athletes' medical information - Coca-Cola

athletes’ medical information
Eating in a Paralympic
Village dining hall
Imagine being able to eat in a self-serve
restaurant that is open 24/7, has an almost
unlimited menu from international cuisines, has
input from some of the best caterers and sports
nutrition experts in the world, and is free! How
could you go wrong?
Unfortunately, although the Paralympic
Village dining hall provides a benchmark in
catering for athletes and is a memorable
experience for many Paralympians, some of
those memories may be of lost opportunities
and poor nutrition outcomes rather than the
opposite. Some athletes fail to achieve the
potential of the dining experience and adopt
poor nutrition practices at a critical time in their
sporting careers. The fault is not the dining hall
itself, but the failure of some athletes to
recognise and respond to the challenges of this
new eating environment.
A sudden switch to communal cafeteriastyle
eating creates the following issues that
may be new to many athletes:
Great quantities and many different choices
of food. Many athletes are not used to this
almost unlimited access to so many wonderful
foods. The temptations and opportunities to
overeat can be so overwhelming that they
become a major reason for weight gain.
Different and unusual foods. Although the
menu includes cuisine from around the world,
inevitably some athletes find themselves
without access to their favourite foods or
important menu items in their usual competition
repertoire. The athlete may be reluctant to try
new things, finding themselves unable to eat
enough food or their special nutritional
requirements for competition preparation and
recovery.
Food boredom. Many athletes live in the
Paralympic- Village for more than two weeks.
Although this is an exciting period, for the
athlete who is training through to competition
on the last days of the Games, the daily routine
can lose its novelty surprisingly quickly. Even
though more choice is offered than most people
ever see in their normal lives, the “sameness”
of the environment and of repetitive eating
habits can become boring. It doesn’t help if the
athlete has developed the practice of piling a
“bit of everything” on their plates at each meal
so that there is no new theme or change of
menu. Strangely enough, some athletes who
are surrounded by fantastic food can become
disinterested in eating and find meal times
a chore.
Lack of knowledge of the nutritional
characteristics of Dining Hall choices. Many
athletes don’t read English or have a huge
knowledge of food from outside their region.
They may find it hard to understand what is on
offer in the Dining Hall or how to make good
choices.
Lack of understanding of how to meet
special food needs. Athletes with food
intolerances and allergies may not be confident
of finding foods that meet their dietary
restrictions.
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