Collegiate sports vary from gymnastics to soccer and the level of competition ranges from multiple divisions in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) to community college. One similar aspect these intercollegiate athletes experience is nutrition. Nutrition will continue to dominate these individuals physiologically and impact their performance. Many athletes will go through a rigorous day of training, but the time not training will be used for diet and nutrition. This will allow for the athletes to refuel and recover so they can continue to improve performance and strive for excellence. There are several factors that can either improve or decline an individual’s performance. These factors include the amount of education on nutrition …show more content…
Collegiate athletes spend multiple hours training to perfect their craft. Majority of colleges include training twice a day, one in the morning before an individual’s class and one after. More than 190,000 women are registered under the NCAA (Shriver, Betts & Wollenberg 2013). Shriver, Betts & Wollenberg (2013) conducted a study to determine if these female collegiate athletes are properly nourished for the amount of workload their body endures through rigorous and tiresome training. The female athletes in their study failed to meet their minimum energy and carbohydrate needs and also failed to follow basic sports nutrition guidelines. Majority of amateur level athletes have a variety of misconceptions regarding nutrition. Both malnourishment and over-nourishment can have a negative impact on an athletes’ performance (Webber, 2015). Specifically, athletes who participate in weight conscious sports may be the key beneficiaries with proper education in nutrition. For example, wrestlers, cross country runner and cyclists all need to be conscious of their weight in order to have the best possible chance in succeeding in their sport. Therefore, education throughout the high school level or proper care from staff should be the main focus for athletes. Abood, Black & Birnbaum (2004) conducted a study that involved athletes and an education of nutrition through an 8 …show more content…
(Holm-Denoma, Scaringi, Gordon, Van Orden, & Joiner, 2009). Common eating disorders athletes encounter are anorexia and bulimia nervosa. Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder that causes people to be underweight in fear of being overweight. Bulimia nervosa is an illness in which an individual has regular episodes of eating an extremely large amount of food (binging). This individual may use different ways, such as vomiting or laxatives (purging), to prevent weight gain (Rogge, 2015). Chatterton & Petrie (2013) surveyed 732 intercollegiate athletes to determine weight control practices used by athletes. In terms of specific eating and weight management behaviors, 12.8% of the athletes reported binge eating at least once a week and 9.4% said they had been binge eating for 3 years or longer. Even though these numbers may seem meniscal, there are still evident eating disorders in athletes. Stress levels from coaches or poor performance of athletes may also lead to eating disorders and
AERENHOUTS, D., DERIEMAEKER, P., HEBBELINCK, M., & CLARYS, P. (2011). Energy and macronutrient intake in adolescent sprint athletes: A follow-up study. Journal Of Sports Sciences, 29(1), 73-82.
A NASCAR drivers’ training regimen throughout the season and during the off-season shows strong evidence that they are athletes. Nutrition is a key ingredient in the success of athletes in other sports, so NASCAR drivers and their crews practice healthy eating choices. On race day, nutrition is especially important for the crews. They eat no greasy foods for breakfast and load up on carbs for lunch so they can last the entire day at the track (Herlocker). Their diet proves that nutrition is key for the success of not only the drivers but for their crews as well.
Every year thousands of students are recruited to be student athletes at colleges and every year approximately 8 million individuals suffer from eating disorders. According to Psychology Applied to Modern Life, eating disorders are defined as “severe disturbances in eating behavior characterized by preoccupation with weight and unhealthy efforts to control weight (Weiten, Dunn, Hammer, 2011, p. 470).” Eating disorders can include anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa and binge-eating disorder. With risk factors such as low self esteem, pressure from family, friends and coaches and access to unlimited to food it is no wonder that collegiate athletes have higher rates of eating disorders than regular college students. Living in a dorm full of mostly athletes it has become extremely apparent to me that these athletes struggle with immense of pressure and one way of getting around this pressure is bulimia. Certain sports put more pressure on athletes to be a certain size and perform at a certain level than others.
Gymnasts are more vulnerable to the onset of distorted eating than other teenagers in society, due to the very nature of what makes for athletic success in the sport. Gymnasts’ bodies have to be young, healthy, petite and muscular, therefore they have to do large amounts of conditioning and eat the proper amounts and type of food. The main factor to gymnasts being vulnerable to distorted eating is because they are at very young ages when they excel in the sport. Gymnastics is structured around young fit bodies, so these athletes are facing a lot of pure pressure and big decisions at young ages. They may start to restrict their diet because, in the sport, it is expected for them to have petite and fit bodies and they are receiving pressure from their coaches and others opinions. A Canadian study of youth gymnasts at an average age of 13.4 years old, reported that 10.5% saw themselves as overweight, 27% were worried about the way they looked and 39% reported dieting behaviors (momsteen.com). When gymnasts restrict their food intake it will not enhance their performance, instead it will harm it because of their weakened bodies condition. They decide to reduce their food intake because of what their body, as a gymnast, is supposed to look like. With the average age of gymnasts being 13.4 years old, they are at the age where it is very easy to feel insecure about their body due to others around them, but it is very unhealthy for high-level gymnasts to not be fueling their body with the proper foods thy need. The sports nature also plays a large role in how far the athletes will go for success. Gymnastics is a very involving sport that requires very long training hours for the young athletes. The proper amount of training hours for the ...
Athletes are among the quickest, strongest, most flexible people in the world, so one would expect them to adhere to the latest health and fitness information, right? Not always. The problem is that the athletes often believe that more fit equals less fat. The death of Olympic gymnast Christy Henrich from anorexia nervosa began to bring the topic of athletes and eating disorders to the forefront. Research into the topic of eating disorders and athletes shows a few interesting findings. Most of the studies focus on women and specific sports, namely gymnastics, figure skating, diving, and other weight-dependent sports. Some research, however, shows prevelance findings of eating disorders in female athletes congruent with the general population.
Today, our world is filled with food. While some are healthy, it seems like teenagers are more focused on the unhealthy foods. Yes, there are athletic programs; teens are still not eating the right foods they should be. They get the simple, easy to depend on, low cost foods which most likely are from fast food restaurants. Teenagers often pick the easy choice, which is why the obesity rate is rising in our state, including heart attacks and diabetes. Even though it seems like the unhealthy choices are more dependent when you’re in a rush and need a quick bite to eat, not caring about the nutrition, teenagers don’t realize that it will affect them in the long run, literally.
Studies have shown that a higher number of athletes compared to non-athletes have been diagnosed with eating disorders. These studies have also shown that both male and females are at equal risk of developing an eating disorder.(Powers, 2007) It has been theorized that this eating disorders are more common in athletes due to their goal oriented perfectionism. They become so engulfed in the need for perfection that it becomes all that matters. For other athletes, it is theorized that eating disorders are their way of taking back control. In some cases, the sport can begin to take over the athletes life. Intense pressure comes from coaches, parents and even teammates. These means that for some individuals they feel as though what the eat is the only control that they have in their life. It turns into a coping mechanism.
Ultimately, sports nutrition can be very interesting and should be taught to all. There are 7 types of nutrients the should ideally be consumed in our everyday meals. This will help with physical and mental health.
It is brought to attention within the argument that college athletes may spend more of their time focusing on their sport and not their academics. Student-athletes face many of the same pressures as their non-athlete counterparts academically. Many carry a full course load that is tightly regimented by someone other than them and they are unable to drop below 12 credits otherwise risk losing their NCAA eligibility. For many student-athletes the time they put into a sport is comparable to having a 30-40 hour a week job. A student-athletes daily schedule (when in season) may consists of attending classes, practice, weight training This can cause issues because it can put players on academic probation, they could lose their scholarship, or worse.
Low carbohydrate (carb) diets have been used as a weight loss treatment for many years. Recently low carbohydrate diets are being used with athletes as a performance enhancement method by changing training adaptations. This essay will examine the health risks and benefits of a low carb diet, as well as the effects of low carb diets on the endurance athlete in regards to their training and performance. There are many short term benefits of low carb diets. However there are also many long term risks that outweigh the benefits for the general population. Evidence shows that exercising on a low carb diet has positive adaptation to training for aerobic athletes. However there is not enough evidence on what the long term effect of this could be, and so the net health benefits for a low carb diet cannot be determined for athletes.
Bulimia nervosa is a slightly less serious version of anorexia, but can lead to some of the same horrible results. Bulimia involves an intense concern about weight (which is generally inaccurate) combined with frequent cycles of binge eating followed by purging, through self-induced vomiting, unwarranted use of laxatives, or excessive exercising. Most bulimics are of normal body weight, but they are preoccupied with their weight, feel extreme shame about their abnormal behavior, and often experience significant depression. The occurrence of bulimia has increased in many Western countries over the past few decades. Numbers are difficult to establish due to the shame of reporting incidences to health care providers (Bee and Boyd, 2001).
Samantha is a thirty year old woman. She is a veteran triathlete who has raced in a numerous amount of long distance events. She has been focusing mainly on preparing her body physically for her races but may have been overlooking the nutrition part of the preparation. She believes her pre-during-post diet is hindering her optimal performance. To better prepare herself, she is seeking out nutritional advice to better herself.
Eating disorders are a serious health problem. Personal Counseling & Resources says that eating disorders "are characterized by a focus on body shape, weight, fat, food, and perfectionism and by feelings of powerlessness and low self-esteem." Three of the most common eating disorders are anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge eating or compulsive eating disorder. According to Anorexia Nervosa and Related Eating Disorders, a person with anorexia "refuses to maintain normal body weight for age and height" and "weighs 85 percent or less than what is what is expected for age and height." A person diagnosed with bulimia has several ways of getting rid of the calories such as binge eating, vomiting, laxative misuse, exercising, or fasting. The person might have a normal weight for their age and height unless anorexia is present. The signs of a compulsive eater include eating meals frequently, rapidly, and secretly. This person might also snack and nibble all day long. The compulsive eater tends to have a history of diet failures and may be depressed or obese (Anred.com).
One of the most common reasons that an athlete suffers from an eating disorder is from the immense pressure each athlete is put under. Just like an athlete wants to top-notch equipment, he or she also wants the “perfect” body for the specific sport. Each sport has an “ideal” body type that will help the athlete achieve the most success.
Certain foods can make a difference in sports competition. Conditioning, strength, and speed have been the focal points of athletic training for years; however, the research on nutritional elements indicates their importance to an athlete's optimal performance. Knowing the proper food to eat before, during, and after a physical activity can help an athlete in achieving their desired performance.