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Denise Lewis fuels up
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WHAT IS SPORTS NUTRITION?
Karen Reid is a sports nutritionist with the EIS in London. Working with a number of sports including women’s rugby and athletics, she explains why nutrition is an essential part of the elite athlete’s preparation…
Q: In general terms, can you describe what Sports Nutrition is?
Karen Reid: Sports nutrition is the specialist application of the science of nutrition to performance enhancement in sport. The nutritional demands of training and competition vary according to sporting discipline and the individual requirements of athletes. Accredited sports dieticians are trained in both the science of nutrition and its practical application.
Q: So, you just tell athletes what they should and what they shouldn’t eat?
KR: As a sports dietician, my work with athletes is often very practical, and we frequently discuss appropriate food choices and what to buy at the supermarket.
However, it’s not quite so simple as “good foods” and “bad foods”. I assess each athlete’s personal nutritional requirements based on the demands of their sport and general lifestyle, setting dietary goals for carbohydrate, protein and fat intake, and ensuring that they are achieving the recommended intake of vitamins and minerals.
Advice given is based on research evidence, and the recommendations are then translated into foods and drinks to be taken in the appropriate amounts at the appropriate times to support training loads, improve recovery and optimise performance during competitions.
In younger athletes we especially focus on developing good eating habits, which will stand them in good stead as elite athletes of the future.
Q: And this is proven to have a real effect on performance?
KR: Yes indeed. For example, an adequate carbohydrate intake is essential for fuelling training and ensuring rapid recovery between sessions and competitions.
Optimal hydration is a must for all athletes as progressive dehydration has been shown to affect all aspects of performance – both physiological, and mental including concentration and skill levels. The promotion of optimal hydration including electrolyte replacement is a major focus over the coming year as athletes prepare for the next Olympic Games taking place in the heat of Athens.
Another dietary factor impacting on performance is body fat reduction which benefits both aerobic capacity and power to weight ratios in athletes.
Q: Typically, how do you go about assessing the needs of an athlete?
KR: Each athlete and each sport has its own set of nutritional requirements, from advising on how to achieve the large intake of carbohydrate necessary to fuel endurance sports to helping weight category athletes make weight prior to competitions. In a sport such as rugby, players need adequate carbohydrate to fuel the demands of training, and depending on both individual and positional requirements may need to either gain lean mass or reduce body fat.
Published guidelines form the basis of my recommendations, which are modified to reflect the players’ lifestyle and training patterns. It’s a case of getting to know the individual, and then devising dietary strategies to suit their individual food preferences, level of cooking skills, budget and personal lifestyle. Issues such as eating out, take-away and fast food choices are all discussed, to enable the athlete to manage their diet more effectively.
Supplements are also discussed and impartial advice is given regarding the appropriateness of products and any risks associated with their use.
Q: Is nutrition support more valuable in some sports than others?
KR: Traditionally much of the science of nutrition has focused on endurance athletes, however sports nutrition support has now been successfully integrated into a wide range of sporting disciplines including the precision sports such as shooting, bowls and archery, as well as team sports, track and field, gymnastics, rowing, sailing and weight category sports.
I believe that sports nutrition has a valuable role to play in all of the above and many more for different reasons. Every performer is looking to improve their performance by whatever margin, and that could be achieved through improving their hydration status, having better glycogen reserves, or changing their body composition. Nutrition has an important part to play in keeping athletes healthy and preventing fatigue and illness associated with poor recovery and under-fuelling.
Its essential for athletes to have access to practical advice from sports dieticians to help them make the all important changes to what they eat and drink for better performance.
Photography © Getty Images
12.01.04
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