AFYA NA RIADHA
Diet, like the word
“nutrition”, means all the food a person eats and drinks. Diet directly affects
the performance and health of each athlete.
Coaches should be aware that
athletes’s eating and drinking patterns will influence how well they can train
and whether they are able to complete at their best.
Coaches should work with
athletes to develop healthy diets where they are individually aware of their
personal nutritional goals and of how they can select the nutrition to meet
these goals.
A well chosen diet
offers many benefits to all athletes, regardless of event, gender, age or level
of competition. These benefits include:
a. Optimal gains from the
training programme.
b. Enhanced recovery within
and between training sessions and competitions.
c. Achievement and
maintenance of an optimum body weight and physique.
d. A reduced risk of injury
and illness.
e. Confidence in being well
prepared for competition.
f.
Enjoyment of food and social eating situations.
Despite these advantages
many athletes do not meet their nutritional goals. The reasons for this can
include:
a. Poor knowledge of foods
and drinks
b. Coaches having poor or
outdated knowledge of sports nutrition
c. Poor choices when buying
food
d. Inadequate cooking
skills
e. Inadequate finances
f.
A
busy lifestyle leading to inadequate time to obtain, prepare or consume
appropriate foods
g. Poor availability of
good and drink choices
h. Frequent travel
i.
Indiscriminate
and incorrect use of supplements and sports food.
Next time we will look
at the way food can play a very important part in successful training and
competition. We will look at why the body needs food, which sorts of food are
good for us, which are unnecessary and which are not so good and why. But first
we should understand what we mean by “nutrition”.
NUTRITION means all the
food a person eats and drinks. The whole
human body is made from this food, and all energy comes from food. The food
acts in the body as a fuel, providing energy and chemicals for movements growth
and keep the body healthy. What we need nutritionally is affected by our age, gender, physique,
level of physical activity and state of health.
Prepared by:
Jabir Johnson
Blogger &
Photo Journalist
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