Sports Nutrition: Fuel up on Information
Athletes in any sport need to carefully consider their dietary choices. With team and endurance sports on the rise, the number of online resources detailing sports nutrition has also grown. In this guide you'll see what the Web has to offer on the topic, whether you're looking to improve your performance through nutrition, track your diet, find a nutritionist, or simply find healthy recipes to complement active lifestyle.
Expand All Guide SectionsSports Nutrition Basics
Successful athletic performance is a function of three primary factors: training, rest, and ... read more »
Find a Sports Nutritionist
If as an athlete you have special dietary concerns, or would like the advice and consultation of an ... read more »
Sports Nutrition and Supplements
Dietary supplements are designed to add nutrients not otherwise consumed to your regular diet. They ... read more »
Good Foods for Athletes
When you think of an athlete's diet, visions of golden arches, glazed crullers, and Twinkies aren't ... read more »
Sports Nutrition and Meal Planning
Just as it's important for athletes to monitor and record their workouts as part of their training, it can be equally useful to chart diet. By keeping a record of what food you're consuming, you can ensure that you're getting the variety and quantity your body needs for peak performance.
Dulcinea's Insight
- Online forums are a great way to discuss nutrition concerns and questions with fellow athletes. Listed in our picks below are two such sites. While the advice you receive on the forums should always be confirmed with a registered dietician, it is still valuable to share ideas with other athletes, coaches, and nutritionists in-the-know.
- With the rise in awareness about good nutrition in sports performance, there are now a slew of sophisticated online tools that can help you pinpoint what you might be missing in your diet, and track your progress alongside your athletic or recreational training. Most of these interactive sites are free or inexpensive.
Dulcinea's Picks
For meal planning and food logs ...
New York Road Runners Trainer
is a sophisticated online tool set up by the governing body of road races in New York City. The Trainer requires a monthly subscription (currently $14.99) but allows you to track your daily food and beverage intake very precisely (it also has a training log and networking sections). The food log stores hundreds of foods and drinks, and users are allowed to add foods to the list. The site then lists the mineral, nutrient, and vitamin profile, and carb, protein, and fat content of each food. You're given letter grades for all of your daily requirements, including Omega 3, 6, and 9 acids, saturated and unsaturated fat, protein, carbohydrates, and many more. If you want to add a food that is not currently in the system, simply fill in the "Nutritional Facts" of the new food exactly as they appear on the label.
The National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute
created an online "Interactive Menu Planner" that allows you to plan your eating habits by choosing foods and serving sizes, revealing the amount of calories in the foods you're eating. While the calculator does not include daily protein values-a crucial part of any athlete's diet-it does show carbohydrate, fat, and calorie totals.
For online forums ...
Feed For Speed
is a popular forum for sports nutrition and training. Like most forums, the site requires free registration to post but you can browse the discussions as a guest without signing up. There are thousands of posts on this site, covering race results, training strategies, recipes, tips, and more.
Sports Nutrition Talk
is an online forum for athletes, coaches, and others interested in trading advice and anecdotes about sports nutrition. While the "Recipes" section of the site is rather sparse, the "General Discussion" area is very popular and recipes are often traded here.
© 2012 Dulcinea Media, Inc.
