sports nutrition.
The Dietitians of Canada, the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and the American College of
Sports Medicine (2016) highlight that nutrition plans must be individualized for athletes to
NUTRITIONAL IMPACT ON PERFORMANCE IN STUDENT-ATHLETES: REALITY AND
PERCEPTION 5
account for their own specific goals and uniqueness of the event, performance goals, practical
challenges, food preferences and responses to what works and ultimately what does not. The
differences are evident in the comparison of a 250lb offensive lineman versus a 115lb female
gymnast. Two incredibly unique individuals with different goals. One is not necessarily healthier
than the other or works any harder but what they put into their bodies to achieve those
individualized goals matters. Athletes walk a fine line between balancing to train hard enough to
reach those goals and avoiding the risk to injury. Nutrition and the benefits it can provide, fall
somewhere right in the middle (Nutrition and Athletic Performance, 2016). There is evidence to
support the fact that an increase in energy (calories) is important for maintaining a balance and
appropriate consumption of the right protein sources can have a profound impact on muscle
recovery, stimulation and synthesis and that caffeine may have a positive stimulus effect on
sustaining endurance (Moran et al., 2013). In addition, in order to maintain a balance and
modification the standard dietary guidelines of incorporating the micronutrients in fruits and
vegetables must not be forgotten (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and U.S.
Department of Agriculture, 2015).
Nutrition in College Athletes
Led by Dietitians of Canada, the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and the American
College of Sports Medicine (2016) these guidelines and research continue to improve and
expand in this area of health but there is room for growth for the athletes’ overall understanding
and implementation of these guidelines. A study done by Webber et al. (2015) on the diet quality
of collegiate athletes demonstrated that on average student-athletes only scored a 51 out of a
possible 100 on the Healthy Eating Index (HEI). The HEI is a measure of diet quality that
assesses how closely individuals follow the dietary guidelines outlined and is one of the most  Healthy Eating & Sports Essay Paper
NUTRITIONAL IMPACT ON PERFORMANCE IN STUDENT-ATHLETES: REALITY AND
PERCEPTION 6
popular tools to monitor diet quality in the US. A diet score of 80 is considered “good” while
51-80 is considered “fair”. Therefore, this study emphasizes both the need for nutrition
intervention and nutritional education for student-athletes.
In taking it one step further and actually assessing diets, a dietary recall done by
researchers on the eating habits of female collegiate athletes specifically found that energy and
carbohydrate intakes were far below the recommended minimum amount with only 9% of
participants meeting their energy needs. 75% of these Division I athletes did not even consume
the minimum carbohydrate requirements (Shrivcr, Betts & Wollcnbetg, 2012). With
carbohydrates often serving as a main source of energy, this is concerning for the short term
performance impacts and long term sustainability of athletes.
Furthermore, disordered eating is a large concern for this population. According to the
Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (2015), disordered eating is defined as “a wide range of
irregular eating behaviors…” It is categorized as a descriptive term, not necessarily a diagnosis
but the phrase can lead to serious conditions such as anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, risks of
the female triad and even abuse of supplement usage. A recent study by Achiro and Theodore
(2015) highlighted the increased use and dangers associated with supplement usage, highlighting
the trend as the newest form of disordered eating. The authors found that men who were body
conscious used supplements in an excessive manner resulting in forms of disordered eating. 29%
of the group studied were concerned about their use of supplements while 22% stated they used
supplements to replace meals. The prevalence of disordered eating in this area expands the
overall categorization of eating disorders, putting a greater number of athletes at risk.
Disordered eating poses physical and mental health risks to athletes and the prevalence of
disordered eating is high among the specific student-athlete population. The NCAA, which
NUTRITIONAL IMPACT ON PERFORMANCE IN STUDENT-ATHLETES: REALITY AND
PERCEPTION 7
functions as the largest oversight board and governing institution for college athletes, identified
that 25% of female athletes and close to 20% of male athletes have disordered eating symptoms
(Voelker, 2012). Another study concluded that a significant number of female collegiate athletes
suffer from eating disorders and many used exercise as an outlet. The disorder was seen at the
symptom level and subclinical, not necessarily requiring specific treatment yet still incredibly Healthy Eating & Sports Essay Paper
problematic (Greenleaf, Petrie, Carter, & Reel, 2009). Adams, Goldufsky and Schlaff (2015)
highlight the gender differences of disordered eating, dietary behavior and inherent risks among
both populations. As disordered eating continues to expand, the high prevalence among college
athletes is concerning.
The concern and risk of disordered eating scales well beyond college athletics both from
the early stages of development and post-college in professional athletics. Older literature found
team settings and group dynamics of peer pressure can include these risk factors on both a
positive and negative level for high school athletes. An article focused on the concepts of
reduced risk behavior and increasing positive behavior draws attention to the ATLAS (Athletes
Training and Learning to Avoid Steroids) and ATHENA (Athletes Targeting Healthy Exercise &
Nutrition Alternatives) programs. “The ATLAS and ATHENA programs’ positive findings
support strengthen sports’ health-engaging mission by incorporating harm reduction and health
promotion curriculum into the athletic team setting (Elliot et al., 2006)”, highlighting both the
important influences an athletic team can have as well as the risks that can be associated with
sport and competition to succeed. The accuracy of this data is limited however due to self-report
behaviors of high schoolers which has the potential to be subjective. However while information
no longer exist on these programs, the article demonstrates the importance of calling attention to
this area and idea of how health promotion can be tied to athletic teams in the areas of disordered  Healthy Eating & Sports Essay Paper