NUTRITION FOR AN ACTIVE LIFESTYLE

Nutrients - Provide you with energy, regulates your bodily processes and promotes tissue growth by
nourishing them, carbohydrates, fats, and protein are the major sources of energy, which fuel the body,
and they are required in large amounts.

Using Calories
A Calories are the energy value of food and the amount of energy in an item of food or drink is
measured in calories. When we eat and drink more calories than we use up, our bodies store the excess
as body fat.

Women are likely to need between 1,600 and 2,400 calories a day, and men from 2,000 to 3,000.

However, this depends on their age, size, height, lifestyle, overall health, and activity levels.

Crash Diet

Some people tend to go on a “crash diet” by cutting back on their calories so as to lose weight.

Also deprive you of the energy that your body needs resulting in fatigue weakness, and sluggishness.

Reading Food Labels

Food labels provide information on the serving size, calories, and nutrient content of a food
product( Note that fruits and vegetables do not have food labels).

Ingredients are listed in descending order of weight, for example, an ingredients label on an Iced Tea
beverage lists: “water. Sugar, citric acid, black tea extract, sweeteners”.

Be mindful of your sugar intake.

Hydration Before, During, and after exercise.

Water constitutes 60% of our body weight and it is considered the most essentials nutrients such that it
is important to replace water that is lost.

Water is also valuable for the prevention of diseases such a gallstones and kidney stones, while
researchers have found a relationship between water intake and colon cancer.

Dehydration

Is a serious condition that occurs when fluid loss is greater than what has been taken in, and the body’s
normal function becomes impaired because of this symptom of dehydration including increased thirst, a
dry mouth or swollen tongue weakness, dizziness, palpitations.

Weight Loss

That occurs after exercise is due to water loss from sweat and not from fat loss. Try weighting in before
and after exercise, and the difference in weight translates into the amount of water you need.

Body Image and Eating Disorders

We usually tend to associate our body weight with our appearance or body image. This is influenced by
the mass media which idealizes thinness for females and muscularity among males.

Anorexia Nervosa

Literally means “Loss of Appetite” however, it is more than that because of person who suffers or
experiences anorexia has a distorted body image.

Bulimia Nervosa

Literally means “ to eat like an ox” to characterize the uncontrollable recurrent and frequent episodes of
eating unusually large amount of foods.
Compulsive Overeating

Is similar to bulimia in the way a person consumes extremely large portions or amounts of food even
when they are not hungry or even when they are already full.

Compulsive Exercising

Is another outlet behavior wherein a person experiences repeated episodes of exercising for hours at
whatever cost.

Alcohol Misuse and Abuse

Alcohol is a psychoactive or mood-changing social drug that is common among college students ages 18-
25. Abuse refers to using something in a wrong way, for a wrong purpose, or treating someone with
cruelty and violence. Misuse refers to using something in the wrong way or for a wrong purpose.

Assessment of Physical Activity and Fitness levels

Physical activities are commonly quantified by determining the energy expenditure in kilocalories or by
using the metabolic equivalent (MET) of the activity. Another common method is to compute how
much time a person spends in different physical activity intensity categories on a given day or over a
given week.

Physical Fitness

Is a state of being that reflects one’s ability to perform specific exercises and tasks; it relates to both
present and future health outcomes.

Body Composition

Body Mass Index (BMI) refers in measurement of one’s weight relative to one’s height. By knowing your
BMI, you will know whether you are underweight, of normal, overweight, or obese.

Cardiorespiratory Endurance

Is the ability to perform large muscle, whole body exercise at moderate to high intensity levels for an
extended period of time.

Is the ability to perform large muscle, whole body exercise at moderate to high intensity levels for an
extended period of time.

Musculoskeletal Fitness

is a multidimensional construct comprising the integrated function of muscle strength, muscle

endurance, and muscle power to enable the performance of work against one's own body weight or
external resistance.

Flexibility

Is the ability of a joint or series of joints to move through an unrestricted, pain-free range of motion.
Although flexibility varies widely from person to person, minimum ranges are necessary for maintaining
joint and total body health.