Healthy nutrition is the basis of the health and beauty of any person, not just an athlete. Normalization of the diet, rejection of bad eating habits - probably this is the shortest path to health and harmony. Maintaining proper nutrition is not as difficult as it might seem at first glance. As often happens, the main condition for success is gradualness and constancy.
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Instruction manual
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The nutrition of a child is especially important, because childhood is the time when a safety margin is laid for the whole subsequent life. Alas, children and adolescents are not prone to a healthy diet. This is evidenced by statistics on the increase in the frequency of diseases of the gastrointestinal tract among children, and a significant increase in cases of alimentary obesity or weight loss. For modern children, nutrition is of increased importance, since it is associated with an acceleration in the pace of their lives, an increase in the information load. Indeed, a few decades ago, the lifestyle of a child and a teenager was completely different.
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So, the calorie needs of a teenager 14-17 years old, engaged in sports such as skiing, cycling, rowing, can be 4600 kcal per day, the need for protein increases to 150 grams per day, and in vitamin C to 170 mg per day, which significantly, by an order of magnitude, exceeds the need for these food components in his "ordinary" peer, the need for trace elements also fundamentally changes.
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It is important to observe the usefulness of the protein composition of food - without this, the athlete will not show a good result, and the body will work in conditions of amino acid deficiency.
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The fat composition of the food should be correlated with the protein approximately 1: 1, while remembering about polyunsaturated fatty acids, the source of which are vegetable oils, meat of sea fish. The proportion of vegetable fats should be 25-30% of the total fat contribution. In light of the fact that the nutrition of the younger generation today is generally characterized by a deficiency of trace elements, this is of particular importance for athletes.
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To achieve a rational diet for an athlete is not an easy task, especially given the busy schedule of a child’s day. Five to six meals with a full training and training load becomes almost impossible. The so-called products of increased biological value come to the rescue, they can and should be used, taking into account their safety and nutritional value. A large number of such products are presented on the modern market, the choice of a specific one is the task of the trainer and sports doctor. The contribution of these food additives to the total calorie content should not exceed 20%, and their use in large quantities should not be long-term.
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There is no single universal diet for athletes that would satisfy the nutritional needs of each athlete at any age and in any phase of the training cycle. In each case, the development of a diet is the task of the trainer and sports team doctor.