Anyone that’s serious about a sports career will know that physical training is only half of the battle when it comes to being the best. You can have the slickest moves on the field, but that means nothing if you’re not eating properly. If you don’t treat your body right on the inside, it can’t be expected to perform well on the outside.
It provides an energy source
Just as computers need electricity to keep going, humans need food if they want to survive. However, eating isn’t merely about preventing starvation. Food provides us with the energy we need to stay awake and focus on what we’re doing. Without energy, we can’t do the simplest of tasks, let alone run around a pitch for 90 minutes or win a marathon.
Of course, food works in different ways. There’s a reason someone who eats at McDonald’s every day isn’t winning medals. Too much fat has a detrimental effect on your health, just like anything that’s consumed in excess. A sports star needs to have a balance of everything – including things like fat and sugar – to keep their body in working order. If they’re getting the right amounts of each food group, then they’re going to be running at their most efficient. They’ll be energetic, alert and focused – three things that are key for any athlete.
It keeps you in shape
Not only does eating right give sports stars the energy they to keep going, but it also prevents them from getting out of shape. It doesn’t matter how much time you spend in the gym; an unhealthy diet will always impact your body. The people who make it big in their respective sports are all at the top of their game because they’re in incredible shape. Do you think Usain Bolt ate at KFC after setting world records at the Olympics? No. No, he did not.
Eating healthier also has the benefit of reducing your chances of developing chronic conditions. Poor diets can lead to things like heart disease and cancer, illnesses that will prevent any athlete from achieving success in their sport.
It makes you stronger
The one thing that every sports star dreads getting is an injury. If it’s a bad one, it can ruin their career forever. Even if they recovered after a few months, the time they spent away from training would come back to bite them. They’ll be out of shape and weaker, leaving them to spend more time on the bench than the rest of their teammates.
While injuries are a risk with any sports and there’s no way to prevent them, eating right can reduce the chance an athlete will get one. That’s because by eating healthily and filling your body with the nutrients it needs, it will grow stronger. Putting plenty of calcium and vitamin D into your body will make your bones more resilient, lessening the likelihood of that tackle leaving you with a broken ankle.
Eating right isn’t one of those things reserved just for people on a diet. It’s essential if you ever want to be a sports star.
