Sports and Nutrition

Sports and Nutrition

What we eat shapes how we grow, how well we stay, and how far we can push our bodies in play and sport. For a sportsperson this link is even sharper: the same training done on a poor diet gives poorer results, tires the body faster and slows recovery, while the right food at the right time can lift performance, delay fatigue and speed repair. This unit of the CBSE Class 12 Physical Education (048) course studies food and nutrition from both angles — the everyday science of eating well, and the special demands that training and competition place on an athlete's plate.

Across the unit you will study five connected themes:

• Concept of balanced diet and nutrition — what a balanced diet is, the food groups it draws on, and what the science of nutrition studies.
• Macro and micro nutrients: food sources and functions — carbohydrates, proteins, fats and water (the macronutrients) and vitamins and minerals (the micronutrients), with the jobs they do and the foods that supply them.
• Nutritive and non-nutritive components of diet — the components that carry nutritional value and those that do not, including anti-nutritional factors and beneficial plant compounds.
• Eating for weight control — maintaining a healthy weight, the pitfalls of dieting, food intolerance and common food myths.
• Importance of diet in sports — the pre-, during- and post-competition requirements of a sportsperson.

This first half of the chapter covers the first three themes. By the end of it you should be able to explain the concept of a balanced diet and of nutrition, classify nutrients into macronutrients and micronutrients and describe the functions and food sources of each, and distinguish the nutritive from the non-nutritive components of the diet — including the factors that interfere with nutrient absorption and the non-nutritive components that benefit health.