Nutrition plays a key role in sports performance. The quality and quantity
of the food you eat (and when you eat it) makes a great difference in the
way you practice and compete. You need to think about good nutrition so that
you will be able to develop the strong body you want while, at the same
time, storing up the necessary energy for endurance.
Nutrition used to be a very confusing topic. We were told that about 60% of
our diet should be carbohydrate, 20% protein, and 20% fat. But what
constitutes a carbohydrate? What kind of food is protein? Is fat that stuff
on the edge of my favorite steak?
Now that's all changed.
The U.S. Dept. of Food and Drug Administration, after years of research and
collaboration with dietitians and nutritionists, have revised the food
chart. It's much easier to find out how much of what to eat. The new food
chart includes six food groups. They are:
Meats/Protein
Cereals and grains
Vegetables
Fruit
Dairy products
Fat
The Foundation for Peak Performance
As an athlete, the food you eat provides the foundation for your conditioning
program and your over-all performance in competition.
Athletes often complain of having too little energy or not realizing
strength gains from weight lifting. Both of these complaints, as well as
others, are often a sign of poor nutritional habits.
Recently an athlete wanted to know why he wasn't gaining muscle mass. He was
lifting heavy weights every day. Yet, he hadn't gain any weight in weeks. He
also said he was having a hard time at practice and often fell asleep before
completing his homework! We analyzed his diet and found that 56% of his
daily calories came from fat. Fat doesn't help you gain more muscle.
Carbohydrates and proteins do help, however. We changed his diet and, within
one week, he began to gain 1-2 lbs of new muscle mass each week.
Eating the right foods will give you added energy and will supply your body
with sufficient calories to build strong muscles. As a rule, your daily
nutritional plan should include approximately 65% carbohydrates (from
fruits, vegetables, and grains); 20% protein (from dairy products, meats,
fish, poultry, and nuts); and 20% fat (from all sources).
Nutritional Plan
CHAP's Nutritional Plans for Athletes will explain how to plan your food
intake for peak performance. It includes suggestions for gaining weight,
maintaining current weight, or for trimming down. In addition, you will
learn about the six food groups and how to use them to plan your meals.
There are sample meals included for each type of plan. They are offered as
suggestions for a typical day's menu, but once you understand the food
groups, you can mix and match to suit your tastes.
The Basic Plan
Let's look at the basic patterns you'll
need to follow to ensure that you get the right amount
of calories from the various food groups each day.
Rather than worry about counting calories, we have
calculated the number of servings from each food group
you need daily, depending on your goals.
|
Food Group
|
Trim Down
|
Shape Up
|
Gain
|
|
Meats/Protein
|
7
|
9
|
10
|
|
Grains
|
10
|
13
|
16
|
|
Fresh Fruits
|
3
|
3
|
4
|
|
Vegetables
|
4
|
4
|
5
|
|
Dairy
|
2
|
2
|
3
|
|
Fats
|
2
|
3
|
6
|
|
Calories
|
1,800
|
2,200
|
3,000
|
The chart above shows how many servings of
foods from each group you need to eat in order to reach your goal. For
example, if you are trying to gain weight, then you would follow the serving
portions under the "Gain" column. |
