Athletes Should Be Allowed To Eat In Sports

Many athletes are, unfortunately, not known for their knowledge of nutrition and often times look toward conditioning and strength coaches or athletic trainers for advice on what they should consume in order to meet their nutritional needs. No matter where an athlete must travel, the fact remains that maintaining a healthy competition and training diet is still of the utmost importance. While people in the general population do have a typical recommendation for a daily diet, athletes require a higher intake of fluids and calories in order to have fuel enough to participate in the high volume of physical activities required of them. Most experts of sports nutrition generally recommend a diet for most athletes that is composed of 55-65% carbohydrates, 15% protein, and the …show more content…
When possible, better alternatives than eating in restaurants is to stay at a hotel with a cooking area, going to a grocery store and stocking up on complex-carbohydrate, low-fat whole foods, or making sandwiches to take on the road. Often times, preparing meals is more cost-efficient than eating at a restaurant. If there are no alternatives and athletes must eat a restaurant, then a buffet is the best choice, when possible, but if the meal must be eaten at a fast food restaurant there are ways to ensure athletes eat well. To ensure athletes will eat as proper as possible some guidelines are to make a reservation and make sure the restaurant will be prepared, browse the menu beforehand, highlight the best choices for the athletes, and allow them to choose from those choices. While eating on the road does give challenges to athletes nutritionally, proper planning by coaches and trainers and disciplined eating by athletes can help to ensure the correct nutrition is consumed for optimal performance at competitions on the