Food and Nutrition Coursework.
Food and nutrition coursework.
Analysis
When this coursework was first mentioned to me I immediately thought of doing this coursework relative to sport. I have very many interests in sport in and outside school and therefore I think I would be very suited to be doing such a piece of work..
The area that I am going to investigate will be a athlete's diet. Sports that I'm interested in are rowing, rugby and weight lifting so I will try to keep this project within these three sports.
There are a number of important factors to ensure a proper investigation. These are:
. Define a sportsmen.
2. Create a task title in order to focus on a specific area.
3. Find out if there are any special nutritional requirements by doing research.
4. Finding the nutritional contents of the dishes I produce.
5. Doing taste tests to gain a prospective on what people think of the dishes.
6. Decide what to cook
7. Produce graphs to show what people think of the dishes.
Information needed
A sports person is a person that takes part in sport. It can be on a variety of levels from professional to a friendly game of football in the park. I will try to steer my project towards the more professional side of things.
A suitable title for an investigation would be something along the lines of "What does a professional sportsmen eat and why?"
To find out information on this I will have to write to a professional. The person I decided to write it on the next page. I sent the letter to Sir Steve Redgrave who lives only a few miles away from me.
Oxford Lodge
Oxford Road
Marlow
Bucks
SL72NN
Dear Sir Steve,
Hello, I am a pupil at Sir William Borlase Grammar School and I'm doing a project on food and nutrition for a sportsmen. I need to fond out information about a persons diet for a professional sport. And as I am a rower for Marlow myself and live close I thought it would be a good idea to ask yourself about your diet needs.
Best Regards
Adam Richards.
I send this letter off in early August and by the time school came around I had ...
This is a preview of the whole essay
Marlow
Bucks
SL72NN
Dear Sir Steve,
Hello, I am a pupil at Sir William Borlase Grammar School and I'm doing a project on food and nutrition for a sportsmen. I need to fond out information about a persons diet for a professional sport. And as I am a rower for Marlow myself and live close I thought it would be a good idea to ask yourself about your diet needs.
Best Regards
Adam Richards.
I send this letter off in early August and by the time school came around I had a reply. It was a very brief letter but game me ideas for how to prepare for this project. Meals that he suggested were:
Lasagne
Lots of pasta based meals (especially before a big event)
Variety of meats.
Although this is still not enough research I need to find out nutritional information about these meals and then I will hopefully find out why they are so important to a sportsmen.
But obviously for each sport different aspects of food will come into it. Weight lifting foe instance will need a lot of strength but not much stamina. This will be the opposite for a long distance runner. For a rower it is a bit of everything. They need fitness to go the distance but will also need strength for power in the water. This can be classed as aerobic or anaerobic respiration. Aerobic means with oxygen and this is sports such as weight lifting which is short and hard and does not require oxygen. Anaerobic sports means with oxygen and is used in long distance running cycling and such like sports. These take longer but are less strenuous but can last for a long time. Rowing is a bit of both. Therefore more needs need to be taken care of.
The final task title that I will be working on will be "a rowers dietritional needs and values."
Develpoment
To find the answers to my task I must find out the following thing.
Nutrional information.
I must work out the nutritional information for each of my meals. I must find out why athletes eat this by working out what values the meal has. Once I've done this I can find out information from books or the internet to see why these are so important to an athlete.
Quantity
How much a person should relative ti size is important. You don't want to eat too much or too little.
Taste
Nobody wants to eat food which tastes horrible. The food must be appealing to make people want to eat it.
To carry out the above tasks I have decided on a way to get the information that I need.
I will cook the relative meals that Sir Steve Suggested and maybe add in a few of my own.Then I will do a taste test in the class to find out what people like and what they don't. I will vary the meals, for instance. The pasta meals I will vary the sauces and the meat to see which ones pople prefer. With this information I can find out what people are most likely to eat. Then I can compare these results with the nutritional data and find out whether people prefer to eat the healthier food or not. This could be an intersting title. But this can tell me whether pople prefer to eat food fit for sprtsmen or not. Other factors that can effect whether people will eat it is preparation time.
These tests will be different to other tests because they will not only show whether the person like the more healthier foods but it will also show how difficult it is to keep to a certain meal rageme.
Sport: Skeleton
Height: 5' 5"
Date of Birth: July 25, 1970
Hometown: Park City, Utah
School: University of Utah
Notable: Former Marketing
Director at Jack Johnson
Company
Find Nutritional Balance in Training:
Tip #1 - Eat right, but adjust to your body
My in-season diet is comprised of a high protein moderate carbohydrate intake. I found I was losing too much weight with a low carbohydrate diet. We spend so much time in the cold wearing nothing but a skin suit I found I was burning too many calories, so I increased my complex carbohydrate intake. It is critical in a gravity sport for me to maintain my weight throughout the entire skeleton season.
Tip #2 - Prepare your body in advance, not just on competition days
It is important to eat food that is easy to digest the day prior to competition. Red meat is harder on your digestive system than other sources of protein. It is also important to drink more water than normal to prevent dehydration on race day. My normal water intake is at least eight glasses per day. Day of competition it is important to find foods that work for you. Our competitions usually last three hours. I need to sustain my energy without eating so much I become sluggish. Complex sugars are what work for me best.
Tip #3 - Have a plan, and stick with it
Here is a sample of how I would eat the day prior to competition and the day of competition.
Day prior to competition
Breakfast:
3 eggs (only one egg yolk), juice and banana
Training:
Juice or XL-1 drink, water, yogurt
Lunch:
Turkey sandwich, cottage cheese, juice and water
Dinner:
Boiled chicken breast, salad, green beans, mashed potatoes, water & a cookie (I am human, too!)
Day of competition (mid-morning race)
Breakfast:
3 eggs (only one egg yolk), juice and banana
At the race:
Yogurt, apple juice, apple or banana and water
Tip #4 - Balance, balance, balance!
My strength and conditioning coach is Eric Snowden, who was the strength coach for the Utah Jazz. When I approached Eric to be my coach, his first two questions to me were: How are you eating and what are your sleeping habits like? Eric's coaching philosophy is built on the foundation that each athlete dedicates 33.3% to training, 33.3% to nutrition & 33.3% to rest. No one component is more important than the other and you cannot be a successful athlete without each component working together. Therefore, nutrition is part of my training every day. So eat right, train hard and get eight hours of sleep per night and you'll go further no matter what your sport is.
My Diet:
Try and stick with 60% protein, 30% carbohydrates and 10% fat. That isn't a lot information but if you do the research and break your food intake into the above categories you will see results. Calorie intake is not important but the right calories are important. With this diet you will see great results. Weight in terms of fat is not important but weight for muscle gain is, so keep track..