Junk Food: Myth or Reality in the Athletes Diet

Food is of the utmost importance in any living being, mainly in humans, but good nutrition is also as important. Twelve are the foods that various experts in nutrition have mentioned as essential for the healthy diet in a rhythm of life for a professional athlete.

A child who usually exercises in a sport usually should eat more than the one who spends all afternoon watching television, because when exercising more calories are burned. But keep in mind that each person is different when it comes to exercise and eating.

Taking into consideration the in time of the day that you are eating, you should eat all the nutrients you need. The right foods and drinks can help you be a better athlete.

An athlete must know how to choose the most appropriate time to eat foods rich in fat because these can slow the digestive process; therefore, you have to avoid them a few hours before and a few hours after exercising.

The diet and its components can sometimes be as important as the same training, that is why we are going to provide you with a list of several foods that are most ideal for athletes when it comes to healthy eating.

• Fruits: apples, watermelon, pineapple, melon, kiwi, papaya, avocado, peach, orange, grapefruit, lime, tangerine, guava, mango, pomegranate, mango, grape, strawberry, blackberry, raspberry, cherries, in general, all types of fruits are ideal for athletes.
• Vegetables: carrot, lettuce, spinach, zucchini, celery, chard, cauliflower, tomato, cucumber.
• Legumes: beans, chickpeas, lentils, soybeans, peanuts.
• Food of animal origin: red meat, white meat, egg, milk, cheese, fish, yogurt, butter.
• Cereals: corn, rice, wheat, oats, bread, pasta.

These foods should be consumed in sufficient quantity, 2 to 3 servings of each daily.

It is important to consume food properly in order to obtain the nutrients that athletes need such as: proteins, carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals, fats because they provide a great source of energy for reconstruction and body renewal when doing exercises.

All these foods provide athletes with the necessary nutrients and in addition many combinations of meals can be made with all these foods, it is important to point out that fruits and vegetables must be consumed in abundance, legumes and foods of animal origin in less quantity, while the cereals more or less in between the two groups mentioned.

You cannot forget to include in the diet nuts (nuts, hazelnuts, pistachios, almonds) and oils (olive, corn, canola, sunflower) and sunflower seeds. It is vital to eat a balanced diet and avoid junk foods, fast foods, and saturated fats.

Junk food myth or reality in the diet of athletes

Nutrition is the indispensable motor of elite sports and junk food can spoil the athletes’ race.

Eating the right foods at the right time before a sporting event can help athletes have enough energy to compete at their highest performance.

Athletes should be fed less processed foods; they should eat as natural as possible the rule of thumb is the less processed the better for both health and performance.

In this same order of idea, it is not advisable to consume fried foods before exercise, the truth is that we should try to avoid them since in general, it is not the ideal kind of food for health, but when we talk about sports they play an even worse role, and that is because processed oils and chips tend to be digested much slower than other types of fats, and a slow digestion in an athlete will drastically reduce the performance in their sports discipline.

On the other hand, silent enemies of the athletes are the so-called protein energy bars that are disguised portrayed as healthy sweets which they are not. Some of these protein bars contain 8 grams of saturated fat, that can be found in a ham and cheese sandwich, the vast majority of nutritional products on the market have  large amounts of sugars, and because of the ease of eating this type of food (always readily at hand because of their so easy of taking along everywhere we go, and because of the rich flavors they are elaborated with), many athletes consume them without knowing that they are harmful instead of favorable .

Energy drinks have also become very popular among athletes for supposedly but erroneously boosting energy when it goes low. And while the common citizen uses it as an incentive for their daily activities the athlete uses it to increase strength when training.

These are some more effective and important recommendations for athletes to start seeing favorable results in their various disciplines.