A sport is an integral part of human life. It improves your physical & mental health. Also, it improves leadership and team-building qualities, self-confidence, management skill, and discipline. Some people play sports and games for recreation and some for good health. But most of the people are playing sports and games to build their career.
Since everyone has started taking part in competitive sports and games there is very tough competition in all sports and games. Therefore to achieve high performance and become successful in sports everyone must have the knowledge of all those factors on which performance depends to a large extent. There are so many factors and Nutrition is one of the most important factors.
Initially, Nutrition, a science of food was limited to just prevention of deficiency, disease, and maintenance of general health. But today nutrition has become an important component of success in sports performance. To keep our body cells functioning properly they must be supplied with the proper amount and type of food having required nutrients as per individual’s requirement.
Nutrition is the science of the knowledge of food and its uses by the body. All living things need food to live. Food supplies energy for every action of living things. Food also provides nutrients that our body requires to build up and repair its tissues and to regulate the function of its organs and systems.
Why is nutrition important?
Today every professional Athlete aims to achieve high performance in competition and become successful in sports. Selection of right exercise & Balanced Diet is the most important factors on which performance depends to a large extent.
A balanced diet is important for recovery during training to tackle the training load in each & every training session. The meal before & after the competition is very important. In weight category sports, a balanced diet is very important to gain & lose weight in minimum possible time without affecting performance.
If you want to improve your performance in sports it is very important to stay hydrated and to eat at the right time and the right type of food throughout the day.
Athletes need a balanced diet not only to perform well but also to maintain optimal health and wellbeing.
The nutritional requirement of an athlete is more than the common a person. Athletes need extra calories and micronutrients to improve their Strength, Speed, Endurance, and Neuromuscular Coordination.
All athletes who are training or participating at a higher level may find it difficult to consume sufficient food as per their energy requirement without experiencing Digestive system discomfort.
Nutritional supplements may be used by some athletes. Everybody must aware of the safety of all nutritional supplements.
Therefore athlete may have to work with a certified sports nutritionist or Sports Dietitian to ensure if he is consuming enough calories from right food and micronutrients to maintain ideal body weight, improve their performance and recovery and maintain good health and well-being.