Nutrition’s Importance to Athletes
Athletes and nutrition have gone hand in hand with each other since the beginning of professional athletes, and when I say since the beginning I mean ancient roman era. Gladiators, huge, burly beasts among men actually turned out to be vegan according to their remains. Now, why do I mention that, because they were the pinnacle of human health for their time and they knew even way back then that diet was key to the ability to perform. For the most part, people who don’t understand what it takes to be an athlete believe that they can basically eat whatever they want as long as the workouts are intense enough, but from experience and with a basic understanding of physiology you’d see that performance, while influenced by the work you put in, more so influenced by diet.
The reason the diet of an athlete is so crucial is due to the fuel and recovery aspect. Food, when digested, provides crucial nutrients for recovery after a training session, and if you eat a food that is easily digestible and provides you with your macros needed, such as protein, fiber, carbs, and fats, you’ll be able to recover quicker and get back to training faster. Not only that but in order to actually get in a workout, you need energy and that comes from simple and complex carbs that your body burns in order to provide energy to your muscles to work hard. The better quality fuel you provide to your muscles, organs, and brain the harder you can work, and the faster you can get back to training.
Now while the exact foods that you should eat to fuel up properly are not concrete and usually vary from person to person, there are definitely foods that are universally accepted as healthy choices and ones that are not held in such high esteem. Foods that are usually incorporated most healthy diets such as avocados have 64 calories, 3.4 grams of carbs, 3 grams of fiber, and a whopping 6 grams of fat, as well as 20 vitamins and minerals, and not in a whole avocado, just in one-fifth of one according to the USDA National Nutrient Database. Now not every fruit is as quite the whole package as an avocado doesn’t mean they can’t be beneficial. Bananas, for example, are a good source of natural sugar and potassium to prevent cramps. Now processed meats, chips, fried food, sweets, and sugary drinks all taste good, but they can lead to all sorts of medical issues if eaten frequently such as blood clots, heart disease, diabetes, heart attacks, sleep apnea, and obesity, just to name a few, which is why true athletes tend to avoid them or just eat on a rare occasion. Not only do those kinds of foods cause various health complications but also just fitness drawbacks too, faster heart rate, shortness of breath, and overheating just to name a few drawbacks. The reasoning for most athletes’ diet choices is quite clear to me.
The cleaner you eat the better you’ll perform. Humans are essentially machines and food is our fuel. You wouldn’t put regular gas in a Rolls Royce, so why would an athlete put greasy, sugary junk food in their bodies. It does the body no good and the alternative, being healthier and tastier in most cases, is also usually cheaper. Your body will thank you for eating healthy and you’ll definitely have infinitely more energy than you would otherwise. Eventually, athletes just crave healthy food choices and it’s for a good reason.
Works Cited
Buschmann, Jessica. “The Importance of Sports Nutrition for Young Athletes.”
Nationwide Children’s Hospital, 21 Apr. 2016,
www.nationwidechildrens.org/family-resources-education/700childrens/2016/04/the-imp
ortance-of-sports-nutrition-for-young-athletes.
Vorvick, Linda J. “Nutrition and Athletic Performance: MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia.”
MedlinePlus, U.S. National Library of Medicine, 13 May 2019,
medlineplus.gov/ency/article/002458.htm.
University of Wisconsin Hospitals and Clinics Authority. “Eating for Peak Athletic
Performance.” UW Health, http://www.uwhealth.org/health-wellness/eating-for-peak-performance/45232.
“FoodData Central Search Results.” FoodData Central, 1 Apr. 2019,
fdc.nal.usda.gov/fdc-app.html#/food-details/171705/nutrients.
Matt Frost 