Australian Sport - A Winning Diet for Sport - Part 1

Gary Hall Junior, the extrovert and Ian Thorpe battling it out down the pool. Narrow Margin
for the Australians but look at Gary Hall start to motor.
Well we know that Ian Thorpe is not going to go out as fast as Gary Hall but he has
got to come out over the top of him if he is going to win this race.
Around they go for the final 50, Hall is in front, what can the champ muster? A gold medallist
earlier tonight. Now he is digging deep the crowd is roaring there hero is coming on.
Will it be a fairytale? Thorpe is giving it up to Hall, there matching strokes now. Thorpe’s
on terms with Hall they’ve got about 15 metres to swim.
Thorpe is over hall again, Hall and Thorpe. Thorpe is in front. Thorpe and Hall. Thorpe
goes in. Australia win! New world record.
In the modern world of sport making it to the top requires commitment at many levels.
These days it is not longer sufficient to rely on fitness, good skills and a desire
to win. Hi I’m Matthew Egans and in this video will be exploring one of the hot issues
in sports performance. A winning diet.
We have just, The Australians have just broken the Americans strangle hold on this race.
The roof is lifting off this stadium.
It is the stuff of legends. Ian Thorpe.
Athletes and teams in many sports are turning to nurtrion, as a new tool in there preparation
for winning performances.
With me I have doctor Louise Burke head of sports nutrition at the Australian Institute
of Sport.
Louise, Can a good diet produce a champion?
Well Matthew there is no single factor that can turn an ordinary person into a sporting
legend.
A few athletes seem to excel on talent alone, however most good athletes need to make a
serious commitment to being at their best. The right parents, the right training and
the right skills are all important factors in performance, but eating well is also part
of the package.
It makes sense if winning an Olympic gold medal is your goal. But is nutrition important
for those who are playing sport at a junior or recreation level?
Athletes of all ages and levels will benefit from eating well, its part of knowing your
at your best and enjoying what your doing. And that’s rewarding, whatever your level
of sport. So what is a winning diet? There is no secret formula or magic eating
plan that works for everyone. Eating well is specific to you, to your special
nutritional needs, and to your schedule of training and competition. In this video, past
and present day athletes will tell us about there special challenges.
The winning diet isn’t just for the day or the game or race. For most athletes the
hours spent in preparation and training, will far out number the time spent in competition
arena. Everyday eating must tackle a number of goals.
Full training for me means two or three sessions a day, in the pool or in the gym.
I need to eat so I can recover quickly from session to session and perform at my best.
Training is the time to get into top shape, a winning diet and training program will help
me reach my ideal playing weight. Whether that means loosing body fat or gaining muscle.
I know I can’t play at my best unless I look after my needs for vitamins, proteins
and minerals.
I know that a heavy training program can increase my requirements for some of these, so I need
to eat nutritious foods.
I like to eat foods that taste good and I that I can enjoy with my family and friends.
I want all of us to enjoy the benefits of a winning diet, but I don’t want to give
up all my favourite things.
For all games I need to have my nutrition strategies just right.
Knowing what to eat before a game and what to drink during a game.
I need to try new ideas at practice so I can fine tune my tactics and be confident at success.
Let us know examine some guide lines for a winning diet, to see how these goals can be
achieved in everyday eating.
In Australia we enjoy an abundance of food choices.
There are thousands of different food products on supermarket shelves.
Most fruits and vegetables are available all year round instead of brief seasons and we
can dine out on the cuisine of any country of our fancy.
Despite this many of us think there are only two types of food. Good foods and bad foods.
Some people even think that a good diet means giving up all the foods that are bad for us,
often the foods they love the most. The good news from nutritionists is that no
foods are good or bad by themselves, and that no food needs to be completely banished from
the winning diet.
The first rule of the winning diet is to explore and enjoy the variety of foods around us.
Variety helps us not only enjoy what we eat, but make sure we can find out nutrient needs
from a range of good food sources.
The food pyramid developed by nutrition experts illustrates good use of foods. All foods may
be eaten but priority is given to the nutritious choices that best look after the special needs
of training.
Although some popular diet books have spread the myth that certain foods shouldn’t be
eaten together, the truth is that meals are improved by mixing and matching foods.
Infact many foods combine cleverly to enhance the nutritional value of the total meal.
Carbohydrate foods play a vital role as a critical source of food for exercising muscles.
A little from bloody glucose and a larger amount from glycogen is stored in your muscles.
These stores can only provide for up to a couple of hours continuous exercise, and therefore
must constantly be refilled from the carbohydrate in your diet.
Running low on carbohydrate causes fatigue, you’ve probably experienced how bad it feels
to run out of fuel. The more you train the greater your daily
carbohydrate needs are. Athletes who train everyday can find it difficult to recover
there muscle glycogen levels day in, day out. And may gradually deplete body carbohydrate
stores. This is often the cause of tiredness and infective training.
Typical Australian eating habits do not provide adequate carbohydrate. The focus of the winning
diet is to increase our intake of these fuel foods.
For general health benefits and to provide energy for a light to moderate training program
our servings of carbohydrate foods should make up more than half of our total energy
intake. Athletes in heavy daily training may need to eat higher levels again.Vision
Eating a high carbohydrate diet, means making some changes to your typical eating patterns.
The first step is to identify high carbohydrate foods.
Especially those that are good sources of other nutrients.
These foods which should become number one priority in your meal plans include breakfast
cereals, the wonderful variety of breads as well as scones, pancakes and other foods made
from flour.
Rice, pasta and noodles. Fruit and all its forms. Legumes such as beans and lentils and
starchy vegetables, principally potatoes and corn.
Sweetened and fruit containing dairy foods, such as yoghurts, fruches and fruit smoothies
are all nutritious high carbohydrates sources.
A winning diet may mean trying some new food, but the biggest change is to increase the
size of the carbohydrate portion at meals. Where as typical Australian meals focus on
protein rich foods such as meat fish or chicken.
The winning diet turns the plate inside out, to put the fuel foods first.
Sometimes it’s a simple as dishing up the carbohydrate foods first and leaving less
room for other parts of the meal. Other times you might cook recipes that make
a carbohydrate food like rice, pasta or potatoes the main ingredient, Although other vegetables
and salad are good sources of some vitamins, minerals and fibre and are important in our
diet.
It is worth remembering that they do not contribute large amounts of carbohydrate.
Check for other carbohydrate foods at your meals. Finally sugar provides another form
of carbohydrate in our diet. Sugar and sugary foods are often favourites in our diet.
Although we do recognise that they generally do not provide any other nutrients. However
with nutritious carbohydrates being the number one priority in meals, there is room in a
winning diet to enjoy some less nutrient rich choices.
Infact there are some situations when sugar based foods are actually handy, for example
a compact form of carbohydrate is best if you want to refuel during a long training
session. And for those needing to eat very high carbohydrate
intakes it can be difficult to chew your way through a diet of bulky high fibre foods.
Sugary foods can be added to a nutritious carbohydrate menu to top up total fuel intake.