The Effects of Food on Athletes Everybody in the world needs to eat food to survive.

We need to resupply our nutrients and athletes need more because they work that much harder. The first thing an athlete needs to do is make sure they bring in enough calories to replace the amount that they burn. It is suggested that the athlete should take in three basic groups of food. They are carbohydrates, proteins, and fats. The first group of food an athlete needs is carbohydrates. Carbohydrates, or carbs, are the primary source for the bodys energy. It also forms glycogen which is essential for your body. If your body is running low on glycogen athletes may feel irritable, tired and lack concentration. Also unlike fat and protein there is a limited amount of reserves for carbohydrates. If the glycogen levels become depleted than fatigue would set in and they would hit the wall. Carbohydrates also aid in fat metabolism. The body requires the presence of carbohydrate in order to utilize fat for energy. The way the author of this article explains this is fat burns in a carbohydrate flame. Also eating carbs prevents the body from burning the hard earned muscle mass. There is also the process of carbo-loading. This is when an athlete loads up on carbs preparing for the big game or athletic event the next day. Doing it does not make the person a better athlete, but it does slow down the muscle fatigue that you would get early in the competition.(USpotatoes, par.3-8) Next is the protein every athlete needs in their diet. Protein is important for muscle growth and to repair body tissues. Athletes need to make sure they do not eat fatty proteins and eat lean things like fish and chicken. There is also the false belief that protein helps build muscle. Only exercising can change muscle. You only need a little more protein as an athlete than a normal person. Than can get what they need by just eating more calories. Also most

people eat twice as much protein as they actually need. Eating too much protein can lead to gaining fat and becoming dehydrated.(Mugdale, par. 10-13) Dehydration is a major problem for every athlete during a game. The definition of dehydration according to Medicinenet is when the amount of water leaving the body is greater than the amount being taken in. The next question is how a person knows if they are dehydrated. There are multiple symptoms that become apparent the more a person is dehydrated. The main ones are dry mouth, stop sweating, muscle cramps, and lightheadedness. This can make a big difference on the playing field. It seems simple, but the main way to prevent dehydration is drinking water or a sports drink of some kind to replenish electrolytes. (Wedro, par. 4-7) Another thing people wonder is what exactly electrolytes are and what they do for them. According to the dictionary an electrolyte is any of certain inorganic compounds, mainly sodium, potassium, magnesium, calcium, chloride, and bicarbonate, that dissociate in biological fluids into ions capable of conducting electrical currents and constituting a major force in controlling fluid balance within the body. This basically means it is the things in our body that help control it. Electrolytes are basically everywhere in our body. They are present in our blood, urine, and also in the fluid in and around our bodys cells. (Ferguson par. 1-3) There are many ways to replenish electrolytes. Salt tablets are not the way to go for electrolyte replenishment. The first reason is it only gives sodium and chloride. Also it can lead to swelling because of too much sodium. They also state that pre loading sodium leads to more sodium loss during an event so it does not help at all. The general idea is proper electrolyte replenishment during a game requires a gradual approach in amounts that do not override normal body mechanisms. (Born, Par. 7)

The last major food group is fats. As a human you need fat to survive, but you need to be careful about it. A little bit of weight gain can make a huge difference to your athletic ability. Marc Perry quoted Dr. Todd Miller as saying, "For a 170 lb. athlete, a fat gain of 3.4 lbs. (2%) could result in a vertical jump height loss of 2, and a 40 yard dash time increase of 0.26 seconds. If you are not familiar with the 40 yard dash, 0.26 seconds is an eternity. This is the same sprint test all NFL football players must do at the NFL Combine, which tests the athletic ability of all the athletes before entering the league. A 0.1 second difference can mean millions of dollars." Fat is not necessarily a bad thing though. If you are an athlete it is can be used for boosting energy and aiding body recovery. Also fat contains more calories per gram than carbohydrates, more than twice as much. This means if you do not have the appetite to deal with the amount of calories needed to be taken for an athletic diet than you should eat more fatty foods. Also some vitamins like, vitamin A, D, E and K are better absorbed when fat is present in the body. Fats also play a role in hormone production and the structuring of cell membranes. This means that fats are needed to keep our body healthy and running at the optimum level. Keeping that in mind the athlete needs to be careful about not taking in too much fat. (Samuels, par. 2-3) Also there is the idea of the perfect diet for an athlete. Many different athletes eat different things. Different sports require different diets. In basketball they need to maintain a well-balanced diet to compete at the highest level. Eating every three hours is important to maintaining energy. In golf the elite players have a protein rich diet with good carbs. It is also important for football players to eat carbs with every meal and take some dietary supplements like fish oil.(McNight, par. 1-4)

An example of an athletes diet would be from LeBron James. He is the best basketball player in the world right now. The diet plan is an example of what he may eat in a single day. Meal one is two cups of water and 10 grams of L-glutamine, which is a type of powder used for protein. His second meal would be 1 whole wheat bagel, 1 tbsp peanut butter, cup cottage cheese, cup strawberries, and 1 multivitamin and mineral tablet. A third meal would be a scoop of protein powder. His fourth meal is our traditional lunch. It consists of a lean roast beef sub and a cup of milk. He eats another snack or two and his dinner is something like chicken teriyaki. He like most Athletes does not eat giant meals. He instead eats small snacks 6-7 times a day.(Lebron James) One of the main points in athletes diets is to eat about six times a day. The reason for that is our metabolisms were built to thrive from more eating. First lets start with the definition of metabolism. Robert Yanagisawa, MD, who is the director of the Weight Management Program at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York says, "The process of metabolism establishes the rate at which we burn our calories and, ultimately, how quickly we gain weight or how easily we lose it". That is a simple explanation of metabolism in laymans terms. Basically your metabolism can be compared to the bodys engine. You need to make sure you start it early and eat breakfast. This will get it started running for the rest of the day. Continue the day eating small, frequent meals. This will prevent your metabolism from shutting off or overeating. When we overeat the food turns into fat. Eating like this helps the athlete because it gives the body more time to think. It needs time to figure out where the calories should be used effectively. (Krueger, par. 1-3) In conclusion there really is no perfect diet for the athlete. It is a combination of many things. As an athlete, make sure you eat enough carbohydrates and proteins. Also do not

completely cut out fats. You need them for your body, but be careful with them. Make sure you stay hydrated, so you do not collapse on the field. Last but not least is to eat about six times a day so your metabolism can function correctly.

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