Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Why athletes should avoid fast food.

The United States lives off of fast food. Busy lifestyles, second jobs, two income families, and great taste are all reasons why America’s fast food industry is vastly popular. Meats and potatoes deep fat fried, with heavy condiments, along with high calories beverages all contribute to obesity and various diseases. Why these may be acceptable for the regular person, they are not acceptable for athletes looking to maximize their physical results.

Fast food chains are a definite epidemic to people, and for athletes end their career. Most fast food restaurants food extremely high in saturated fats, high in carbohydrates, contains heavy sodium, or overfilled with sugar. These foods can make any person have health problems. Weight gain, high cholesterol, diabetes, poor circulation, stomach pains, diarrhea, and fatigue can result form eating fast food. Also the high sodium intake will make a person thirstier and contribute to possible drinking more soda.

Fast food can cause numerous problems for athletes. Most athletes stick to a strict diet of health foods. Eating food with high fat and grease can have negative effects on performance. Making an athlete feel sluggish, and not perform well at his or her competition. The added sodium intake from fast food can dehydrate an athlete, or cause them to drink more water. The additional water makes the individual have to make more bathroom stops, which causes the athlete to waste time. There are ways to go about eating smart if there is no other restaurant available.

If a person cannot resist the urge to order a fatty burger there are a few different ways to go about ordering. Order and hamburger, but order it without the mayonnaise and cheese. That will reduce the fat almost in half. Order a small French fries over the large and ask for fresh fries without salt. Diet soda, low fat milk, or water is a better choice over regular soda or milk shakes. Chicken should be broiled and not fried. These simple adjustments can help save hundreds of calories and several grams of fat.

If the person wants to avoid the bad foods altogether, that is possible as well. Burger King, McDonald’s, Wendy’s, and even pizza hut all have choices that can accommodate any athletes looking to save their body from bad foods. For breakfast, Burger offers bagels with jelly, milk, and juice. McDonald’s offers breakfast burritos, juice, bran muffins, and hot cakes. These foods are relatively low in fat and are not extremely heavy on the stomach. There are many choices for lunch and dinner as well. A safe McDonald’s meal may consist of the Mclean Deluxe, side salad with light dressing. Wendy’s offers a grilled chicken sandwich, baked potato, and milk. And Pizza hut offers spaghetti with meat sauce. All are lower in fat, and have good amounts of protein, and plenty of carbohydrates to sustain an athlete’s glycogen storage.

As delicious and convenient as fast food is, it is not a good idea for athletes to eat at these restaurants. In fact an athlete should avoid fatty, high sodium, greasy food altogether. It would be best for athletes who crave fast foods to wait until after an event to eat them. Or better yet only go get fast food after they win an event and want to reward their superior efforts.

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