Sports Nutrition

Sports Nutrition

Dr. Louise Burke who is the Head of the Department of Sports Nutrition at the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra has this to say about the diets of athletes:

"Athletes come in different sizes and shapes, and follow different types of training programs. While they may all follow these nutrition rules, their meals may look quite different. Athletes who train strenuously for many hours each day will need to eat large amounts of carbohydrate and kilojoules. Big, tall athletes will need to eat more than petite athletes such as gymnasts. Many athletes need to organise their meals to fit around their training or competition schedules.

All athletes are encouraged to follow the rules of healthy eating to help their performances both in training and in competition. Some important principles of sport nutrition are:

• Keep yourself in shape with a body fat level that suits your sport - eat the right amount of kilojoules for your body size and training program.

• Keep your muscles fuelled up for training and competition by eating plenty of carbohydrate foods. Make room for these foods by reducing the amount of fat that is in the typical Australian diet.

• Enjoy a variety of nutritious foods to provide you with all the protein, vitamins and minerals that your body needs. Your need for some of these nutrients will increase because of your heavy exercise program.

• Look after fluid needs. Drink before, during and after exercise sessions to prevent yourself from becoming dehydrated."

For information specific to your sport see the AIS Sports Nutrition website ( www.ais.org.au/nutrition)

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Sport Education is a program of Sport Development at the
Australian Sports Commission