According to Imna news agency, diets in the world of sports play a very important role in improving performance and ensuring the health of athletes. However, some athletes turn to dangerous diets due to competitive pressures, unrealistic physical goals, and misinformation, which can threaten their physical and mental health. This type of diet, which is usually defined as unbalanced and with severe calorie restrictions, elimination of the main food groups, and the use of uncertain weight loss methods, may achieve the desired goals in the short term, but in the long term, it causes irreparable damage to the body. .
One of the most common dangerous diets among athletes is one that focuses on extreme calorie restriction. These diets promise athletes to lose weight quickly and achieve ideal body shape, while cutting too many calories can lead to low energy levels, muscle weakness, and reduced athletic performance. Such diets expose the body to a lack of essential vitamins and minerals, which may lead to problems such as a weak immune system, decreased bone density, and even heart failure.
Another dangerous diet is the complete elimination of food groups such as carbohydrates, fats or even proteins. Athletes who follow these types of diets may be putting themselves at risk by thinking that by eliminating a food group they can lose weight or improve athletic performance, but in fact, the body needs a balance of nutrients and Removal of any of these groups can disrupt the normal functioning of the body. Eliminating carbohydrates, which are the body’s main source of energy, can lead to premature fatigue, reduced concentration, and decreased athletic performance.
Some athletes also use diets that are heavily dependent on the use of supplements. Dietary supplements can be useful if used correctly and in consultation with a nutritionist, but they are not a good substitute for a complete diet. Excessive or incorrect use of supplements can lead to poisoning, damage to the liver and kidneys, or digestive problems. On the other hand, some supplements may contain prohibited or dangerous substances that can lead to disqualification from competitions or even serious health risks.
Social pressures and advertising also play an important role in the spread of dangerous diets among athletes. The media and social networks mostly transmit images and messages that portray the ideal body in an unrealistic way. This causes many athletes to follow extreme diets to achieve these unreasonable standards. Lack of adequate knowledge of proper nutrition and trusting unreliable sources can also aggravate the problems.
The psychological consequences of dangerous diets should not be ignored; Athletes who are under psychological pressure caused by strict diets may face problems such as anxiety, depression or eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. These disorders not only affect their sports performance, but also severely reduce their quality of life.
In order to avoid falling into the trap of these dangerous diets, raising awareness and training athletes is of particular importance. Cooperation with sports nutritionists, correct food planning and paying attention to the individual needs of each athlete can play an effective role in maintaining their health and improving their performance, as well as creating an environment in which less unrealistic pressures are applied to athletes and more realistic and reasonable standards of physical beauty are defined. can reduce the tendency to dangerous diets.
Athletes’ health should be a top priority, and no athletic or physical goal should be achieved by compromising physical and mental health. Balanced diets, along with regular exercise and adequate rest are the best ways to achieve optimal performance and maintain good health in the world of sports. Considering the harmful effects of dangerous diets, raising awareness and changing attitudes towards the ideal body can be an effective step in preventing this problem.
Healthy nutrition is an important factor for the ability of athletes
Shahab Oliyali, nutrition and dietetics expert About the nutrition of athletes, Imna tells the reporter: The importance of nutrition is evident in various sports, and the more physical activities are, the more the need for energy and nutrients increases. Basic and correct nutrition is effective in the progress and development of sports performance. An athlete who has a proper nutritional program increases his capabilities and can participate in his training programs optimally and show a stable and proper performance in competitions.
He adds: By following these principles, athletes maximize their body’s growth and development and have greater resistance to diseases and recover faster in case of illness. Athletes who do not look at nutrition scientifically miss out on many benefits. Athletes’ biggest stage is their competition, and many people train for weeks to get the desired results, but if they don’t have proper nutrition, they won’t perform optimally. In sports competitions, body weight affects sports performance such as creating acceleration, changing speed, and changing direction, and the parts of the body that make up the main components of net body weight are muscles and bones, and what causes a decrease or increase in net body weight in athletes is muscle weight. It is skeletal.
Water is an important issue in nutrition
The nutrition expert notes: Another part of the body is the mass of fat that is not able to do such a thing, and to determine the efficiency of an athlete, there must be a difference between the weight of fat and the weight of muscles. Considering the importance of this issue, any reduction and increase program that leads to muscle weight loss is incorrect and should be an increase in body weight and a decrease in fat mass. The use of strict diets, fast weight loss diets, one-meal diets, fancy diets and not consuming food and liquids for a long time are examples of dangerous diets that athletes usually use to lose weight. Some athletes take dangerous measures to lose weight quickly, such as drinking less water and doing intense sports activities with plastic clothes to sweat more, and doing these two things at the same time has many negative consequences for the body.
He continues: If one to two percent of body water is reduced, aerobic performance will decrease, and if this amount reaches three to four percent, it will have a negative effect on aerobic, anaerobic, sweating and other physiological factors, and if this amount reaches 7 until it increases by 8%, the body will suffer from overwhelming heat and the athlete cannot continue his sports activity, and if he continues, he will not have the desired efficiency and effectiveness, and finally mastery The athlete loses to the sports performance.
Severe side effects of strict diets
Auliai states: Hard diets and single meals are also examples of incorrect diets for athletes to lose weight quickly, which have consequences such as reduced body immunity, increased incidence of infectious diseases, reduced volume and strength and elasticity of muscles, hair loss, digestive problems and aggression. Also, athletes who switch to high-protein diets suffer from liver damage, hair loss, constipation, hemorrhoids and They breathe foul odors. Increased incidence of kidney stones and gout is also one of the side effects of protein diets.
He states: Diets known today as ketogenic (severe reduction of carbohydrates and increase in fat intake) also lead to a decrease in the level of mind and body performance, sleep problems, irregular heart rhythm, and a decrease in the level of nutrients, including the required vitamins and minerals. It is the body that affects the performance of an athlete. Some athletes also arbitrarily take drugs and illegal supplements to lose weight, these drugs also affect the central nervous system and appetite and are from the category of amphetamines, and glass psychotropic drugs are an example of these drugs, and the use of these drugs eventually leads to addiction and It has many complications.
Variety, balance and proportion, important nutritional principles
The nutrition expert states: The best diet for an athlete follows the principles of diversity, balance and proportion. Such a diet pays attention to people’s age, physical, economic, physiological conditions, interests and needs. In general, the more gradual weight loss is, the healthier it is, and it also reduces the possibility of regaining the previous weight. Body muscle mass is the most important body tissue, especially for athletes, and diets should not lead to the breakdown of these muscles.
He reminds: nutritional supplements complement a diet and an athlete must first provide his body’s needs through food and if there is a deficiency, use supplements in a principled manner and under the supervision of experts, because arbitrary use of supplements leads to Overdose or excessive accumulation of vitamins, especially fat-soluble vitamins, and the accumulation of minerals in the body and disrupt their absorption.
Death due to improper use of supplements
Auliai emphasizes: In general, the use of supplements has a positive effect if it is principled, and if athletes use them arbitrarily, they will see many negative consequences. Athletes should pay as much attention to their nutrition as training, and in this case, use sports nutritionists. Coaches should also give basic nutritional advice to their students and not give unscientific and experimental diet and nutritional advice to athletes without proper knowledge and information and seek help from nutrition experts in this regard.
He points out: Ishaq Qavidel and Baitullah Abbaspour are among the athletes who most likely fell ill as a result of improper use of supplements or consumption of non-standard supplements and hormonal drugs, and finally lost their lives at a young age. The goal of exercise is health, and in physical and sports activities, any action that endangers health is condemned.
Dangerous diets for athletes
Mansour Rezaei, nutritionist and faculty member of Shahid Beheshti University. About the common diets of athletes, Imna tells the reporter: One of the common diets among athletes is high-protein, while nutritionists emphasize the triple burning (sugar, fat, protein) of the human body, because not consuming these substances leads to the consumption of protein for metabolism. body, and for this reason, high-protein diets are harmful and unscientific in addition to being expensive.
He adds: When protein is broken down in the body, it produces metabolites that are first excreted through the liver and then through the kidney, and this makes the middle age and adulthood of athletes unfavorable. Food supplements also play an effective role in athletes’ diets.
Hormonal contamination of supplements
The nutrition expert says: Many of these supplements have hormonal contamination and anabolic hormones (cortone, insulin, etc.) are used in them to increase the body’s volume, and usually these things harm the body in the long run. It is better for athletes who use such diets to consume more water, because it helps to eliminate the waste caused by the burning of protein in the body.
He notes: Athletes are divided into two categories: endurance and strength, and the diets of these two groups are different. Slow release sugars such as starch are suitable for endurance athletes (basketball, volleyball, soccer, track and field and swimming) and simple sugars (fruit juice, dates and honey) for strength sports such as weight lifting.
The bold role of diversity in the nutrition of athletes
Rezaei states: The important point in the diets of athletes is not to eat heavy foods, because by consuming heavy foods, the quality of muscle work decreases and people suffer from indigestion. It is better to divide the meals into six light meals. Athletes’ bodies lose water and salts during training, and this lack of water must be compensated after training with the help of pureed fruits and vegetables.
He states: Heavy exercise causes the production of free radicals in the body and it should be compensated with the help of antioxidants in fruits and vegetables to prevent possible damage. Ketogenic diet and elimination of meals are also among the most common diets of athletes. One of the important principles of nutrition is variety, and this principle should also be taken into account in diets, and athletes should not exclude some food groups and consume others excessively.
The nutritionist speaks first
The faculty member of Shahid Beheshti University states: A healthy diet affects the physical and mental performance of the athlete. In the short term, unhealthy diets bring effects such as aggression, boredom, anger, and hair loss, and in the long term, they also cause damage to the liver, and in adulthood, the possibility of suffering from kidney, liver, and digestive diseases is high in them. The medical science of public sports is recommended, because in professional sports, the use of unknown supplements is high, and on the other hand, stress and psychological pressure on the individual have effects. It is negative and leads to exhaustion of the body.
He reminds: Supplements are protein substances that increase the volume of muscles. As it was said, the pollution in these sports supplements is high to attract young people, that’s why after a few weeks of consuming these substances, they become addicted to them. Athletes should be under the supervision of experts and use healthy protein sources such as yogurt, cheese, beans and eggs.
Rezaei emphasizes: Finally, the most important point in athletes’ diets is the use of nutritionists in club and sports teams, and health should be sought in sports, and for this reason, competitive sports cause problems for physical and mental health.
According to Imna, the country’s experts believe that observing nutritional principles under the supervision of nutritionists and personalizing diets based on the needs of the body is one of the most important issues that athletes should follow in nutrition in order to improve their sports performance and avoid possible injuries. prevent
