Today's topic of discussion is: SPORT NUTRITION. Sport nutrition, diet or food and drink, for football players is becoming increasingly scientific and recognised for its importance in the game of football.



What's good for the body?

- Fruits

- Juices

- Sandwiches



What's bad for the body?

- Beer

- Fries

- Sweets



Why is sport nutrition or diet important in football?



Food provides us with energy for our muscles, brain and other organs. Football requires plenty of exercise, and therefore it is important to have energy available to us during the game. The energy available to us at any particular time depends on our blood sugar levels.



If we over-eat, we become over-weight. The heavier we are, the more work our muscles have to do to take us the same distance. This reduces our stamina, and our ability to accelerate quickly. If we under-eat, we can become weak and our overall health can decline, because we are not getting enough nutrients.



A healthy diet improves our general level of health, and can help us recover more quickly from injuries. Along with a program of fitness training, our diet can help us develop stamina and improve athletic performance. Diet is essential for our growth, and development.



Easy Steps to Improve Your Diet

• Eat breakfast! This is the most important meal of the day, so it should not be skipped.


• Reduce the amount of coffee, tea and cola that you drink, and replace them with water, fruit juice or other healthy drinks.


• Eat healthier snacks. Eat carrots, dry breakfast cereal, nuts (yuck), rice cakes, rye, crisp breads, bagels or toast (ooh, yum!) rather than chips, chocolate bars and sweets (aww...)


• Reduce sugary foods, for example by eliminating sugar from tea, coffee and breakfast cereal.


• Reduce your intake of fatty foods. For example, reduce the amount of butter, margarine, fatty meat, beef burgers and chips that you eat.


• Drink plenty of fluids before a match, at half-time and after the mach, particularly in hot, humid weather. (This also helps prevent cramps during a game!)


• Avoid sugary snacks immediately before the start of a match. Fruit, such as bananas, or other carbohydrate-rick snacks are better. Avoid over-eating before a match. (Anyone bringing bananas to Friday's match? Welfare rep's not here...)


• Replace fluids, salts and carbohydrates that you have used during the match.

Diet and Recovery After A Match

Here are 4 tips to help you recover from a hard match or training session.

• Rest! And make sure you have enough sleep.


• Replace your body salts by eating. Most foods naturally contain salts, but fruit juices are particularly good choices, and these will also replace fluids.


• Replace your body carbohydrates by carbohydrate-rich foods within two hours after a match or training session.


• Drink plenty of fluids to replace those lost through sweat.

What Alcohol Does To You

When consumed in large amounts over time, alcohol can harm virtually every organ in your body; many of these effects are reversible with abstinence, others are not.

Esophagus: Alcohol is associated with nearly half of the cancers of the esophagus, mouth, and larynx. People who vomit too intensely after getting drunk can cause tears in their esophagus.

Brain: Alcohol depresses the central nervous system and contracts brain tissue (OMG, SALA, ARE YOU A SECRET ALCOHOLIC?!). And yes, it destroys brain cells (confirmed.) - which unlike many other types of cells in the body, do not regenerate. Taken in large amounts over a long period of time, alcohol can cause serious problems with cognition and memory.

Heart: Heavy drinking can cause heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure and heart failure. Even social drinkers who binge on special occasions can sometimes get bouts of irregular heartbeats, a condition known as 'holiday heart'.

Lungs: Heavy drinkers have more pulmonary infections and can be more susceptible to pneumonia and lung collapse. An intoxicated person loses his reflexes and can't clear his airway when he vomits. Stomach contents may get sucked into the lungs, which can lead to choking or pneumonia.

Liver: Liver damage often begins with a fatty liver, and may progress to alcoholic hepatitis. That may be followed by the buildup of scar tissue known as cirrhosis. Cirrhosis can change the structre of the liver and choke off blood flow. This can cause varicose veins, which can rupture, triggering catastrophic bleeding.

Stomach: Alcohol irritates the stomach, and can cause gastritis, ulcers and acid refluc. Gastritis is an inflammation of the mucous membrane that lines the stomach. Erosion in that lining can cause constant oozing of blood into the stomach or, if a vessel ruptures, major bleeding.

Kidneys: Alcohol is a diuretic that increases urine output. Prolonged heavy drinking can cause kidney failure.

Small intestines and pancreas: Alcohol blocks the absorption and breakfown of nutrients by damaging the cells lining the stomach and intestines, and by decreasing the amount of digestive enzymes secreted by the pancreas. The pancreas can become inflamed and leak digestive enzymes, which then attack the pancreas itself.

Reproductive System: In men, it impairs the production of sperm and testosterone, and can lead to infertility and impotence. In women, the effect can be decreased estrogen metabolism in the liver which increases the amount of estrogen circulating in the body, which can contribute to menstrual irregularities and even infertility.

Blood: Prolonged alcohol abuse can cause anemias and abnormal blood clotting, which results in excessive bleeding and easy bruising. It also impairs the function of white blood cells, increasing susceptibility to infection.

Joints and muscles: Alcohol dependence can cause osteoporosis and arthritis, and deform the joints. It can atrophy muscles and cause acute muscles pain and weakness.

What Smoking Does To You

There's hardly a part of the human body that's not affected by the chemicals in the cigarettes you smoke.

Starting at the top: As a smoker, you're at risk for cancer of the mouth. Tobacco smoke can also cause gum disease, tooth decay and bad breath. The teeth become unsightly and yellow. Smokers may experience frequent headaches. Lack of oxygen and narrowed blood vessels to the brain can lead to strokes.

Lungs and bronchi: Smoke passes through the bronchi. Hydrogen cyanide and other chemicals in the smoke attack the lining of the bronchi, inflaming them and causing that chronic smoker's cough. Because the bronchi are weakened, you're more likely to get bronchial infections. Mucus secretion in your lungs is impaired, also leading to chronic coughing. Smokers are 10 times as likely to get lung cancer and emphysema as non-smokers.

Smoking and the Heart: Nicotine raises blood pressure and makes the blood clot more easily. Carbon monoxide robs the blood of oxygen and leads to the development of cholesterol deposits on the artery walls. All of these effects add up to an increased risk of heart attack. In addition, the poor circulation resulting from cholesterol deposits can cause strokes, loss of circulation in fingers and toes and impotence.

Smoking and the Body's Organs: The digestive system is also affected. The tars in smoke can trigger cancer of the esophagus and throat. Smoking causes increased stomach acid secretion, leading to heartburn and ulcers. Smokers have higher rates of deadly pancreatic cancer. Many of the carcinogens from cigarettes are excreted in the urine where their presence can cause bladder cancer, which is often fatal. High blood pressure from smoking can damage the kidneys.

The Results: The health effects of smoking have results we can measure. Forty percent of men who are heavy smokers will die before they reach retirement age, as compared to only 18 percent of non-smokers. Women who smoke face an increased risk of cervical cancer, and pregnant women who smoke take a chance with the health of their unborn babies.

Good News

But the good news is that when you quit smoking your body begins to repair itself. Ten years after you quit, your body has repaired most of the damage smoking caused. Those who wait until cancer or emphysema have set in aren't so lucky - these conditions are usually fatal.

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Sorry, this is what happens when I clear up my room and find stuff. Shrug. There's plenty more where that came from. BEWARE.

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