Factors Influencing Athletes’ Food Choices

Factors Influencing Athletes’ Food Choices

Athletes make food choices on a daily basis that can affect both health and performance. A well planned nutrition strategy that includes the careful timing and selection of appropriate foods and fluids helps to maximize training adaptations and, thus, should be an integral part of the athlete’s training programme. Factors that motivate food selection include taste, convenience, nutrition knowledge and beliefs. Food choice is also influenced by physiological, social, psychological and economic factors and varies both within and between individuals and populations. 

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Sports Nutrition – A Head Fake Towards a Healthy Lifestyle

Sports Nutrition – A Head Fake Towards a Healthy Lifestyle

There is little doubt that the number of overweight and obese children is increasing.  Two of the underlying causes are the lack of exercise and poor nutritional choices.  Whether is a recreational or competitive program, participating in youth soccer provides a way to increase physical activity.  At all levels coaches stress the need to exercise, train and “get in shape”.  In many cases, the lessons learned through youth sports leads to a more active adulthood.  Youth sports can also serve as an opportunity to emphasize the importance of a healthy diet.  However, a recent study raises concern about the food environment in youth sports.  It identifies the nutritional challenges and frustrations that many parents face in encouraging healthy eating.  Most importantly it highlights the role that youth coaches can play in helping young athletes develop a diet that will help them perform better on the field as well as lead a healthier lifestyle.

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How Can Sport Clubs Help Foster Health?

How Can Sport Clubs Help Foster Health?

It is clear that a growing health concern in the US and many other countries is the increasing incidence of obesity and related diseases. Over the past few years, the number of children and adolescents who are classified as overweight and obese has increased dramatically. Unfortunately, statistics show that these children will very likely grow up to be obese adults with a whole host of associated health issues such as hypertension, diabetes and orthopedic problems. A large contributor to this problem is the lack of regular physical activity.

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Influence of Nutrition, Sleep and Stress on Athletic Performance

Influence of Nutrition, Sleep and Stress on Athletic Performance

As a strength coach at Macalester College I only see our soccer players 5 to 6 hours a week during the off season.  It is even less for our soccer coaches.  During the season our influence is greater, but it is still a small amount of time compared to the hours in a week.  The decisions our athletes make away from training have a huge impact on what we do with them during training.  The most impactful decisions are the ones that involve nutrition, sleep, and stress management.  A perfect example of this came in one of my first years at Macalester College. 

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