The name “Sports Nutrition” is social misnomer, because it
implies a special kind of nutrition only for people who play sports.
Granted, anyone engaged in sport is a candidate for such a reference
but ‘sports’ in this context is generic and much broader in its
definition. It’s much like how many of us refer to natural health
products (NHPs) or dietary supplements as “vitamins”. For example,
“Jimmy, have you taken your vitamins today?” Technically, minerals &
amino acids are not vitamins, neither are gingko or grape seed
extract, but for ease of reference and understanding, the term
“vitamin” is commonly used as a general label.
The same is also true regarding Sports Nutrition. It encompasses
an extremely wide range of potential candidates, including athletes,
weekend warriors, gym rats, fitness buffs, diehard aerobic queens
and sport fanatics. It includes anyone engaged in physical activity.
In fact, if you train and eat food, you’re engaged in sports
nutrition.
Sports Nutrition product suppliers often create advertising
strategies designed to reach a very specific and narrow range of
audience, such as cyclists, skiers or bodybuilders. Performance
benefits attract athletes and anything to do with muscle or ‘weight
loss’ creates interest. So the perceived specificity of the term can
also be very useful from a marketing point of view, but remember,
sports nutrition is not just for people who play hockey, football or
soccer.
If you look up “sport” in Webster’s New World dictionary, it’s
first defined as “any activity or experience that provides enjoyment
or recreation” and then goes on to include activity by way of bodily
exertion. It also mentions both fun & play as vital components.
‘Sports Nutrition’ is an art and a science. The ART consists of
nourishing an active body with high quality food and natural health
products in a skillful, safe and consistent manner. This pertains
not only to what we eat, but also when, where and how. Whole food
and NHPs are administered with reference to dozens of variables
including (but not limited to):
Vitamin B6 (Pyridoxine HCL)
Vitamin B12
Biotin
Folic Acid
Vitamin C (Ascorbic
Acid/Activated C)
Vitamin D (Cholecalciferol)
Vitamin E (d-a-tocopheryl
Acetate)
Vitamin K (Phytonadione)
Calcium (Gluconate & Amino
Acid Chelate)
Chromium (Chloride)
Copper (Sulfate)
Magnesium (Aspertate)
Manganese (Chloride)
Potassium (Citrate)
Selenium (Sodium Selenate)
Silica (Horsetail (Equisetum
Arvense) Extract)
Zinc (Gluconate)
Choline Bitartrate
Inositol
Dimethylglycine
FRUITS AND VEGETABLE EXTRACT
SOY PROTIEN
NUTRABERRY®
vitamin A (Palmitate/Beta
Carotene
Vitamin B1 ( Thiamine )
Vitamin B3 (Riboflavin)
Vitamin B3 (Niacinamide)
Vitamin B5 (Pantothenic
Acid)
The SCIENCE of sports nutrition helps all of us to understand the
“how” and the “why”. Through observation, research and repeated
experiment, experts in the field investigate the effect of
controlled exercise, food and natural health products on the health,
recovery and performance of athletes. To be successful in the world
of sport, fitness and health, and to remain well and injury free,
one must apply the art as a derivative of sound science. This is the
essence of the natural health food & fitness movement. Both are
inseparably and equally essential.
Sports Nutrition recognizes textbook nutrient deficiencies, but
also explores the possibility of utilizing whole food and natural
health products such as creatine or glutamine to obtain higher
levels of performance and quality of living.
“Sports Nutrition is for anyone who is
ultimately concerned about health and fitness and their ability to
perform with excellence in life!”
From a biological point of view, the ‘prime directive’ and
function of nutrition is to supply a living organism with the energy
and micronutrients it requires for nourishment, optimum function and
maintenance of life. Taste, texture and culinary pleasure are
secondary to provision of such nutrients in relation to biological
demand. The function of food is to sustain life (not simply to
gratify sensory pleasure).
“No matter what one’s fitness or exercise
goals, good nutrition can help improve exercise performance,
decrease recovery time from strenuous exercise, prevent exercise
injuries due to fatigue, provide the fuel required during times of
high-intensity training and control weight. Combining good nutrition
with exercise can also help reduce the risk of numerous chronic
diseases such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, hypertension,
obesity, osteoporosis, and some cancer; moreover, physicians often
recommend nutrition and exercise to treat individuals who already
have these diseases. Learning how nutrition and exercise work
together for optimal health is essential for health, nutrition, or
fitness professionals who must teach the public how to maintain good
health and reduce risks of chronic disease”.
- Sport Nutrition for Health and
Performance (2000) Melinda Manore PhD, RD, FACSM & Janice Thompson,
PhD, FACSM, Human Kinetics
“As scientific fields go, sports nutrition
is still in its infancy. In spite of this, enough has been learned
over the past twenty-five years to confirm that sports nutrition is,
indeed, a science, and this requires that established rules of
scientific evidence be applied to the collection and distribution of
information.”
-Avery’s Sports Nutrition Almanac (1999)
Edmund Burke PhD & Daniel Gastelu MS, Avery Publishing Group
“The science of sports nutrition consists
of designing your individual nutrition, training, and lifestyle, so
that your body can retain and use sufficient of the beneficial
chemicals, and avoid or expel the detrimental. The first step is to
realize that you and your environment are one single interacting
system of chemistry.”
Sports Nutrition Guide: Minerals, Vitamins
& Antioxidants for Athletes (2002) Dr. Michael Colgan, Apple
Publishing
Sports nutrition is the salvation of the world. Why? Because
sports nutrition incorporates exercise AND optimum nutrition, and
without both, it is IMPOSSIBLE to achieve wellness, remedy obesity
and prevent degenerative disease. This is scientific fact! Sports
nutrition is not a trend. It is nourishment for life…and the
antidote for the poison of refined food and physical inactivity. At
the centre of its ‘core’ lies the discipline of training surrounded
by the science of nutrition.