For most people, knowing what, how much, and when to eat can be difficult.
But for athletes of all levels, it can be even more difficult, and many experience common pitfalls.
“Before I hired a nutritionist, I definitely had a lack of energy,” Australian boxing 54kg champion Tiana Echegaray told ABC Sports.
“I was trying to keep an eye on my weight. I was training so I was very dehydrated and fatigued and lacked a lot of energy during the sessions.
“I was concentrating on work…and I realized that the reason I was feeling so bad was because I wasn’t trying hard enough.”
Echegaray only took up the sport in 2019, but after working with a sports nutritionist, he began to understand proper nutrition.
This allowed her to reach her full potential and make her Olympic debut in Paris.
fill the bucket
Holly Edstein, a nutritionist at the NSW Institute of Sport, told ABC Sport: “Insufficient supply or consumption of total energy to meet demand is probably one of the key issues for all athletes. “It’s one,” he said.
“That’s why education about how much you need to eat to meet your health demands, not just your sport, is so important.”
Edstein says the easiest way to understand how much you need to eat is to imagine a bucket full of food. As you expend energy throughout the day, you end up taking food out of the bucket.
“What’s left in that bucket at the end of the day after all your training and competition is what’s left for normal physiological function,” she said.
“And when there’s not enough left in the bucket, something has to give.
“Therefore, athletes can experience irregular menstrual cycles, poor bone health and stress fractures, iron deficiency, gastrointestinal symptoms, and decreased immune function.”
These symptoms result from decreased energy availability and can lead to relative energy deficits in sports.
Edstein said iron deficiency can affect all athletes, regardless of gender, but women are more likely to have an iron deficiency, and some warning signs, such as irregular menstrual cycles, are easier to spot. Says.
find the right information
Elite athletes usually have access to a sports nutritionist, but for sub-elite, recreational athletes, and young athletes, finding appropriate information is much more difficult.
“From about the age of 16 to 21, I was very strict about the carbohydrates I put into my body,” Sydney Flames guard Vanessa Panousis said.
“Actually, it didn’t work for me.
“Carbohydrates have a lot of negative connotations, like making you fat, bloated, and bloated.
“It actually really helps with recovery.”
Cronulla Sharks player and NRLW Indigenous All Stars captain Quincy Dodd says he has learned how much he needs to eat depending on his training and playing workload.
“That probably doesn’t apply to all age groups in rugby league,” she says.
“I think some young girls have no idea what to eat on game day or what to eat for breakfast, but if they are educated, they will perform much better. Sho.”
Edstein says it’s also important to eat a variety of foods and important nutrients.
“Enough carbohydrates to fuel your training sessions, enough protein to support muscle repair and recovery, enough fiber for gut health, and enough healthy fats for hormone production and vitamin absorption.” “That’s what I do,” she says.
“And we can break it down further into micronutrients to ensure adequate iron, vitamin D, calcium, zinc and folic acid.”
make weight
There are special challenges faced by athletes in weight-based sports.
Echegaray says it’s essential to stick to your weight class outside of competition.
“When I’m trying to lose weight and cut calories, I just stick to a meal plan,” she said.
“I try to stay organized by preparing large meals and sticking to specific portion sizes each week.
“I don’t want the fight to be about…a fight against the scale. I want the match to be about the fight itself and what I do in the ring.”
Edstein says athletes looking to lose weight should seek advice from a certified sports nutritionist.
“That way, they can receive assessments, interventions and education that are tailored to the specific needs and circumstances of that athlete,” she said.
“I strongly discourage athletes from seeking general advice from the internet.
“Sometimes there is good quality advice on the internet, and sometimes there is not so much quality advice.
“And in many cases, this poor quality advice can do more harm than good and can have a very negative impact on health and performance.”
Echegaray acknowledges that sports like boxing run the risk of developing an unhealthy relationship with food.
“Because if we’re always counting calories and having that in the back of our minds, we become obsessed with everything we’re eating,” she says.
“It can definitely have some negative impact on the mental health of a lot of people in the boxing world.
“I think I did pretty well. The most important thing is to express how I feel…because I know a lot of people in the sports world are going through the same thing.”
