Nutrition and Sports Performance

What is vitamins?

A group of organic compounds that are essential for normal growth and nutrition required in small quantities in the diet.  

RDA – recommended daily allowance

Nutritional requirements;

        

The average daily dietary nutrient intake level sufficient to meet the nutrient requirements of nearly all healthy individuals in particular life stage and gender group. There are different requirements for different sexes and ages such as active females between the ages of 14-50 should consume 2,400 calories per day whereas inactive females of the same age 1,900 calories each day. Moreover the recommended calorie amount for inactive males between the ages 14-50 is 2,200 calories per day and 3,000 if active.

        

Optimum Level

Optimum level defined as eating the right amount of nutrients on a schedule to achieve the best performance and the longest possible lifetime in good health. Eating a variety of foods from all food groups ensures you get all of the essential vitamins, minerals and antioxidants you need.

Safe Intake

Measureable amount of nutrient for all individuals ensuring they have no less or no more of a specific nutrient for e.g. 14 years upwards should have 6g of salt a day so no more or no less.

EAR

 Ear is Estimated Average Requirement which is the average daily nutrient intake level estimated to meet the requirements of half the healthy individuals in a particular life stage and gender group.

Components of a balanced diet;

A balanced diet is recommended to help keep individuals healthy and manage their weight.  A balanced diet consists of eating a wide variety of different foods to get all the vitamins, nutrients and antioxidants that an individual needs for growth and maintenance which will keep their body strong and help prevent disease. Healthy eating is the foundation for health and quality of life throughout an individual’s lifetime.  The basic building blocks of a balanced diet include fruits, vegetables, grains, protein, fats and dairy products. Moving on there are differences in the diet between athletes and non-athletes as you can see in the table below the difference in the amount of nutrients world class athletes eat compared to non-athletes.This is the eat well plate which is percentage of how much an individual’s diet should be. As you can see from the plate, the green side is the vegetables and the yellow is carbohydrates in which an individual should eat the most of these. Whereas the purple is the sugary foods such as chocolates which an individual should eat the least.