FOOD OF ATHLETES Performed by Imangali Maira

FOOD OF ATHLETES Performed by: Imangali Maira

PLAN: 1) What is an athlete? 2) Sports nutrition 3) Basic sports nutrition guidlines • • Energy Carbohydrates Proteins Fats Vitamins and minerals Fluid 4) Diet 5) A Nutritious Diet for Vegetarian and Vegan Athletes

• WHAT IS AN ATHLETE? The word athlete describes a person who participates in a sport. Using that deﬁnition, Tiger Woods, a collegiate golfer, and a weekend golfer are all athletes. Clearly there are differences among these three golfers. One difference is skill and another is training. Elite athletes, like Tiger Woods, are exceptionally skilled and dedicated to their training regimes. Their lives are planned around their training and competition schedules because athletic competition is their profession. Collegiate athletes are also trained athletes, although the level of their training is probably less than that of their professional counterparts. Dedication to training is important because proper training is necessary to improve and maintain performance. Many people are recreational athletes. Some of them are former competitive athletes who continue to train, albeit at a lower level, to remain competitive within their age group in masters events. However, many recreational athletes train little, if at all. They participate in sports to be physically active, to maintain a healthy lifestyle, and for enjoyment.

SPORTS NUTRITION • Sports nutrition is the integration and application of scientiﬁ cally based nutrition and exercise physiology principles that support and enhance performance. These principles also help athletes attain and maintain good health. Because sports nutrition is a relatively young ﬁ eld, there is more research to be done and much more to be learned, presenting an exciting opportunity for exercise science and nutritionoriented students. •

BASIC SPORTS NUTRITION GUIDLINES • Sports nutrition recommendations build upon and reﬁne basic nutrition guidelines. Athletes need to understand apply general nutrition principles before making modiﬁcations to reﬂect their training and sport-speciﬁc nutrient demands. Ultimately, sports nutrition recommendations are ﬁne-tuned and are as precise as possible to closely meet the demands of training and competition and reﬂect the needs of the individual athlete. Here is a brief overview of some key sports nutrition recommendations (American Dietetic Association et al. , 2000; Burke et al. , 2001).

ENERGY: • An adequate amount of energy is needed to support training. Appropriate amounts of food should be consumed daily to avoid long-term energy deﬁcits or excesses. Adjustments to energy intake for the purpose of attaining a body weight or body composition goal should be made slowly and started early enough in the training mesocycle so as not to interfere with training or performance.

CARBOHYDRATES: • An intake of 5 to 10 grams (g) of carbohydrates per kilogram (kg) of body weight per day is recommended. The daily amount needed depends on the sport, type of training, gender, and need for carbohydrate loading. Timing is also important and recommendations for carbohydrate intake before, during, and after exercise are made. The use of the glycemic index (GI) may assist athletes in ﬁ ne-tuning their carbohydrate intake.

PROTEINS: • An intake of 1. 2 to 1. 7 g of protein per kg of body weight per day is generally recommended. This recommendation assumes that energy intake is adequate. The daily amount of proteins needed depends on the sport and type of training. Timing of protein intake is also important. For example, postexercise protein ingestion aids in muscle protein resynthesis.

FATS : • After determining carbohydrate and protein needs, the remainder of the energy intake is typically from fats, although adult athletes may include a small amount of alcohol. Trained athletes generally consume 1. 0 to 2. 0 g of fat per kg of body weight per day (Seebohar, 2005). Extremely low-fat diets can be detrimental to health and performance.

VITAMINS AND MINERALS: • Athletes should meet the DRI for all vitamins and minerals. The DRI can be met if energy intake is adequate and foods consumed are nutrient dense (i. e. , abundant nutrients in relation to caloric content). Any recommendation for vitamin or mineral supplementation should be based on an analysis of the athlete’s usual diet.

FLUID: • Athletes should balance ﬂ uid intake with ﬂ uid loss. A number of factors must be considered, including the sweat rate of the athlete and environmental conditions such as temperature, humidity, and altitude.

DIET: • Athletes must match their dietary intake to their training, a concept known as nutrition periodization. • Sometimes this means increasing the carbohydrate content to restore the large amounts of glycogen used during days and weeks of hard training. • Sometimes it means reducing overall energy intake to prevent excessive weight gain or to lose body fat. An athlete’s diet may need to change abruptly in response to an injury. An athlete is always on a “diet, ” a pattern of eating, but that pattern may not always be the same. Planning a diet requires a broad perspective, with particular consideration given to energy intake and expenditure. The distinct nutrients are important but the need for energy provides the framework. Thus, diet planning begins with the establishment of an energy goal: energy balance or imbalance (i. e. , weight loss or weight gain).

A NUTRITIOUS DIET FOR VEGETARIAN AND VEGAN ATHLETES A common misconception of vegetarians and vegans is that they are pale, weak and wouldn't last five minutes in a sporting arena. A vegetarian diet requires careful monitoring of protein, vitamin B 12 and iron levels, which can all be found in non-animal sources of food, but which can sometimes take a bit of forward planning, as many are not so readily available as their meaty counterparts. Many elite Kenyan athletes eat almost no meat, it being only for special occasions such as weddings. Olympic gold medallist Carl Lewis wasn't a vegetarian when he won four golds in Los Angeles in 1984, but he turned vegan after this and felt that it helped his personal bests on the track. He went on to break the world record for the 100 m sprint in 1991. Australian swimmer and lifelong vegan Murray Rose won four Olympic gold medals in the 1950 s and 1960 s. Ultra-marathon champion runner Scott Jurek is a passionate vegan.

TOO MUCH PROTEIN? • A common myth about vegetarian and vegan diets is that they don't contain enough protein. However, while dairy products such as eggs and yoghurt are quick and easy ways to get a protein fix, vegans can turn to grains, nuts and soya. In fact, many Western diets contain too much protein, especially with the recent trend for low-carbohydrate plans. Good plant sources of protein for training include lentils (almost 18 g of protein per cup), beans (12 -15 g per cup) and quinoa (11 g per cup). Female athletes need up to 90 g of protein per day, and strength-training athletes require even more than this to build muscle mass. However, there is no scientific evidence to suggest that consuming more than 2 g of protein per kilogram of body weight has any extra advantage in terms of ability to build muscle, and may be harmful to kidney function. If too much protein is taken on board, the kidneys struggle to flush harmful ketones from the body, which can be toxic, thereby causing dehydration and potentially causing problems for the heart.

VITAMIN B 12 • It's true that vitamin B 12 is only found naturally in meat, but with so many foods like breakfast cereals fortified with vitamins and minerals it is easy to find it in other sources. B 12 is important for endurance athletes, as it affects the body's production of red blood cells. However, it is essential for vegetarian and vegan athletes to take a supplement, as it is difficult to obtain enough vitamin B 12 from fortified foods, as such large quantities would have to be consumed.

IRON • Animal products contain heme iron. Plant sources and dairy products do contain iron, but it is the non-heme form of iron, which is not absorbed as well. It is important for vegetarian and vegan athletes to ensure they are also consuming enough vitamin C, which aids the body's absorption of iron. Good plant sources of iron include lentils, pumpkin seeds, quinoa, oats, bananas, berries and green leafy vegetables such as chard, spinach and kale. It is also vital to avoid or at least cut back on things which reduce the body's ability to absorb iron, such as caffeine, tea and cocoa. Female athletes in training are at particular risk for iron-deficient anaemia, which can reduce athletic performance. The body's capacity to transport oxygen to the cells of the muscles is reduced, which has an impact on the ability to produce energy.

ZINC • Along with iron, zinc is a common deficiency for vegetarian and vegan athletes. This is possibly due to the body sweating out zinc stores during heavy training, or could be because plant sources of zinc are not absorbed as well as animal ones. One study of female distance runners (Deuster et al. (1989) [1]) found that 50% of them were not consuming the recommended daily amount of zinc, which could impact upon endurance, athletic performance and general health (zinc is essential for immune function). Good plant sources of zinc include tofu, miso, peanut butter and beans.

OMEGA-3 • Often hailed as a super-food, omega-3 fatty acids are most commonly found in fish oils, but flax is a great alternative for vegetarians and vegans. Walnuts are another good source. While omega-3 fatty acids are good for general cardiovascular health, they also help to reduce inflammation in muscles and joints.

CONCLUSION • Sports nutrition is a natural marriage of two ﬁelds: nutrition and exercise physiology. These complementary academic disciplines enable us to understand the energy expenditure that is required by exercise and sport, and the energy intake that is vital to support these activities. Exercise challenges the human body to respond adapt, and proper nutrition supports these processes. While all people can beneﬁt from proper nutrition and exercise, athletes must pay careful attention to both. Training and nutrition are key elements of excellent athletic performance.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION!

REFERENCES • DEUSTER, P. A. et al (1989) Zinc status of highly trained women runners and untrained women. Am J Clin Nutr, 49 (6) p. 1295 -1301 • BEDFORD, L. (2013) A Nutritious Diet for Vegetarian and Vegan Athletes [WWW] Available from: http: //www. brianmac. co. uk/articles/article 119. htm [Accessed 27/10/2015]