Pep athletes share daily diets, advice offered to them to improve overall nutrition for optimal performance.
JANELLE STRAWSBURG
Staff Writer
Carbohydrates. Protein shakes. Vitamin supplements. The world of nutritious eating can often be overwhelming for the average individual, but for student-athletes the pressure intensifies as the very food they consume is the fuel that powers their game.
Katherine McCune, dietitian and consulting nutritionist for the Student Counseling Center, is especially passionate about helping athletes find their optimal diet.
“I’d like to spend more time with our athletes; we have a wonderful group of kids here, and with any great program, sports nutrition can enhance an athlete’s performance,” she said. “You need to plan ahead when and what you are eating. The food, the diet is a blueprint for better performance, it needs to be planned out just like a workout regiment.”
The amount of calories needed for optimal performance can vary drastically depending on the height and activity level of each athlete. A 5-foot-4 female who is considered very active, working out five to six times a week at maximum intensity, should eat on average 2,400 calories a day. Now contrast that to a six-foot-six volleyball player, who would need to consume any where from 3,700 to 4,200 calories daily.
This is just the minimum to maintain a steady weight — if an athlete is looking to put on some pounds, it’s going to be a challenge. To gain a mere one pound a week, an extra 500 calories a day, 3,500 calories a week would be necessary.
Matt Frazee, a freshman on the baseball team, is used to high-calorie diets to try and increase his body weight to bulk up for baseball.
“I was on a 4,500-calorie-a-day diet,” he said. “You just sit and eat all day. I gained 28 pounds in a month from a heavy diet of chicken. Your mouth gets tired from eating so much, and it is really hard to put on weight in the right way.”
McCune agrees that putting on good weight is a difficult task to achieve, especially with little time and warped ideas about nutrition.
“Having a protein shake for a meal isn’t enough,” she said. “It still matters that you eat a wholesome, structured, healthy diet. Protein powder doesn’t have everything in it that other protein sources in food will have.”
According to McCune, having at least three meals a day, starting with a healthy breakfast, is essential to a balanced diet. But for many athletes combined tough practice schedules with heavy course loads make finding time to squeeze in meals quite an obstacle to overcome.
“We’re always skipping breakfast because of morning workouts or 8 a.m. classes,” said junior Barry Enright. “At best we get a protein bar or shake. I just don’t get very good nutrition in the morning because there isn’t enough time.”
However, for some athletes, nutritious eating is a programmed routine, vital to their athletic performance. Senior basketball guard Lauren Wenski has a scheduled diet that consists of five egg whites and oatmeal for breakfast, a protein bar and vegetable for lunch, and chicken with brown rice and vegetables for dinner, supplementing the day with snacks of fruit or a protein shake.
“I think nutrition is extremely important for the athlete, not only do you need to take care of your body in the weight room to get stronger and on the track to get in good condition, but you have to give your muscles and bones the best nutrients for them to perform at a high level,” she said. “The answer to eating is not to grab whatever is the quickest at the nearby fast food restaurant.
“It does take extra effort and money to consistently eat healthy, however, it is well worth it. You can truly see a difference in your performance on the court or field.”
Wenski, who lives off campus, has the option of preparing her own food and controlling her nutrition plan. However, for athletes that live on campus, eating healthy is sometimes a harder aspect to control with the only food option being the cafeterias on campus.
“It’s hard living on campus,” Frazee said. “We don’t get the choice of cooking our own meals.”
Samir Khalil, operations director for Sodexho dining, said that the on-campus dining experience still offers many healthy options for athletes.
“What we offer here is a mix-and-match system,” he said. “You don’t have to buy the whole plate we offer at, say, the home cooking station. You can get the meat from that station combined with pasta or vegetables from the international cooking section at the same price as the first entrée.”
This year along with adding a wrap and Panini station and a full-day yogurt bar, the Sodexho staff is trying hard to accommodate those seeking nutritious eating.
“You can get your nutrition by doing your own balance of items we offer,” said Khalil. “We also post the fat and nutritional analysis for students so I can’t tell you what to eat, but I can give you the information and you can make the choice.”
09-21-2006
