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Carbohydrates are the body's primary source of energy, and are a large part of most people's diets. They are also building blocks for larger molecules. Carbohydrates can be obtained by eating cereals, wheat, bread, pasta and potatoes.
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Proteins are used in growth and repair and in rare cases as energy. The main sources of proteins are meats, eggs, lentils and beans.
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Fats help in shock absorption and warmth, their main function being long-term energy storage. Fats are found in oils, butter, peanuts, milk and processed foods.
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Vitamins are organic compounds required in small amounts by the body. They are essential in all food, with the exception of Vitamin D, which can be produced by our bodies when exposed to enough sunlight. Vitamins act as coenzymes, and are a component of active chemicals (like Vitamin A in retinal). Vitamins are also needed for vitamin absorption. Minerals do quite the same as vitamins except they are inorganic.
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Water is essential to our bodies - it is an excellent transporting medium, solvent, and coolant. Lastly, dietary fibre is needed for proper functioning of the digestive tract.
Here are recommended percentages for your daily intake of food:
- 57% Carbohydrates
- 30% Fats
- 13% Protein
In terms of professional sport the food intake will be completely different from the average person. Their routine will demand and allow them to eat more food, as their body will burn off the food during heir daily routine. The biggest concern for professional sportsmen in terms of diet is making sure they eat the right food prior and after taking part in sport these are the most important meals for a sports performer. The pre-game meal will provide the performer with sufficient fuel to help them throughout the game, the after-game meal can help to repair their muscles and go a small way to help prevent injury.
Football and rugby are very similar in terms of the fitness requirements and therefore the diets of participants in both sports will be similar for the pre-game and after-game meals. It has only been in the last ten years that the role of nutritionists and dieticians has come to the forefront of professional sport. You only have to look at the diet of the English football team in Euro 96 to see how recent the advancement of the sports diet is. At that time French scientists were doing a lot of research into sports diets and they heavily criticized the England team for their pre-match menu of tomato soup, spaghetti Bolognese and toast. It is widely recognized that eating carbohydrates before sports like football and rugby are the bets foods to be consuming in terms of helping your sports performance but in particular potatoes.
“Potatoes have glucides which deliver a heavy flow of muscular energy” French scientist research.
Throughout time sport has been seen as a social event as well as a physical activity and many people believe the traditional pint after the game is just as important. During a game of football you can lose up to seven pints of fluid in just one match so it is important that replenish your supplies by drinking plenty of water after the game. Rehydrating yourself after the game can also help your muscles repair and can prevent you from suffering from sore joints. Drinking alcohol immediately after a game is possibly one of the worst things that you could do because it actually impairs recovery from injury. Although it is a liquid the boy takes a long time to absorb alcohol and helps to prevent the rehydration process. It is widely known that the bets way to speed up the rehydration process you should drink isotonic drinks as they contain small amounts of salt and energy, which help to rehydrate the body even better than water.
DIETITIANS
“A dietitian is a person with a legally recognized qualification (in nutrition and dietetics), who applies the science of nutrition to the feeding and education of groups of people and individuals in both health and disease.”
Many people get confused and are unsure to what dietitians really do, a lot of people think as their name suggests that they just hand out diets to people that are overweight in order to help them lose weight. The main role of a dietitian is to promote heath through food and nutrition. Relating this to sport they will try and educate sports performers as to what type of food they should be eating for different requirements. For example, a dietitian would give advice to boxers about how to help increase muscle mass through their eating habits.
Some people can get confused with dietitians and nutritionists, there are basically the same thing with just slight a difference, but there still work together to achieve the same aim.
DIETICS: - the science or art of applying the principles of nutrition to feeding.
NUTRITION: - the act or process of being nourished, specifically the sum of the process by which an animal or plant takes in and utilizes food for substances.
WEBSTER’S NEW COMPLETE MEDICAL DICTIONARY (1996)
A dietitian will work with people as a whole, for example a football club may employ a dietitian and they will create a diet for everyone to follow, the problem with this is that while this diet may cause one person to gain weight it may cause the next person to loose. A nutritionist is very much a personal occupation you deal with people or small groups of people on a one-to-one basis rather than as a whole, they will try and determine their own personal nutritional needs based on their bio-characteristics.
