Nutrition for AthletesBy Jamie Nish
Food is the fuel that make our bodies move optimally. Like a car, we all need fuel to move our bodies everyday, but an athletes training makes increased fuel a requirement. Regardless of the sport, athletes need to eat enough food to help them perform at their highest level. A balanced plate, through six meals per day is a general guideline for most athletes. Clean eating, or eating food in its most natural form, is a key component to ensure an athlete gets the most nutritional value from every piece of food eaten. The general idea is that food with a label has been modified from its original form and should be avoided as much as possible. |
“Keeping the system as clean as you can is crucial,” said Blake Shaver, Athlete Program Coordinator at Isagenix International and Personal Trainer for nine years. “Your body is a car, if you put the cheap fuel in it, don’t expect it to perform the way you think it should perform.”
In a recent interview with Shaver, he explains how the offseason is the time athletes make themselves better. The perception of athletes drinking alcohol and partying is a misrepresentation of how most athletes treat their bodies. “I would say its not the reality for 99 percent of them,” Shaver said. “Alcohol slows the body’s ability to metabolize fat, it’s better stay away from it if performance is that important to you.” Watching athletes perform at optimum levels come with sacrifice and commitment most people cannot comprehend. The things an athlete does out of sight are what make them the great and powerful machines they portray in the spotlight. |