Essay on Nutrition

Nutrition Essay: Introduction

Being a well-conditioned sportsman depends on a healthy body, and this is related to proper nutrition (Benardot 2). The selection of the nutrients affects performance during exercising and competition (“Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise,” 709). Therefore, all of the athletes are required to feed themselves in an appropriate program of nutrients. There is a direct proportion between the proper nutrition and the athlete’s performance.

Introduction

Nutrition is a critical necessity for human life. People need to have healthy diets to have healthy lives. Every kind of nutrients is necessary for the human body. People who are interested in a sport need a proper nutrition program to prevent energy loss and improve their performance for training and competitions (Brotherhood 7). The athletes need to take care of their nutrition program more than any people. The type of nutrients and the amount of them are essential points for an athlete. They need to follow a healthy diet program for their fitness and condition (Burke 3). A healthy program includes a variety of nutrients such as carbohydrates, proteins, vitamins, and minerals, and in addition to this, they need to control the fluid intake. There is a natural relationship between a proper diet and an improvement in performance. The healthy way of improving the performance during the training is to have a well-arranged diet program with all nutrients. However, the nutrients have different effects on the human body (Smolin 35). Some of them supply energy; some of them help muscle growth; some of them regulate and support the work of the body before, during, or after the exercise. Additionally, following a healthy diet program is necessary for people to protect themselves from chronic diseases besides regulating bodywork.

Body Paragraphs

Main point 1: Daily diet is the way to optimize adaptation during exercise and competition by ensuring energy that the athletes need. It also helps athletes get in shape faster between workouts.

Main point 2: Sufficient food intake is essential for people who are interested in sports, especially for professional athletes (Maughan 7) as it improves performance while doing an exercise.

Main point 3: The athletes can maintain energy and fluid balance by eating a few, frequent meals. That program corresponds to the energy usage and intake of fluids before, during, and after the training.

Main point 4: It is a fact that the sportsmen or women need to use up a variety of foods to provide at least a recommended dietary allowance (RDA) for all the nutrients.

Main point 5: The carbohydrates are broken up to supply energy in a short time. However, the large intake of carbohydrates close to the exercise or competition reduces hypoglycemia and decreases the performance.

Main point 6: Some athletes are interested in extreme or power sports. These people tend to have a high-protein diet because they believe that taking large amounts of protein is necessary for muscle growth and repair.

Main point 7: The necessity of vitamins and minerals for sports performance is considerably significant (Paquot 11), especially the effects of vitamin B, zinc, and chromium in the optimization of carbohydrate metabolism.

Main point 8: The intake of fluids is another point affecting the performance when considered the fact that dehydration decreases the performance. How much and when do athletes need to hydrate?

Main point 9: A healthy diet is a way of having a healthy lifestyle. It keeps the human body fit and energetic. It also prevents the chance of chronic degenerative disease when people get older.

Nutrition Short Essay: Conclusion

Proper nutrition helps improve the conditioning for athletes. The use of a variety of nutrients affects performance during both training and competition. The relationship between the diet and performance depends on the content of the food that athletes feed. The amount of nutrients fulfills the energy of the athletes.

References

Benardot, Dan. Advanced Sports Nutrition. Human Kinetics, 2012.

Brotherhood, J.r. “Nutrition and Sports Performance.” Sports Medicine, vol. 1, no. 5, 1984, pp. 350–389., doi:10.2165/00007256-198401050-00003.

Burke, Louise. Practical Sports Nutrition. Human Kinetics, 2007.

Maughan, Ronald J., and Susan M. Shirreffs. “Nutrition for Sports Performance: Issues and Opportunities.” Proceedings of the Nutrition Society, vol. 71, no. 1, 2011, pp. 112–119., doi:10.1017/s0029665111003211.

“Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise.” Nutrition and Athletic Performance, Mar. 2009, pp. 709–731.

Smolin, Lori A., and Mary B. Grosvenor. Nutrition for Sports and Exercise. Chelsea House, 2011.

Paquot N. [Sports nutrition]. Rev Med Liege. 2001 Apr;56(4) 200-203.