Diet & Athletic Performance

Noadswood Science, 2012

Diet & Athletic Performance

To understand how diet can aid athletic performance

Wednesday, April 19, 2023

Food Groups

What are the 7 food groups? Carbohydrates Fat Protein Vitamins Minerals Fibre Water

Essential?

Nutrients are found within different foods, and they all play important roles within the body

Nutrient How the body uses it Food sources it is contained in

Carbohydrate To provide energy Cereals; bread; pasta; potatoes (sugars and starch)

Protein For growth, making new cells and repair of our bodies

Fish; meat; eggs; dairy products

Fat To provide energy, as a store of energy & for insulation

Butter; oil; nuts

Minerals Needed in small amounts to maintain health

Salt; milk (calcium); liver (iron)

Vitamins Needed in small amounts to maintain health

Dairy foods; fruit; vegetables

Fibre To provide roughage to help keep food passing through the gut

Vegetables; bran; wholemeal bread

Water Needed by cells and for body fluids Fruit juice; milk; water(!)

Endurance

In endurance sports it is crucial to build up a store of carbohydrates – specifically before competing athlete’s want to maximise the amount of glycogen stores in the muscles…

To aid this they will control their diet very specifically, increasing the amount of complex carbohydrates they eat (bread, pasta rice etc…)

Power

Other athletes will concentrate on a diet high in protein – this will build up their muscles for strength…

Muscle Strength

A diet high in protein will help build up muscles – baseline measurements of the strength of muscle uses the grip test method

A hand grip dynamometer can be used to measure grip strength

This records the maximum reading (kg) from three attempts

Sports Drinks

Sports drinks are crucial to an athletes performance – isotonic drinks (sports drinks) not only include water but sugars and electrolytes which are lost during exercise…

Isotonic – designed to quickly replace the fluids which are lost by sweating (and a boost of carbohydrates)

Hypertonic – supplements for daily carbohydrate intake

Hypotonic – replace fluids lost through sweating and are low in carbohydrates

Make Your Own

It is very easy to make your own sports drinks: -

Isotonic – 500ml unsweetened fruit juice (orange, apple, pineapple) + 500ml water mixed together in a jug and cool down in fridge

Hypertonic – 400ml of squash + one litre of water + pinch of salt mixed together in a jug and cool down in fridge

Hypotonic – 100ml of squash + one litre of water + pinch of salt mixed together in a jug and cool down in fridge

Fitness

Being fit means your body is able to do the activities your lifestyle demands - e.g. being able to run; get upstairs without getting out of breathe; being strong enough to lift things etc…

Fitness is different for each person, but is made up of: - Strength Speed Stamina Suppleness

Fitness

When you exercise your muscles work harder - using up more oxygen

To compensate, your heart beats quicker pumping more blood around your body

Your breathing rate also increases, allowing you to get more oxygen into your body (and expel more carbon dioxide)

Heart Rate

Fit people (who exercise a lot) have stronger heart muscles, so their heart pumps more blood with each beat

This means it can beat less than an unfit person’s and still pump the same amount of blood

So fit people usually have slower resting heart beat rates

After exercise a fit person’s heart rate usually returns to its resting rate quicker than an unfit person

This is also true of their breathing rate