Nutrition for Athletes - Commonwealth Games Federation

The benefitsof eating wellathletes’ medical informationA well-chosen diet offers many benefitsto the elite athlete:• Fuel to train and perform at the elite level• Optimal gains from the training program• Enhanced recovery between workouts andbetween events• Achievement and maintenance of an idealbody weight and physique• Benefits from the many health-promotingcomponents of food without the requirementfor supplements• A reduced risk of injury, overtraining fatigueand illness• Confidence in being well-prepared to facecompetition• Consistency in achieving high-levelcompetition performances• Enjoyment of food and social eating occasionsat home and during travelDespite these advantages, many athletesdo not meet their nutrition goals. Commonproblems and challenges include:• Poor knowledge of foods and inadequatecooking skills• Poor or outdated knowledge of sportsnutrition• Lack of access to dietitians /nutritionprofessionals or other credible resources• Inadequate finances• Busy lifestyle leading inadequate timeto obtain or consume appropriate foods• Poor availability of good food choices• Frequent travel• Indiscriminate use of large amounts ofsupplements and sports foodsThe information in this booklet is designed toprovide coaches and athletes with an overviewof the latest guidelines in sports nutrition. Whilethere is no such thing as a magic diet or food,there are many ways in which eating well canallow athletes at all levels of performance toachieve the specific goals of their training andcompetition programs. It makes no sense totrain hard and ignore the benefits that followfrom good food choices.This booklet is based on the conclusions ofthe IOC Consensus Conference on Nutritionfor Sport, held in Lausanne in June 2003.It was first produced for the 2004 OlympicGames and was revised for the Gamesof 2006, 2008 and 2010. We gratefullyacknowledge the contribution of theconference participants as the expertscientific sources for this booklet. We arealso especially grateful to Powerade fortheir support.The information in this booklet wasextensively revised and updated in February2010 in preparation for the CommonwealthGames of 2010 to ensure that athletes haveaccess to the latest information.7