34—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, September 22, 1973
rSgflj in the Kitchen®
ATHLETES AND NUTRITION
Athletes and athletic coaches
are just as susceptible as other
people to falling for food faddism
In fact, they may be even more
susceptible since athletic per
formance is equated with physical
health and, if one is ignorant of
the basics of nutrition, it is easy
to succumb to “quick results”
schemes and “miracle” ideas
As a physician in charge of a
university’s health services and as
team physician for one of the Big
Ten football teams, I have ob
served that things are better than
they used to be Coaches are
learning more of the facts of nu
trition science But around the
country there still are a lot of
coaches and athletes subscribing
to “weird” ideas, special foods
and special diets
No Miracle Foods
The fact is, there simply are no
miracle foods, or food compo
nents, or mixtures of special foods
that are going to improve an ath
lete’s performance He needs the
same foods that are recommend
ed for everybody else If the ath
lete follows the four-food-group
pattem milk, meat, fruits and
vegetables, enriched or whole
grain breads and cereals he’ll
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be fine.
The young athlete needs them,
of course, in greater quantities
because he’s using up greater
amounts of energy at the same
time that he is in 2 period of
physical growth that may be cri
tical
Nutrient-wise, the diet that will
provide the best performance con
tains approximately 15 percent of
his calories from protein, 40 per
cent from fat, and 45 percent
from carbohydrate the same
as the average American eats
every day. Higher protein diets
cause problems, especially when
the weather is hot and water is
limited A pure carbohydrate diet
results in difficulties including
the athlete being unable to retain
v\ ater. And too high a fat content
in the diet, particularly in cold
weather, causes problems too
technical to discuss here, but real
nevertheless.
Some coaches like to “spook”
their athletes with special supple
ments such as wheat germ, ti
ger’s milk that sort of thing.
They are perfectly sincere but if
there is value in such practice it
may be more in terms of “psych
ing” a boy rather than improving
his nutrition. We know from U.S.
Army nutrition research and sur
vival tests that I was associated
with that notions not based on
scientific fact are useless and
sometimes dangerous
My Pet Peeves
I also have a pet peeve about
athletes eating differently on
game day. Players have their reg
ular breakfast and lunch on prac
tice days So why not on game
day? Why upset the body’s nor
mal metabolic habits by observ
ing a different eating pattern on
game day’ The only real caution
necessary is that obviously one
does not eat immediately before
a game. That, of course, would be
foolish. But athletes should stick
as close to their everyday eating
patterns as possible for best per
formance.
When painting window screens
try using a small piece of an
old rag insead of a brush. The
holes in the screen will not fill
up and work goes faster and
smoother, too.
Preventing Accidental Poisonings
When children are too young to adults. If they see their mother or
understand safety hazards, father taking aspirin, or other
James E. Van Horn, Extension medicine, they may do the same
family life specialist at The thing. Taking medicine is better
Pennsylvania State University, done out of sight of the children,
says it’s best to simply keep if your children have medicine
poisons where they can’t be to take, call pills or liquids by
reached. their names, advises Van Horn.
Van Horn suggests you lock
them in a cabinet or closet. If
there isn’t room to lock them up,
store them in high cupboards,
well above a child’s reach, even
when he learns to climb. If they
are out of sight, they won’t excite
the child’s curiosity about the
“pretty bottle" or the “blue and
red pills.”
When you are using a cleaner
or other poison and must leave
the room, Van Horn urges you to
take the container with you. Then
you know your child is not eating
or drinking what’s inside.
Children learn by imitating
Some parents try to make taking
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medicine easier by saying that it
“tastes good,” or that it is
“candy.” But the child may
believe this story so much that
he’ll come back later to swallow
all of it.
When using a recipe that
calls for oil and honey, molas
ses or anything sticky, mea
sure the oil first and then the
sticky stuff will slide right out
of the measuring cup.